Tomorrow, NASCAR’s best start their engine at one of the world’s greatest racetracks–the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994, this race has become the second-biggest race in NASCAR. However, for the past week, fans have been displaying their dismay for the summertime race on Sirius/XM’s NASCAR channel.
A lot of fans think the racing isn’t great at Indy. I can’t say I disagree with that. Lets’ face it, there’s not a lot of passing; clean air is premium, and there’s going to be a lot of empty seats for tomorrow’s race. The empty seats are happening all across NASCAR, but also in other sports too–so NASCAR isn’t alone in the in-person attendance category. The fans want to see Indy off the schedule; why? They need to have a valid reason.
Some fans haven’t come back to Indy since the epic 2008 tire “disaster”. The economy hasn’t picked up-so some don’t want to fork out all the money for the in-person experience and others have been, but claim the views’ at the track are not good. Are these reasons to pull NASCAR away from the historic track? No. If that were the case, then why does Pocono still have a race? It’s the exact same as Indy–just the track is a triangle–not four-cornered, or rectangle like Indy.
I agree with NASCAR blogger, Pete Pistone–NASCAR’s relationship with Indianapolis is important. Drivers view this as the “second” Dayton 500. Even though there may just be 138,000 people at the race tomorrow–that’s nearly 30,000 more than any college football, NFL, MLB, MLS or any other sports venue can hold. It will, at the very least, double what the Olympics opening ceremonies held–maybe triple.
Also, Indy has tradition–kissing the bricks. Champions tend to rise when Indy rolls around. Four-time champion, Jeff Gordon, leads all drivers with four wins at Indy; five-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, has three wins, and defending series champion, Tony Stewart, has two wins. Eight winners have gone on to win the championship in the same year (three mentioned above are apart of the group). Will this weekend’s winner be launched to a Sprint Cup Series Championship? Who will kiss the bricks? I don’t think the winner will win the championship, however, it will be someone who’s never won the race before. Maybe it will be Joey Logano, winner of the June race at Pocono. What about Kyle Busch? He’s had a terrible season, but a victory at Indy can turn everything around. It won’t be either of them. My pick for tomorrow, Kasey Kahne.
Kahne–winner of the Coca-Cola 600 in May, and last race at New Hampshire–is firing on all cylinders right now. He’s hungry to show his dominance at Hendrick Motorsports. A win tomorrow would pretty much secure his spot in the final 10-race chase for the Sprint Cup.
Paul Menard–defending Brickyard champion–was a surprise last year. Do I expect another surprise tomorrow? No, but that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t sneak in for the victory.
Tomorrow, a new chapter is written into one racing’s most-historic tracks. It’s not going anywhere–no matter what people say.
cphelps2012 