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While NASCAR’s epicenter is located near Charlotte, Indiana is a home base for IndyCar, USAC and drag racing teams. The influence of racing here is pervasive.

“You go to Brownsburg and see 90 percent of the drag race teams are there,” Stewart said. “All the IndyCar teams that are based out of Indianapolis, the open-wheel teams. This is a very, very packed state (for) the racing community in general.”

Jeff Gordon, a California native who moved to Indiana as a teenager, knows all about how significant the Brickyard is.

“This track has always been special to me before I ever raced here — just getting an opportunity to come here as a kid to watch the Indianapolis 500, which I did a couple of times,” said Gordon, who won the inaugural Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in 1994. “Then when we moved here to Indiana, I used to come visit the Speedway to pick up oil from one of my sponsors. ... There were always some teams testing here that I would sometimes get to check out and see.”

Although unlike Stewart he never got to race an IndyCar here, Gordon has more than made up for it with a record four NASCAR victories at IMS. “The Brickyard 400 came in 1994. That was to me the ultimate experience,” said Gordon. “To be able to finally come and race here and then to win it and then go on to do it three more times from there. Each year I feel like we have an opportunity to win here, which is spectacular.”

And if history alone wasn’t enough to make a Brickyard victory a treasure, the sheer difficulty of the track makes it that much sweeter. With just nine degrees of banking in the corners, virtual 90-degree corners and a narrow track surface, IMS is an especially challenging place for stock cars to race.

“It’s tough to pass on. I don’t think the track suits a stock car and if you watch the (Indy) 500 it’s tough for those guys to pass as well,” said Jimmie Johnson, winner of the 2006 and ’08 Brickyards. “So from just a pure race track perspective there are better tracks out there for us to race on and put on a better show. But the history of this track and what it means to everyone picks it back up a notch. After now winning at the track there’s a lot of pride coming with the fact that it is so tough to pass on. In 2006 we had to come from last to the front and won. That made it even more special.”

And you don’t even have to grow up in Indiana to appreciate the Brickyard.

“It’s unbelievable. From the minute you fly into it, it’s cool,” said Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “It’s got a golf course in the infield, for crying out loud. It’s just unbelievable how cool that racetrack is. It’s legendary, and it’s a place you want to be at. It’s the 100th year of racing there, and it would be pretty special to win this race.”




Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to