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Sunday Indy road course Cup race: Start time, weather, TV info

Indy road course Cup race

WATKINS GLEN, NY - AUGUST 08: NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry and NASCAR Cup Series driver Aric Almirola of the #10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang race through turn 1 during the NASCAR Cup Series - Go Bowling at The Glen race on August 8, 2021, at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, NY. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

As legendary comedy troupe Monty Python once put it: “And now for something completely different.”

The NASCAR Cup Series has been a fixture at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1994. But on Sunday, the premier division will run Indy’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course for the first time after 27 years on the famous oval.

The Indy road course has existed in various forms since 2000, when Formula One began an eight-year run at IMS.

Its current layout debuted in 2014 and hosted stock cars for the first time last year with the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Details for Sunday’s Indy road course Cup race:

(All times Eastern)

START: Mike Ruhnke, vice president of enterprise sales for race sponsor Verizon, will give the command to start engines at 1:02 p.m. … The green flag is scheduled to wave at 1:13 p.m.

PRERACE: Cup garage opens at 7 a.m. … Qualifying begins at 9:05 a.m. (CNBC and NBC Sports App) ... Drivers report for pre-race at 12:20 p.m. … Driver introductions are at 12:25 p.m. … Bruce Smith of College Park Church (Indianapolis), will give the invocation at 12:54 p.m. … Big Machine Label Group recording artist Danielle Bradbery will perform the national anthem at 12:55 p.m.

DISTANCE: The race is 82 laps (200 miles) on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 15. Stage 2 ends at Lap 35.

TV/RADIO: NBC coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. with Countdown to Green, leading into the race at 1 p.m. ... The NASCAR America Post-Race Show follows at 4 p.m. on NBCSN ... Performance Racing Network’s radio coverage begins at noon and also will stream at goprn.com; SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the broadcast.

STREAMING: NBC

FORECAST: Weather Underground’s forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, a high of 77 degrees, and a 2% chance of rain around the start of the race.

LAST YEAR: Kevin Harvick claimed his third Brickyard 400 victory in what was, for now, the last Cup race on the Indy oval.

STARTING LINEUP: Indy Cup starting lineup

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NASCAR Cup storylines: Indy road course