Biggest NASCAR Storylines to Watch Ahead of Sprint Cup Series at the Brickyard
"Kiss the bricks" sounds insulting unless you’re in Indiana and, specifically, at the Brickyard for the Jeff Kyle 400.
Dale Jarrett, an NBC NASCAR analyst, won the Brickyard 400 in 1996 and speaks fondly of that time. At the time, he spoke with his crew chief, Todd Parrott, saying he wanted to do something akin to the spirit of drinking milk, the tradition for the Indy 500.
Jarrett said on NASCAR.com:
"I was like, "Well, let's go out to the start/finish line, the yard of bricks that are there." Todd's like, "Yeah, that's cool." I said, "We can get a great picture down the front straightaway with all the fans and everything."
So the talk went on, and Todd said, "Let's kiss the bricks." I said, "It's never obviously been done." Didn't enter my mind, so that's how it came about.
"
Jeff Gordon kissed those bricks for a record fifth time in 2014, so now it’s onto a new year and new race.
Read on for this week’s storylines.
Chase Elliott Saddles Up the No. 25 Car
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Chase Elliott makes his fourth and final Sprint Cup start of 2015 at the Brickyard, and it should play favorably for him. He made his debut on Martinsville’s paperclip—one of the most technically difficult courses to navigate—and finished 38th.
He ran a respectable 18th at Charlotte after starting 28th, so that means he knows how to thread his powerful Chevy through the field.
Jeff Gordon, Elliott’s teammate in the Hendrick Motorsports garage, told Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star, “He’s such a talent. Rick and I watched him all of last year, and it was obvious he’d be ready to fully move up next year. Expect great things from him sooner rather than later.”
Elliott seems undaunted by the pressure because, in essence, there is no pressure. He can let it rip. There’s no Sprint Cup on the line or Chase hopes. It’s practice for the big time when he replaces Gordon.
Then there will be pressure.
Jeff Gordon Goes for No. 6 (and No. 1)
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Every week at about this time, we like to explore the likelihood of Gordon earning that elusive first win in this his farewell season.
In 2015, Gordon has an average finish of 14.3. A year ago, he averaged 10.4 with four wins. It makes his 2015 season look that much worse, but Gordon’s current form is reflective of the past few years.
Going back to 2010 (the last season he was held winless), his average finishes were 13.4, 13.0, 14.1, 14.4 and 10.4.* So maybe 2015 is simply more of the same, or, put more directly, 2014 was an aberration in the twilight years of his illustrious career.
That said, he is the record holder with five wins at the Brickyard, with his most recent one coming a year ago. He ranks 10th in the Sprint Cup standings but 12th in the Chase Grid. (Gordon ranks higher in points than winners Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.)
Gordon has a 71-point buffer between himself and the No. 16 spot in the Chase Grid.
A win at the Brickyard will quell those worries. Team owner Rick Hendrick loved last year's win.
"I told [Gordon] this morning, 'This is your day,'" Hendrick said in Reid Spencer's NASCAR.com story from 2014. "For him to break that tie [with Johnson], it's pretty special. I remember the first one [1994] and how good it felt. This one feels just as good."
*Fun fact: In 1998, the year when Gordon won 13 races, his average finish was 5.7. Bananas.
Can Ryan Newman Summon a Win?
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Ryan Newman hasn’t won a race in nearly two years. That's less than Aric Almirola. That last race? The Brickyard 400.
It was your typical steamy July afternoon before thousands of fans when Newman went down and kissed the bricks. It was an emotional, charming victory for a guy whose temperament normally aligns with that of a bridge troll. He said in an Associated Press story following that win (h/t ESPN.com):
"I had the same emotion, the same thankfulness I did when I won the Daytona 500 because I feel everybody that has been a part of my racing career—from people that bought my racing uniform, bought me a right rear tire, given us a credit card to get to some race track at some point in my career—those are the people that helped me get to where I am today.
"
But where he is today is a different place. Newman, in this pseudo-post-points era of NASCAR, nearly won the Chase in 2014 without a win. That’s like a baseball team winning the World Series without hitting a home run...all season.
In 2015, Newman scored four top-fives and returns to the track where he has the one victory and three top-fives. He’s had his travails in 2015 (He was docked 75 points after a failed tire inspection), and he’s still on the Chase Grid (14th).
At this point, is it even likely he has the speed to win? We’ll see.
When Will Kyle Larson Turn It Around?
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Kyle Larson was the 2014 Rookie of the Year, but it’s his sophomore campaign that sees him driving like a first-year.
Following the 5-Hour Energy 301 at Loudon, a forlorn Larson could do little but groan about his No. 42 car and its inability to crack the top 20 this season in his post-race NBC Sports interview. This year looked like a lock to earn that first career victory, especially after a 2014 season that saw him chew up 17 top-10s.
His average finish in 2014 was 14.2. Contrast that to this year: 21.0 for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Perhaps a pep talk was in order. If only there were, say, an NFL head coach available for a speech...
Ron Rivera, the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, visited CGR headquarters and gave the organization a motivational speech of the halftime varietal. Rivera told NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert:
"And I know at the end of the day, they've still got seven weeks left. They have every opportunity to get into the Chase for the Cup, so who knows. That's really the message, that they can control it. They control their own destiny, and the truth of the matter is, on any given Sunday, they're the best race team and they've got a chance to win.
"
Maybe that will sink in for Larson. Jamie McMurray, his teammate, is 11th on the Chase Grid, and Ganassi wants the No. 1 car to have company in the Challenger Round and beyond.
“We've got seven weeks till the playoffs begin, and we want to have both cars in,” Ganassi said.
As Kyle Busch's World Turns
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Kyle Busch, the most interesting thing to happen to NASCAR all year, earned his third win of the season Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That’s second behind only the stagnating Jimmie Johnson.
Yet, as you’re fully aware, Busch remains outside the boundaries of the Chase Grid with seven races to go in the regular season.
If David Gilliland, who currently sits in 30th place in the Sprint Cup standings, has never experienced what it’s like to be chased by a bear, Busch’s charge up the standings is just as scary.
“I'm not sure we've unleashed the beast at all,” Busch said in Ed Graney’s Las Vegas Review-Journal column.
Oh, boy.
Busch continued, “We're just taking one race at a time and doing everything that we need to do to have the right opportunities come our way.”
It may seem as though he’s guaranteed to catch Gilliland in 30th, but Busch is about as streaky a driver as they come. He’s just as likely to finish 43rd as he his first. He had four DNFs in 2014 and still had an average finish of 17.6.
This year could be different. He doesn’t have the luxury of time, and that kind of focus has already brought the Chase to his doorstep.
It’s a chase for the Chase, a one-man playoff run, and he’s only 58 points behind with seven races to go.
I hang out on Twitter @BrendanOMeara.
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