Corey Heim's Brickyard squeeze, Riggs' IRP dominance and Road America's six-hour test: Week 31

Corey Heim's Brickyard squeeze, Riggs' IRP dominance and Road America's six-hour test: Week 31

Corey Heim edged Christopher Bell at Indianapolis, Layne Riggs dominated the Truck race at IRP, and Road America's six-hour IMSA weekend sets the next UTC watch list.

US Car Racing Events
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Corey Heim squeezed through for a second Cup win at Indianapolis, Layne Riggs dominated the Truck race at IRP, and the next major sportscar test is IMSA's six-hour Road America round. NHRA's Seattle winners and a late USAC sprint-car pass round out the July 20-26 results window.

The week in results

Series / eventWinnerFinishing orderRace note and championship effect
NASCAR Cup Series, Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayCorey Heim1 Heim, 2 Christopher Bell, 3 Joey Logano, 4 Chase Briscoe, 5 Denny Hamlin, 6 Brad Keselowski, 7 Josh Berry, 8 Ryan Preece, 9 Carson Hocevar, 10 Tyler ReddickHeim beat Bell by 0.287 seconds for his second Cup win. Ty Gibbs won Stage 1 and Ross Chastain won Stage 2. A nine-car crash involving Ryan Blaney came on Lap 120; Kyle Larson's Lap 45 tire failure ended his day in 39th, and Chase Elliott finished 37th after contact. Hamlin's points lead grew to 84 over Reddick with four regular-season races left. 1
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayCarson Kvapil1 Kvapil, 2 Justin Allgaier, 3 Ross Chastain, 4 Chase Elliott, 5 William Sawalich, 6 Brent Crews, 7 Corey Day, 8 Sheldon Creed, 9 Brandon Jones, 10 Austin HillKvapil made the decisive pass on Chastain on Lap 79 of 100 and won by 0.643 seconds. Allgaier cut the gap to 0.283 seconds at the white flag. Kvapil moved to second in points, 265 behind Allgaier; seven of the 12 playoff places were locked after the race. The No. 2 and No. 20 cars also lost pit-road selection for Iowa after each was found with an unsecured lug nut. 2
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway ParkLayne Riggs1 Riggs, 2 Connor Mosack, 3 Ty Majeski, 4 Chandler Smith, 5 Nick Sanchez, 6 Stewart Friesen, 7 Kaden Honeycutt, 8 Gavan Boschele, 9 Tyler Ankrum, 10 Michael Christopher Jr.Riggs led 198 of 200 laps, swept both stages and won by 1.148 seconds for his second straight IRP victory and fifth win of 2026. He extended his points lead over Honeycutt to 100 with two regular-season races left. The only caution came when Daniel Hemric spun and collected Landen Lewis; Hemric fell to ninth in points, 14 ahead of Ankrum at the cutline. 3 4
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Northwest Nationals at Pacific RacewaysDoug Kalitta, J.R. Todd and Greg AndersonTop Fuel: Kalitta over Leah Pruett; Funny Car: Todd over Austin Prock; Pro Stock: Anderson over Greg StanfieldKalitta scored his third win of 2026 and moved within five points of the Top Fuel lead. Todd's Funny Car win was his first of the season and his 23rd career victory, moving him to third in points. Anderson's Pro Stock win was his third of the year and returned him to the points lead. Seattle was Round 12 of 20. 5
USAC National Sprint, Indiana Sprint Week at Lawrenceburg SpeedwayJustin GrantGrant passed Kyle Cummins with two laps left and held on for the winGrant became the first repeat winner of the 2026 Indiana Sprint Week, completing a late charge after Cummins led most of the race. The result also kept the week-long sprint-car fight tight before the Circle City round. 6

