The NASCAR Cup Series drivers head to iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday July 21. This is the 22nd race of the regular season, so time is running out for drivers on the outside looking in to claim a playoff spot. There are only four races left after this weekend, but at least all of them will be on oval tracks.

The race at Indy was the Verizon 200 on the road course over the last three years, but the Cup Series went back to the more traditional oval and the drivers will run 160 laps around the 2.5-mile asphalt track.

The playoff picture was not really altered last week, as Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag at Pocono. There are 12 winners occupying the 16 playoff spots, as Blaney picked up his second win of the season. That means that there are only four playoff spots left and five races left to run.

Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and William Byron all have three wins each. Bowman and Logano are the most recent additions to the “one win” group, which also includes Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Cindric. Blaney is the only driver with two wins.

Bell’s 24 Bonus Playoff Points are the most. Larson is a close second with 23. Hamlin finally cracked the 20-point threshold with the win in Stage 2 last week to go along with a strong second-place finish. There are 18 total drivers with playoff points and five – Bell, Larson, Hamlin, Byron, and Blaney – in double digits.

The first playoff race is the Quaker State 400 on September 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

For the second week in a row, NASCAR heads to a 2.5-mile flat track as the Cup Series returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

Just last week, the series was at Pocono Raceway, which should give us a good idea of who is going to be fast at IMS this weekend. While the tracks aren't directly comparable, Pocono is easily the most similar track to Indianapolis, and it should be the basis for much of our early-week analysis.

That's especially true considering that much of the field doesn't have experience on the Indianapolis oval since the series has run on the road course the last three years.

Brickyard 400 betting at BetMGM

Favorites
▪️ Tyler Reddick +375
▪️ Denny Hamlin +425
▪️ Kyle Larson +550

Highest Ticket%
▪️ Kyle Larson 9.9%
▪️ Denny Hamlin 9.2%
▪️ Chase Elliott 6.8%

Highest Handle%
▪️ Denny Hamlin 16.3%
▪️ Kyle Larson 12.1%
▪️ Tyler Reddick 10.5%