A Star Is Born: Part-Timer Heim Makes History With Brickyard 400 Win

By

-

July 26, 2026

INDIANAPOLIS (Sunday, July 26, 2026) – Corey Heim stepped into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time Friday. Two days later, he was celebrating on Victory Podium after an impressive drive to victory Sunday in the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG.

Part-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Heim, from Marietta, Georgia, took the lead in the No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota of 23XI Racing on a frantic restart on Lap 127 and held off Christopher Bell over the final 34 laps for victory in his first Brickyard start. This was just his 15th career Cup Series race.

A star is born.

“This is a dream come true, winning at the Brickyard,” Heim said. “That was unbelievable. Caught a break early with the pit cycle and just executed all day. Made no mistakes, my pit crew and my team.”

Heim, 24, won the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and is running a partial Cup Series season with 23XI Racing before joining the team full time in 2027. He became the first part-time driver to win this crown jewel NASCAR event and the second-youngest driver to win this race behind Jeff Gordon, who was 23 when he captured the inaugural Cup Series race at IMS in 1994. Gordon is the only other driver to win the Brickyard in his first start in the race.

This also was the second consecutive Brickyard victory for the 23XI team, co-owned by basketball icon Michael Jordan and Cup Series star Denny Hamlin. Bubba Wallace won last year for 23XI.

Bell finished second today in the No. 20 Rheem Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, .287 of a second behind Heim. Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano was third in the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford of Team Penske.

Indiana native Chase Briscoe placed fourth in the No. 19 Mobil 1 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing, and Denny Hamlin placed three Joe Gibbs Racing cars in the top five in the No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota.

Todd Gilliland earned a $1 million bonus for winning the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. He placed 24th in the No. 34 Grillo’s Pickles Ford of Front Row Motorsports, edging the No. 12 Menards/Delta Ford of fellow Challenge finalist Ryan Blaney of Team Penske, who finished 26th.

The pivotal point of the 160-lap race came on the final restart on Lap 127. Hamlin led the field to the green flag on the inside line, with teammates Bell and Briscoe right behind. Heim started second, on the outside line with Logano behind him.

But the JGR line on the inside lane was scattered, with Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe not aligned nose-to-tail to possibly bump-draft and keep Hamlin out front. Meanwhile, Logano pushed Heim ahead of Hamlin on the outside in Turn 1.

Hamlin nearly edged even with Heim in Turn 2, but Heim slammed the door shut and kept a lead he would never surrender.

“It’s a fight to win the race, and when you’re clear by an inch, you’re going to take that inch,” Hamlin said. “It’s really more on us and the 20 (Bell) and the 19 (Briscoe) to just not orchestrate the good pushes there.

“I thought the 20 was obviously onboard with giving us the push. It was just way too early, before the restart zone. I can’t go until you get to the restart zone. He said that Briscoe was on him way, way early or laying back, one of the two. That’s how you lose them. These restarts, when everyone kind of knows when you’re going to go, it’s about the pushes. That’s how I got the lead from the 67 (Heim) on the restart before.”

But once he got out front, it was far from a Sunday stroll to victory for Heim, who also won earlier this season in the street race at San Diego.

Bell stayed within three- to four-tenths of a second of Heim for the next 30 laps. He pulled to within .164 of a second with two laps to go, pouring on pressure, but Heim padded that gap to .364 of a second with one lap to go and held on to a loose-handling race car on the final trip around the 2.5-mile oval to win.

“That was a damn handful,” Heim said. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose. I had never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept them in dirty air. I’m pretty out of breath. That was a workout.”

Said Bell: “I didn’t think I was going to be able to get there at all. My guys were telling me he was going loose, and I knew that was going really be my only opportunity, was a mistake by him.

“I knew that 35 laps was a very long run. Man, I just needed one bobble. If he would have had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there. But he did a great job. He showed excellent mental toughness and put together 35 good laps.”

Heim, who started seventh, led four times for 58 laps, both race highs.

Pole sitter Carson Hocevar led the first 31 laps in the No. 77 Ziegler Auto Group Chevrolet of Spire Motorsports before making his first pit stop. But he never led thereafter and finished ninth.

Heim inherited the lead on Lap 41 by running long on the first pit cycle before Ty Gibbs took the top spot on Lap 45 in the No. 54 SAIA Freight + Logistics Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs stayed there – also winning the first stage at the end of Lap 60 — until pitting on Lap 74, with Heim taking over the lead from Laps 75-91.

Ross Chastain won the second stage, which ended on Lap 100, in the No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet of Trackhouse Racing. By that point, Heim had climbed back to fifth and jumped to third when leader Chastain and second-place Gilliland pitted on Lap 101.

Nearly the entire field pitted for their final stops on Lap 115 during a caution, and Heim’s earlier pit strategy paid dividends. His previous stop was on Lap 93, later than most of his rivals, so he needed less fuel and a shorter stop, giving him the lead as the field approached the restart on Lap 120.

Hamlin passed Heim on the outside of Turn 1 on that restart, but another caution flew almost immediately when John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota nudged Blaney into the Turn 3 wall. That set up the fateful final restart on Lap 127 where Heim took the lead for keeps.

KALITTA, TODD & ANDERSON RACE TO WINS AT MUCKLESHOOT CASINO RESORT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

Kalitta rolls to second straight TF win
Todd gets first FC win of 2026
Anderson goes back in PS points lead

SEATTLE (July 26, 2026) – Funny Car’s J.R. Todd won for the first time in 2026 on Sunday at Pacific Raceways to finish off a Kalitta Motorsports nitro sweep with teammate Doug Kalitta, defeating back-to-back world champion Austin Prock in the final round of the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals.

Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won the 12th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Todd snapped a 23-race winless streak when Prock went red in the final round, as the past world champion went 3.941-seconds at 334.90 mph in his 12,000-horsepower DHL Toyota GR Supra. It is Todd’s 23rd career victory and first since early 2025, and also his first Funny Car victory in Seattle.

Todd, who qualified No. 1, had a huge points day when it came to the regular season championship, defeating Jeff Arend, Jordan Vandergriff and Matt Hagan to reach the final round. Prock left early by .005, handing the victory to Todd, who had enjoyed a terrific season but had yet to win an NHRA 75th anniversary Diamond Wally.

That changed on Sunday and Todd is now right in the mix, moving to third in points after his impressive performance at Pacific Raceways.

“Dickie [Venables] and Todd [Smith, crew chiefs] did a really good job of racing smart today, not throwing down every run, just racing the conditions on the track,” Todd said. “I thought for sure we were in trouble there in the semis. I missed the Tree, which you can’t do against Matt Hagan because they’ll make you pay for it, and then I hit the gas and the thing is just out of control, but the win light came on. In the final, I saw Austin out front, and I was like ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I thought that I was late and then the win light is on our side. It’s crazy, but I’m just so happy for my guys because they’ve been working their butts off.

“It’s definitely a big weight off our shoulders. I feel like we let a couple slip through the cracks there earlier in the year. Then we struggled the summer with some clutch disc issues. Now, I think that we’re getting back to where we need to be.”

Prock, the defending event winner, advanced to the final round for the second time this season and the 34th time in his career after getting round wins against Daniel Wilkerson, Dave Richards and Jack Beckman. Ron Capps, who lost in the first round for the second straight race, stayed in the points lead, but it’s now just 37 points over Jack Beckman and only 42 against Seattle winner Todd.

Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta ensured a Kalitta Motorsports nitro sweep for just the second time ever, going a whopping 3.677 at 338.43 in his 12,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster to slip past Leah Pruett’s 3.689 at 333.49.

A week after winning in Sonoma, Kalitta rolled to a second straight win, making three runs in the 3.60s on Sunday in Seattle. After qualifying third, he went 3.669 – the quickest run of the weekend – 3.690 and 3.726 to reach the finals, defeating Shawn Reed, Jasmine Salinas and Antron Brown in the process.

He led wire-to-wire against Pruett to capture his third victory of the season and the 62nd in his career. It’s also Kalitta’s second win in Seattle, 12 years after his first. More importantly, the reigning world champion has gotten hot at the ideal time for a second straight year, closing in on teammate Shawn Langdon. He’s now just five points outside of the lead in the race for the regular season title.

“Getting this double, I’m just so happy for Connie (Kalitta),” Kalitta said. “He’s given us everything we need, and obviously all the crew chiefs, everybody’s pulling together trying to help one another, and today’s a good result of that. I’m just real proud of our whole effort. I tell you, Connie’s had my back for years.

“Alan [Johnson, crew chief] has got the car dialed in. I feel very fortunate he’s working on my car. It took us a little bit to get it going this season. We obviously made a lot of changes and it’s coming together, and when you get down towards the end of the year, Alan’s got a lot of championships. This is really the time of the year he really focuses on and he always seems to be able to pull it off, so it’s going to be exciting.”

