Entering the Cup race at Indianapolis, Bubba Wallace was on the hot seat, holding the 16th and final spot inside the playoffs. He had just 16 points over the cut-line and the pressure was on, but he stepped up to the challenge in a big way. Wallace proceeded to take a wrecking ball to the playoff points battle, earning a surprise win in the Brickyard 400.

In doing so, Wallace became the 13th different driver to lock themselves into the playoffs. Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher are now the only drivers currently in the playoffs on points alone, but that could still change.

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RFK vs. RFK

Chris Rice, President of Kaulig Racing, Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

So, what did that victory do to the playoff bubble? It’s now a fight between RFK Racing teammates, but it’s not a particularly close battle. Buescher holds the final spot, and he currently sits 42 points clear of teammate Ryan Preece with four races left in the regular season.

Both Buescher and Preece have lost valuable points due to penalties this year, as well. Preece was disqualified after a second-place finish at Talladega, while Buescher lost 60 points when NASCAR found a front bumper cover violation on the No. 17 Ford earlier this year.

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The only other drivers currently in the playoffs on points alone are Reddick at +138pts and Bowman at +63pts. While Reddick can feel fairly secure, Bowman is uncomfortable close to the bubble. There’s just 11 points between himself and Buescher, and should a new driver below the cut-line win one of the upcoming races, Bowman will be in real danger of missing the playoffs.

It’s win or nothing for most now

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Zane Smith, Front Row Motorsports Ford

Below Preece, there’s really no one who is really close enough to realistically gain that many points over the next month. Kyle Busch is the closest driver to Preece, but he is over 80 points below the cut-line. Busch, and everyone below him, should be focused on one thing over the next four races – winning.

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There are several notable names in this uncomfortable situation, including Ty Gibbs, A.J. Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Custer, the Dillon brothers, both Legacy Motor Club cars, all three drivers from Spire Motorsports and Front Row Motorsports, 23XI’s Riley Herbst, and Cody Ware in last place.

Read Also:

Stewart Friesen suffers fractured pelvis and broken leg in terrifying crash

When NASCAR drivers go too far: Why Austin Hill will likely face more penalties

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Winners and losers from a drama-filled NASCAR weekend at Indianapolis

How clever strategy and good fortune vaulted Bubba Wallace to a Brickyard 400 win

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

• In three NASCAR Cup Series starts at Iowa Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-15 finish. Carson Hocevar earned a team-best 14th-place finish in last season’s inaugural Iowa Corn 350. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
• The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol will be televised live on USA Sunday, Aug. 3 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 22nd of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway.
• In last season’s inaugural Cup Series visit to Iowa, Haley started 19th and raced his way to a respectable 13th-place finish.
• Last weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), the Winamac, Ind., native finished 11th, a venue best. He led 15 laps and survived multiple attempts at NASCAR Overtime to collect the result. He crossed the line behind teammate Carson Hocevar, who secured a team-best 10th-place finish at IMS.
• In the first 16 events of the 2025 Cup Series campaign, Haley tallied an average finishing position of 22.5. The No. 7 team has improved to a 17.83 average finish in the last six races, dating back to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
• Founded in 2018, Gainbridge® is an insurtech subsidiary of Group 1001 that empowers consumers to take control of their financial future with solutions that are accessible to everyone, no matter their budget or financial knowledge. Its platform provides access to financial products that are simple, intuitive, and backed by smart technology with no complexity or hidden fees. Gainbridge® is headquartered in Zionsville, Ind. For more information, visit www.gainbridge.com or follow and connect with Gainbridge on X and LinkedIn.
• In three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Iowa, Haley recorded a venue best eight-place effort in July 2019. He finished 10th in his best of two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at the 0.875-mile facility.
• Haley is one of just 41 drivers to have won races in all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series. The driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevy has collected one win in the NASCAR Cup Series, four in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and three in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.
• Haley is a veteran of 166 Cup Series starts and has notched one win, five top fives, 16 top 10s and led 118 laps in NASCAR’s premier division.

