This will be the 20th running of the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the home of the world famous Indianapolis 500 each spring. 15 of those 20 events have been won by the Chevrolets and the number 48 car, driven by perennial Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson, is once again favored to take the checkered flag at the Brickyard.
The name ‘Brickyard’ has been around since 1911 when the two year old track of crushed stone and tar was repaved with 3.2 million bricks, hence ‘the Brickyard’. Since that time the old race track at Indy has become one of the most revered Meccas of auto racing on the planet.
So, Johnson will be there with his Chevy hoping to rack up another victory for the brand and for his Hendrick Motorsports team, but so will Brad Keselowski in the number 2 car who has easily been the most aggressive driver on the Sprint Cup circuit this season. But Brad drives a Ford. Both he and Jimmie are listed as 5-to-1 favorites to win the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.
Four of those 15 Chevy wins at Indianapolis were recorded by Jimmie Johnson and another four were racked up by his teammate Jeff Gordon in the number 24 Chevy. They pretty much have a corner on the market at that particular track. But, you never know.
There is some stiff competition out there this year, and remember what happened at Daytona just a few weeks ago when the front runners who weren’t taken out in the first ‘Big One’ managed to get themselves collected up in the second one. When that sort of a mess happens, the odds don’t mean a thing.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a two and a half mile long oval track where estimated crowds of up to a quarter of a million race fans gather to watch the fast and furious action. Little by little those three point two million bricks got covered up with asphalt but there does remain a one yard strip of the original bricks at the start-finish line as a token to tradition.
This is a track where champions are made. In fact 8 of the 20 winners at the Brickyard 400 have gone on to win the NASCAR Cup Championship in that very same year.
Ryan Newman in a Chevy won the event last year for Stewart-Hass Racing in 2013 and good ole Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag at the Brickyard 400 in 2012.
