NASCAR Insider predicts winner, top-5 finishers, dark horse to win Brickyard 400

The Brickyard 400 makes its return Sunday for the first time since 2020, with NASCAR running the infield road course in each of the last three seasons.

Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports is going with Denny Hamlin to win the Brickyard 400 and kiss the bricks after 160 laps. Hamlin has had a Hall of Fame career, but one notable achievement missing is a Cup Series victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In 15 prior Cup Series starts on the IMS oval, Hamlin has tallied eight top 10s and finished inside the top-three on three occasions. He’s been close, but never gotten it done at IMS. Hamlin admitted on this week’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that he wants to “win bad” at IMS.

“I want to win it bad,” Hamlin said. “I also know that I need to control what I can control, do my job on the racetrack, off the racetrack. This is gonna be a race that can be frustrating. You can have a very, very fast car and if you put that fast car in 10th place, it’s gonna be tough. It’ll be tough to come back from that. It comes from executing right when you unload to the checkered flag. I just got to make sure I do my job to the best of my ability and if we do, we’re gonna have a great shot. But I wanna win bad.”

Who can challenge Denny Hamlin in Brickyard 400?

Rounding out Pockrass’ top-five are Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. Clearly, Pockrass isn’t expecting much change in the top-five as those four drivers, as well as Hamlin, make up the starting top-five.

Elliott has just one top-10 finish in six career starts at IMS but has remained the most consistent driver this season. He sits three points ahead of Larson for the regular season championship who like Elliott, has never won at IMS. Larson finished P5 back in 2016.

Reddick enters Sunday’s race in arguably the best form of the entire field, having tallied seven top 10s in the eight races coming out of the All-Star break. Reddick, however, has been unable to notch his second victory of the season, his first coming at Talladega back in April. He starts from the pole position Sunday.

Byron is rounding into form with the playoffs approaching, finishing eighth at Chicago and fourth at Pocono. His best finish in three Brickyard 400 starts is fourth in 2019.

Pockrass’ long shot to win is Chris Buescher, who is in desperate need of a victory. Buescher flirted with Victory Lane earlier in the season and is paying for it now. He is just 44 points clear of the playoff cutline, though he has recorded three top 5s in his last six starts.