Justin Haley Quote
Coming off your best career result at Indianapolis, your home track, what are your thoughts heading into Iowa?
“Iowa was one of my favorites last season and I’ve always enjoyed racing there. I have raced at Iowa in all three NASCAR series and have good seat time there. We’ve had a good stretch lately with the No. 7 team and we’re building momentum each week. I feel like we are in position for a good result this weekend.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

• Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports Competition Director and crew chief for the No. 7 team. He and driver Justin Haley were first paired up at Kansas Speedway in September 2024.
• Sparks has called one Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway and is credited a top 25 in last season’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.
• The Winston Salem, N.C., native has called 189 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned three top-five and nine top-10 finishes.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway.
• In last season’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series event at “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet,” McDowell started 22nd and finished 23rd.
• The Glendale, Ariz., native tallied eight Xfinity Series starts at the 0.875-mile oval, collecting two top fives and seven top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish in August 2014.
• While transitioning from open-wheel racing to stock cars, McDowell made a pair of ARCA Menards Series appearances at Iowa in 2006 and 2007, finishing seventh and second, respectively.
• Bell Salvage will be featured as an associate sponsor for this weekend. The Ames, Iowa company, located just under an hour from Iowa Speedway, will be present on the rear quarter panels of the No. 71 Chevrolet ZL1.
• The No. 71 team earned a $100,000 payday and a trip to Victory Lane after winning the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge during May’s NASCAR All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The crew’s blazing 12.587-second stop topped all entries for both the NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race, earning the title of the fastest team on pit road.
• The 40-year-old has claimed three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500, Phoenix Raceway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The team is one of three in the series to tally three or more bonus points via the program.
• The No. 71 team secured Spire Motorsports’ first Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. The 28.833-second lap marks the fastest lap in NASCAR’s seventh-generation Cup Series car (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval. Three weekends ago, the team also earned the first stage win in team history during the Grant Park 165 on the streets of downtown Chicago.

Michael McDowell Quote
What did you learn at Iowa last year and what are you expecting to see this Sunday?
“Iowa was great. It was a fun weekend. I’ve raced there a bunch in Xfinity and ARCA. Even in years when I wasn’t running full-time in Xfinity, I’d still do the standalone races for (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) or whoever.

It was honestly my best track in Xfinity from a results standpoint, but going back there last year—it was so different. The track had aged in some areas, but then there was new asphalt and patches. It was a very different racetrack.

