By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Indianapolis, Indiana — Drivers are opinionated on a variety of subjects and reporters rarely complain about that. Fans love it. We asked some of them about several subjects during media availabilities.
Chase Briscoe on whether the Brickyard is one of the 4 majors in NASCAR
Do you consider the Brickyard 400 as one of the majors on the NASCAR schedule?
“Yeah, I think it’s a Crown Jewel. I think every race car driver dreams of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially winning. I would say it’s different from myself (compared) to them. For me, I’d put the Brickyard 400 over the Daytona 500 from a personal standpoint, but I’m probably the only one who feels that way because I’m from Indiana whereas those guys just want to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But yeah, I definitely think when you look at the majors, this is one of the four. There’s a reason everyone wants to win here so bad.”
Kyle Larson on his busy schedule and bringing Hi Limit to Indy
For many Cup drivers, they can just race on Sunday. They’re satisfied. Obviously, you have a heavy schedule during the week. How do you feel like that contributes to you being extra sharp on the weekend? Do you describe that for yourself?
“Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t be doing it as often as I do if I didn’t believe that it helped me. So yeah, I don’t know. I just feel like the more racing situations you can keep yourself in, the sharper you hopefully are. There’s a balance, though. I mean, it can get, schedule-wise, kind of grueling at times when you’re gone a lot, which my schedule’s been wild this year. So just a few more weeks of dirt racing for me, and then I can just be a Cup guy again. But yeah, I don’t know. It works for me. I don’t know if it’ll work for everybody, but I think staying busy and active and racing definitely works for me.“
High Limit was coincided to be at both Las Vegas and Texas. Is that something that you could possibly see here on this Brickyard weekend, or is that something you’re keeping under wraps?
“No, I mean, there hasn’t really been any talks of that or anything. I would love it. I mean, I watched the final restart last night of the sprint week stuff. It would be great. I mean, I don’t know. It’d be a tiny track for winged sprint cars, but I feel like a lot of times when you get on a small track like that, it just creates chaos; fun, different winners and stuff like that. I for sure would be open for it. I’m sure there’s a lot that goes on to make it happen.”
Tyler Reddick on his love for the Indy Oval
Why do you enjoy racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway so much?
“I loved racing the road course. That was a lot of fun. The oval here, there’s a lot of history tied to it. What makes this place special, Kyle (Larson) even said it before, is just the history of this of this race track. How long it’s long it’s been here, all the big moments that have happened here. Yeah, for me it’s the history.”
Erik Jones on the San Diego Street Course in 2026
“I would love to do a couple a year,” Erik Jones said this month on the optimal number of road course races in a season. “I was totally happy running (Sonoma) and Watkins Glen. I don’t know. I’m probably not the right guy to ask. I grew up as an oval racer. I didn’t race a road course until 10 years ago for the first time.
“My opinion is –- this car is not, just hasn’t put on as good of a show on road courses that the old car did, to be frank. I think it is fun to go to different places, but I could see us doing (Sonoma), Watkins Glen and one street course. I think you would be hard pressed to find many that wouldn’t agree with that.
Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue & racing innovation officer said NASCAR is “keeping a pulse” on the road course and street course topic.
“We get a lot of feedback, certainly from our partners, from our fans, from the industry, teams and drivers on it,” he said in response to a question from NBC Sports. “I would say it’s bit of a mixed bag. You have some fans that absolutely love the road course racing and would like to see more of it, and then you have others that, conversely, would like to see less of it.”
Roy J. Akers is a NASCAR/NTT Indy Car reporter for www.skyviewsports.net
