Denny Hamlin had another bittersweet moment at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Sure, one of his 23XI Racing drivers reached victory lane at a crown jewel race. Again. But for Hamlin, it also was a brutal reminder about how frustrating the Brickyard 400 has been for him. Eighteen starts, no wins and another top-five finish. The good news: All is not lost. The 45-year-old Hamlin heads into a rare midseason weekend off still leading in points, as one of four drivers locked into the playoffs and second in wins as everyone else spend the next four races trying to fill the other 12 playoffs spots. In the meantime, Hamlin can start game-planning to add the other missing link on his resume — a Cup championship.

Todd Gilliland reached the final round of NASCAR’s second In-Season Challenge by taking advantage of all the right breaks. Daniel Suarez suffered an early tire problem in Round 1 at Sonoma and finished 31st. Carson Hocevar crashed early at Chicago in Round 2. Alex Bowman finished two laps behind the leaders at Atlanta in Round 3, then made a pit lane mistake at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, that helped eliminate Chase Elliott and put Gilliland in Sunday’s finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So, naturally, the self-described underdog persevered again. He sifted his way through traffic, avoided trouble and took advantage of Ryan Blaney’s late crash to collect the $1 million prize.

Corey Heim passed team co-owner Denny Hamlin on the final restart Sunday then held off the hard-charging cars of Christopher Bell and Joey Logano to capture his first Brickyard 400 crown. The 24-year-old has won twice this season, even though he won’t be driving full-time in NASCAR’s Cup series until next season. He’s the first Cup driver to win twice in his first 15 career starts since A.J. Foyt in 1965. Heim did it this time with a daring outside move to overtake Hamlin, then leading the final 35 laps and holding off Bell by 0.287 seconds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s historic 2.5-mile oval. Logano, last week’s winner, finished third, 0.972 seconds behind, again keeping team owner Roger Penske out of victory lane.

RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski says his team exercised its option on Ryan Preece “a few months ago,” keeping the driver with the team through next season. The 35-year-old Connecticut native has started all 21 NASCAR races this season for RFK Racing and has posted four top 10 finishes, none in the top five. He ranks 18th in points as he tries to make the 16-driver playoff for the first time in his career. Preece had a career best three top five finishes in 2025 when he finished 18th in points and just missed the playoff.