Pruett made her third final-round appearance in 2026 and the 28th in her career after defeating Will Smith, Justin Ashley and No. 1 qualifier Josh Hart.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson broke out of a recent slump in a major way on Sunday at Pacific Raceways, taking down Greg Stanfield in the final round after Stanfield went red. Anderson went 6.508 at 211.00 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, avenging a recent stretch that included back-to-back first-round losses.

That wasn’t the case in Seattle, as Anderson moved back into the points lead, winning for the third time in 2026 and the 115th time in his career. After qualifying second, Anderson drove past Stephen Bell, Matt Latino and then longtime rival Erica Enders to reach the final round.

Stanfield, who won last weekend in Sonoma, went red by .008 to hand the victory to Anderson. It gives the six-time world champion four victories at Pacific Raceways and this was an important one after a rough two-race stretch. That now seems to be long gone as Anderson got back on the winning track – and at an ideal point in the season.

“I certainly didn’t have a lot of confidence when I came here today. We ran a lot better this weekend,” Anderson said. “My car was definitely better, but I could see, as everybody could see, Dallas Glenn had the car to beat, so to get by Dallas and everybody else out here, like Greg Stanfield, who’s on a roll, is really great.

“It’s just a cool class right now. The rest of the year is going to be cool. It’s going to be a real dogfight. I just feel fortunate to be part of it. I’m still alive. I apparently, somehow, took the [points] lead from Dallas today, so that’s pretty damn cool, and it just shows what can happen in this class.”

Stanfield was denied a second straight win, but advanced to the final round for the 30th time in his career after defeating his son, Aaron, Cody Anderson and defending event winner Dallas Glenn. Anderson’s points lead over reigning world champion is just eight points with two races left in the regular season.

The NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series returns to action Aug. 20-23 with the 44th annual NHRA Brainerd Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn.

KENT, Wash. — Final finish order (1-16) at the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. The race is the 12th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

TOP FUEL:

Doug Kalitta; 2. Leah Pruett; 3. Josh Hart; 4. Antron Brown; 5. Billy Torrence; 6. Justin

Ashley; 7. Tony Stewart; 8. Jasmine Salinas; 9. Shawn Reed; 10. Maddi Gordon; 11. Shawn Langdon; 12. Will Smith; 13. Tony Schumacher; 14. Clay Millican; 15. Krista Baldwin.

FUNNY CAR:

J.R. Todd; 2. Austin Prock; 3. Jack Beckman; 4. Matt Hagan; 5. Jordan Vandergriff; 6. Paul Lee; 7. Cruz Pedregon; 8. Dave Richards; 9. Blake Alexander; 10. Tim Gibbons; 11. Jeff Arend; 12. Spencer Hyde; 13. Ron Capps; 14. Daniel Wilkerson; 15. Alexis DeJoria; 16. Chad Green.

PRO STOCK:

Greg Anderson; 2. Greg Stanfield; 3. Dallas Glenn; 4. Erica Enders; 5. Cody Anderson; 6. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 7. Jeg Coughlin; 8. Matt Latino; 9. Matt Hartford; 10. Kenny Delco; 11. Eric Latino; 12. Aaron Stanfield; 13. Stephen Bell; 14. Chris Vang; 15. Mason McGaha; 16. Shane Tucker.

KENT, Wash. — Sunday’s final results from the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. The race is the 12th of 20 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel — Doug Kalitta, 3.677 seconds, 338.43 mph def. Leah Pruett, 3.689 seconds, 333.49 mph.

Funny Car — J.R. Todd, Toyota GR Supra, 3.941, 334.90 def. Austin Prock, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.

Pro Stock — Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.508, 211.00 def. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, Foul – Red Light.

Top Alcohol Dragster — Shawn Cowie, 5.207, 277.72 def. Joey Severance, 5.276, 272.34.

Top Alcohol Funny Car — Doug Gordon, Chevy Camaro, 5.420, 267.75 def. Brian Hough, Camaro, Broke.

Competition Eliminator — Ryan Warter, Pontiac Sunfire, 8.501, 153.53 def. Dustin Lee, Dragster, 7.056, 187.70.

Super Stock — Ty Gaynor, Chevy Cobalt, 9.150, 141.59 def. Brad Burton, Pontiac Firebird, 9.359, 136.34.

Stock Eliminator — Gary Gandee, Ford Mustang, 14.108, 91.64 def. Brad Burton, Pontiac Firebird, 10.663, 115.07.

Super Comp — Paul Nero, Dragster, 8.875, 180.67 def. Zach Meziere, Dragster, 8.874, 167.66.

Super Gas — Cooper Chun, Roadster, 9.889, 144.07 def. Steve Lowe, Pontiac Firebird, 9.876, 167.43.

Super Street — Dana Glenn, Truck, 10.938, 125.80 def. Dustin Ward, Dodge Dart, 10.955, 121.56.

Top Sportsman — Bryan Warr, Chevy Camaro, 6.758, 198.76 def. David Cook, Ford Mustang, 6.752, 200.95.

Top Dragster — Ty Gaynor, Dragster, 7.203, 170.45 def. Don Sefton, Dragster, 6.975, 187.18.

Junior Dragster Shootout — Zach Standeven, Mike Bos, 8.188, 73.30 def. Jaxson Gonzales, Halfscale, 9.005, 72.18.

KENT, Wash. — Final round-by-round results from the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 12th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE — Antron Brown, 3.714, 333.08 def. Tony Schumacher, 4.530, 168.09; Jasmine Salinas, 3.759, 333.66 def. Clay Millican, 5.420, 131.43; Josh Hart, 3.670, 336.15 was unopposed; Billy Torrence, 3.720, 335.48 def. Krista Baldwin, 6.140, 106.87; Doug Kalitta, 3.669, 335.82 def. Shawn Reed, 3.694, 331.12; Justin Ashley, 3.732, 334.07 def. Shawn Langdon, 4.259, 190.16; Leah Pruett, 4.403, 261.07 def. Will Smith, 4.444, 307.51; Tony Stewart, 3.707, 334.73 def. Maddi Gordon, 3.727, 333.49;

QUARTERFINALS — Pruett, 3.692, 330.80 def. Ashley, 3.806, 307.58; Brown, 3.725, 329.99 def. Torrence, 3.745, 332.84; Hart, 3.834, 324.12 def. Stewart, 4.617, 178.52; Kalitta, 3.690, 332.75 def. Salinas, 4.987, 138.37;

SEMIFINALS — Pruett, 3.717, 332.51 def. Hart, 3.777, 331.61; Kalitta, 3.726, 334.57 def. Brown, 5.897, 109.57;

FINAL — Kalitta, 3.677, 338.43 def. Pruett, 3.689, 333.49.

FUNNY CAR:

ROUND ONE — Paul Lee, Dodge Charger, 3.938, 324.36 def. Chad Green, Ford Mustang, 10.346, 84.81; Austin Prock, Mustang, 4.899, 269.46 def. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 6.936, 120.01; Jack Beckman, Chevy Camaro, 3.858, 333.49 def. Tim Gibbons, Charger, 4.019, 307.02; J.R. Todd, Toyota GR Supra, 3.906, 335.82 def. Jeff Arend, Charger, 4.019, 316.75; Dave Richards, Mustang, 4.540, 269.89 def. Alexis DeJoria, Camaro, 7.125, 90.01; Matt Hagan, Charger, 3.936, 326.00 def. Blake Alexander, Charger, 3.946, 326.00; Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.914, 330.63 def. Ron Capps, GR Supra, 5.812, 124.81; Jordan Vandergriff, Camaro, 3.913, 327.19 def. Spencer Hyde, Mustang, 4.397, 220.30;

QUARTERFINALS — Prock, 4.065, 270.48 def. Richards, 6.726, 95.23; Hagan, 3.930, 322.19 def. Lee, 4.002, 323.58; Beckman, 3.899, 330.72 def. Pedregon, 4.134, 255.15; Todd, 3.939, 334.40 def. Vandergriff, 3.981, 319.29;

SEMIFINALS — Todd, 3.913, 335.32 def. Hagan, 3.929, 324.98; Prock, 3.937, 327.66 def. Beckman, 3.918, 325.92;

FINAL — Todd, 3.941, 334.90 def. Prock, Foul – Red Light.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE — Troy Coughlin Jr., Chevy Camaro, 6.520, 210.87 def. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.500, 209.23; Matt Latino, Camaro, 6.487, 210.08 def. Chris Vang, Camaro, 17.152, 49.71; Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.503, 210.28 def. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.503, 210.31; Cody Anderson, Camaro, 6.500, 210.24 def. Shane Tucker, Camaro, Broke; Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.500, 210.28 def. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.478, 211.46; Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.468, 210.93 def. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 20.709, 67.91; Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.472, 210.05 def. Stephen Bell, Camaro, 6.514, 210.47; Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.486, 211.73 def. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.513, 211.20;

QUARTERFINALS — Enders, 11.001, 83.56 def. Coughlin, Foul – Red Light; G. Stanfield, 6.497, 210.60 def. C. Anderson, 6.505, 210.21; G. Anderson, 6.507, 209.98 def. M. Latino, 17.091, 47.07; Glenn, 6.485, 211.36 def. Coughlin Jr., Foul – Red Light;

SEMIFINALS — G. Anderson, 6.594, 209.95 def. Enders, 12.870, 66.89; G. Stanfield, 6.508, 211.03 def. Glenn, 6.514, 210.73;

FINAL — G. Anderson, 6.508, 211.00 def. G. Stanfield, Foul – Red Light.

KENT, Wash. — Point standings (top 10) following the 37th annual Muckleshoot Casino Resort NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 12th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series –

Top Fuel

Shawn Langdon, 1,107; 2. Doug Kalitta, 1,102; 3. Leah Pruett, 898; 4. Antron Brown, 755; 5. Tony Stewart, 700; 6. Maddi Gordon, 681; 7. Josh Hart, 673; 8. Billy Torrence, 618; 9. Justin Ashley, 535; 10. Clay Millican, 489.

Funny Car

Ron Capps, 884; 2. Jack Beckman, 847; 3. J.R. Todd, 842; 4. Jordan Vandergriff, 830; 5. Matt Hagan, 820; 6. Chad Green, 703; 7. Austin Prock, 687; 8. Alexis DeJoria, 685; 9. Spencer Hyde, 578; 10. Daniel Wilkerson, 577.

Pro Stock

Greg Anderson, 1,020; 2. Dallas Glenn, 1,012; 3. Greg Stanfield, 862; 4. Matt Hartford, 804; 5. Erica Enders, 695; 6. (tie) Matt Latino, 681; Aaron Stanfield, 681; 8. Jeg Coughlin, 598; 9. Troy Coughlin Jr., 543; 10. Eric Latino, 498.

Corey Heim wins the Brickyard 400 for his second Cup career victory

By

Andrew Kim

-

July 26, 2026

_DSC2984 — Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Corey Heim reigned supreme for a second time in his brief NASCAR Cup Series career by etching his name as a Brickyard 400 champion, a feat in which he achieved at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on Sunday, July 26.

The reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion from Marietta, Georgia, led four times for a race-high 58 of 160-scheduled laps in an event mired with various pit strategies and late on-track battles towards the front. Heim, who qualified in seventh place for his first Brickyard 400 career start, spent the opening laps racing within the top-10 mark and navigated through an early round of green-flag pit stop strategies and a one-lap shootout to conclude the first stage period by settling in the runner-up spot.

During the second stage period, Heim, who restarted alongside Ty Gibbs on the front row and was outdueled by the latter, proceeded to lead 17 laps as another cycle of pit stops ensued, in which Heim waited until Lap 91 to pit. As the pit stops from the field cycled through, Heim also cycled through to settle in fifth place at the second stage’s conclusion.

Heim then spent the first two restarts of the third and final stage period being outdueled by Toyota teammates Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin, the latter of which, with 41 laps remaining, resulted in Heim nearly getting turned by Joey Logano entering the first turn. Then during the final restart with 34 laps remaining, Heim capitalized by receiving a strong push from Logano to fend off Hamlin and assume the lead through the first two turns. Amid loose conditions, Heim then spent the event’s remainder fending off Christopher Bell and Logano through every turn and straightaway to notch his first crown jewel victory in NASCAR’s premier series and notch another win as a part-time competitor for 23XI Racing.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 25, Carson Hocevar notched his second pole position of the 2026 season and the third of his career with a pole-winning lap at 186.598 mph in 48.232 seconds. Teammate Daniel Suarez qualified in second place with a lap at 186.382 mph in 48.288 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Carson Hocevar, who elected to start on the inside lane, bolted his No. 77 Zeigler Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry ahead of teammate Daniel Suarez and the field through the first turn. As Hocevar led for a full circuit around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a bevy of on-track action ensued as the field fanned out through the backstretch. Amid the early battles, Hocevar led the first lap by seven-tenths of a second over Suarez while Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and the rest of the field followed suit.

Over the next four laps, Hocevar stretched his early advantage to as high as two-and-a-half seconds over Suarez while Reddick, Hamlin, Gibbs, Corey Heim and Kyle Larson trailed by as far back as five seconds, respectively. Meanwhile, Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman occupied the remaining top-10 spots ahead of Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher and William Byron while Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Brad Keselowski, Riley Herbst and Austin Dillon were racing in the top 20, respectively. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace, the reigning Brickyard 400 winner, was mired in 29th place. Chase Elliott was racing in 25th place ahead of Shane van Gisbergen, and Christopher Bell occupied 22nd place ahead of Joey Logano. In addition, Todd Gilliland, who was battling Blaney for the $1 million bonus for the In-Season Challenge title, was racing in 34th place while Hocevar continued to lead the event by more than two seconds at the Lap 10 mark.

Through the Lap 15 mark and with the field scattered, Hocevar stabilized his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Suarez, with third-place Reddick and fourth-place Hamlin both trailing by three seconds. Behind, fifth-place Ty Gibbs trailed by five seconds, and both Heim and Larson, both of whom raced in sixth and seventh, respectively, trailed the lead by six seconds while McDowell, Allmendinger and Bowman all continued to race in the top 10.

By Lap 18, Austin Dillon, who had been slowly dropping towards the rear after starting in 20th place, made a pit stop to have a flat tire on his No. 3 BREZTRI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry addressed under green, which cost him a lap. Amid Dillon’s early issues, Hocevar retained the lead by more than two seconds by Lap 20 before Elliott, who was mired within the top-25 mark, pitted his two laps later under green. With Ty Dillon also pitting, Hocevar had his advantage over Suarez shrink to six-tenths of a second at the Lap 25 mark.

On Lap 26, Chase Briscoe, who was racing in 14th place, pitted under green. Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Larson pitted their respective Chevrolet entries over the next two laps. Of all the competitors who pitted early, Larson was the only competitor who managed to blend back on the racetrack ahead of Hocevar and remain on the lead lap. As Ty Gibbs and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. pitted their respective entries, Hocevar continued to lead by half a second over Hocevar on Lap 30 before more names like Michael McDowell and Allmendinger pitted during the next lap.

The leader, Hocevar, then pitted under green on Lap 32 as Suarez was being challenged by Reddick and Hamlin for the lead, with the trio trying to also navigate around the lapped competitor of Byron. Suarez then pitted during the next lap and surrendered his brief lead to Hamlin. Prior to Suarez’s pit service, he locked up his front tires to have his racing pace reduced and avoid the penalty of driving through pit road for a second time due to speeding.

Just past the Lap 35 mark, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, was leading by half a second over Tyler Reddick, Corey Heim, Bowman and Cole Custer while Blaney, Buescher, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek and Brad Keselowski occupied the top-10 mark, respectively. As more names that included Noah Gragson and Keselowski pitted, a bevy of names that included Cole Custer, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch all pitted nearing the No. 39 mark. Hamlin then surrendered the lead on Lap 40 to pit under green before Todd Gilliland, Reddick, Blaney, Bell, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Logano, Erik Jones and Zane Smith pitted their respective entries. By then, the top-four competitors that included Heim, John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry and Austin Cindric were leading the field while Larson, the first competitor to cycle through following the green flag pit stops, was in fifth place ahead of Gibbs, Hocevar and Suarez.

As Nemechek, Berry and Cindric pitted by Lap 43, Heim pitted from the lead during the next lap. Then just as Larson was about to cycle to the lead in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, his event came to an abrupt end on Lap 44 when he blew a left-rear tire and wrecked backward against the Turn 3 outside wall. Larson’s incident allowed Gibbs to cycle through as the leader while Hocevar, Heim, Suarez and McDowell were scored in the top five, respectively.

During a one-lap shootout to conclude the first stage period, Gibbs fended off the field for a full cycle to notch his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season on lap 50. Heim settled in second place ahead of McDowell, Hocevar and Byron while Hamlin, Suarez, Briscoe, Buescher and Reddick were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 34 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap. During this stage break period, Briscoe, Chastain, Preece, Gilliland, Austin Dillon and Byron pitted while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 55 as Gibbs and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs motored his No. 54 SAIA Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead with the lead from the inside lane as McDowell overtook Heim to assume the runner-up spot through the first turn. As the field fanned out through the backstretch before navigating through the third turn, all competitors kept their entries racing straight for a full cycle as Gibbs led the next lap. With a bevy of on-track battles and shuffling ensuing within the midfield region, the front-runners scattered while racing in single-line formation as Gibbs stretched his lead to two seconds at the Lap 60 mark. Meanwhile, Elliott limped his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry to pit road with a flat right-rear tire after he made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. through the backstretch. The incident and damage were enough to terminate Elliott’s hopes of achieving his first Brickyard 400 victory as he nursed his entry to the garage for repairs.

