Mitchell, Indiana Native Chase Briscoe on the Pole for the Brickyard 400 Southern Indiana’s Chase Briscoe will lead the field to the green flag during Today’s Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Briscoe, a native of Mitchell, secured his fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole position after bumping Bubba Wallace from the provisional pole by just 0.013 seconds. Toyota swept the first five spots as Erik Jones qualified third, followed by last year’s Brickyard 400 pole winner Tyler Reddick in fourth and Ty Gibbs, one of the two drivers in the championship for NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, in fifth. William Byron, in a Chevrolet, broke the Toyota stranglehold by qualifying sixth. Briscoe reflected on his pole after the race, reminiscing about coming to the Brickyard 400 as a kid. “Just dreaming of being able to come to this place and sitting in the same grandstands all the fans are, I mean I was dreaming about being on the other side of the fence and now to be able to do that is just unbelievable,” Briscoe said after qualifying. With the addition of the Brickyard 400 pole, Briscoe now has claimed pole position at three out of four of NASCAR’s “Crown Jewel” races, having won poles earlier this year at the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600.
There were multiple instances of drivers making contact with the Turn 2 wall during qualifying. With an alternate start/finish line being placed in the north chute between Turns 3 and 4 for qualifying only, drivers appeared to push their cars harder during the opening two turns of their lap. John Hunter Nemechek was the first driver to make contact with the Turn 2 wall. Nemechek just nicked the wall in Turn 1 but kept his foot on the gas as he made his way toward the second turn. However, he was not as lucky that time around as he hit the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier square with his right side. His lap time dropped from a possible pole time to 36th. Michael McDowell, who won the 2023 Cup race on the IMS road course, was the second driver to impact the Turn 2 wall. McDowell hit on the exit of the turn just like Nemechek, but rather than dropping into the bottom four spots, McDowell was quick enough for 22nd.
Two-time Brickyard 400 winner and two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch also found the wall during qualifying. However, Busch managed to keep his momentum going after the contact and post the 12th quickest lap time, one spot ahead of defending race winner Kyle Larson. Denny Hamlin, fresh off a win last weekend at Dover and a brand-new two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, was the last car to attempt to qualify on Saturday. Hamlin started his lap off on a flyer, tracking well ahead of teammate Briscoe. However, as the car began to drift up the track on the exit of Turn 2, Hamlin slammed the outside wall and then spun toward the inside of the track before impacting the inside wall. Hamlin climbed out of his car and appeared unhurt, but the crash means he will start 39th, last place in today’s race.
Former Indiana University Football Player Jaylin Walker waived by the Las Vegas Raiders Former Indiana linebacker Jailin Walker was a surprising first IU casualty of NFL roster cut season. The Los Angeles Raiders announced this week they waived him. Walker had signed with the franchise as an undrafted free agent and appeared to be a promising candidate to make the team. Instead, he’ll look to find another opportunity. After transferring to IU from James Madison, Walker earned honorable mention All-Big Ten from the conference coaches and media. In his last regular season game he garnered Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after amassing 4.0 tackles for loss, one interception and one forced fumble in a victory over Purdue.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers placed rookie quarterback Kurtis Rourke on the active/non-football injury list. He was drafted by the club in the seventh round. He’s likely to miss a decent portion, if not all of the 2025 season. Rourke had knee surgery following the 2024 season. He played through a torn ACL during IU’s 11-2 campaign and led the squad to the College Football Playoff. In his lone season with the Hoosiers, Rourke completed 69.4% of his passes for 3,042 yards, 29 touchdowns and five interceptions.
FORMER HOOSIERS CURRENTLY ON 90-MAN ROSTERS:
- James Carpenter, Jacksonville Jaguars, Defensive Tackle
- Luke Haggard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Offensive Tackle
- Zach Horton, Detroit Lions, Tight End
- Cam Jones, Kansas City Chiefs, Linebacker
- Raheem Layne, New York Giants, Safety
- Marcelino McCrary-Ball, New York Jets, Linebacker
- Micah McFadden, New York Giants, Linebacker
- Myles Price, Minnesota Vikings, Wide Receiver
- Kurtis Rourke, San Francisco 49ers, Quarterback — injured list
- Ian Thomas, Las Vegas Raiders, Tight End
- Trey Wedig, Los Angeles Rams, Offensive Tackle
- CJ West, San Francisco 49ers, Defensive Tackle
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Miami Dolphins, Wide Receiver
- Ke’Shawn Williams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Wide Receiver
The above are players who finished their careers at IU. Of note, Michael Penix, Jr. (Atlanta) and A.J. Barner (Seattle) are back in the league in 2025.
NOTABLE UNSIGNED FREE AGENTS- Jailin Walker, LB, Dan Feeney, OL, Peyton Hendershot, TE and Caleb Jones, OL
19-Year-Old Connor Zilisch Wins the Xfinity Race at the Brickyard Connor Zilisch survived rain delays and a late-race restart to score his sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in the Pennzoil 250 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday. The win also gave his car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 100th Xfinity Series victory for his JR Motorsports team. Zilisch passed Joe Gibbs Racing’s Taylor Gray with two laps to go and then held off Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer to cross the yard of bricks first and score his third consecutive Xfinity Series win. “Dude, this is awesome!” Zilisch said after his victory. “Those bricks look really kissable and I’m ready to kiss them!”
