In American Motorsports, the Daytona International Speedway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have a special place in the hearts of both drivers and fans. Although the Indy Oval is mostly prominent in the IndyCar Series in the form of the Indy 500, back in 1994, NASCAR decided to take the top flight of stock car racing to the legendary track as well.
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Fast forward to 2021, NASCAR decided to switch to the Indy road course instead of the majestic oval. While the racing there has been interesting, drivers have often demanded that they return to the original format. Recently, JGR driver Denny Hamlin expressed his thoughts about getting back on the ovals. His comments were echoed by Freddie Kraft, Bubba Wallace’s Spotter, on his podcast as well.
Bubba Wallace insider sides with Denny Hamlin urging Indy Oval return
On this week’s episode of Door Bumper Clear, Kraft said, “Chase Briscoe won the, I think the first XFINITY race road course… And he won he’s an Indiana guy. He’s an Indiana kid. That’s where he grew up… And he made the comment that day… It’s awesome to win here, but I wish it was the oval I wish that…”
“So that just shows you and these drivers used to consider this a Crown Jewel. Now it’s just another road course race that we talked about chaos and turn one it’s almost a gimmick now. Because you’re basically just hoping to survive turn one and then see where you fall out and continue on.”
“So you know, I’m glad to see that hopefully, this is the case… 30th anniversary going back now you see we’re going to test there so it kind of lends more validity to that rumor. Hopefully, it’s great. You know, we’ve never had a great race there…”
“…This track is not really built for what we do. But you know, hopefully, this car can be better. And, you know, I just think that if we’re going to run it at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it has to be on the oval of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
What did Denny Hamlin say about getting the Indy Oval back?
During the Michigan race weekend, on being asked if he would be interested to do the Brickyard 400 on the ovals again, Hamlin responded, “Oh yeah, it’s a must for sure.”
“It’s a major, whether you like the racing or not… I love the debate on social media, what’s the fourth one, well there is no fourth one. You can make one up, there is none. The Brickyard was it just because simply of the historic facility that we are at. So we’ll get a major back next year.”
Considering the historic significance of the race at the Brickyard, NASCAR should seriously look forward to bringing the main oval race back as soon as possible. There have been talks about bringing the Brickyard 400 back., and it could possibly be next year, but an official confirmation is yet to be received.
