Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard Update

The Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard weekend will feature great NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY series action from July 24-26 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Headlining the weekend will be the 22nd annual Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard featuring the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday, July 26. The weekend racing schedule also features the fourth annual Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR XFINITY race on Saturday, July 25. •Inaugural Crown Royal at the Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon of nearby Pittsboro, Indiana, is the defending champion after leading the final 16 laps in winning last year’s race. Gordon’s triumph made him the first driver to win five times at the Brickyard, equaling Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher – winner of five United States Grand Prix races at IMS – for the most major wins at IMS. Can Gordon – who will retire as a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver at the end of this season – win a sixth race at IMS?

•NASCAR recently announced that cars at the Crown Royal Brickyard 400 will have a higher spoiler than what has previously been used during the 2015 season. The spoilers on the cars will be increased to nine inches with a one-inch wicker bill. The goal is to create a drafting effect that would create the possibility for more passing. How will this new design affect NASCAR Sprint Cup racing at IMS?

•Due to the new high-drag aerodynamic package on Sprint Cup Series cars, Crown Royal 400 at the Brickyard qualifying on Saturday, July 25, has been modified to a two-round format. Each car will post a time for one lap in the first round, with the 12 fastest cars advancing to a second round, where one more one-lap run will be used to determine the polesitter. • Four-time Crown Royal at the Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson will look to join Gordon and Schumacher as five-time winners at IMS. A six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, Johnson has led 302 laps in 13 starts at the Racing Capital of the World.

•Team Penske owner Roger Penske won his 16th Indianapolis 500 in May and will look for his first Sprint Cup Series win at the famed 2.5-mile oval. Penske scored his only stock car victory at Indianapolis when Brad Keselowski won the inaugural Lilly Diabetes 250 XFINITY race in 2012. Keselowski and Joey Logano – who finished fifth at last year’s  – will look to bring Penske his first Sprint Cup win.

•Reigning Sprint Cup champion and current points leader Kevin Harvick, will attempt to win his second Crown Royal at the Brickyard 400 title. Harvick, who was victorious at IMS in 2003, owns four top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 14 starts.

•Joining Gordon as former Indiana residents looking to add to their Crown Royal 400 at the Brickyard win totals will be Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. Stewart won the race in 2005 and 2007, and in 16 starts has 10 top-10 finishes. In his 14 starts at IMS, Newman owns three top-10 finishes including his win in 2013.

• Hendrick Motorsports will look to continue its Crown Royal 400 at the Brickyard domination that began with Jeff Gordon’s win in the 1994 inaugural event. Hendrick Motorsports has won the event on nine occasions, including Gordon’s fifth triumph at last year’s race. Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing are tied for the second-most Sprint Cup wins at IMS with three each.

•Since its inception in 1994, the Crown Royal at the Brickyard 400 manufacturer’s competition has been dominated by Chevrolet with 16 wins (11 consecutive wins from 2003-14) in 21 races. Ford has earned the second-most Brickyard 400 titles with three.

•Chase Elliott, son of legendary 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and 2002 Brickyard 400 winner Bill Elliott, is entered to compete in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 race on Saturday and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard on Sunday. Elliott, who is slated to replace Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Chevrolet when the four-time NASCAR champion gives up his seat at the end of this season, will drive a fifth Hendrick Motorsports Sprint Cup Series entry, the No. 25 Chevrolet. He will have to qualify for the race on time.

•The winner at IMS has gone on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup title that same season on eight occasions: Jeff Gordon: 1998, ’01; Dale Jarrett: 1999; Bobby Labonte: 2000; Tony Stewart: 2005; Jimmie Johnson: 2006, ’08, ’09.

•Headlining the fourth annual Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday will be Kyle Busch, who captured his third Sprint Cup victory this season – and third in the last four races -- at Loudon, New Hampshire, on July 19. Busch, who earlier this season endured an 11-race injury absence, leads the all-time XFINITY Series win list with 71 victories and will be looking for a second at IMS following his 2013 XFINITY Series triumph where he led 92 of 100 laps in his No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota.

•Highlighted by two wins and eight top-five finishes in 16 starts, Chris Buescher of Roush Fenway Racing leads the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series standings, followed closely by Chase Elliott of JR Motorsports and Ty Dillon of Richard Childress Racing. Dillon held off Kyle Busch in the final laps to win the 2014 Lilly Diabetes 250 at IMS by a mere .833 of a second.

                                                                          ***2015 Ticket Information: Ticket information is available for all racing events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2015 – Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard, Lilly Diabetes 250 and Red Bull Indianapolis GP.

 Fans have three quick, convenient methods to buy tickets:• Online: Visit www.ims.com/tickets. Tickets are available 24 hours per day, seven days per week.• Phone: Call 800-822-INDY or 317-492-6700 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday.• In Person: Visit the IMS Ticket Office in the IMS Administration Building located at 4790 West 16th Street, Indianapolis, IN, which is just east of the roundabout at Crawfordsville Road and 16th Street, between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday.


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