Brickyard 400 2026: Full Schedule, Start Time, TV Coverage & Streaming Guide

The Brickyard 400 returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval for another crown-jewel weekend. NASCAR’s official event preview listed 160 laps and 400 miles.

The race used three stages. Stage 1 ended at Lap 50, Stage 2 at Lap 100, and the scheduled finish came at Lap 160.

The Cup entry list contained 39 cars. That meant two more entries than the 37-car field seen at North Wilkesboro one week earlier.

The Indianapolis weekend spread major national-series activity across two facilities. Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series sessions ran at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Meanwhile, ARCA and the Craftsman Truck Series raced at nearby Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday. All times below are Eastern Time.

Friday, July 24: practice and IRP race night

Cup practice at 1 p.m. ET was the headline IMS session. NASCAR listed truTV and HBO Max for the live broadcast, plus IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM for audio.

The 50-minute session produced a Toyota sweep of the top five. Christopher Bell led at 183.512 mph, ahead of John Hunter Nemechek and Ty Gibbs.

Friday evening shifted attention to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The ARCA LiUNA 150 began at 5:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Truck Series TSport 200 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, July 25: qualifying and the Pennzoil 250

Cup qualifying began at 1:30 p.m. ET. Carson Hocevar produced a 186.598-mph lap to earn the Busch Light Pole Award.

Daniel Suárez qualified second, only 0.056 second behind. Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs filled the second row.

The Pennzoil 250 followed at 4 p.m. ET on The CW. Therefore, fans at IMS had a full Saturday of qualifying and race action before the Cup main event.

Sunday, July 26: Brickyard 400 race day

The national broadcast window began one hour before the race. NASCAR Nation Pre-Race started at 1 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, truTV and HBO Max.

IMS scheduled driver introductions for 1:30 p.m. ET. The Brickyard 400 then started at 2 p.m. ET.

The race aired on TNT Sports and truTV

TNT Sports handled the main U.S. television broadcast. NASCAR’s weekly listings also showed a truTV simulcast.

This was the fifth and final Cup race in TNT Sports’ 2026 summer run. The package began at Sonoma and continued through Chicagoland, EchoPark, North Wilkesboro and Indianapolis.

Pre-race coverage began at 1 p.m. ET

NASCAR Nation Pre-Race occupied the hour before the scheduled green flag. That gave viewers team reports, interviews and the final race-day setup.

Because the race itself started at 2 p.m., viewers did not need to change networks between the pre-race show and the event.

Post-race coverage was scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET

NASCAR Nation Post-Race followed the main event on the same TNT Sports, truTV and HBO Max combination.

Actual race length can always affect a post-race window. Cautions, red flags or overtime may shift when studio coverage begins.

Practice and qualifying used truTV and HBO Max

Cup practice did not air on the main TNT feed. NASCAR listed truTV and HBO Max for Friday’s 1 p.m. session.

The same pairing carried Saturday qualifying at 1:30 p.m. ET. That made truTV and HBO Max essential for fans following the complete Cup weekend.

HBO Max was NASCAR’s direct streaming home for the Indianapolis Cup weekend. The service carried practice, qualifying and the race.

NASCAR’s 2026 viewing guide said live sports access was available through supported Standard and Premium plans with the B/R Sports Add-On included. Plan terms can change, so current subscribers should check their account before a future event.

HBO Max was the simplest direct stream

For viewers without a traditional cable package, HBO Max provided a direct route to the Cup race. It also carried the Friday and Saturday sessions.

The platform supported televisions, phones, tablets and game consoles. NASCAR also promoted driver-camera features through Max.

Live-TV bundles provided TNT and truTV

NASCAR listed DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and Sling TV among services carrying TNT and truTV.

Channel availability can depend on package and market. Therefore, subscribers should confirm TNT and truTV are included before race day.

Radio remained useful for travel and trackside listening

IMS Radio Network carried the event’s traditional radio call. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio provided national satellite audio.

Audio can be especially useful at Indianapolis. Fans often move between parking areas, grandstands and large concourses before the green flag.

Indianapolis observes Eastern Time in July, so the local scheduled start was 2 p.m. ET. That corresponded to 11 a.m. on the U.S. West Coast.

Fans planning around pre-race coverage needed to move each time one hour earlier. For example, the 1 p.m. ET pre-race show began at 10 a.m. PT.

IMS opened the property well before the broadcast

Outside parking lots opened at 8 a.m. ET. Public gates opened at 10 a.m. and remained open through the event window.

A pre-race track walk ran from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. IMS required a separate Track Walk voucher for participation.