The points and competition desk

Indianapolis changed the Cup picture without changing the leader. Hamlin's fifth-place finish widened his advantage over Reddick to 84 points, while Gibbs locked up a playoff place with a 12th-place run. The race's late crash also made the In-Season Challenge final more consequential: Todd Gilliland won the bracket over Ryan Blaney, who was caught in the Lap 120 incident. 7
The Truck Series is tighter below the leaders. Riggs has 100 points in hand over Honeycutt, but Friesen's sixth-place finish put him eight points ahead of Ankrum for the last Chase-eligible position. In the O'Reilly series, Kvapil's first win moved him to second, while Taylor Gray held the final place above the cutline by seven points over William Sawalich. 3 2

IMSA and the team desk

Road America is next: the Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix runs July 30-August 2 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, with a six-hour WeatherTech race on Sunday. The entry list has 54 cars: 11 GTP, 12 LMP2, 12 GTD PRO and 19 GTD. The LMP2 field brings back Era Motorsport, Intersport Racing and JDC-Miller MotorSports, while Car Blanche returns to GTD after its GTD PRO appearance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Peacock carries the U.S. race stream; international viewers can use IMSA.tv or the IMSA YouTube channel. 8
The personnel news came from NASCAR rather than IMSA. Jimmie Johnson will make his final Cup start in the 2027 Daytona 500 in the No. 48, an arrangement announced by Rick Hendrick and Johnson. Alex Bowman, the current No. 48 driver, will use a number that has not yet been announced for that race. Johnson's return gives the Hendrick-built number one more Daytona entry, while his Legacy Motor Club role remains separate from the one-off Hendrick arrangement. 9

This week's watch list, in UTC

The schedule below converts the NASCAR listings' Eastern Time to UTC. Re-air programming is omitted. Where IMSA's race listing and broadcast start differ, both are shown.
UTC date and timeEvent and venueBroadcast / streamWhy it matters
Fri, Jul 31, 15:20IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup, Race 1 at Road AmericaPeacockThe first live IMSA track action of the weekend. 10
Fri, Jul 31, 19:40IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup, Race 2 at Road AmericaPeacockA second support-race result before Saturday's prototype and GT sessions. 10
Fri, Jul 31, 20:40IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Race 1 at Road AmericaPeacockOne of the weekend's one-make support races. 10
Fri, Jul 31, 23:30NASCAR Weekly Racing at Riverhead RacewayFloRacingA live local-track slot on the same night the Road America support program begins. 10
Sat, Aug 1, 17:45IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, Road America 120PeacockThe Michelin race sets the Saturday sportscar result before WeatherTech qualifying. 10
Sat, Aug 1, 20:20IMSA WeatherTech qualifying at Road AmericaPeacockThe 54-car Sunday field gets its starting order. 8 10
Sat, Aug 1, 21:15-23:45NASCAR Weekly Racing at Riverhead, Berlin, South Boston, Langley and Bowman GrayFloRacingThe local-oval slate runs from New York through Virginia and North Carolina, with the NASCAR Modified 100 at Bowman Gray closing the block. 10
Sat, Aug 1, time TBDARCA Menards Series East, Sunbelt Rentals 150 at Flat Rock SpeedwayFloRacingThe current listing names the race and venue but has not published a start time. 10
Sun, Aug 2, 15:30 coverage / 15:40 raceIMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road AmericaPeacock; IMSA.tv and IMSA YouTube internationallyThe six-hour race is the weekend's main championship and Michelin Endurance Cup test. 8 10
Indianapolis settled one set of questions. Road America now takes over: six hours, four WeatherTech classes, and a full local-track program around it.

References

  1. 1Heim scores second Cup triumph at Brickyard 400
  2. 2Kvapil scores first O'Reilly victory at Indianapolis
  3. 3Riggs scores dominant Truck win at IRP
  4. 4NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at IRP live results
  5. 5Kalitta, Todd double up in Seattle; Anderson wins and takes over Pro Stock lead
  6. 6Rebound at the Burg! Grant's Late Charge Nets USAC Indiana Sprint Week Score
  7. 7Gilliland fends off Blaney to win the 2026 In-Season Challenge
  8. 8Entry List Notebook - Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix
  9. 9Jimmie Johnson to drive No. 48 at Daytona 500
  10. 10How to watch NASCAR in 2026: Weekly listings guide

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