BEARD MOTORSPORTS
Brickyard 400
Date: July 27, 2025
Event: Brickyard 400
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile rectangular oval)
Format: 160 laps, broken into three stages (50 laps/50 laps/60 laps)
Note: Race extended eight laps past its scheduled 160-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Briscoe of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Beard Motorsports Finish:
● Jesse Love Jr. (Started 35th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 167 of 168)
Notes:
● Love made his fourth career Cup Series start and second with Beard Motorsports from 35th on the grid. He held that relative position over the opening green-flag run of the race, which ended on lap 19 when the spinning car of Ross Chastain brought out the first caution flag of the day. Love reported being a little tight in traffic during the opening run but overall felt pretty happy with the handling of the No. 62 C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet. He pitted for four tires and fuel before restarting 32nd on lap 23.
● After dropping a pair of positions on the ensuing restart, Love climbed to 27th by the end of Stage 1 on lap 50, reporting that as more and more rubber was laid down on the racing surface, he felt the track was “coming to us.” Love pitted for four tires and fuel during the stage break, again reporting he was happy with the car’s balance.
● Stage 2 went green with Love in the 32nd spot, from where he advanced steadily to 19th by the time he pitted under green for four tires and fuel on lap 80, 20 laps ahead of the second stage break. He rejoined the race in 31st, one lap down, with the top 16 cars yet to make their green-flag stops. Love reported still being a tad tight in traffic but also still feeling good with the overall handling of the No. 62 Chevrolet.
● The caution flag flew on lap 90, 10 laps ahead of the stage break, with Love running 25th. He found himself in 24th, the first car a lap down, as cars throughout the field employed varying pit strategies during the caution. The No. 62 team opted to stay out on track as it was in position to earn the “lucky dog” free pass back onto the lead lap if Love could hold his spot over the final laps of the stage. The race returned to green on lap 96, with four laps to go in the stage, and from there Love couldn’t hold off a handful of cars that did pit and restarted on fresh tires. He finished Stage 2 in 27th, one lap down.
● Love started the final stage 27th, the third car one lap down, and drove up to 25th when he came down pit road for a two-tire, green-flag stop on lap 140. Rain that wetted a portion of the track brought out the red flag with four laps to go in regulation. When the race went back to green for the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish on lap 161, Love restarted 25th and emerged from multicar mayhem on that lap with slight front-end damage and was able to continue. He restarted 23rd for the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish on lap 166 and took the checkered flag in 24th, his best finish in four career Cup Series starts, all this season.
Race Notes:
● Bubba Wallace won the Brickyard 400 to score his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Indianapolis. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was .222 of a second.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 30 laps.
● Only 22 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Chase Elliott remains the championship leader after Indianapolis with a four-point advantage over second-place William Byron.
Jesse Love Jr., driver of the No. 62 C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet:
“It absolutely smoked us getting trapped a lap down pretty early. We short-pitted trying to gain some track position under caution. But unfortunately a caution came out right before the stage break and that knocked us a lap down. Yeah, super unfortunate that happened but I felt like we could have somehow battled back into the top-20. We had a good bit of speed and I felt like we had the right strategy after that. Just a bummer that happened early on, but still a really cool day in the Cup car and we felt competitive.”
Next Up:
Beard Motorsports is scheduled to make its next appearance at the Aug. 23 Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Driver and sponsor information are to be announced.
