The Crown Royal Presents the Your Hero's Name Here 400 at the Brickyard^[1] is an annual 400-mile (644 km) NASCAR Sprint Cup points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event, when first held in 1994, marked the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916. In its first year, the Brickyard 400 became NASCAR's most-attended event, drawing an estimated crowd of more than 250,000 spectators in 1994. It also pays NASCAR's second-highest purse (second only to the Daytona 500).

The term "Brickyard" is in reference to the nickname historically used for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The course was paved in brick in 1909, and a one-yard strip of brick remains exposed at the start/finish line. From 2005–2009, the race was known as the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, under a naming rights arrangement with Allstate Insurance.^[2] In 2011, Big Machine Records became the presenting sponsor.^[3] For 2012, Crown Royal signed a multi-year contract to be the title sponsor of the event.^[1][4] The official title will reflect the "Your Name Here" program, (introduced at the Richmond spring race) and will honor U.S. military service men and women.

The names of the winners of the Brickyard 400 are inscribed on the PPG Trophy, which is permanently housed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

Race origins[link]

In September 1991, A. J. Foyt filmed a commercial for Craftsman tools at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While filming in the garage area, Foyt, and Speedway president Tony George decided to take Foyt's NASCAR Winston Cup car for a few laps around the track. Foyt was the first driver to do so, and later on, George himself took a few laps. The event was not planned, and had no implications, but caused some interest and speculation for the future.

On June 22–23, 1992, nine top NASCAR Winston Cup series teams were invited to Indy to participate in a Goodyear tire test. Over the weekend, the teams had raced in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Although no official announcements were made, it was in fact an unofficial compatibility test to see if stock cars would be competitive at the circuit. An estimated 10,000 spectators watched two days of history in the making. A. J. Foyt took a few laps around the track in Dale Earnhardt's car on the second day.^[5]

Following the test, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway started an extensive improvement project. The outside retaining wall and catch fence were replaced. The new wall and fence were decidedly stronger, and could support the 3,500 pound NASCAR stock cars. The pit area was widened, and the individual pit stalls were replaced in concrete. This was done to better support the pneumatic jacks used by the Indy cars, and to handle the refuel spillage of gasoline from the NASCAR machines. The largest project, however, involved the removal of the track apron, and the construction of the new warm-up lane, similar to that built at Nazareth Speedway in 1987.

On April 14, 1993 Speedway President Tony George, and the president of NASCAR, Bill France, Jr. jointly announced the Inaugural Brickyard 400 would be held Saturday August 6, 1994. A new race logo was also unveiled.

On August 16–17 the same year, thirty-five NASCAR teams took part in an open test at the Speedway. It was held as the teams returned from the second race at Michigan, the Champion Spark Plug 400. The top 35 teams in NASCAR points received invitations. Hosting the test in August mimicked the weather conditions expected for the race in 1994. Several thousand spectators attended, and many announcements were made. Recently retired NASCAR legend Richard Petty took a few fast laps himself, then donated his car to the Speedway museum.

Race details[link]

Scheduling[link]

For its first running in 1994, the race was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon timeslot, at 12:15 pm EST (1:15 pm EDT). Since the race was not being held on a holiday weekend, track officials decided that a built-in rain date was necessary. Scheduling the race for Saturday allowed Sunday as a make-up date in case of rain. In 1994, practice and pole qualifying was held Thursday. Practice, second round qualifying, and "Happy Hour" final practice was scheduled for Friday. In addition, during the first year, a special "pacing" practice was held where the field followed behind the pace car to measure pit road speed.

Starting in 1995, an additional practice session was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Pole qualifying was still held Thursday, and second round qualifying was held Friday. This schedule continued through 2000.

From 1998–2003, an IROC event was situated in the schedule. The IROC race would be held the day before the Brickyard 400.

Starting in 2001, the race was moved to Sunday. In addition, NASCAR eliminated second-round qualification. The schedule was compressed so practice was held Friday, and the single pole qualifying round was held Saturday. "Happy hour" final practice was also held Saturday. This schedule differed from typical NASCAR weekend schedules, which normally saw practice and pole qualification on Fridays. Moving the pole qualification to Saturday allowed for a potential larger audience, and also opened the schedule up for the Kroger 200 held at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Starting in 2012, the Brickyard 400 will become part of Super Weekend at The Brickyard, consisting of three races over four days on both the oval and the road course. The Nationwide Series will leave IRP and move to the Speedway for a support race. Grand Am will utilize the road course on Friday. Sprint Cup and Nationwide qualifying will take place on Saturday, followed by the Nationwide race on Saturday afternoon. The Brickyard 400 itself will remain on Sunday.

