Verizon 200 at the Brickyard: Power Rankings

Race Information

Race: Verizon 200 at the Brickyard
Laps: 82
Date: August 15^th @ 1:00pm
Venue: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
2020 Winner: Kevin Harvick (3:16:05)
Network: NBC

Track

Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Opened in 1909 (yes you read that right), this asphalt/brick 2.5 mile oval track really allows the racers to open up a bit. It is the 5th longest track on the NASCAR circuit and it’s the longest oval track at more than twice as long as the New Hampshire Motor Speedway (the next longest). It has 9 degree banking on its turns and is good old open racing. This track, which can hold over 250,000 spectators—the highest capacity sports venue in the world—is the first to be called a “speedway.”

Photo by John Marsh/EMPICS via Getty Images

Favorites

Kevin Harvick (sixth selection this year) – To be honest, you win an event in back-to-back years and I have to put you as a favorite to potentially do it a third consecutive year.

Brad Keslowski (fifth selection this year) — Take away the accident he had in lap 48 of the 2019 race (and subsequent 38^th place finish) and he has top 4^th place finishes here each of the last four years. Even in the year he got into an accident he was among the top racers before wrecking.

High Risk/High Reward

Ryan Newman (fourth selection this year) — Ryan had top 10 finishes in 2017, 2018, and 2019 at Indianapolis. He was 34^th last year after he had an accident on the 60^th lap. He is going to need this to offset the string of six consecutive races finishing outside the top 20.

Ryan Blaney (eighth selection this year). Ryan had a car issue which limited him to 32^nd here last year. He finished 7^th in 2019 and 11^th in 2018. He finished among the top 15 in seven of his last nine races.

The Dark Horse

Aric Almirola (seventh selection this year) — Aric finished 23^rd here in 2018, he improved to 14^th in 2020 and 3^rd last year. He won two weeks ago in New Hampshire but that was one of three top 10 finishes this season.

Fun Fact: This track was made using 3.2 million bricks.

2021 Results

Favorite: Average Finish 13th (34^th Percent)
High Risk/High Reward: Average Finish 17^th (43^rd Percent)
Dark Horse: Average Finish 18^th (46^th Percent)