Sunday's race marks the return of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval to the Cup Series schedule. It also serves as the track debut for a whopping ten full-time drivers.
Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Cody Ware, Justin Haley, and Ty Gibbs are the drivers who have not suited up for any Cup races at the 2.5-mile oval. They all took their first laps around the track in a Cup car during Friday afternoon's practice session.
Hocevar, who is in contention for Rookie of the Year, was the fastest during Friday's practice. His best lap was 180.520 mph, putting him 10th overall. Berry was 13th-fastest with a lap of 180.000 mph.
Berry has never competed on the big track at Indianapolis in any national NASCAR series. He will pull double duty this weekend as he competes in both the Xfinity and Cup races.
An oval outing in Indy. pic.twitter.com/7civ6aMpMv
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) July 19, 2024
"It's definitely a unique scenario," Berry said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "It's probably one of the only ovals that I haven't been to yet that we go to. So, thankfully, I have an opportunity to race in the Xfinity race.
"I think that will be useful to get on track and practice in that and then obviously have that race under my belt by the time Sunday comes around so that hopefully I can get some needed experience in that race. Other than that, I feel like we've prepared the best we can, and having a 50-minute practice will help too."
Sunday's race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) could be pivotal for these drivers considering that only one of them has a spot in the playoffs locked up. Cindric won at World Wide Technology Raceway and punched his ticket.
Gibbs is 67 points above the playoff cutline and in a position to lock up a spot if new winners don't fill out the 16-driver field. Gilliland is the closest to the cutline among the rest of the drivers. He is 127 points out of a playoff spot while Berry is 144 points out.