XFINITY Series Back in Indianapolis

The NASCAR Xfinity rolls back home again to Indiana for the fifth annual Lilly Diabetes 250 at the historic 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is the fourth and final installment of the Dash4Cash, a heat race spectacular. Officially 41 cars are competing for 40 spots in Saturday’s qualifying session. 

 

There have only been four races at Indianapolis due to the recent move from Lucas Oil Raceway. Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne are the only two drivers to have won a pole at the speedway. Three different drivers have made their way into victory lane. In 2014, Ty Dillon became the youngest winner. In 2015, Kyle Busch became the oldest winner at Indianapolis for the Xfinity series. Two races have been won from the pole position. The last race to be won from the pole was in 2015 by Busch. Dillon holds the race record sarin 2014 with a speed of 137.153 mph. Busch holds the qualifying record set in 2015 at 180.527 mph. 

 

Goodyear is giving teams six sets of tires for the race weekend. Tire codes will be the same as the Cup series. Tires will align for what was run at Pocono Raceway in early June.

 

The Lilly Diabetes 250 will feature two heats at 20 laps each. The first two NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars in each heat will move to race for the $100,00 bonus in the 60 lap main event. 

 

“I think the biggest thing about the Brickyard is the prestige, the track’s history and quality of racing – all the historic finishes it’s had over the years, whether it has been IndyCar or NASCAR. To me, it’s a special place to go to because of its heritage of being Indianapolis. Every guy in NASCAR and, especially every guy in IndyCar, they want to win there. Getting our Skittles Camry to victory lane there two years in a row would be special for a lot of reasons,” stated Kyle Busch about what it means to race at Indianapolis in his weekly press release.

 

Paul Menard, who is pulling double duty this weekend, talks about the prestige of racing in Indiana in a weekly press release. “Indy has a special meaning to me for sure. It’s the greatest race track in the world. It’s the one I circle every year, even before I won there. I spent a lot of time there as a kid watching IndyCar races. I was at the inaugural Brickyard 400. At one point I could name every Indy 500 winner from 1911 through probably the mid-90’s. I’ve forgotten most of them now but could still probably name quite a few. I was and still am a big history geek. I love history, especially at Indianapolis. I’m looking forward to another shot at a win this weekend with Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and the Richmond/Menards team. It should be fun.”

 

“Indy just brings a lot of excitement. It’s so historical and when you drive in the track, it’s a pretty big deal. I’ll never forget my first time at Indy; I wanted to lift a lot earlier in the corners. Most places we go to, you can see the exit. At Indy, it looks like you’re driving straight into a wall. You turn and see another wall. You turn one more time and then you have a huge straightaway,” said Blake Koch, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular.

 

In the only two practice sessions of the weekend, Busch was the fastest in each. Qualifying for the Lilly Diabetes 250will begin at 11:40 am on NBCSN. The race will begin at 3:30 pm on NBCSN and IMS Radio Network, in conjunction with Performance Racing Network.

Caleb Whisler
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