{"id":6973,"date":"2026-07-24T20:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6973"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:34:31","slug":"ryan-blaney-todd-gilliland-ready-for-brickyard-400-balancing-act-with-1-million-prize-at-stake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6973","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland ready for Brickyard 400 balancing act with $1 million prize at stake"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Ryan Blaney faces a high-stakes weekend in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping to put Roger Penske back in victory lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he\u2019d like to add a second crown jewel win to his resume. At the same time, he\u2019s chasing a $1 million pay day \u2014 if he finishes ahead of surprise finalist Todd Gilliland in NASCAR\u2019s second In-Season Challenge.<\/p>\n

Read more More rain possible Saturday, then drier Sunday in central NC<\/a><\/p>\n

Blaney\u2019s solution is to simplify matters by sweeping both titles Sunday with one amazing Brickyard 400.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously understand what we\u2019re going for with the In-Season Challenge,\u201d Blaney said before Friday\u2019s short practice. \u201cBut at the same time, you\u2019re trying to win the race. That\u2019s the big one here \u2014 and trying to win for Roger at this place is incredibly important in our race shop and to everyone on this team. So I\u2019ve looked at it as like, just go try to run the best race you can and focus on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blaney heads into race weekend as the favorite in the final round of the challenge. The 2023 Cup champion has strung together 11 consecutive finishes of 11th or better, a feat he\u2019s achieved in 17 of 21 races this season. Two weeks ago in Atlanta he captured his second win of the year.<\/p>\n

Now the Ohio-born Blaney returns to the Midwest ranked third in points, 19 behind Tyler Reddick, the 2022 Brickyard 200 champ who is trying to become the first Cup driver to win on the track\u2019s road course and the historic 2.5-mile oval that will be used Sunday.<\/p>\n

Reddick said he wasn\u2019t sure if team owner Michael Jordan would attend the race.<\/p>\n

Gilliland, meanwhile, has struggled lately. His eighth-place finish at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, was his first top 10 in 13 races, and the 26-year-old enters the weekend 23rd in points, though he\u2019s continued to do just enough to keep advancing through the challenge rounds.<\/p>\n

But facing his toughest test yet, Gilliland seems to be adopting a \u201cHoosiers\u201d-like attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve caught a lot of lucky breaks. We\u2019ve barely been skating by all these rounds,\u201d the Front Row Motorsports driver said. \u201cBut now that we\u2019re here, yeah, it feels a bit more real and you never know, right? Four hundred miles, anything can happen. So we\u2019re just going to go give our best effort and try not to think about what it would be like if we won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more CBS NFL analyst and former Cowboys QB Tony Romo arrested on suspicion of OWI<\/a><\/p>\n

Neither finalist was near the top of Friday\u2019s leaderboard, though.<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing posted the fastest lap of the day at 183.512 mph, leading Toyota to a top-five sweep. John Hunter Nemechek of Legacy Motor Club was second at 183.180, followed by Ty Gibbs, Bell\u2019s teammate; Erik Jones, Nemechek\u2019s teammate; and Denny Hamlin of JGR, who still needs a Brickyard win to capture the fourth and final crown jewel title with time running shot on the 45-year-old\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a couple shots in this left, so I think more desperate,\u201d Hamlin said when asked about his level of desire to win at Indy. \u201cI\u2019m certainly willing to take a small risk here on a restart, whatever it might be, on strategy, something to give us a real shot to win because this is like the Daytona 500.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilliland and Blaney, who sat side by side at microphones Friday, view the Brickyard similarly even though they know fans will be watching the race inside the race just as closely as the final charge across the Yard of Bricks.<\/p>\n

In practice, Blaney also had the advantage. He was ninth on the speed chart at 182.526, the top speed of the Ford drivers. Gilliland, who also drives a Ford, was 28th at 180.712.<\/p>\n

Will that make a difference Sunday?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe beat them here last year so I don\u2019t know why we can\u2019t do it again,\u201d said Gilliland, who finished sixth \u2014 one spot ahead of Blaney in 2025 at Indy. \u201cBut, yeah, overall, I think it\u2019s fair to say we\u2019re big underdogs. At the same time, anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even, perhaps, Blaney\u2019s highly coveted sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got knocked out in the first round last year in Atlanta so it was nice to kind of go be part of it, see you racing every single week and go through the gauntlet,\u201d he said. \u201cSo nice to end it here at Indy. I think it\u2019s a great place to end it, an amazing race track. It will be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Georgia tops preseason media poll to win SEC championship in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) \u2014 Ryan Blaney faces a high-stakes weekend in Indianapolis. 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