Indianapolis Motor Speedway is set to host the 22nd overall race and 18th oval race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule, with the Brickyard 400 back for the third consecutive season after it was removed from 2021 to 2023 in favor of an event on the iconic venue's interior road course.
If the weather forecasts are to be believed, Saturday's qualifying session will not join this past weekend's at North Wilkesboro Speedway on the growing list of oval qualifying sessions to be canceled in 2026. That list currently includes five tracks.
Each driver is set to get one lap around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana in Saturday's single-car qualifying session.
Despite Indy's 2.5-mile length, NASCAR does not classify it as a superspeedway or a drafting track, so there is no second round shootout for the pole position like there is at Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway).
The qualifying order was determined the same way qualifying orders have been determined since the start of the 2025 season: NASCAR's two-variable metric, which replaced the older and more complicated four-variable formula that was used from 2020 to 2024. The current metric factors in only the standings and the results of the most recent race.
Follow along with our Brickyard 400 qualifying updates from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Brickyard 400 NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Indianapolis
Note that this starting lineup is not official until all 39 drivers on the entry list are included.
Live coverage of the Brickyard 400 is set to be provided by TNT from Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 26. Tune in and don't miss the championship round of this year's NASCAR In-Season Challenge tournament from the "Racing Capital of the World"!