Through the Lap 70 mark, Gibbs extended his lead to more than three seconds over both McDowell and Heim while Hocevar and Hamlin trailed by four seconds inside of the top-five mark. Behind, Buescher and Reddick trailed by more than five seconds in sixth and seventh, respectively, while both Cole Custer and Brad Keselowski were mired more than six seconds behind while racing in eighth and ninth, respectively. Suarez occupied 10th place in front of Bowman, Logano, Blaney, Nemechek, Bell, Zane Smith, Berry, Erik Jones, Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace before Suarez strategically pitted under green three laps later. Teammate McDowell pitted from the runner-up spot a lap later before Gibbs surrendered the lead to pit another lap later.

At the event’s halfway mark on Lap 80, Heim, who cycled to the lead after Gibbs pitted, continued to lead by less than three seconds over Hocevar while Hamlin, Buescher, Reddick, Custer, Keselowski, Bowman, Logano and Blaney trailed in the top 10 ahead of Nemechek, Bell, Zane Smith, Berry, Herbst, Wallace, Allmendinger, Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen and William Byron, respectively. By then, 30 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap, with Gibbs managing to remain on the lead lap following his pit stops, while McDowell, Erik Jones, Suarez and Ty Dillon, all of whom pitted, were mired a lap down.

By Lap 82, Hocevar and Buescher pitted from the front of the field under green. Following their pit stops, the latter two competitors were lapped by Heim, who has yet to pit, while Connor Zilisch had pitted a lap earlier. Hamlin then pitted from the runner-up spot on Lap 84 and he managed to blend ahead of Heim to remain on the lead lap while Heim was trying to fend off Hocevar to keep the latter a lap behind.

Then, as more names that included Keselowski, Bowman, Herbst, Byron, Allmendinger, Casey Mears, Custer, Reddick, Zane Smith, Logano, Blaney, Bell, Wallace, van Gisbergen and Stenhouse pitted just past the Lap 90 mark, Heim surrendered the lead to pit on Lap 91. During Heim’s entrance to pit road, Hocevar, who was mired behind Heim and unable to un-lap himself, briefly pulled alongside Heim and gave him an obscene gesture for being raced competitively by rival Heim before motoring ahead to cycle back on the lead lap. Heim’s pit stop allowed Nemechek, who was among selected competitors who have yet to pit, to cycle to the lead while Heim, who had a slow pit service, was quickly overtaken by Gibbs and Hamlin on the track. Berry, Cindric and Gragson pitted over the next handful of laps, along with Briscoe and Austin Dillon, while Preece, who had yet to pit, led. By then, Gibbs, Hamlin and Heim cycled up from fourth to sixth on the track, respectively.

Then on Lap 96, the caution flew when Daniel Dye spun and wrecked his No. 78 Champion Container Corporation Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry backward in Turn 3. At the moment of the caution, Preece had just pitted while Chastain and Gilliland, both of whom have yet to pit, occupied the top-two spots. This caution period concluded the second stage period that was scheduled to conclude on Lap 100. As a result, Chastain was awarded his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Gilliland settled in second ahead of Gibbs, Hamlin and Heim while Hocevar, Preece, McDowell, Erik Jones and Suarez were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 32 of 39 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the event’s second stage break period, the leaders Chastain and Gilliland pitted along with Allmendinger, Chastain, Ty Dillon, Zilisch and Austin Hill while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track, with Gibbs cycling back as the leader.

No. 1 — Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

With 56 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Gibbs and Heim occupied the front row in front of Hamlin, Preece, Hocevar, Jones and the field. At the start, Gibbs motored ahead of the field from the inside lane for a second consecutive restart while Hamlin and Heim battled dead even for the runner-up spot through the first two turns. As Hamlin grabbed the runner-up spot, Heim fended ff Hocevar to retain third place. Amid the battles within the field, Gibbs led the next lap. The field scattered as most raced in single-line formation over the following four laps as Gibbs led a hard-charging Hamlin by four-tenths of a second with 50 laps remaining. Behind, Heim, Hocevar and Preece were in the top five ahead of McDowell, Jones, Suarez, Buescher and Keselowski, respectively.

During a caution that flew with 46 laps remaining due to debris on the track, the entire field led by Gibbs pitted for service with the fuel window to reach the event’s scheduled distance remaining tight amongst the field, including the leaders. Following the pit stops and with mixed pit strategies ensuing, Heim, who pitted for two fresh tires, beat Hamlin off of pit road first to assume the lead. Logano, Bell, Briscoe, Reddick, Keselowski, Buescher, Preece and Bowman all followed suit by either opting for a two-tire pit service or fuel only while Hocevar, who pitted for fours tires, was mired back in 12th place. In addition, Gibbs exited pit road in 14th place. Amid the pit stops, Wallace overshot his pit box and ran over three of his pit crew members, which cost him a bevy of spots.

The next restart with 41 laps remaining featured Heim and Hamlin on the front row, where Hamlin, who had teammate Bell behind him, gained the upper hand and drove his No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead with the lead while Heim briefly had his momentum stalled to fend off a left-handed move by Logano amid brief contact. Reddick and Keselowski then briefly made contact entering the second turn while battling for seventh place. This caused the field to fan out and stack up through the backstretch while jostling for spots.

Then as the full-fledged field continued to stack up, the caution returned when Nemechek made contact and sent Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for a spin as the latter two made contact with the outside wall in Turn 3. As the field scattered, Austin Hill turned Allmendinger while Herbst spun while getting by Casey Mears in the process, while the rest, including Gilliland, dodged the carnage. Amid the carnage, Hamlin was scored the leader ahead of Heim, Bell, Logano and Briscoe while Reddick, Keselowski, Preece, Berry and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. In addition, Blaney, whose damage to his entry was primarily on the right-front area, managed to continue.

For the next restart with 34 laps remaining, Heim capitalized on a push from Logano on the outside lane to motor the No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of Hamlin, who did not receive a push from teammate Bell from behind, with the lead through the first turn. As Hamlin tried to make a move beneath Heim, the latter blocked and stalled Hamlin’s momentum, which allowed Heim to retain the lead through the second turn and entering the backstretch. As Heim led, Bell overtook Hamlin for the runner-up spot while Hamlin fended off Logano amid a side-by-side battle before they entered the third turn. As the field fanned out while jostling for late spots, Heim led the next lap over Bell and Logano while Briscoe overtook Hamlin for fourth place. Over the next three laps, the field scattered and settled in single-line formation as Heim retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Bell while Logano, Briscoe, Hamlin, Keselowski, Berry, Preece, Reddick and Buescher followed suit in the top 10, respectively.

Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Heim’s lead stood at four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Bell while Logano trailed in third place by two seconds. Behind Logano, Briscoe and Hamlin trailed by within a second of Logano while Keselowski, Berry, Preece, Reddick and Buescher continued to race in the top-10 mark ahead of Hocevar, Gibbs, Custer, Cindric, Zane Smith, van Gisbergen, Suarez, McDowell, Bowman and Stenhouse, respectively. Meanwhile, Gilliland was leading the In-Season Challenge by racing in 24th place and being three spots ahead of Blaney, with Allmendinger and Wallace being mired in between the In-Season Challenge finalists.

Five laps later, Heim, who was battling loose conditions, managed to stabilize his lead to two-tenths of a second over Bell, and Logano continued to occupy third place while trailing the lead by less than two seconds. Behind, Briscoe occupied fourth place by two-tenths of a second over Hamlin as Keselowski, Berry, Preece, Reddick and Buescher settled in the top 10. Meanwhile, Gilliland retained 24th place and was two spots ahead of Blaney and Logano, who were notching fast lap times compared to the two leaders and started to reel in on both Heim and Bell. As the event reached its final 15-lap mark, Logano trailed the lead by only a second while Heim continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell.

With 14 laps remaining, the top-three competitors of Heim, Bell and Logano were racing within nine-tenths of a second of one another as Logano continued to methodically reel in the two leaders in his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry. Amid Logano’s late charge, he continued to trail the lead by eight-tenths of a second, but he was within four-tenths of a second behind Bell while the leader Heim remained ahead of Bell by four-tenths of a second during the final 10-lap mark.

As the laps dwindled, Gilliland, who was in 24th, remained ahead of Blaney, who was 26th and mired behind Allmendinger on the track, for the $1 million bonus for the In-Season Challenge. In addition, Briscoe and Hamlin trailed the lead by more than six seconds and Logano was behind by seven-tenths of a second in third place. Meanwhile, Heim kept the lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Heim, who fended off a brief move by Bell from the outside lane entering the first turn as Bell tried to execute a pass to the right side of Heim with a strong reel, but lost his momentum, remained in the lead by three-tenths of a second over Bell while Logano trailed in third place. With the latter two unable to reel in the deficit, Heim navigated his way through IMS smoothly for a final time before he streaked back to the frontstretch and won by two-tenths of a second.