The Drivers Brick Walk came just before introductions

IMS scheduled the Drivers Brick Walk from 1:15 to 1:25 p.m. in Pagoda Plaza. Driver introductions followed at 1:30 p.m.

Those events compressed the final hour before the green flag. Fans attending in person needed to reach their seats early.

Why the official start time matters

NASCAR listings usually publish the broadcast start, which is the planning time fans should use. Ceremonies and television pacing can affect the exact green flag by a few minutes.

For travel, streaming or recording, 2 p.m. ET was the correct official reference point for the 2026 Brickyard 400.

Stage 1 ended after 125 miles

Fifty laps around Indianapolis equal 125 miles. Teams could not treat the opening segment like a short sprint because green-flag strategy still mattered.

Track position is difficult to regain at Indianapolis. Therefore, stage points and pit timing can pull teams in different directions.

Stage 2 carried the race to Lap 100

The second stage added another 125 miles. At that point, drivers had completed 250 of the scheduled 400 miles.

The remaining 60 laps formed the final stage. Fuel windows and tire strategy then shaped the path to the finish.

The 2.5-mile oval changes how NASCAR races

Indianapolis has long straights and relatively flat corners. Cup cars arrive at the turns with high speed, then depend on braking and mechanical grip.

Dirty air can reduce front grip when a car follows closely. As a result, clean air and pit-road position become especially valuable.

The field size added another layer

Thirty-nine cars appeared on the entry list. The field included full-time teams, part-time entries and veteran Casey Mears.

Corey Heim drove the No. 67 Toyota in his eighth Cup start of the season. He later turned that entry into the race-winning car.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway carries a level of prestige that extends beyond any one series. NASCAR drivers race beneath the same pagoda and across the same Yard of Bricks that define the Indianapolis 500.

NASCAR’s official preview described the Brickyard 400 as a crown-jewel event. Winning puts a driver into one of the sport’s most recognizable victory traditions.

Bubba Wallace entered as defending winner

Wallace won the 2025 Brickyard 400 and returned in 2026 as the defending champion. He had become the first Black driver to win a major event on the IMS oval.

However, the weekend started difficultly. Wallace scraped the outside wall during Friday practice and qualified 29th on Saturday.

Kyle Larson returned as the 2024 winner

Larson won NASCAR’s 2024 return to the oval after three seasons on the IMS road course. That victory made him one of only three active 2026 entrants with a Brickyard win entering Sunday.

His 2026 weekend ended early after a tire problem sent the No. 5 Chevrolet into the wall during Stage 1.

The In-Season Challenge ended at Indianapolis

Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland reached the tournament’s championship round. The head-to-head prize was $1 million.

The race therefore carried two competitions at once. Drivers fought for a crown-jewel victory while Blaney and Gilliland settled the summer bracket.

The schedule guide became a record of an upset

Bell led practice and Hocevar won the pole. Yet Heim, who started seventh, won the race after leading 58 laps.

He held off Bell and Joey Logano during the final 34-lap green run. The 0.287-second margin made Heim a first-time Brickyard winner in his first start at the track.

Jeff Gordon won the first Brickyard 400 in 1994. That race established NASCAR as a major annual presence at the historic open-wheel venue.

For three seasons from 2021 through 2023, Cup competition moved to the Indianapolis road course. NASCAR returned to the oval in 2024.

The 2026 edition continued the oval revival. It also produced another new winner when Heim kissed the bricks after his second career Cup victory.

For TV viewers

The cleanest approach was to tune in by 1 p.m. ET. That captured the complete NASCAR Nation pre-race hour before the 2 p.m. race.

Traditional viewers needed TNT Sports or truTV. Streaming viewers could use HBO Max or a live-TV service carrying TNT and truTV.

For fans following the entire weekend

Friday practice and Saturday qualifying mattered because Indianapolis rewards track position. Both Cup sessions aired on truTV and HBO Max.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series used The CW for Saturday’s Pennzoil 250. The Truck and ARCA races took place Friday at IRP.

For radio listeners

IMS Radio Network was the local and event-specific radio source. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio added satellite coverage for listeners across the country.

Radio works well for fans driving to Speedway, Indiana. It also provides useful commentary inside the huge IMS property.

For in-person spectators

Race-day parking lots opened at 8 a.m. ET and gates at 10 a.m. The pre-race track walk began at 11:30 a.m.

Because IMS is enormous, walking time should be part of every plan. Fans moving from parking to the grandstands can cover significant distances.

For future reference

Broadcast partners can change from year to year. This article records the official 2026 arrangement rather than assuming the same channels for a later Brickyard.

For 2026 specifically, the central answer remains simple: 2 p.m. ET Sunday, TNT Sports and truTV on television, HBO Max online.