Indianapolis Brickyard 400 Fantasy NASCAR Confidence Rankings / Post Practice Predictions

On Sunday, NASCAR will be racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. Indy is a big 2.5-mile flat track where track position and horsepower are king. This race is often run “backwards”, where teams try to pit as few times as possible. I view Pocono to have the most correlation, so make sure you look back to that race from just a few weeks ago (Pocono 2025 Total Speed Rankings).

On Saturday, NASCAR held a combined 25-minute practice session, so teams had time to make adjustments and tune. Make sure you check out our Indy Practice Notes, Indy 5, 10 and 15 Lap average Speed Cheat Sheet and Indy Practice Speeds and 10-Lap Averages. 

Here’s the Indy Qualifying Results/ Starting Lineup. 

Indianapolis Full Field Fantasy NASCAR Rankings

1) Kyle Larson
Start 13th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Indy Outlook – Defending Indianapolis Brickyard 400 winner, Kyle Larson will be tough to beat in this crown jewel race. Dover might be a sign the #5 team is getting back to form, and that will be big trouble for the field if that’s the case. In last year’s Brickyard 400, Larson got a late assist in overtime and raced his way to victory lane. In the race, Larson earned the 3rd best Driver Rating, had the 5th best Total Speed Ranking and led 8 laps. During overtime, leader Brad Keselowski ducked down pit road after the “choose cones” and that immediately bumped Larson up to the front row in the inside lane and from there, Larson hit the afterburners. Back in 2019 in Larson’s next most recent race, he finished 2nd in Stage #1, finished 2nd in Stage #2, led 5 laps but then crashed in the last Stage which led to his 33rd. On lap 126 which was shortly before his demise, Larson was running in 7th. At Pocono a few weeks ago, Larson finished 7th and had the 12th best Total Speed Ranking. In practice, Larson said his car was pretty good and his 5-lap average was the 3rd best.
DraftKings $10,500/ FanDuel $13,500

Further Recommended Reading = Indy Projected Finish Ranges, DraftKings Indy Scoring Projections, FanDuel Indy Scoring Projections, Indy Quick Rankings

2) William Byron
Start 6th / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Indy Outlook – Look for William Byron to be fast and be a factor at Indy. Indy is a track where the best of the best shine, and I have no doubt Byron is poised to have a great performance, if he can avoid trouble which often hasn’t been far at Indy considering he’s finished 19th or worse in 3 of the last 4. “Performance Wise” over the last three, Byron’s easily been top ten good. Last year, Byron was top ten good but finished an asterisk mark 38th. In the race, Byron finished 4th in Stage #1, was running in 9th on lap 60 (pit strategy during the Stage #1 caution shuffled him back a little) but then on lap 74 while running around 20th, Byron crashed in a multi-car wreck during a restart. In terms of Total Speed Rankings, Byron ranked 8th. Back in 2020, Byron led 15 laps, won Stage #1 but then on lap 83 which is a lap he was battling for the very lead, Byron had a flat tire and got into the wall which doomed him to a 27th. In 2019, Byron finished 4th. In practice, Byron had the 2nd best 10-lap average.
DraftKings $10,200/ FanDuel $13,000

3) Chase Briscoe
Start 1st / Projected Finish Range 1-6 / Dominator Potential – Medium-High
Indy Outlook – Pocono winner and polesitter, Chase Briscoe should be high on your radar. Pocono is the best comp track and Briscoe was impressive there en route to victory lane. At “The Tricky Triangle”, Briscoe finished 1st, led 72 laps and had the 3rd best Total Speed Ranking, having ranked #1 in both the 3rd and 4th segments of the race. That very car he won with, the #19 team is bringing it back to the track this weekend. Last year at Indy in his old ride, Chase Briscoe had an afternoon to forget. In the race, Briscoe finished 24th, had the 24th best Total Speed Ranking and had a 17.3 average running position. I’ll note, Briscoe was running in 13th on lap 156 (four laps to go) but then he pitted or something which dropped him back and then in overtime he was collected in a wreck.
DraftKings $9,300/ FanDuel $10,500