Corey Heim Earns 2nd NASCAR Cup Series Win at the Brickyard

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN — July 26, 2026

The NASCAR Cup Series takes on Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the regular season entering its final stretch. With only five races remaining, every point matters as drivers battle to secure their spot in The Chase.

• Indianapolis – 2.5-mile oval
• Iowa – 7/8-mile short track
• Richmond – ¾-mile short track
• New Hampshire – 1-mile flat oval
• Daytona – 2.5-mile high-banked drafting trac

The 2.5-mile track will also host the Champions Round of the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge, where (No. 3 seed) Ryan Blaney and (No. 25 seed) Todd Gilliland will battle for the $1 million grand prize.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 by a partnership of four local businessmen whose primary purpose was to develop a track that would be a testing facility for the growing Indianapolis auto industry (by 1913, the Indianapolis area was the second largest automobile producer in the US). In November 2019, Roger Penske bought IMS and the IndyCar series. The Indy oval was raced on from 1994-2020, then switched to the Indy Road Course (2021-2023) before returning to the oval in 2024.

Crown Jewel Storylines

• Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers with seven wins in Crown Jewel races
• Denny Hamlin can become the 5th driver to complete the Grand Slam of Crown Jewel events with a win at Indy

• Three drivers have won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, including Jamie McMurray and Jimmie
  Johnson
• Three times a driver won the Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400 in the same season: Jeff Gordon twice, and Dale Jarrett

Denny Hamlin has won nearly everything NASCAR has to offer. The Brickyard 400 presented by PPG remains the biggest race victory missing from his résumé, and at 45 years old, Hamlin knows opportunities to change that are running short.

“This is one I’ve been searching to win all of my career,” he said. “I would value this win as much as any in my career.”

Is today the day? Hamlin starts fifth today at Indy.

Today’s Race

Michigan native Carson Hocevar said Indianapolis Motor Speedway is his favorite racetrack. He used that enthusiasm to drive himself to the pole position for today’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG. He’ll be joined on the front row by teammate Daniel Suarez, who gave Spire Motorsports a front row lockout of the NASCAR Crown Jewel race.

Today marks Ryan Blaney’s 400th start in the Cup Series. The driver who led the most laps won only three of the last 10 Brickyard 400s. The final lead change came in the last eight laps in five of the last eight Brickyard 400s. Six of the last eight Brickyard 400s went into overtime, including the last three. The last six Brickyard 400s had an average of 11 DNFs. The final green flag stretch was nine laps or less in the last eight Brickyard 400. Bubba Wallace is the defending champion of the race.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a 2.5-Mile Asphalt Oval, and the 400-mile race consists of 160 laps around the circuit. Stages for Indy today are 50/50/60 laps. Indianapolis has the narrowest pit lane in the Cup Series.

Stage One

Carson Hocevar(77) fired off from the pole to lead the opening laps. Quickly building a 2.5-second lead interval on Daniel Suarez(7). Tyler Reddick(45), Denny Hamlin(11), and Ty Gibbs(54) rounded out the top five.

Green flag pit stops began at lap 25, midway through the First Stage. Gibbs was the first of the leaders to enter pit road, coming in on lap 31. The leader came to pit road on lap 33, relinquishing the lead to Daniel Suarez(7).

Several drivers opted to stay out and run long on the first series of pit stops. Led by Hamlin, Reddick, Corey Heim(67), Alex Bowman(48), and Cole Custer(41).

Hamlin pitted on lap 41, Reddick came to pit road one lap later. Just as pit stops were finishing, Kyle Larson had a tire go down and spun between turns three and four, crashing into the outside wall on lap 45. Terminal damage to his race car retired the #5 to the garage. Larson would have been the leader after completing his stop earlier and exiting the pits in a timely fashion. Ty Gibbs inherited the lead with Carson Hocevar in second.

During the caution, some drivers outside the top 10 chose to return to pit road and top off their fuel tanks. Those who stayed on track are fighting for Stage points.

Gibbs drove away on the restart with one lap to go in the Stage and grabbed the green and white checkered flag.

Results of Stage One

Stage Two

Most drivers stayed out during the Stage-ending caution, as pit strategy seems to be to try to complete the 160-lap distance with just three pit stops. Gibbs and Heim lead the field back to green. Clean air appears to be a huge factor in today’s race as Gibbs drove away into the lead with an advantage of two seconds over Michael McDowell(71) in second. Heim, Hocevar, and Hamlin followed.

On lap 61, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.(47) got into Chase Elliott(9), forcing the second-generation driver into the outside wall. The contact was minimal, but it flattened the right rear tire and damaged the toe link, sending Elliott to the pits for an extended repair.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 74 as Daniel Suarez was the first of the leaders to pit. Ty Gibbs pitted from the lead two laps later. The teams on the early pit-stop strategy will likely have to make four stops during the race.

Daniel Dye(78) spun and hit the wall with four laps to go. If they cannot restart the race, Ross Chastain(1) and Todd Gilliland(34) are going to coast around under yellow and cash in on Stage points, as they were the last two drivers who had not pitted for fuel.

Results of Stage Two

The Final Stage

Gibbs and Heim sit in the front row for the restart, and it’s Gibbs who pulls away as Hamlin drops in behind. The caution waved on lap 115 for debris on the race track, just outside of the window, to complete the race with a fuel stop. However, when pit road opened with 44 laps to go, almost the entire field came in.

Corey Heim won the race off pit road with Hamlin, Joey Logano(22), Christopher Bell(20), and Chase Briscoe(19) following.

On the restart, Heim had to drop low to block Joey Logano from going three-wide into turn one. This allows Hamlin to take the lead. Three wide down the backstretch into turn three, Ryan Blaney and John Hunter Nemechek(42) get together and spin, bringing out the caution. That could be a million-dollar bonus for Gilliland as he passes Blaney, avoiding the wreck and taking the lead of the In-Season Challenge.

The caution laps needed to clean up the track after the accident will eliminate any fuel mileage concerns, as long as crews got the tank full on the last pit stop.

The restart will come with 34 laps to go. Denny Hamlin lines up on the inside lane next to Corey Heim, his driver at 23XI Racing. With his teammate at JGR, Christopher Bell, sitting behind him in row two. Last week’s winner, Joey Logano, lines up behind Heim.

With a push from Logano, Heim takes the lead. Bell, Logano, and Briscoe move ahead of Hamlin, who drops to fifth place. Gilliland runs 24th with Blaney in the 28th position in the race for the Million Dollars.

With 20 laps to go, Heim and Bell run two car lengths apart with Logano closing. Briscoe and Hamlin are dropping back, losing time to the top three. One car separates Gilliland and Blaney as the final two In-Season Challengers fight it out.

With 10 laps to go, throw a blanket over the top three. When they begin to jockey for a position to grab the win, the running order could change.

Corey Heim holds on for the win, and Todd Gilliland will cash the million-dollar check, holding off Blaney over the final laps.

NASCAR Cup Series Points Standings

Results of the Brickyard 400 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway