Talking the business of sports

Traditionally, the path most taken across the fabled yard of bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway goes through its famous 2.5-mile oval and its four corners. There is, however, another way to get to Victory Lane at Indianapolis -- It goes into and around one of the world's most famous racetracks, and it's a challenge that NASCAR has recently undertaken for itself.

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its annual trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Verizon 200 and its second-ever race around the track's 14-turn, 2.4-mile road course configuration. Last year's inaugural event was a chaotic affair, and it ended with A.J. Allmendinger scoring a major upset win that would have sent shockwaves through the playoff field had Allmendinger been a full-time Cup driver. Allmendinger's example, though, surely gives hope to those drivers who are trying to steal a victory to make the playoffs with just five races left in the regular season.

BIG TROUBLE at @IMS! The curb comes up, debris goes everywhere, and multiple cars are collected - with Joey Logano going into the tire barrier. #NASCAR 📺 NBC 💻 https://t.co/K0jeN99Gw2 📱NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/prU3CY957I

Chase Elliott (+350): Chase Elliott is listed as the favorite this week not just because of his proven skill on road courses, but also because he is in a summertime stretch where he can seemingly do no wrong. Since the off-week in mid-June, Elliott has two outright wins and has finished no worse than second in the last five races. That includes last week, when Elliott crossed the finish line in third but was awarded his fourth win of the season after Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were both disqualified. Elliott is an easy pick for this weekend, but more ambitious bettors may want to keep their eyes on Chase Briscoe (+1400). The Indiana native won on the Indy Road Course in the Xfinity Series in 2020, and last year had one of the finest runs of his rookie year in the Cup Series, contending for the win in the closing laps before being penalized for cutting the course on the final restart.

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