Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Indy
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis this weekend for the Brickyard 400 Sunday. Jack Roush has 17 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes at the 2.5-mile track dating back to 1994. Ryan Newman is a former winner of the Brickyard back in 2013, while Chris Buescher has an average finish of 15th at the most famous speedway in all of motorsports.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records
Sunday, July 5 | 4 p.m. ET
NBC, SiriusXM Channel 90
· Ryan Newman, No. 6 Oscar Mayer Ford Mustang
· Chris Buescher, No. 17 SunnyD Ford Mustang
NASCAR Returns to Action
· The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the 16th race of the 2020 season. Overall, Indy will host three series across two days including the IndyCar Series, with the first time in history both IndyCar and the NCS will run at the same track in the same weekend.
· The July 4 weekend – historically held for NASCAR’s summer trip to Daytona – was replaced by Indy after the schedule changed heading into the 2020 campaign.
· Sunday’s starting lineup for the Brickyard 400 will be determined by a random draw based on teams’ order in owners’ points. Both RFR teams will draw for a starting spot in the 13-24 group.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed.
Pocono Recap, Indy Preview
· Newman earned finishes of 15th and 18th last weekend at Pocono, leading 13 laps along the way in Saturday’s event, before finishing third in stage two on Sunday.
· Buescher earned his fourth top-10 of the season in the first Pocono event on Saturday. He followed that by again earning stage points in Sunday’s race, before spinning out and making contact with the wall to finish 36th.
· Newman will carry the bright colors of Oscar Mayer on his Mustang this weekend, which will also feature the stars and stripes celebrating Independence Day for the Holiday weekend.
· SunnyD returns to Buescher’s machine, and will also feature a stars and stripe look alongside its already-bright orange color scheme.
Starting Lineup Procedures
The starting lineup for Sunday’s race will once again be determined by a random draw based on teams’ order in owners points. Both Newman and Buescher will draw for a starting spot in the 13-24 group.
Chasing History
Indianapolis is one of just three active NCS tracks that Roush Fenway has not visited Victory Lane at, along with Chicagoland Speedway and Kentucky Speedway. Despite not earning a victory, Roush Fenway has finished in the second position on four separate occasions (1998, 2003, 2006 and 2008) with drivers Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards.
Ragan’s Row
Former Roush Fenway driver David Ragan earned the organization’s first pole position at the famed 2.5-mile speedway in the 2011 running of this event. Overall, Roush Fenway has had one of its Fords on the front row at the hallowed speedway four times.
Tale of the Tape
Roush Fenway has made 97 starts in the NCS at Indianapolis dating back to 1994. In that span, RFR has 16 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes, with an average finish of 18.4. Jack Roush’s Fords have completed 14683 of the 15581 (94.2 percent) of the laps at the famed 2.5-mile track.
Xfinity Wins in Indiana
Roush Fenway has earned victories in the Xfinity Series in the state of Indiana before, recording two victories at the then named Indianapolis Raceway Park with Greg Biffle in 2002 and Edwards in 2009. Biffle’s victory was his fourth and final win of the 2002 NASCAR Xfinity Series season that helped propel the Roush Fenway driver to the Xfinity Series championship.
