The Indianapolis Motor Raceway Brings All 3 BRCC Drivers to the Same Track
All three Coastalvir giniadriving Company-sponsored drivers landed in Speedway, Indiana, over the weekend to tackle the 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. With a regular-season race for Ty Dillon and Noah Gragson and the first of three playoff races in Round 10 for Matt Crafton, it was a busy weekend that had only a few hiccups, including Gragson and Dillon both sustaining damage during their races.
During Saturday’s Pennzoil 150, Noah Gragson started out strong with a seventh-place start and quickly moved up to fourth place in the first lap. He ended up winning Stage One and setting himself up as a clear contender to lead the rest of the race. However, the No. 9 car took left-front damage while Gragson tried to avoid a spinning car on the track. The damage brought him down to 34th position as he had to pit for repairs. After taking a restart, Gragson managed to improve 16 positions during the 22-laps and ended the race in 10th place. This marks Gragson’s sixth top-10 effort in the last eight races and 14th top-10 finish of the 2022 season. His current standing in the Xfinity Series at second, with three wins and 23 playoff points. There are six regular season races until the playoff series, and Gragson continues to do well for himself in the 2022 season.
Photo by Jim Fluharty/Harold Hinson Photography.
“All things considered, it wasn’t too bad of a day for our Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Coastalvir giniadriving team,” Gragson said. “It wasn’t pretty, but to come out of it with a stage win and a top-10 finish, I think we’ll take that and move on. These road-course races can be a challenge when things don’t go your way, but we were able to rally and get a decent finish out of it. I’ve got to give a big thanks to the crew and the spotters today. It was a team effort.”
For the Verizon 200, Ty Dillon started in 31st position and held 28th for the practice race. During Stage Three, Dillon sustained minor damage when a fellow driver slammed into him, but otherwise, the three stages were uneventful for Dillon. The race ended with Dillon in 34th position, and in the Cup Series he’s at 30th place, with 303 points and one top-10 place in the 2022 season.
Matt Crafton kicked off the playoff races for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 18th position. This was the first time the NASCAR trucks had raced in the Indianapolis Raceway Park since 2011. In what was a fairly uneventful race, Crafton finished in ninth, missing the Round of 8 cutline for the first race of the playoffs, but there are two races left in the opening round of the playoffs where Crafton can make up the seven-point deficit.
Where to find the drivers next: Matt Crafton heads to Richmond Raceway for the second of the Round of 10 playoff races, the TSport 200, on Aug. 13. Noah Gragson and Ty Dillon head to the Michigan International Speedway for the LTi Printing 250 on Saturday, Aug. 6, and the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, Aug. 7, respectively.