With the victory, Heim became the 145th competitor overall to achieve multiple NASCAR Cup Series wins and the first to notch first two career victories within 15 starts since AJ Foyt between 1964-65. The Georgian also became the 21st competitor overall to win a Cup event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the first to record a second Cup career victory in the Brickyard 400 since Jeff Gordon achieved the previous feat during the inaugural event in 1994.

As added bonuses, Heim recorded the 16th Cup Series career victory and a second consecutive Brickyard 400 win for 23XI Racing, with the organization’s No. 67 Toyota team led by veteran crew chief Robert ‘Bootie’ Barker achieving a second win with Heim through eight starts. Heim’s remaining Cup starts of this season with the No. 67 team are at Daytona International Speedway (August 29), Darlington Raceway for the Southern 500 (September 6), Charlotte Motor Speedway (October 11) and the season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway (November 8) before he goes full-time Cup racing with 23XI Racing in 2027.

No. 67 — Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“That was a damn handful,” Heim said on the frontstretch on TNT Sports. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose and I’d never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day. That was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept [Bell and Logano] in dirty air.”

“I’m pretty out of breath,” Heim added. “That was a workout, but this is a dream come true. Winning at the Brickyard. That is unbelievable. [I] Caught a break early with the pit cycle and just executed all day. Made no mistakes. My pit crew and my team, 23XI [Racing], did a fantastic job of my Field of Stream Camry. First race [with Field of Stream], first win, so hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Christopher Bell, whose previous best result in the Brickyard 400 was fourth, settled in second place while Joey Logano, who made his 15th Brickyard start, settled in third place while coming up nine-tenths of a second shy of winning the event for the first time ever.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d be able to get there at all,” Bell said. “My guys were telling me [Heim] was going loose, and I knew that was going to be my only opportunity was going to be a mistake from him. I just needed one bobble. If he would have had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there. He did a great job. He showed excellent mental toughness and put together 35 really good laps, and I didn’t have the opportunity. This is a good second place. We’ve had a lot of bad second-place finishes, but this one is a good one.”

“We’ve been so close to winning here for years now, and it’s great,” Logano added. “You want to be up front at a crown jewel event. We just got there too late. We had good momentum coming into the weekend. I’m proud of the team giving me good race cars. On the last run, we were the winning car. We just have to get there. Just too hard to do it. Just get stuck in the dirty air. Started too far back and scratched and clawed all day to finally have a chance at the end. You’ve got to be on the front row for the final restart at Indy and wasn’t able to be there…Still feel like you have to make the move.”

Teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin settled in fourth and fifth in the final running order after trailing the lead by five and six seconds, respectively. Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece, Carson Hocevar and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10 in the final running order. Notably, Todd Gilliland achieved the 2026 In-Season Challenge title after finishing in 24th place and being two spots ahead of his final opponent, Ryan Blaney. In addition, Ty Gibbs clinched a Chase berth by finishing in 12th place while Bubba Wallace, the reigning Brickyard 400 winner, settled in 28th place.

The 2026 Brickyard 400 featured 15 lead changes for 11 different leaders, and five cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 31 of 39 starters finished on the lead lap.

Following the 22nd event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the regular-season standings by 84 points over Tyler Reddick, 120 over Ryan Blaney, 135 over Ty Gibbs and 248 over Carson Hocevar.

Results:

Corey Heim, 58 laps led
Christopher Bell
Joey Logano
Chase Briscoe, one lap led
Denny Hamlin, 14 laps led
Brad Keselowski
Josh Berry, one lap led
Ryan Preece, one lap led
Carson Hocevar, 31 laps led
Tyler Reddick, one lap led
Chris Buescher
Ty Gibbs, 46 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Cole Custer
Austin Cindric
Zane Smith
Shane van Gisbergen
Daniel Suarez, one lap led
Michael McDowell
Alex Bowman
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
William Byron
Noah Gragson
Ross Chastain, five laps led, Stage 2 winner
Todd Gilliland
AJ Allmendinger
Ryan Blaney
Erik Jones
Bubba Wallace
Austin Dillon
Ty Dillon
Cody Ware
John Hunter Nemechek, two laps down, one lap led
Austin Hill – OUT, Accident
Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident
Casey Mears – OUT, Accident
Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident
Chase Elliott- 41 laps down
Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident

The NASCAR Cup Series’ teams and competitors enter an off-weekend period before returning to action on August 9 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, for the Iowa Corn 350. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.

Todd Gilliland wins the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

By

Andrew Kim

-

July 26, 2026

Unknown — Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Corey Heim achieved the main spotlight of the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by winning the event on Sunday, July 26. Meanwhile, Todd Gilliland celebrated a victory of his own as he claimed fame for winning the NASCAR Cup Series’ second annual In-Season Challenge through a late bizarre turn of on-track circumstances and good fortune working in his favor.

The two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, entered this year’s In-Season Challenge tournament in the 25th seed as he squared off against Daniel Suarez during the tournament’s first round at Sonoma Raceway on June 28.

During the inaugural In-Season Challenge a year ago, Gilliland had his hopes of achieving the $1 million prize eliminated following the tournament’s first event at EchoPark Speedway. This year at Sonoma, Gilliland was mired with a pair of on-track run-ins with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst that shuffled him back to 29th place in the final running order. Nevertheless, he outdueled Suarez by two spots to transfer through the second round at Chicagoland Speedway (July 4).

At Chicagoland, Gilliland finished in 16th place, but finished ahead of his next opponent, Carson Hocevar, by six spots to transfer to the third In-Season Challenge round as a contestant at EchoPark Speedway (July 12). During the latest round, Gilliland secured a 19th-place run and finished ahead of his third opponent, Alex Bowman, by three spots to be one of four finalists squaring off for two final spots during the tournament’s penultimate round at North Wilkesboro Speedway (July 19).

At North Wilkesboro, Gilliland achieved good fortune when his fourth opponent, Chase Elliott, was mired out of the lead lap category when a Lap 182 multi-car accident pinned multiple competitors in deficits and out of lead lap categories, far from recovering. Despite ending up a lap down, Gilliland finished in eighth place and outdueled Elliott by nine spots to transfer to the tournament’s final round at Indianapolis, where he squared off against Ryan Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, as Blaney outdueled Josh Berry, Shane van Gisbergen, William Byron and Christopher Bell to clinch his finals berth.

When the green flag of the 2026 Brickyard 400 waved, Blaney, who started in 13th place, received the early upper hand and methodically navigated his way through early green flag pit stop strategies and a one-lap shootout to conclude the first stage period by settling in 14th place. Meanwhile, Gilliland, who qualified in 36th place, was mired in 33rd place. The second stage period generated a different outcome as Gilliland, who remained on the track and did not pit under green with most of the field, settled in second place while Blaney settled in 14th place. Gilliland would then pit during the second stage’s break period, and it cycled Blaney ahead of Gilliland when the final stage period commenced with 56 laps remaining.

Then during a restart with 41 laps remaining, the battle for the In-Season Challenge tournament took a major turn when Blaney, who was mired in a stacked group inside of the top-15 mark, was bumped and turned by John Hunter Nemechek entering Turn 3. This sent Blaney for a 360 spin amid contact with Nemechek as both competitors hit the outside wall. As Blaney continued despite sustaining minor right-front fender damage, Gilliland barely dodged the carnage, including a spinning AJ Allmendinger, to overtake Blaney on the track.

For the start of the event’s final restart with 34 laps remaining, Gilliland was tasked with remaining ahead of Blaney as the former was scored in 22nd place while Blaney was mired in 31st place. Blaney spent the event’s remainder managing to climb his way up to 26th place on the leaderboard, but his late charge was not enough as Gilliland crossed the finish line in 24th place in his 166th career start and wrapped up the In-Season Challenge.

With his accomplishment, Gilliland, who is in his fifth full-time season competing as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, joins Ty Gibbs as recipients of the In-Season Challenge’s $1 million bonus. He also achieved his 18th top-25 result through 22-scheduled events at a venue in which he achieved two sixth-place results over the previous two seasons. Gilliland’s In-Season Challenge title also occurred nine days after he signed a contract extension to continue to drive Front Row Motorsports’ No. 34 Ford entry for the 2027 season.

As Gilliland celebrated his title, he also took a moment to applaud the intensity and hard work generated by his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team led by crew chief Chris Lawson that led the entire group to the In-Season Challenge title and generate glimpses of competitiveness on the track.