It was still fun. Big crowd, big event. Going back this time, I think everyone is looking forward to having their cars drive a little better, getting over that bump in Turn 1 a little smoother, and not being so caught off guard by how challenging the track is. It’s another big opportunity for us.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Crew chief Travis Peterson calls the shots for Michael McDowell and the No. 71 team, and will stand atop the “war wagon” for the second time at the Newton-oval.
• During his time as an Xfinity Series race engineer at JR Motorsports, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte engineering graduate collected one top five and three top 10s, highlighted by a fourth-place result with Chase Elliott in May 2014.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will pilot the No. 77 MINER Chevrolet ZL1 for Spire Motorsports in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at Iowa Speedway. The event will mark Hocevar’s second NASCAR Cup Series start at the 0.875-mile track following a 14th-place effort in his first outing last year.
• Hocevar has made 11 Cup Series starts on tracks measuring less than one-mile in distance. His lone top-10 finish on short tracks came in August 2024 when he piloted his Spire Chevy to eighth at the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway, a track that served as 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Rusty Wallace’s inspiration for the layout of Iowa.
• In the ARCA Menards Series, Hocevar started seventh and finished fourth in the 2019 Fans with Benefits 150.
• The Portage, Mich., native earned a 10th-place finish in last Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the best finish for both Hocevar and Spire Motorsports at the 2.5-mile oval and marked the driver’s fifth top-10 finish of the 2025 season.
• MINER makes their third primary appearance of the season in Sunday’s race and second within the last three races. Miner Ltd. is the leading self-perform, national service partner for smarter, safer loading docks and a division of OnPoint Group. As the premier expert in loading docks, commercial doors and more, Miner’s team of best-in-class service professionals help large-scale facilities and Fortune 500-class companies mitigate risk and improve efficiency. With over 400 service professionals in more than 40 markets, Miner is the only company of its kind with a coast to coast footprint, offering the largest self-perform network in the country for supporting all doors, loading dock products, vehicle restraints and safety products, HVLS fans, service, aftermarket and more. Miner also supports end users, general contractors, architects, and developers, from ground-up developments to tenant improvement or extensive remodels. Learn more about how Miner delivers speed, consistency and results at https://www.minercorp.com.
• Carson Hocevar Quote
• How do you feel about the Cup Series’ second visit to Iowa Speedway?
• “I feel pretty good about it. We finished well there last year, and for the most part, we’ve been able to improve on those good finishes when we go back places. Iowa is a really fun track and the fans are always so excited when we come to town. It’s a great atmosphere that matches the racing on track.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Like his driver, crew chief Luke Lambert will call just his second NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa this weekend.
• The Mount Airy, N.C., native has called 68 short track races over his 13-year career in the Cup Series, resulting in four top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.
• The 44-year-old has been atop the box for two previous NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Iowa, both coming in 2012. On May 20, 2012, Lambert led Elliott Sadler to the pole position and a runner-up finish. When the series returned to Iowa later that August, Sadler started from the pole and led 60 laps en route to the win.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team also fields the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and an ARCA Menards Series Chevrolet in select events.

Horner became the center of attention in early 2024 when allegations of inappropriate behavior came to light. The accusation led to an internal investigation, ultimately clearing the former team boss. The employee didn’t back down and took the matter to an employment tribunal: that case is set to be heard in January 2026.

‘Employee has new role outside Red Bull’

After the British Grand Prix, news broke that Horner had permanently left his position as team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing. Several other key figures in the communication and marketing department were also required to step down. Horner’s departure marked the end of an era of over twenty years. Since his induction in 2005, he has led Red Bull to six constructor titles and eight world titles among the drivers – the most recent in 2024 with Max Verstappen.

Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies, former team principal of sister team Racing Bulls. Since his arrival, there has been more peace within the team, an important factor for Verstappen’s decision about his future with the team. However, the four-time world champion still wants to see technical improvements.

For generations, Indiana has stood at the pinnacle of the racing world, with the state playing host to iconic races such as the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 that cement its place among the greatest motorsport venues in the world.

But beyond the thrill of the race, motorsports represent a powerful engine for economic growth, job creation and technological innovation.

As the state continues to build on its legacy, further dedication of resources to professional and amateur motorsport venues, as well as ancillary resources for racing teams and drivers, could bring unparalleled economic benefits to Indiana.

The economic power of motorsports

For Indiana, motorsports represent far more than thrilling entertainment—they are a powerful economic engine with local and global reach. The motorsports industry is a cornerstone of the state’s economy, supporting thousands of jobs and fueling growth across multiple sectors.

From the construction and operation of world-class venues to the development and manufacturing of advanced automotive technologies, the influence of motorsports extends far beyond the racetrack—benefiting tourism, hospitality, retail and several other industries.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, known worldwide as the “Racing Capital of the World,” stands as a testament to Indiana’s leadership in motorsports.

Major events at IMS draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year from across the globe, injecting millions of dollars into the local economy. These attendees do more than purchase event tickets; they stay in hotels, dine at restaurants and shop locally, creating a ripple effect that supports communities across the state.

Similar economic benefits are generated at other key venues, such as Lucas Oil Raceway and numerous local tracks that host both professional and amateur events.

