Something magical happens when NASCAR’s finest drivers race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Veterans with their best years behind them somehow summon the ability to run with the younger talent. There are no fluke wins at the famed Brickyard.
The list of NASCAR winners at Indy reads like a Who’s Who of the sport: Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart.
NASCAR’s graybeards often put on a show at Indy. Dale Jarrett, winner in 1996 and 1999, ran second in 2004 when he was 47. Earnhardt won in ’95 at 44. Elliott won in ’02 at 46. Rusty Wallace earned his third career runner-up finish in ’02 at 45.
Even the younger Indy winners know they’ve done something special. Gordon, who won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 when he was 22, acknowledged what the track and that race mean to the history of the sport. He spent his formative years living down the road from Indy, in Pittsboro, dreaming of driving a race car on that storied stretch of asphalt and bricks. In those days, few could have imagined the open-wheel racing world would open its doors to NASCAR.
“I love the fact that we get to go there in a stock car,” Gordon said during his weekly press briefing at Chicagoland Speedway. “It’s a lot of fun to bring NASCAR to the Brickyard.”
Gordon also said winning at the Brickyard requires a well-tuned car, which goes a long way in explaining why the wins at Indy only seem to go to top-echelon drivers and the best race teams.
“You have to have the car really balanced out right and it’s tough to do because you have four unique corners,” Gordon said. “Even though they look the same shape, they’re all different. It’s a hard place to pass at so track position is extremely important."
The driver and team who have Indy figured out the best are Gordon’s teammate, Jimmie Johnson, and the crew of Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson has a chance this year to join an elite roster of four-time winners at Indy, a list that includes both open-wheel and NASCAR racers. He recently made a winner's circle appearance and listened to four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears speak about his track experiences and what they had meant to his career and life. It was inspiring for him.
“It would be a huge honor to join the list of four-time winners,” Johnson said. “Just to win there once is a career-maker for anyone, so to have three victories there means a lot to me."
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