Rain threatened the second half of the race, causing drivers to ramp up intensity, leading to some thrilling racing. Zilisch just lost out on a stage win at the end of the second stage. Justin Allgaier, the defending series champion and 2018 winner of the Pennzoil 250, nipped Zilisch to take the stage victory. That stage finish set the tone for the final 35 laps. As the final stage got underway, Carson Kvapil was tagged in Turn 2, spinning his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, bearing a throwback paint scheme to Jamie McMurray’s 2010 Brickyard 400 victory, into the wall and out of the race. At the time of the crash, Kvapil had been running in the top ten for the majority of the event.
On the ensuing restart, Justin Allgaier made a power move off Turn 2 to take the lead from Kyle Larson. Crew chiefs and spotters were watching the radar closely as a cell of showers began approaching the track. The rain finally hit with 20 laps to go, but it wasn’t a significant downpour. Justin Allgaier led at the time of caution and the television broadcast showed his pit crew hoping for the rain to increase. Unfortunately for Allgaier, the rain shower was short-lived. Making matters worse, Allgaier’s race came to an end on the restart. With 14 laps remaining, Allgaier was racing side-by-side with Kyle Larson through Turn 2. That’s when Larson’s car got loose and slid up into Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet. Allgaier spun sideways and slammed the outside wall with the rear of his car. The crash also significantly damaged the No. 20 of Brandon Jones, who had been running in the top ten the majority of the race until that point. The crash triggered yet another caution with rain continuing to loom near the track.
With 10 laps to go, controversy erupted when Aric Almirola made contact with Austin Hill in the north chute. The contact got Hill sideways, but the 31-year-old Georgia native managed to save his car from spinning. However, Hill appeared to veer left, directly into the side of Almirola’s No. 19 Toyota, sending Almirola head-on into the wall. Hill spun to the inside, collecting a piece of Sheldon Creed’s front bumper. Almirola was checked and released from the infield medical center while Austin Hill was given a five-lap penalty for aggressive driving. “It was definitely intentional,” Almirola said after the crash. “He blocked me three times and I finally got him loose in (turn) three. He had damage on the nose so was really slow in the corners. It was time to go and I got him loose and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear.” Almirola described the impact as “one of the biggest hits” of his NASCAR career. He even compared it to a 2017 crash he had at Kansas Speedway in which he broke his back and was sidelined for seven races. While being held on pit road, Hill voiced his displeasure with the penalty on the radio. The Xfinity Series now travels west to the Iowa Speedway for a Saturday afternoon race on Aug. 2. Zilisch leads the playoff standings with five wins this year while Allgaier leads the regular season points standings by 21 points over Zilisch.
Indiana Fever Sign Chloe Bibby to Seven-Day Contract The Indiana Fever have signed Australian forward Chloe Bibby to a seven-day contract, the team announced Friday. Bibby most recently featured with the Golden State Valkyries, with two stints during the 2025 season. During the preseason Bibby appeared in two games, averaging 5.0 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. After re-signing with the Valkyries on June 15, Bibby played five games with the team before being waived on June 30. During her second stint with the team, Bibby averaged 6.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.
Earlier this month, Bibby helped lead her national team, the Australia Opals, to a gold medal in the 2025 FIBA Women’s Asia World Cup. Two years prior, Bibby also guided the Opals to a bronze medal in the 2022 FIBA World Cup in Sydney. Bibby also has extensive overseas experience, including being named the Polish League MVP while with the AZS AJP Gorzow Wielkopolski in the 2023-24 season, and MVP of the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto in Spain with the Spar Girona in the 2024-25 season. The Indiana Fever are set to face the Chicago Sky this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET at the United Center.
Layne Riggs wins the NASCAR Truck Series Race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Front Row Motorsports ace Layne Riggs led 160 laps to win Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, marking his second win of the 2025 season. Spire Motorsports’ Corey Day finished second for his best career result. Stewart Friesen, who originally finished third after coming from the rear, was disqualified for being too low in the front. Instead, Corey Heim finished third as he claimed the regular-season title. He needed to be more than 122 points ahead of second place in the standings after Friday’s race, which he accomplished by extending his lead to an unofficial 143 points over Chandler Smith. Grant Enfinger finished fourth and Ty Majeski finished fifth. Smith, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Ankrum, Cup Series regular Ross Chastain and Rajah Caruth rounded out the top 10. There was just one caution for an incident at Lap 99, when Josh Reaume hit the wall in the No. 22 Ford. The Craftsman Truck Series returns Friday, Aug. 8, for a trip to the Finger Lakes and Watkins Glen International in New York at 5 PM on Fox Sports 1
Historic Hinkle Fieldhouse to get a massive LED Video Display Upgrade Butler University’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse is set to receive a significant upgrade with the installation of a new 2,700-square-foot LED video display. The new video screens, which will be 14 feet tall, are planned to be hung in the center of the arena, enhancing the viewing experience for fans and visitors, the university said in a news release issued Thursday. Hinkle Fieldhouse, first built in 1928, is nearing its 100th anniversary.