By expanding investment in motorsports infrastructure, Indiana can further solidify its pole position as the global hub for racing.

Modernizing facilities, supporting teams and drivers, and fostering innovation in automotive and motorsports technology will attract more events, more visitors and more business investment. These efforts will not only elevate Indiana’s standing in the motorsports world but will also deliver long-term economic growth and opportunity for Hoosiers statewide.

Building a comprehensive motorsports ecosystem

One of Indiana’s greatest opportunities for economic development lies in the continued expansion of its motorsports ecosystem, and the state government has a pivotal role to play in realizing that potential.

The Indiana General Assembly established the Motorsports Investment District, or MID, to help finance capital improvements around IMS, yet similar support has not been extended to the many professional and amateur racetracks across the state.

Expanding the MID model to additional tracks would enable critical infrastructure upgrades, attract talented amateur drivers and hobbyists, and enhance hospitality and amenities around these venues, ultimately increasing fan appeal and driving tourism.

Through the expansion of MIDs and the use of traditional public-private partnerships and tax incentives, Indiana can modernize existing facilities and support the development of new, world-class motorsports venues.

Beyond racetracks, Indiana can further strengthen its position as a national and global motorsports leader by supporting ancillary infrastructure for racing teams, drivers and manufacturers.

The creation of an Indiana Motorsports Research and Development Center would provide state-of-the-art resources, such as wind tunnels, simulation centers and advanced manufacturing labs, forming a centralized hub for innovation, safety testing and competitive development. Modeled after North Carolina’s NASCAR R&D facility in Concord, this center would foster collaboration, support homegrown teams and attract talent at all levels of the sport.

It would also serve as a valuable resource for private companies seeking access to cutting-edge research.

Both automotive startups—such as those supported by accelerators like Techstars Detroit—and established firms would benefit from access to state-of-the-art facilities to test and refine their designs.

These companies could leverage the latest advancements in aerodynamics, lightweight materials, electric vehicle technology, autonomous driving systems and many others, creating a direct pipeline between motorsports innovation and broader commercial applications. Having been privileged to serve as mentors to Indianapolis Techstars Sports, we have seen firsthand the enormous positive impact that collaboration can bring to these ecosystems.

Additionally, this R&D Center would generate high-quality jobs for Indiana college graduates.

Engineers from Purdue University, which offers a B.S. in motorsports engineering, and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, known for its mechanical engineering programs, could lead design and development efforts.

Graduates from Indiana University’s Motorsports Studies certificate program could contribute to public relations, event planning, business operations and tourism initiatives.

Together, these institutions would form a statewide talent network, supporting the next generation of motorsports professionals and reinforcing Indiana’s leadership in both racing and engineering excellence.

By expanding MIDs, investing in infrastructure and establishing a world-class Motorsports R&D Center, Indiana can solidify its reputation as the premier destination for professional motorsports, delivering long-term economic growth and high-skill job opportunities across the state.

Looking ahead: A vision for Indiana’s motorsports future

Now is not the time for Indiana to draft off our reputation of excellence. By allocating additional state resources to expand racing venues, nurture grassroots participation and support advanced research and development, Indiana can accelerate industry growth and capture international attention.

Motorsports have been an integral part of the state’s heritage for more than a century, and now they have the potential to drive Indiana’s economic progress.

Strategic investments and a focus on inclusive growth will enable Indiana’s motorsports sector to flourish, setting an example for how sports-driven innovation can revitalize economies.

This moment presents a unique opportunity for policymakers, legal experts and stakeholders statewide to unite behind a forward-thinking vision. By working together, they can ensure Indiana’s reputation as the “Racing Capital of the World” endures and prospers for generations to come.•

__________

Kyle Montrose and Joseph L. Champion are partners in Dentons’ Indianapolis office. Opinions expressed are those of the authors.

What kind of vehicle was Friesen driving?

What kind of vehicle was Friesen driving?