Brickyard 400 2026: How to Watch, Start Time and Past Winners
This is a Happy Hour Racing Race Preview - the fan-to-fan guide to getting ready for Sunday at the track.
The Short Version
The Brickyard 400 2026 runs Sunday, July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, green flag around 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports. It is 160 laps and 400 miles on the historic 2.5-mile oval, and it is the final race of the 2026 In-Season Challenge. Bubba Wallace comes in as the defending winner. Below is how to watch, why the Brickyard means so much, and every driver who has won it.
How to Watch the Brickyard 400 in 2026
Here is everything you need to find the race and not miss the start.
- Race: Brickyard 400 2026, race 22 of 36 in the NASCAR Cup Series season.
- Date: Sunday, July 26, 2026.
- Start time: about 2 p.m. ET, with pre-race coverage before it.
- TV channel: TNT Sports, with a simulcast on truTV.
- Live stream: HBO Max, which is the streaming home for TNT Sports.
- Radio: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
- Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.5-mile oval in Speedway, Indiana.
- Distance: 160 laps, 400 miles.
Want the full season laid out with dates and standings? Check the live NASCAR Cup schedule and standings page.
Why the Brickyard Is a Crown Jewel
Not every race carries the same weight. The Brickyard 400 is one of a handful of races drivers call a crown jewel, right next to the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600. The reason is the ground itself. Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most famous race track in the world, and for 78 years the Indianapolis 500 was the only race held there. That changed in 1994, when NASCAR ran its first Brickyard 400 in front of an estimated crowd of more than 250,000 people. It was the biggest race purse in the sport at the time, and it made every stock car driver want to win at Indy.
That strip of brick is where the tradition comes from. The whole track was paved with 3.2 million bricks in 1909, which is how it got the nickname "The Brickyard." Today only a three-foot strip at the start-finish line is still brick. The winner kneels down and kisses it. If you see a driver on their knees at the yard of bricks Sunday night, now you know why.
Brickyard 400 Past Winners
Winning at Indy makes a career. The all-time Brickyard 400 win list is a who's who of NASCAR greats, led by a driver who made his name here.
Jeff Gordon leads everyone with five Brickyard 400 wins, and the first one in 1994 launched his career. Jimmie Johnson has four. Kevin Harvick has three. Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch have all kissed the bricks too. The race spent 2021 through 2023 on the Indianapolis road course, then moved back to the oval in 2024, where Kyle Larson won.
Last year belonged to Bubba Wallace. He held off Larson by .222 of a second in the No. 23 Chumba Casino Toyota for 23XI Racing, the team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. It came through a rain delay and two overtimes, it snapped a 100-race winless streak, and it made Wallace the first Black driver to win at Indianapolis. That is the win he defends Sunday.
BUBBA WALLACE WINS THE BRICKYARD 400! pic.twitter.com/8X697NTDRn
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) July 27, 2025
What to Watch For in 2026
The Brickyard 400 2026 closes out the In-Season Challenge, so there is a bracket title and a cash prize riding on the same afternoon as a crown jewel. Wallace is back to defend. Larson wants the one that got away by two tenths of a second. And the whole Cup garage knows a win here goes on a career highlight reel forever. Indy is a track where track position and clean air matter, so qualifying and pit strategy will shape the day as much as raw speed.
If you are new to it, the In-Season Challenge is a 32-driver bracket that runs over a stretch of the summer. Drivers get seeded, then go head to head week by week, and the higher finisher each week moves on. The Brickyard is the final round. So whoever is left in the bracket has a shot at the prize on the same day they are chasing a win at Indy. It gives a few extra drivers something real to race for even if they are not up front in the season standings.
It also makes for a good weekend to grab gear tied to a driver you are pulling for. A win at Indy turns into a keepsake, and the shirts and hats tied to Brickyard winners move fast once the checkered flag flies.
The Bottom Line
Set a reminder for Sunday, July 26 at 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports. The Brickyard 400 is one of the biggest races on the calendar, the winner kisses a strip of century-old brick, and this year a bracket title rides on it too. It is a good one to watch from the first lap.
Rep an Indy winner on race day. A few in-stock picks tied to the Brickyard:
- Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson Brickyard winners shirt
- Jeff Gordon inaugural Brickyard 400 win shirt
- Kyle Larson Indy coffee mug
- Kyle Larson Indy keychain
- Brad Keselowski hat (2018 Brickyard winner)
New race previews and recaps drop all week. Bookmark the Happy Hour Racing blog and get the story plus the gear in one place.
