2016 NASCAR Week 20 Preview: Indianapolis

Crown Royal Presents The Combat Wounded Coalition 400

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

The year was 2005. Two weeks before NASCAR headed to Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tony Stewart had won at NHMS and then Kurt Busch won at the Tricky Triangle. Tony Stewart came into the race trailing Jimmie Johnson by 66 points.

Johnson had just come off an 8 win 2004 season and was looking to finally get his first Championship. Little did we know as NASCAR fan's that he was going to soon take over the sport. At the time it was Tony Stewart who was one of the one of the bigger deals in NASCAR after winning his first Championship in 2002.

IMS had always been called home by Tony Stewart and he spent six season's trying to get a win at the Brickyard. Well, 2005 was finally the year he got the monkey off of his back. After Jimmie Johnson wrecked late in the race Tony Stewart took over the lead from Kasey Kahne and lead the final 10 laps to his first win at Indy. 

Sometimes in NASCAR moment's are ingrained in our head. Many times a race fly's by and we forget even key details. In a season of 36 races, those types of moments tend to happen. But, IMS 2005 was one of those ingrained moments. Smoke and team climbing up the fence to celebrate with fans. Kissing the bricks. The emotion in victory lane. For years and years moment's like 2005 at IMS will stick in fans memories so I can only imagine what Stewart feels heading into what might be his final race at IMS.

Stewart went on to win at Watkins Glen the following week (three wins in four races) and put an even bigger gap on Johnson. Stewart never really did look back on his way to his second NASCAR Cup Championship, meanwhile Johnson slipped farther and farther back. However, 2005 was the last time for a long stretch that anyone touched what Johnson was about to do. 

Many more Smoke moments continued over the years after that first IMS win, including a second IMS win and a Championship as a driver/owner, but none would top one last win at IMS. It would be the perfect place for Smoke to capture that illustrious win No. 50 in what has been an impressive career.

Indy has lost some of it's early luster (or at least that's how it feels to most), but Tony Stewart winning might bring some of those moment's back to a unique NASCAR track in need of glory moments in 2016.  

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Tony Stewart- No, the last few years haven't been good here for Smoke, but right now he is starting to heat up and do you want to bet against a hot Tony Stewart? One last fence climb (maybe he shouldn't...) would be nice to see.
• Kyle Busch- Last years winner brings some nice stats to IMS. In 11 starts he has nine top 10's and four top 5's to go along with that win. He has finishes first or second three out of the last four races here.
• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth doesn't have a win at IMS like the two above, but he still has some impressive numbers. Ten top 10's and seven top 5's in his 16 career races here.

The Middle

• Carl Edwards- Eleven career starts and only three of those finished up as top 10's (one top 5). However, he has nine top 15's in that same time.

The Bad

• Martin Truex Jr- Want a guy who might jump off this list with a good finish Sunday? Truex is your guy. However, his career at IMS has been underwhelming as a whole (one top 5 and two top 10's in eleven starts).
• Dale Earnhardt Jr- 16 career starts at Indianapolis and Junior only has five top 10's and one single top 5. The upside? Three of those top 10's and that sole top 5 came in the last four races here.
• David Ragan- Three top 20's in nine starts is nothing to be proud of for Ragan. None of those have come since leaving the RFR No. 6. 

About the Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Track Stats

• A race has been won from the Pole three times in 22 NASCAR races (Newman 2013, Jimmie Johnson 2008, and Kevin Harvick 2003).
• Chevy had won the last 12 races and 16 of 21 races total before Kyle Busch (Toyota) won last year. Ford- 3, Pontiac- 1, Dodge- 1, Toyota- 1
• Jeff Gordon won the Inaugural Cup race in 1994
• Most cautions was 13 in 2004
• Gordon has the most career wins here with 5. Jimmie Johnson is next in line with 4
• 13 drivers have won at Indy including 9 that only won once.
• Only four drivers have multiple wins (Gordon, JJ, Tony Stewart, and Dale Jarrett).
• Gordon also has the most poles (3), top 5's (12), and top 10's (17) of any driver.

Track Info

• Surface
• Asphalt
• Length
• 2.5 miles
• Banking
• Turns: 9 degrees
• Straights: 0 degrees