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CUP: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Preview
Written by: Tom Jensen   
07/25/2007
Indianapolis
 
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway pace car leads the field during the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on August 6, 2006. (Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) ยป More Photos

Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is race No. 20 of 36 in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season and fourth of 10 races leading up to the Chase for the Nextel Cup. It's also a hugely important race in terms of prestige, arguably No. 2 behind only the season-opening Daytona 500.

For whatever reason, so far the Brickyard event has been a remarkable predictor in terms of the series championship. In 13 prior events, the winner of the Brickyard 400 has gone on to win the Nextel Cup Series title six times, including the last two seasons, when Tony Stewart (2005) and Jimmie Johnson (2006) won both the race and the title in the same year.

The only drivers to win the Brickyard more than once are Jeff Gordon, who has four victories here and Dale Jarrett, who won twice. There have been five different Brickyard winners in the last five seasons.

In terms of pure racing, the Brickyard isn't the greatest track in the Nextel Cup Series, but it is a race every driver wants to win. Passing is challenging, mistakes are punished, but for the driver who can persevere, the rewards are tremendous.

Here's how 2000 race-winner and series champion Bobby Labonte describes the Brickyard experience: "The track is a hard track for us to run," said Labonte, who drives for Petty Enterprises. "There isn't much room to pass and there is absolutely zero room for error. The turns are all
so different. You have to be perfect in each one to have a good lap. Sometimes I think the pole winner is the guy who has made the least amount of mistakes during their lap. It doesn't take much to be off a lot here. One little mistake in one turn is going to cost you a lot of time. The goal then is to be as close to perfect as you can every lap. It's not something that you can do every lap, but the more you are, the better you are going to be. You need to hit your marks because that margin of error is so big."

There are a couple of big breaking news storylines coming into this year's Brickyard running: Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ginn Racing announced a merger earlier this week, forming a four-car team with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr. and Paul Menard driving three of the cars, with the fourth to be split between Mark Martin and Aric Almirola. Still to be determined are the futures of former Ginn Racing development drivers Ricky Carmichael and Regan Smith. Former Ginn drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin have been released and are looking for work.

Also, car owner Robert Yates on Friday is expected to announce that he and his son, Doug, are selling Robert Yates Racing to the open-wheel racing team, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, an outfit that like RYR has longstanding ties to Ford Motor Co. There doubtless will be several other big announcements this weekend, too. There always are at the Brickyard.
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