Ryan Blaney isn’t one to embrace the David vs. Goliath characterization of the final round of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, which will play out in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“If they’re making it a David vs. Goliath story, that’s not good for me,” Blaney quipped. “I recall that David won that battle.”
Clearly, Blaney is the Goliath in the equation. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford is a two-time winner this season, most recently at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) on July 12. Blaney and teammate Joey Logano have combined to win the last two races in the Cup Series.
Gilliland, on the other hand, has never won a NASCAR Cup Series race. In 165 starts, he has scored two top fives—one at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course and one at Talladega Superspeedway.
Yet Gilliland has survived the first four rounds of the In-Season Challenge. In the semifinals last Sunday at North Wilkesboro Speedway, he finished eighth and took advantage of a mid-cycle caution to oust Chase Elliott.
“I definitely think we’ve had luck on our side, but if you get past four or five drivers at this point, it’s always going to take a little bit of luck,” Gilliland said. “I felt our speed was much better at North Wilkesboro, so I feel like we earned that one more.
“I’m excited about it. It’s been something fun for my team to focus on. They’re pushing super hard for Indianapolis, so it’s been cool to see those guys rise up to the occasion, and we’re hoping for one more really good week.”
The In-Season Challenge, of course, is far from the only drama at Indianapolis this weekend. Five races remain before the cutoff for the postseason Chase, and the race for the final spots gained a bit of clarity at North Wilkesboro.
Austin Cindric finished 14th to hold the 16th position in the standings, the last Chase-eligible spot, by 33 points over 17th-place Erik Jones. That’s the largest gap all season between drivers in those two positions.
Nevertheless, there’s the prospect for extreme volatility in the standings, as exemplified by series leader Denny Hamlin’s charge from 129 points behind Tyler Reddick to 68 points ahead over the course of nine races.
Even with Hamlin expanding his points lead, however, Blaney has gained on the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Over the last five races, Blaney, the third-place driver in the standings, has cut 78 points off Hamlin’s advantage—from 165 points behind to 87.
Defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace is 13th in the standings with a relatively comfortable 69-point margin above the current cut line, but another strong showing at the iconic 2.5-mile oval would solidify his position even further.
“Just beginning to relive that and bring up those conversations has been fun,” Wallace said of his most recent Cup Series victory. “We’ve had a lot of speed every time we’ve shown up at Indy, so, yeah, looking forward to it.”
In 2024, the NASCAR Cup Series returned to the Indianapolis oval after a three-year absence, with Kyle Larson winning the race. Larson, who finished second last year, comes to the Brickyard this season in the throes of a 45-race winless streak.
— NASCAR News Wire —