Your guide to Indianapolis Brickyard race weekend
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Brickyard weekend in 2022. Photo: Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Start your engines, it's race weekend.
What's happening: Six races from three different series at two different tracks make Indianapolis the nation's racing capital starting Friday.
What to know: Here's a rundown on the open-wheel and stock car races.
Verizon 200 at the Brickyard: The NASCAR Cup series will run on the 14-turn, 2.4-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the third year in a row, part of an effort to reinvigorate the venerable Brickyard Weekend's premier show.
- Top storyline: The previous three Cup road races were won by three different drivers, making this anyone's contest.
- What to watch: Supercars champion and series newcomer Shane van Gisbergen from New Zealand won the Chicago street race. Mitchell-native Chase Briscoe is back on his home-state track with something to prove, too.
- If you go: 2:30pm Sunday at IMS. $35 general admission.
Gallagher Grand Prix: The open-wheel IndyCar series will take 85 laps on the road course, the third visit this season in a Saturday doubleheader.
- Top storyline: Team Penske's Josef Newgarden returns to IMS for the first time since winning the Indianapolis 500 in May and ranks second in the series with just four races left.
- What to watch: Reigning series champion Will Power has won one race in 16 consecutive seasons, while Scott Dixon's streak sits at 18. Neither has won yet this season.
- If you go: 2pm Saturday at IMS. $35 general admission.
Of note: If you want to see the up-and-coming open-wheel drivers on the same course, the Indy NXT race is 4:50pm Friday at IMS.
Pennzoil 150: NASCAR's Xfinity series stock cars will take the next turns on the track after the IndyCar run.
- What to watch: A.J. Allmendinger knows road courses from his open-wheel racing days and proved it with a win last year. He's competing in both NASCAR races at the Brickyard.
- If you go: 5:30pm Saturday at IMS.
TSport 200: The NASCAR Craftsman Truck series will race just about 10 miles west on the 0.7-mile oval at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg.
- What to watch: A traditional short track racing at an affordable $35 ticket price — and more bumping and excitement than you'll find in the big leagues.
- If you go: 9pm Friday at IRP.
Reese's 200: The ARCA Menards Series is where you can watch the next generation of NASCAR drivers. Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowan raced in this league in recent years.
- What to watch: Promising hometown kid Zachary Tinkle will race for Toyota in the 200-lap, or 137-mile, contest.
- If you go: 6pm Friday at IRP. $35 general admission.