Race recaps[link]

1994: The first running of the Brickyard 400 in 1994 saw the largest crowd to date to witness a NASCAR event, and the single largest race purse to date. Rick Mast won the pole position, and became the first stock car driver to lead a lap at Indy. Young second-year driver Jeff Gordon took the lead late in the race after Ernie Irvan suffered a flat tire. Gordon drove on to a historic win in NASCAR's debut at the Brickyard. In an effort to attract more entries, the event was concurrently included on the NASCAR Winston West schedule. No Winston West competitors qualified on speed, but point leader Mike Chase made the field via a Winston West provisional. Gordon's inaugural Brickyard 400 winning car (nicknamed "Booger"^[6]) is on display at the Hendrick Motorsports museum.^[7]

1995: Second-round qualification was rained out on Friday, and only a short "happy hour" practice followed. On Saturday, rain delayed the start of the race until late in the afternoon. Dale Earnhardt cruised to victory, in a race that was slowed only once for four laps under yellow. Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett battled close over the final 20 laps for second, with Wallace holding off the challenge.

1996: Dale Jarrett and his Robert Yates Racing crew began the tradition of the winning driver and crew kissing the row of bricks at the start-finish line.[2], which has carried over to the Indianapolis 500. The race saw several blown tires after the speedway removed some rumble strips from the apron of the corners; Kyle Petty was injured when he blew a tire, slammed into the outside and inside wall off turn four, and was T-boned by Sterling Marlin. Johnny Benson led the most laps (70), but faded to 8th at the finish. Jarrett became the first driver to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. After injures suffered at Talladega, defending race winner Dale Earnhardt was relieved by Mike Skinner on lap 7, who drove to a 15th place finish.

1997: Ricky Rudd gambles on fuel and drives the final 46 laps without a pit stop to take the victory. Contenders Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin lose after being forced to pit in the final laps.

1998: Jeff Gordon became the first repeat winner, holding off Mark Martin for the win. Dale Jarrett dominated the second 100 miles of the race but lost his chance near the halfway point when he ran out of fuel, and coasted back to the pits; he lost four laps but made them up due to numerous cautions. Gordon's victory was the first in the Winston No Bull 5 program.

1999: Late in the race, Dale Jarrett leads, but fourth-place Bobby Labonte is the only car in the top 5 that can go the distance without pitting for fuel. A caution comes out with 17 laps to go, allowing the leaders to pit, foiling Labonte's chances to steal the win. As the leaders pitted, in an unexpected move, Dale Jarrett took on only two tires. Jeff Burton saw this and pulled away after taking only two tires. His pit crew, however, had already tried to loosen the lug nuts on the left side. Jarrett led the rest of the way, becomes the second two-time winner, and erases his heartbreak from 1998.

2000: Rusty Wallace leads 114 laps, and is leading late when Bobby Labonte charges down the back stretch. Labonte takes the lead at the stripe, and pulls away for the win. The race is slowed by only two cautions for 7 laps.

2001: With 25 laps to go, Jeff Gordon passes Sterling Marlin on a restart, and pulls away for the win. Gordon becomes the first three-time winner of the Brickyard 400.

2002: Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer, locked in a burgeoning feud dating from the Food City 500, collided on Lap 36 and Busch hit the turn 3 wall. Veteran Bill Elliott added the Brickyard to his long resume, and Rusty Wallace finished second for the third time.

2003: With 16 laps to go, Kevin Harvick used lap traffic to get by Matt Kenseth on a restart. A huge pileup occurred in turn three, and Harvick held off over the final ten laps to become the first polesitter to win the Brickyard 400.

2004: For the first time in Sprint Cup series history, the Green-white-checker finish rule caused a race to be extended, in this case for one additional lap. On the extra lap, Casey Mears blew a tire, Ricky Rudd hit the wall, then Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered tire failures. Jeff Gordon retained the lead to become the first four-time winner of the Brickyard win.

2005: Hometown favorite Tony Stewart won his first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and climbed the catch fence to celebrate, in the same fashion as Hélio Castroneves.

2006: After suffering a blown front left tire early in the race that caused some fender damage, Jimmie Johnson passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with six laps left to win at Indy for the first time, and became only the second driver to win both the Daytona 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same year. The other was Dale Jarrett in 1996.

2007: Juan Pablo Montoya became the first (and, to date, only) driver to race in all three of the major events hosted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy 500, Allstate 400, and the U.S. Grand Prix). Montoya, a rookie in the Sprint Cup series, finished second to Tony Stewart. Stewart's 2007 winning car is owned and on rotating display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.

2008: The Car of Tomorrow was used at the race for the first time. The Goodyear tires suffered bad wear patterns, causing blowouts in some cases after only 10 laps of green-flag racing. Lengthy competition cautions were put out at roughly 10-lap intervals for teams to change tires. However, Jimmie Johnson managed to tame the field and tire problems by winning for the second time in his career at Indy.

