Story By: JORDAN WOOD / WOOD BROTHERS RACING – STUART, VA – NASCAR’s elite Cup Series returns to the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, with the race being contested on the legendary 2.5-mile oval after running the speedway’s road course the past three years.
Harrison Burton will be making his first start on the famed Brickyard track, but it’s a familiar venue for his Draiver-sponsored, Wood Brothers team.
The Woods have raced Cup cars at the Brickyard 26 times, with four top-10 finishes – in the first two Brickyard 400s and in two of the last three, with Paul Menard driving the Woods’ Ford in the latter.
Crew chief Jeremy Bullins has raced there as a crew chief six times, with four finishes of 12th or better. He said he’s really excited to be back on the 2.5-mile track known around the world for more than a century.
“To me one of the coolest things that we get to do is race at historical venues, and going back to race on the oval in Indianapolis is as awesome as it gets,” he said. “There’s nowhere that compares when it comes to motorsports history on our schedule, and it’s a privilege for us to get to race there.”
Bullins said he and the team have prepared an eye-catching Mustang Dark Horse, and he’s anxious to get it on track and tune it for the 400-mile run.
“We have an awesome paint scheme again with our Draiver Ford, and we look forward to a 50-minute practice to try to get our handling dialed in for Sunday’s race.”
That practice session is set to start at 2:35 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, with qualifying getting underway at 1:05 p.m. Saturday. Live coverage of practice will be available on the NBC Sports App, while USA Network will broadcast qualifying.
Sunday’s 160-lap, 400-mile race is scheduled to start just after 2:30 p.m., with Stage breaks planned for Laps 50 and 100.
NBC will carry the TV coverage.