INDIANAPOLIS — The return of the Brickyard 400 means the return of another crown jewel event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule to the drivers who want to win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.
Denny Hamlin is the best NASCAR Cup Series driver who has never won the Brickyard 400. He has countless other victories in other crown jewel events including three Daytona 500 wins — going back-to-back in 2019 and 2020 — three wins in the Southern 500 and a victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2022.
Hamlin is also the best driver in NASCAR who has yet to win the NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
First things first, however, and that comes in Sunday’s 30th Anniversary of the Brickyard 400.
In terms of prestige, he puts it next to the Southern 500 – the annual Labor Day Weekend Classic at Darlington Raceway that began in 1950.
“Obviously, it doesn’t have the prestige of the (Daytona) 500s, but I would say, the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400 to me is kind of equal in its prestige,” Hamlin said. “We’ve got three of those Southern 500s, so it put its right there with that Coke 600 and Southern 500s.”
It’s a big race to win for the drivers because the greatest names in racing history have competed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is also a huge race for his Joe Gibbs Racing team because any event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway means they have beaten the absolute best of the best in that form of racing.
“It means a lot,” Hamlin said. “Certainly, from my standpoint, there’s only so many more opportunities I’ll have here at the oval. So, it’s a big emphasis because it’s a gaping hole on the résumé and would complete all the majors.
“But Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) wants it pretty bad, too. He’s a little hurt over 2020 and how that ended. I think, without a doubt, going into this weekend, he had spent a little extra time on this car making sure all the details were looked after and he brought me the fastest car he could.”
The sting of 2020 is still real for Hamlin. He was leading the race and appeared on his way to victory when his right front tire blew, and he hit the turn 1 wall.
That disappointment still resonates with the driver who is also co-team owner of 23XI Racing along with basketball great Michael Jordan.
One of Hamlin’s drivers, Tyler Reddick, won the pole Saturday for the Brickyard 400, knocking Hamlin off the pole over to the outside of the front row.
The 2020 Brickyard 400 was the last time the NASCAR Cup Series competed on the famed 2.5-mile oval. From 2021 to 2023, the race was moved to the IMS Road Course for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
Hamlin was confident that he would one day get another chance to win the Brickyard 400. Last year, NASCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials believed the 30th anniversary was the right time to bring back a crown jewel to the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
“I always thought we were going to come back here (oval) one day,” Hamlin said. “Just never resigned to the fact that the road course here was going to be a permanent thing.
“But I just didn’t know how long my career would go at that point, right? I was 40 (years old) and so, I mean, I don’t have that many chances left.
“It’s less than what’s on my hand, I think. So, you just have to take advantage of every opportunity.
“2020 was an enormous opportunity. 2018 was a very underrated opportunity. Brad (Keselowski) caught a big yellow that was just untimely for us.
“Overall, I feel like I’ve always been in contention here, just never gotten it done.”
Hamlin has led 131 laps at Indianapolis in 15 starts and completed 98.9 percent of the laps run, but he’s never finished better than fourth.
He believes dirty air will be a factor and that could prevent cars from making passings down the long straightaways and into the turns at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“You’re going to have to just temper expectations,” Hamlin warned. “We don’t want to paint a gloomy picture by any means, but it’s certainly going to be a different type of race.
“It’s going to be, strategy and fuel and things like that. I do think there’s potential (restarts) to be somewhat crazy, but once we single file out, I think that that’s where it will stand for quite a while.
“It’s just different back in the day because when we had the old car, when you got close to someone, it was like the Xfinity car where it would give the leader disadvantage when you got close to them.
“Now in this car, you get closer, and you just get a bigger and bigger disadvantage.
“So that’s what will make it tough to pass.”