The Brickyard 400 Should be Welcomed Back

by
Peter Stratta
August 15, 2023

Photo Credit to Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

After Three Years Gone, it is time for NASCAR to Bring Back the Brickyard 400

Imagine for a moment if professional football left Lambeau Field. Imagine if basketball or hockey left Madison Square Garden. Imagine if baseball left Wrigley Field or Fenway Park.

Sad?

NASCAR made a comparable move after the 2020 season, fulfilling the wishes of some who had grown disenfranchised with the Brickyard 400.

After years of waning attendance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (aka IMS or The Brickyard), NASCAR abandoned the famed 2.5-mile oval to race on its infield road course. The premier auto racing series in America vacated the world’s most hallowed track. Starting in 2021, Cup cars ran the other direction down the Indianapolis frontstretch. For over a quarter-century, the Brickyard 400 held a revered spot as a Cup Series crown jewel. Drivers and teams to this day regard racing and winning at the Brickyard as one of the most prestigious accomplishments possible on the circuit. But thanks to a vocal segment of the fanbase, media and even some competitors, the Brickyard 400 ceased to exist three years ago.

They were mistaken, and now it is heavily rumored that the Brickyard 400 will return to the Indianapolis oval for 2024. This unprecedented move back would align with the 30th anniversary of the maiden Brickyard 400.

What exactly was the origin of the disdain towards the Brickyard 400? Since its inaugural running, the 400-mile stock car race has played second-fiddle for Hoosier fans. The Memorial Day Classic Indianapolis 500, the largest attended single-day sporting event on Earth, has always trumped the NASCAR race on the same 2.5-mile racetrack. Many drivers in both IndyCar and NASCAR three decades ago were strongly against stock cars ‘invading’ the Speedway’s sacred ground. Despite this tumultuous history, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NASCAR came to an agreement to host the first-ever stock car race at The Brickyard in 1994. This initial race would go down in American racing lore, as the eventual winner was hometown hero Jeff Gordon, in his famed rainbow No. 24 Chevrolet. Since then, however, people at IMS, NASCAR, IndyCar and others have fueled the contempt that some have towards this 400-mile contest.

Constructed in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built west of downtown as a testing grounds for auto manufacturers. The first 500-mile race on the brick-paved surface took place in 1911, and races have continued to this day, outside of hiatuses for both World Wars. The 257,325 permanent seats at IMS make it the highest-capacity sporting venue on the planet. While only one lone yard of the original bricks remains in the Speedway, racing on this track, pavement or brick, has been a dream of drivers around the world for over a century. While the Indy 500 ran for the 107th time in 2023, the Brickyard 400 lasted only 27 years on the NASCAR calendar.

In addition to being subordinate to the Memorial Day Classic, there is a litany of politics and egos that have played into both the rise and eventual fall from grace for the Brickyard 400. In the mid-1990s, open wheel Indy-style racing in America was a precarious sport with which many fans became disinterested. The sport quite literally split in two when the Hulman family (owners of IMS) broke away from the sanctioning body of IndyCar to form their own series, called CART. This left the Indy 500 as a shell of its former self, while the Brickyard 400 flourished. This open wheel split lasted until the late-2000s, when both divisions were reunified into the modern IndyCar Series. Since this time, the Indy 500 has regained its prior prestige and stature as one of the world’s most renowned spectacles.

Throughout the first decade of the Brickyard 400, competing on the world’s greatest stage for auto racing saw this event become one of NASCAR’s crown jewels. The Brickyard 400 quickly equaled the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500 as legendary standout events for stock cars. The first several Brickyard 400 winners were a veritable who’s-who of the sport’s mythology and read like a Hall of Fame: Gordon, Earnhardt, Jarrett, Elliott, Johnson and Stewart, to name a few.

One argument many use against the Brickyard 400 is the rallying cry that IMS ‘was not built for stock cars,’ that it was meant to only be a venue for open-wheel IndyCar racing. This opinion is flawed. As mentioned above IMS was built to test passenger cars, and the first competitive event held there was actually a balloon race. By that logic, the Indy 500 should also be discontinued, since IMS was not originally built for 225-miles per hour racing. The cars that currently race on this Speedway came after its construction, and were purpose-built to compete on this course. In short, IMS was not strictly built for either IndyCars or stock cars.