“I think for me, the coolest thing has been seeing all my [No. 34] guys, the intensity ramping up over the first week,” Gilliland said on TNT Sports. “It’s tough. You look up at the top of this mountain of beating five rounds of these great drivers, and it seems almost impossible. Then you start clicking off one, two, and then, they start to really dig it in. They push themselves to a new level, so I think that’s really cool for all of them. To see that, it was cool for me to see.”

While Gilliland was left pleased, he now shifts his focus to capping off the 2026 season on a positive note while maintaining the competitiveness both on and off the track. The North Carolinian remains in 23rd place in the driver standings with his 24th-place result at Indianapolis and is 112 points behind the top-16 cutline to be Chase eligible with four regular-season events remaining on this year’s schedule. Through 166 starts, Gilliland also continues the pursuit of his first victory in NASCAR’s premier series.

“Hopefully, we can keep this intensity up. I think we always found just a little bit more on all of ourselves. Really pumped to take Front Row Motorsports through five rounds of great drivers is really, really cool.”

With the 2026 In-Season Challenge title wrapped up, Todd Gilliland’s 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season resumes on August 9 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, for the Iowa Corn 350. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.

TOYOTA RACING – NCS Indianapolis Post-Race Report – 07.26.26

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

COREY HEIM DELIVERS A MASTER-CLASS AND CLAIMS VICTORY AT THE BRICKYARD
Toyota Development Driver wins second race in eighth start this season

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (July 26, 2026) – Toyota Development Driver Corey Heim continued to make history as he won the Brickyard 400, in his first attempt, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday evening. Heim and crew chief Bootie Barker had a masterful pit strategy, and Heim made it count on the final restart as he passed fellow Team Toyota driver and 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin for the win. Heim would then hold off Toyota’s Christopher Bell for his second win in just his 15th series start. Toyota has now won four of the last five Crown Jewel races, including the last two Brickyard 400’s with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Heim.

Heim led a dominate day for Team Toyota as for the second time this season (Kansas), and 17th in Toyota’s history, Toyota drivers scored four of the top-five finishes. Heim was chased to the line by Bell, while Indiana-native Chase Briscoe finished fourth and Hamlin was scored in fifth.

With four races remaining in the regular season, Hamlin holds a commanding 84-point lead in the points standings over fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick.

TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race 22 of 36 – 400 miles, 160 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, COREY HEIM
2nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
3rd, Joey Logano*
4th, CHASE BRISCOE
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
10th, TYLER REDDICK
12th, TY GIBBS
27th, ERIK JONES
28th, BUBBA WALLACE
32nd, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
36th, RILEY HERBST
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

COREY HEIM, No. 67 Field & Stream Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

Corey, drivers dream of winning here at Indianapolis. You’re just 24 years old. I’m sure this one is top of the list. What was going through your mind in the final few laps?

“Yeah, that was a damn handful. I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up. My car got really loose. I had never really been in a lot of clean air throughout the day, so that was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to just make sure I focused on exits and kept them in dirty air. I’m pretty out of breath. That was a workout. It was a dream come true. Winning at the Brickyard. That’s unbelievable. Thank you so much, fans, for coming out here. Caught a break early with the pit cycle, and just executed all day. Made no mistakes. My team, 23XI did a fantastic job with my Field & Stream Camry. First race with Field & Stream too, that’s awesome. First race, first win, so we hope we can keep it going.”

You said I’ve had to learn how to be more aggressive on restarts. Walk me through that restart with your boss, Denny Hamlin.

“Yeah, just had to be aggressive. It’s for the win. I would have to see it back to see if I did anything wrong. I think we both know we’re racing for the win. He has every right to be a little bit frustrated with me. He probably would have done the same thing. Had to be on top of it. Got a good push on the 22 (Joey Logano) to be in position, so thanks to him. Man, it’s crazy. Two for 15.”

I think you’ve dispelled the rumor that you need a lot of experience. The fans may not know you’ve never seen this place before Friday.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s unbelievable. I just studied my butt off, tried to make sure I’m prepared going into races. These guys give me unbelievably fast Camrys. Thanks to 23XI, Toyota. They’re on fire this year. I’m glad to be part of it.”

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

We saw you trying to hunt down the 67. How many times did you think you were going to be able to get to him?

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to be able to get there at all. My Rheem Toyota team were telling me he was going loose. I knew really that was going to be my only opportunity, was a mistake from him. I knew whatever it was, 35 laps, was a very long run. I just needed one bobble. If he had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there. Yeah, he did a great job. He showed excellent mental toughness. Put together 35 really good laps. I didn’t have an opportunity.”

These crown jewels, you’re not thinking about the points, but when you look at big picture, everything you have been through the last couple weeks, how does this second-place finish sit with you?

“This is a good second place. We’ve had a lot of bad second-place finishes. This one was a good one. We were buried after qualifying. Adam did great job with strategy to get us up there. Whenever we had the restart on the second row, I was really happy with our position. Yeah, just proud of Adam (Stevens, crew chief), proud of this team. We pulled together a really good day. We’ve run second a lot. There’s been bad seconds, but this one is a pretty good one.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

Were you close enough to the lead there to taste it?

“I would be lying if I didn’t on that final restart when I was rolling around the top. I could taste it for the slightest second, and then he kind of drug me back and then that was my one chance. If I could have cleared the 22 (Joey Logano) and had a run with the two leaders running side-by-side, maybe there was a chance to get it. A lot of things went our way at the end with the strategy and some of the cautions. We didn’t have quite the balance that we needed. It all started from lap one – I lost a couple of spots. With how track position dominate it was, just unfortunate to be that close. Overall great points day. With the 9 (Chase Elliott) and the 5 (Kyle Larson) having an issue, puts us right there in the in the mix of the top-five or six. Just appreciate all of the Hoosier Hospitality this week. Appreciate Mobil 1 and Toyota for running this paint scheme. It was cool to have the Mobil 1 colors on our Camry at IMS (Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We will go on to the next one.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 National Debt Relief Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

Corey told me that final restart, Denny is probably mad, but he would have done the same thing. Walk me through that from your perspective.

“Yeah, everyone is trying to fight to win the race. When you’re clear by an inch, you’re going to take that inch. It’s really more on us and the 20 (Christopher Bell) and the 19 (Chase Briscoe) of just not orchestrating good pushes there. We came detached at the wrong time. I thought the 20 obviously was on board with getting us the push. It was way too early before the restart zone. I can’t go till we get to the restart zone. He said that Briscoe was on him way, way early or laying back, one of the two. Yeah, that’s how you lose them. These restarts, when everyone kind of knows when you’re going to go, it’s about the pushes. That’s essentially where I got the lead from the 67 (Corey Heim) the restart before. Just came back the other way around. I maybe was in there just a hair into turn two, and he shut the door. I mean, yeah, everyone’s fighting for a big Brickyard victory.

You wanted this one. You were in the perfect position. Corey Heim is, on the other side of the coin, going to win a lot of races for you. How do you balance those two conflicting thoughts?

“It’s earned on their side and it’s on us as a team on the other side. I don’t know. I’m sure maybe I could have done something different on the restart with the timing of it. Man, just getting a shove so early just didn’t allow me to get my car straight before taking off. (Joey) Logano really timed the bump to the 67 (Corey Heim). I don’t know what we do different. We’re part of circumstances where the inside line didn’t get organized. Really proud of 23XI overall. That part-time effort that Bootie (Barker, crew chief) and Corey (Heim) is putting together, most times they’re on the racetrack, they’re our fastest car. They’re doing a heck of a job. Definitely a well-deserved victory.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes – 2026 Brickyard 400 Post-Race Quotes

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Brickyard 400 — Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 26, 2026

Ford Finishing Results:

3rd – Joey Logano
6th – Brad Keselowski
7th – Josh Berry
8th – Ryan Preece
11th – Chris Buescher
14th – Austin Cindric
15th – Zane Smith
22nd – Noah Gragson
24th – Todd Gilliland
26th – Ryan Blaney

TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW DOES IT FEEL TO WIN $1 MILLION? “It feels really good. Obviously, we wish we ran a little bit better than 24th today, but we did what we had to do. Really, that was the name of our game all the way throughout this challenge we just barely skated by. We were obviously a bit lucky, but we still stuck out these races. We did the best we could and luckily it was good enough, just barely every single round. It’s a big prize. One million dollars going to the team. That’s just massive. Our team deserves it. They all ramped up and worked extremely hard, so I’m just super proud of everyone for what they’ve done. Hopefully, we can keep building on this and the intensity that we’re able to achieve.” WHEN BLANEY GOT IN THE ACCIDENT WERE YOU AWARE OF WHAT WAS GOING ON? “Oh, yeah. I saw the bright yellow spinning up top, and I thought that was at least a chance for us. I was very surprised how fast he still was after that. He was right on my bumper. There was one car in between us, but fairly close for the last 25 laps or so. It was nerve racking for sure, but it’s great to feel those nerves racing for something meaningful and it was cool. I think my team deserves this, for sure.” THERE ARE NOW TWO DAVIDS IN THE FAMILY. YOUR DAD AND THIS DAVID BEAT GOLIATH. “Yeah, that’s true. I always remember seeing those things when my dad and when he and David Ragan finished first and second. That was the biggest David vs. Goliath and they were both named David, so I just saw that so much growing up. Eventually, we want to be the Goliath and we want to be the guy that is winning and racing up front, but until we’re there, we’ve got to capitalize on every opportunity and I think we did just that today.” $1 MILLION AND A NEW CONTRACT ALL IN JULY. HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU RIGHT NOW? “Life is good as Todd Gilliland right now. There’s weeks and months and years in this series that will beat you down, so you just really have to enjoy the good times. We’re very lucky to do what we get to do and it’s all I really ever wanted to do since I was a kid, so hopefully we can keep building on it. That’s the biggest thing to me is my team found another level within themselves even if it didn’t necessarily show on the racetrack. I think their intensity is up there, and I think it’s gonna be better for all of us going forward.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We broke up the Toyotas, so that’s good, but we just couldn’t get there. I was faster than them, but I got three car lengths back and that was it. I lost the air and that was it. I couldn’t go fast anymore. I needed track position. Track position won the race. You had to be on the front row there and we were one row back, but, overall, I’m proud of what Paul and Joe and everyone on the team was able to do by giving us a really fast race car again. We’ve just got to qualify better and start towards the front. We missed it on Saturday and you start 19th and you get one or two, but everyone ran the same strategy all day, so there wasn’t much opportunity there. We got to where we had a shot at it, but not good enough.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Body Guard by Fastenal Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought we had a solid day. We put ourselves in position to have a top 10 day and ended up sixth. We had a lot of good restarts and pretty good strategy, but that’s about all the speed we had.” THE LAST TWO RESTARTS WERE INTENSE. HOW DID THOSE GO FOR YOU? “It’s your last chance to make something of the race and once you get about a lap in, there’s no passing so you’ve got to make hay.” ALL THREE RFK TEAMS RAN WELL TODAY AND FINISHED IN THE TOP 11. “We had three solid days for our RFK cars, which was good. Preece caught a little bit of a break there with getting the yellow at the right time and maximized his day, and I felt like we were just solid all day.”

JOSH BERRY, No. 21 PPG Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It was a really good day. I thought we did a really good job. We struggled Friday. I thought the guys did a really good job overnight for qualifying. I know we didn’t qualify like we wanted, but we had a super early draw and felt better about the car than what we qualified and I think we just executed a really good race. It wasn’t perfect, but we had some really good restarts the second half of the race and made some progress, and we had some really good long run pace. Overall, it was a really solid day that we needed. I’m just happy to finally get a good finish.” HOW DOES THIS FEEL TO FINALLY GET A FINISH LIKE THIS WHERE NOTHING GOES WRONG? “It’s kind of like what I said at North Wilkesboro, it’s hard to explain the amount of stuff that’s worked against us at times this year. Finally, today we executed a solid race and didn’t have anything thrown at us to take us out of it, and also we had a really good Ford Mustang. That’s a big part of it, too. The car was really solid and that makes the restarts better, your pace throughout the run is obviously way better and just a really solid day.”

RYAN PREECE, No. 60 Thornton’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We’ve got a lot of work to do from our group to contend for wins, but I’m happy. Derrick really got the strategy right on that one and we just had to maintain.”

Rick Ware Racing: Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

RICK WARE RACING
Brickyard 400
Date: July 26, 2026
Event: Brickyard 400 (Round 22 of 36)
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)

Race Winner: Corey Heim of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet)

RWR Finish:

● Cody Ware (Started 37th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)

RWR Points:

● Cody Ware (35th with 183 points)

Race Notes:

● Corey Heim won the Brickyard 400 to score his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Indianapolis. His margin over second-place Christopher Bell was .287 of a second.

● There were five caution periods for a total of 27 laps.

● All but eight of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Indianapolis with an 84-point advantage over second-place Tyler Reddick.

Sound Bites:

“It was just a long, hard day. We kept making the car better, but we fired off so bad and so out of control that we had to spend the majority of the race working on it, making it better, and by the time we got it better, we didn’t have a car that had a good aero balance in traffic. So, a frustrating day.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Sky Fund Aviation Chevrolet

Next Up:

The NASCAR Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before returning to action on Sunday, Aug. 9, for the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway in Newton. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

RCR NCS Race Recap: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

Austin Dillon Pilots the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet to a 29th-Place Result at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Finish: 29th
Start: 20th
Points: 28th

“Frustrating day for the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We struggled with grip throughout the race. Our Chevy didn’t really come to life until halfway through the run, and the front would wake up. You could see the difference, and when the switch would flip, we were one of the best cars on track, especially the last six laps of the race. We’ll make notes and regroup once we get home. I’m looking forward to the off week and then getting back at it in Iowa.” -Austin Dillon

Austin Hill and the No. 33 FICO Chevrolet Team Face Adversity on Challenging Afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Finish: 33rd
Start: 32nd
Points: 30th

“Long day for our FICO Chevrolet team. On the initial start, our car fired off tight but the guys kept working on it. The front tires took a while to come in. It was really slick on top of the track in all four corners. If I missed the mark by half a tire width, the front end would just slide. Then towards the end, we got pushed into that wreck from behind. Nothing we could do. Clay (Alexander, car chief) and the guys worked extremely hard to try and get us back out, but we ran out of laps. Tough ending but we will take a much needed off week before finishing the season strong.” -Austin Hill

CHEVROLET NCS AT INDIANAPOLIS: Post-Race Report

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

NASCAR Cup Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Brickyard 400
Team Chevy Post-Race Report
July 26, 2026

Hocevar Leads Chevrolet with Top-10 Finish in the 2026 Brickyard 400

In his third career start in the Brickyard 400, Carson Hocevar turned in a top-10 finish to lead Chevrolet to the checkered flag at the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The result – his ninth top-10 finish of the season – came after the Portage, Michigan, native claimed the pole position and collected top-six points in each stage of the crown jewel event.

RACE RECAP:

Stage One:

For the second time this season, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez drove their Chevrolet’s to the top-two positions on the qualifying speed chart to sweep the front row and lead the field to the green flag for the 2026 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Choosing the inside lane, the No. 77 Chevrolet jumped out to an early lead and pulled away to over a two-second lead with just three laps complete around the famed 2.5-mile oval. While the teammates pulled away from the pack by the midway point of the opening stage, Suarez also started to make a gain towards Hocevar – closing the gap to just under a half-second before crew chief, Luke Lambert, called his driver to pit road with 19 laps to go for the team’s first scheduled stop of the day. While the opening run looked like it was going to go green all the way, the first pit cycle saw the reigning champion, Kyle Larson, en route to take over the lead. But shortly thereafter, a tire unexpectedly went down in Turn Three, sending his Chevrolet into the wall and ultimately bringing the No. 5 team’s day to an early end. Setting up for an one-lap dash to the finish, varying pit strategies saw Michael McDowell cycle up into the third position to lead the Bowtie brigade to the first green-white checkered flag.

Stage Two:

The next 50-lap stage turned into yet another long green flag run. Settled back into the runner-up position was McDowell as the field approached the second green flag pit cycle of the race. With the gamble to short-pit the stage, crew chief, Travis Peterson, called McDowell to pit road on Lap 75 for four tires and fuel, but then-race leader, Ty Gibbs, quickly followed suit. Sitting just a few cars away from a complete green flag pit cycle, Ross Chastain was one of just a handful of cars still stretching his fuel mileage – finding the top position when the caution flew with just four laps remaining in the stage. With clean-up continuing, the caution laps ultimately brought Stage Two to a close with Chastain collecting the win.

Final Stage:

With the remainder of the field completing their next scheduled stop, Hocevar was welcomed back into the top-five to take the green flag for 56 laps remaining in the race. Lining up on the inside lane for the restart, the Michigan native drove to the fourth position on the opening lap of the stage before the top-15 quickly singled out. A green flag run was building before a caution for debris came out just 10 laps into the stage. With much of the field sitting just outside the fuel window, a necessary trip to pit road saw Alex Bowman climb back into the top-10 to lead the Bowtie brigade to the restart. But the restart was short-lived when a multi-car accident on the opening lap brought the race back under the caution. With the incident shuffling the mid-portion of the leaderboard, Hocevar moved back into the top-10 and at the front of the Chevrolet camp as the field approached the green flag to mark 35 laps remaining. A nearly 12-second margin separated the top-15 of the running order for what turned into the final run of the race. Hocevar settled into the 10th position on the restart to go on and lead Team Chevy to the checkered flag of the series’ third crown jewel race of the season.

