The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400, where Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Preece headline this week’s betting picks and value predictions.
Brickyard 400 Picks
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2026
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Channel: TNT Sports
What Did We Learn From Last Weekend?
In an effort that seemingly no one was able to challenge, Joey Logano took his first win since May 2025 to win the first points paying race at North Wilkesboro since it came back on the circuit in 2023. It was undoubtedly Joey’s race to lose after leading a staggering 323, but Denny Hamlin tried. He seemed to get better in the closing laps, but he couldn’t muster anything better than the 0.859 second gap between him and the leader. Hamlin gave credit where credit was due, with Logano able to make some gains in the points after a great race Sunday night.
Behind Logano and Gibbs, Chase Briscoe came home third followed by Ty Gibbs. Shane van Gisbergen is apparently starting to figure out these ovals. That could be a very dangerous thing for the rest of these drivers. SVG is already the dominating force on anything road or street course related. If he becomes the same type of threat on ovals, we will have another Jimmie Johnson style takeover here very soon. SVG actually led the second most laps of the day at 49 laps on the day behind Logano’s domination. Chase Elliott was the loser of the day coming home 3 laps down. He struggled after the collision between Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick as Reddick entered pit road on 183. There weren’t many cars on the lead lap when all was said and done to be honest. Points were a premium, with Ty Gibbs winning stage one and Logano taking the other 2 stages.
Where Are We Headed This Weekend?
This weekend, it’s another big race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Brickyard 400. This asphalt and brick 2.5 mile oval has an extremely lengthy history. With just 9.2 degrees of banking in the turns and 0 degrees on the straights, this relatively flat track is superspeedway length with momentum issues in the turns due to low banking. Typically the biggest challenges exist because of the minimal banking but still high speed as the drivers enter the corners. The biggest challenge, however, seems to be fuel mileage a good portion of the time. We see a lot of green flag runs here, with drivers having to work hard to save fuel on these longer runs to get to the checkered flag. Interestingly enough, the climate tends to be a big factor in car setup and tire management throughout the race. Because of how big this facility is, winds play a large role as does the changing track temperature throughout the course of the race. These winds can affect the drag on the cars to the point where they significantly impact mileage predictions as well.
Odds and Value Picks
When it comes to picking a winner at Indy, there are two legends no longer actively competing (every week) that lead the way in all time wins. The king of this track from a NASCAR standpoint is none other than Jeff Gordon. With 5 wins he holds the all-time track records with his former teammate, Jimmie Johnson, coming in right behind him at 4 wins. In these more modern days, we obviously have some different drivers front of mind. Current NASCAR betting odds are available at Bovada. Let’s take a look at your potential winners heading into this weekend’s festivities:
Winner: Denny Hamlin (+300)
Although he has yet to win here, Hamlin has shown so much strength on these high speed tracks this year, particularly winning at Pocono, which has a similar configuration in terms of banking and length. Hamlin is coming off a 2nd place finish at North Wilkesboro and is just carrying some serious momentum from so much recent success. Look for Hamlin to be hard to beat as he works for his first Indy win.
Mid-Range Pick: Bubba Wallace (+900)
Wallace will be a hard one to get by at this track. He’s the defending champion of this race and seems to know his way around it with an average 3rd place finish in the most recent races here. In Next Gen total speed rankings at the Brickyard, he ranks 1st and has definitely shown strength across high speed venues across the series.
Dark Horse: Ryan Preece (+10000)
Preece has seen some battles this year, but he’s a consistent solid runner at this track looking for more. He’s had his ups and downs but he has an advantage after doing a tire test for Goodyear in June. Preece is looking for a solid weekend, and this is a good shot at a strong finish.
Points Picture Heading Into Indianapolis
Preece didn’t budge in the points after North Wilkesboro. He’s currently in 18th place sitting 48 points outside of the top 16. That’s a lot of ground to make up and there’s only a short time remaining to do it. Let’s see where everyone landed after Sunday night’s race:
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Tyler Reddick
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Ty Gibbs
5. Chase Elliott
6. Kyle Larson
7. Carson Hocevar
8. Chase Briscoe
9. Chris Buescher
10. Christopher Bell
11. Daniel Suarez
12. William Byron
13. Bubba Wallace
14. Shane van Gisbergen
15. Joey Logano
16. Austin Cindric
Logano launched himself back into playoff contention after winning a race and also just gained a bunch of points. Erik Jones was bumped, but he’s got some great runs at Indy so he might be able to make up some ground. He’s sitting 33 points below Cindric, so he’s going to have to be consistent in the weeks to come and avoid DNFs. Big names like Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain, well, they’re all around needing to get something together in the right direction in the upcoming weeks, but it’s not looking great. How will they fare at Indy? Stay tuned and see as these drivers and teams compete at one of the greatest tracks in NASCAR history!