Another nail was hammered into the Brickyard 400’s apparent coffin 15 years ago. July 27, 2008 is a date many in NASCAR cringe at remembering. It was the fifteenth running of the Brickyard 400, a race that lives on in infamy. Multiple tire failures led to NASCAR pausing the race with caution flags every ten laps. This was a worst-case scenario for many fans; drivers were taken out of the race due to Goodyear having inadequate tires. Nearly one-third of this race was run under caution, leading to a ‘parade’ rather than a race. Since this debacle, NASCAR fans have slowly become more and more scornful towards the Brickyard. They cite a lack of close racing action as a result of NASCAR’s then-new Car of Tomorrow becoming the norm. In addition, the new generation of tires now hold up too well instead of progressively wearing off, leading to less strategic racing. This durability shift in tire construction by Goodyear was a direct result of the 2008 debacle. A global economic downturn during the recession also saw fans abandon NASCAR in droves because of ticket prices being too high. Nowhere was this more obvious than at IMS, with wide swaths of empty grandstands visible on television.

With all of these negatives in mind, why should one campaign in favor of the Brickyard 400? Over its last several years, this stop on the NASCAR circuit has provided some of the most dramatic, attrition-filled, and unpredictable racing of the decade. 2017’s race saw one of the most unpredictable and carnage-heavy races in recent memory. Adding to that chaos was Kasey Kahne coming from nowhere to win. 2018 also had exciting wheel-to-wheel racing up front in the closing laps. Even without any fans present in 2020, the Brickyard 400 delivered drama with Kevin Harvick holding off a hungry pack in overtime.

Despite every attempt to try to recapture the prestige, the current road course race simply does not hold a candle to the Brickyard 400. An argument can be made that any win on the Speedway’s property is special and the most popular form of American motorsports should still be on arguably its most iconic track. Over three years, downright silly controversies stemming from the road course layout have also left a bad impression. For example, 2021’s race saw a curb pop up and destroy several racecars. 2022 had the curb gone, but drivers had a difficult time navigating the tight opening corners on restarts without causing spinouts.

2023’s running of the Verizon 200 thankfully eradicated both of these major issues, and if anything was a callback to vintage NASCAR racing. Thanks to road courses no longer having Stage cautions, the majority of the race ran green from lap six until the end. Underdog winner Michael McDowell besting fan favorite Chase Elliott was also a surprise few could have predicted.

One other big factor has changed the complexion of the NASCAR Cup Series since 2020–the Next Gen car. The latest and greatest racecar design for teams at the highest level has breathed life back into tracks that saw lackluster races for years under previous car generations. Mile-and-a-half cookie cutters were revolutionized almost overnight into can’t miss spectacles in this new era. The Next Gen car has made many tracks great again, so why not give it a chance to revitalize Indianapolis?

The Brickyard 400 became such a special event because it was a departure from NASCAR norms. No other track on the circuit is quite like Indy, a mostly flat 2.5-mile rectangular oval. Shifting to the road course diluted the Indy race, making it too much like many other events in the schedule. Also lost with the move to the road course was competing on the same track as a century’s worth of racing icons. This list includes Andretti, Foyt, Unser and countless more. Instead of being one of one, Indianapolis has become one of six or seven road course races.

The top tier of American auto racing deserves to continue its nearly three-decade history at the world’s most famous race course. This race is still a crown jewel in the eyes of drivers and teams. The winning tradition of kissing the bricks is still time-honored and a highlight of the year for the victor. In previous years of the Brickyard 400, racing at IMS had become closer, more competitive and unpredictable. The playing field from the front of the grid to the rear has also never been closer than now with the Next Gen car.

While not every race will be a barnburner, no single racetrack is free from dominant performances with little drama, just like no sport is free from occasional ‘boring’ games. Not every football game is a 42-35 high-scoring affair. Sometimes a 1-0 pitchers’ duel defines baseball. The history and stature of competing at the cathedral of speed for American motorsports overshadows any concerns about the sustainability of the Brickyard 400. 2024’s assumed return to the Indy oval also comes with the unknown and intrigue of the Next Gen car. This race was a highlight on the NASCAR calendar that should be eagerly embraced again next year.