Team Chevy Unofficial Top-20 Results
Pos. Driver

9th – Carson Hocevar
13th – Cole Custer
16th – Shane van Gisbergen
17th – Daniel Suarez
18th – Michael McDowell
19th – Alex Bowman
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 6
Poles: 5
Top-Fives: 38
Top 10s: 74
Stage Wins: 16

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues in two weeks at Iowa Speedway with the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday, August 9, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes:

Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 29th

“Frustrating day for the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We struggled with grip throughout the race. Our Chevy didn’t really come to life until halfway through the run, and the front would wake up. You could see the difference, and when the switch would flip, we were one of the best cars on track, especially the last six laps of the race. We’ll make notes and regroup once we get home. I’m looking forward to the off week and then getting back at it in Iowa.”

Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the closing laps of Stage One as a tire went down on his No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet.

Finished: 39th

You guys had the car and the strategy. The team had told you to start to push it just a little bit.. is that what happened, or was it something else?

“We just had a tire let go. I wouldn’t say pushing it had anything to do with it. I was only going three-tenths quicker than I had been with saving fuel. It was just a little bit of bad luck, I guess. I’m proud of this No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet team. We qualified 10th and did what we had to do to gain the track position to get to the lead. We executed all of that really well. There was still obviously a lot of the race left, but I feel like we were positioning ourselves within the race and within the strategy to set ourselves up well to go after a win. It’s a bummer, but we’ll get back after it at Iowa (Speedway).”

Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 30th

“It was just a rough day for this No. 10 BREZTRI Chevrolet team. We really didn’t have the speed all weekend. We kept trying things, but I think we just missed it overall on the package for the weekend. We’ll build and get better from it. We’re ready for a week off to recharge and put ourselves in a better position for Iowa.”

Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Finished: 33rd

“Long day for our FICO Chevrolet team. On the initial start, our car fired off tight but the guys kept working on it. The front tires took a while to come in. It was really slick on top of the track in all four corners. If I missed the mark by half a tire width, the front end would just slide. Then towards the end, we got pushed into that wreck from behind. Nothing we could do. Clay (Alexander, car chief) and the guys worked extremely hard to try and get us back out, but we ran out of laps. Tough ending but we will take a much needed off week before finishing the season strong.”

Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 18th

“A good points day here in Indy, but that debris caution hurt us pretty badly and we had to sit on pit road longer to fill up on fuel. Track position is so important here, we had a great NEFCO Chevrolet Camaro and not the result to show for it, so that hurts because I think we had enough for a top-five day, but that’s part of it. Our whole Spire Motorsports organization was fast and we saw that in qualifying, so there is a lot to be proud of coming out of this weekend. We just needed a little bit more, but we will go into the off weekend with some solid momentum leading into the last few weeks of the regular season.”

Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Finished: 9th

“The first caution just kind of put us into a bad spot on fuel. The reason why we took tires was just because we were going to have to wait on fuel, so we might as well just put four on. I was able to pass three cars, which might have been the most in the field, it seemed like. When we got our No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet in clean air, we were kind of in our own zip code. Our lap times there at the end, we were way faster than most of the field. Overall, it was a good points day for this team. We were the top Chevy of the field, results-wise, and now were the top Chevy in the points standings, so that’s pretty good for us.”

About General Motors

General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.

GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.

JIMMIE JOHNSON TO RETURN TO ICONIC NO. 48 CAR NUMBER FOR FINAL NASCAR CUP SERIES START AT THE 2027 DAYTONA 500

By

Official Release

-

July 26, 2026

STATESVILLE, NC | July 26, 2026 — After announcing the news during today’s TNT Sports live pre-race coverage of the Brickyard 400, Jimmie Johnson confirmed that he will compete in the 2027 DAYTONA 500 with a familiar car number – the No. 48 – in the final NASCAR Cup Series start of one of the most accomplished careers in the history of American motorsports.

The announcement follows an extraordinary gesture by Rick Hendrick, Hendrick Motorsports and longtime No. 48 partner Ally Financial, who have agreed to loan Johnson the Hendrick Motorsports stylized No. 48 car number for his farewell race with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. The move will reunite Johnson with the number most closely associated with his Hall of Fame career. NASCAR has approved the one-race loan, allowing the tribute to take place without affecting the driver or owner points standings.

While Johnson’s career has evolved from champion driver to team owner, broadcaster, entrepreneur and leader, there was only one number fitting for the final NASCAR Cup Series start of his driving career.

“This is far more than a number,” Johnson said. “The 48 represents people, relationships, memories and a chapter of my life that shaped who I am. To have the opportunity to make one final Cup Series start carrying that number is something I never imagined. I’m incredibly grateful to Rick, Hendrick Motorsports, Ally and everyone who made this possible. It’s a gesture I’ll carry with me forever.”

Together, Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team won a record-tying seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, including a record five consecutive titles from 2006 through 2010. It earned 83 points-paying Cup Series victories, including two in the DAYTONA 500 and four in the Brickyard 400. Johnson’s relationship with Hendrick Motorsports remains one of the defining partnerships in NASCAR history.

Hendrick Motorsports will announce the car number for its Ally-sponsored entry in the 2027 DAYTONA 500 at a later date.

“The No. 48 is part of Hendrick Motorsports’ history, and it’s forever connected to Jimmie,” said Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “When Jimmie asked about using the number for his final race, it just felt right. Ally immediately understood why it mattered, too. They’ve always valued relationships, and their willingness to be part of this says everything about the kind of partner they are. Seeing Jimmie back in the No. 48 at Daytona one last time will be quite a moment.”

As the longtime primary partner of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 48 program, Ally joined Hendrick Motorsports in approving the one-race loan of the stylized car number. Ally was Johnson’s primary sponsor in 2019 and 2020, his final full-time season in the Cup Series.

“The 48 has always stood for something bigger than racing: a relationship built on trust, shared wins, and a fanbase that gives everything they have,” said Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s Chief Marketing and PR officer. “Jimmie is part of the Ally family, and the chance to see him at Daytona one last time with that number is something our fans deserve as much as he does. We’re proud to be part of making this moment happen.”

For Johnson, whose personal philosophy has become Never Stop Starting, the significance reaches beyond nostalgia. His final NASCAR Cup Series race is not simply the end of one of the sport’s greatest careers – it’s one final start in the number that began it all.

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (LEGACY MC) is a premier auto racing organization owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmie Johnson and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. Drawing from a rich tradition of success, LEGACY MC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and setting new standards of excellence. The CLUB competes under the Toyota Racing banner in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE piloted by Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE driven by John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson also races on a limited basis in the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE. With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Richard Petty, “The King”, serving as CLUB Ambassador, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB blends timeless racing traditions with a new forward-thinking vision. As an inclusive community for motorsport enthusiasts, LEGACY MC honors both its storied past and the promising future of its members, always striving for victory and championship glory at the pinnacle of NASCAR competition.

ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: Founded by Rick Hendrick in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. At the sport’s premier level, the organization holds the all-time records in every major statistical category, including championships (15), points-paying race victories and laps led. It has earned at least one race win in a record 42 different seasons, including an active streak of 41 in a row (1986-2026). The team fields four full-time Chevrolet entries in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, and one in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series with newcomer Corey Day. Headquartered on more than 150 acres in Concord, North Carolina, Hendrick Motorsports employs approximately 500 people. For more information, please visit HendrickMotorsports.com or interact on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X.

About Ally Financial
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) includes the nation’s largest all-digital bank and auto finance business, driven by a mission to “Do It Right” for its customers and communities. Ally is a U.S. financial holding company with $200 billion in assets and 9.6 million customers (June 30, 2026). Ally Bank, Member FDIC, offers online banking products, including high-yield savings and no hidden fee checking, and was the first major U.S. bank to eliminate overdraft fees. Ally also provides investing solutions through Ally Invest, including online brokerage, automated investing, IRAs and personal financial advice. As a leader in auto finance, Ally provides consumer and dealer financing, insurance, and vehicle remarketing services. Ally’s seasoned corporate finance business provides capital to equity sponsors and middle-market companies. Visit ally.com.

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

A Star Is Born: Part-Timer Heim Makes History With Brickyard 400 Win

KALITTA, TODD & ANDERSON RACE TO WINS AT MUCKLESHOOT CASINO RESORT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

Corey Heim wins the Brickyard 400 for his second Cup career victory

Results:

Todd Gilliland wins the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

TOYOTA RACING – NCS Indianapolis Post-Race Report – 07.26.26

Ford Racing Notes and Quotes – 2026 Brickyard 400 Post-Race Quotes

Rick Ware Racing: Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis

RCR NCS Race Recap: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

CHEVROLET NCS AT INDIANAPOLIS: Post-Race Report

JIMMIE JOHNSON TO RETURN TO ICONIC NO. 48 CAR NUMBER FOR FINAL NASCAR CUP SERIES START AT THE 2027 DAYTONA 500

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

Site Map

Archives

Popular Category