2009: Former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya dominated most of the race, leading 116 laps. However, with 35 laps to go, Montoya was penalized (not without protest and a heated rant) for speeding in the pits. The infraction left Jimmie Johnson holding off polesitter Mark Martin for the victory. Johnson became the second three-time winner, and the first back–to–back winner of the 400.

2010: Former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya dominated most of the race for the second year in a row, leading 86 laps. However, Montoya gave up the lead when he took four tires in a late pit stop. He restarted the race in 7th with 18 laps to go and was never able to recover. Montoya crashed with 16 laps to go. Before the caution came out, Kevin Harvick had passed race leader Jamie McMurray for the lead. On the final restart of the race McMurray passed Harvick to go on to win the 400. He became the third driver to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, joining Dale Jarrett (1996) and Jimmie Johnson (2006). McMurray's win also gave car owner Chip Ganassi a Daytona 500 win, Indianapolis 500 win and Brickyard 400 win in the same season, the first owner to do so.

2011: The final caution came out on lap 121 with Brad Keselowski leading. With 39 laps to go, if would be difficult for the leaders to make it to the finish on fuel if they pit under that yellow. Since race laps at Indy are in the 51-second range, and a pit stop (including entering and exiting the pit lane) takes upwards of 40–45 seconds, green flag pits stops are not necessarily discouraged, unlike other circuits. Among the drivers who pitted on lap 123 was Paul Menard. After the green came back out, Jeff Gordon pitted on lap 134. As the leaders shuffled through their final pit stops, Paul Menard took over the lead on lap 145. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon with two new tires, began dramatically charging through the field. He was quickly in the top ten, and moved into second on lap 158. Menard stretched his fuel and held off Gordon on the last lap to score his first career Cup series victory.

Past winners[link]

Pole position winners[link]

• (FQ) – Denotes fastest qualifier; was accomplished in second-round qualifying
• (TR) – Denotes one-lap stock car track record

Statistics[link]

Multiple victories[link]

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series records[link]

(As of 7/31/11)

* from minimum 5 starts.
** Mark Martin is the only driver to participate in all 18 races, as well as the 1992 tire test and the 1993 open test.

Manufacturers[link]

Daytona 500 & Brickyard 400[link]

Three drivers have won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season.

• 1996 Dale Jarrett
• 2006 Jimmie Johnson
• 2010 Jamie McMurray

Four other drivers (Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, and Kevin Harvick) have won both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in their respective careers, albeit not in the same season.

In 2010, car owner Chip Ganassi's teams won the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400. In 2011, a unique result saw the both the Daytona 500 (Trevor Bayne) and Brickyard 400 (Paul Menard) won by first-time Cup series winners.

Three drivers (Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson) have completed a career grand slam with the addition of the Brickyard 400, for a "Grand Slam +1." Kevin Harvick has won the three current majors and the 400, but made four starts in the fall Darlington race, thereby making him ineligible for the career triple.

Sprint Cup champions[link]

The winner of the Brickyard 400 has notably gone on to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship the same season eight times out of 16 runnings from 1994–2009.

• 1998 Jeff Gordon
• 1999 Dale Jarrett
• 2000 Bobby Labonte
• 2001 Jeff Gordon
• 2005 Tony Stewart
• 2006 Jimmie Johnson
• 2008 Jimmie Johnson
• 2009 Jimmie Johnson

Pre-race ceremonies[link]

At the onset of the Brickyard 400 in 1994, track officials were determined to not detract from the traditional nature of the Indianapolis 500, and establish "new traditions" for the Brickyard 400.

Several of the key fixtures of the Indy 500 pre-race traditions were dropped or tweaked. The Purdue band was omitted, in favor of other schools from the state (Indiana State and Indiana University). The song "Back Home Again in Indiana" was decidedly not included, however, Jim Nabors was invited in 1994 to sing the national anthem. Unlike the Indy 500, a ceremonial pace car driver is not normally used in NASCAR, with only a few rare exceptions. Chevolet has been the exclusive provider of the pace car for all runnings.

In a slight contrast to the Indy 500, many of the national anthem performers invited have been from country music, as a gesture to NASCAR's ties to the south. Contemporary Christian singers have also been invited several times. Traditions that were kept include a balloon release, a flyby, and an invocation. Rev. Howard Brammer of Traders Point Christian Church has conducted the invocation for every Brickyard 400 from 1994–2011; differing from the Indy 500, where the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis is normally invited.

In 1998, for the first time since 1954, a person gave the starting command at the track who was not a member of the Hulman-George family. The president of NASCAR, Bill France, Jr. gave the command, celebrating the 50th anniversary of NASCAR.