The Return of the Brickyard 400.
If parts of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign were broken up into cinematic feature films, that would easily be the title of the movie for the lead up to the July 21 race.
There just isn’t a more succinct way to describe this year’s revival of the legendary crown-jewel race.
The Brickyard 400 is truly an epic historical quest in the NASCAR universe that pits 40 drivers against each other for immortal glory.
Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2024 here
It’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway, after all. History seeps out of every crack of concrete that holds the steel spectator stands and rises up through the seams in the asphalt from the bricks buried deep below. This is the ground that Ray Harroun, Wilbur Shaw, AJ Foyt and Jeff Gordon plowed.
This is not Las Vegas Motor Speedway or Michigan International Speedway. Watkins Glen International is cool and beautiful, but it doesn’t stir the emotions like Indy. Darlington Raceway is a time-honored tradition and Daytona International Speedway is stock car’s holy land, for sure.
But Indy is racing’s heaven. Winning there on the oval eternally ties you to the birthplace of motorsports’ soul.
NASCAR hadn’t disappeared from IMS prior to this year’s Brickyard 400. For three years, the stock car elite ran the road course, and the first race had action until the checkered flag.
But something seemed amiss. Drivers were detached from the pantheon that was reached by Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett and many others that won on the oval. Sure, AJ Allmendinger made it known that a win at IMS was legitimate, but it lacked that epic feeling, and felt replaced with just-another-event atmosphere.
The Brickyard 400 jewel embedded in the crown next to the glistening gems for the Daytona 500, Coca Cola 600 and Southern 500 had lost its shine, replaced with a Ring Pop candy piece.
The return of the Brickyard 400 in 2024 was more than just a race — it was a rekindling (and reminder) of the stock car tradition and nostalgia at the historic 2.5-mile oval. It surprisingly felt like a homecoming for NASCAR, even considering the Indianapolis 500 prominence at the facility. While the on-track action may not have been dramatically different from previous years — I thought it was still good — the significance of returning to the grand stage that the oval provides overshadowed the competition itself, creating a moment that felt restorative mixed with a pinch of awe.
The Brickyard’s return felt like the series was reuniting with a long-lost friend. With its removal since 2021, the absence ended up making the heart grow fonder to see stock cars battle it out going counter clockwise again.
The aura of the previous 30 years of the race brought a unique passion and excitement heading into the weekend because it was an event in the middle of the NASCAR summer schedule. All the talk previously in the 2010s of the stagnant racing was cast aside. Focus was on the thundering echoes of stock cars roaring down the famed front straightaway over the yard of bricks, fanning out on restarts and hugging the wall like they had for decades.
The story for this year’s race wasn’t about the quality of the racing. Instead, what mattered was the Brickyard was back, regaining one of the four spots in NASCAR’s crown jewels. There was an emotion and visceral desire for the result, both by drivers and fans. Anticipation built as the strategy played out.
This felt like the Daytona 500 in the middle of the year, and that matters.
While the Cup race itself may not have delivered an instant classic, there were moments of brilliance. Winner Kyle Larson‘s skillful charge through the field while others conserved fuel, then overtaking Ryan Blaney after Brad Keselowski had to pit during an overtime restart, gave the race memorable character.
Buried under the controversy of the finish were the emotions from the drivers involved in every aspect of the finish. Of course Larson was the winner, and he shared his joy with fans while excitedly proclaiming his intent to return in May to run the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 double again. But the disappointment from Blaney, especially in the restart, and Keselowski, who was so close to notching his second Brickyard win, told the story.
This just wasn’t another race.
That’s what it meant to have the Brickyard back. The drivers wanted this because it means something for them to get the win there. We’re not talking a win-and-you’re-in for the playoffs. This is Indy. The last bit of proof for this is in the cockpit of the No. 11 Toyota.
Denny Hamlin’s continual shutout of victory lane at IMS is a story unto itself. He’s tried so hard to get a win there and not had it happen, and that continued in July. But just like in the Indy 500 when drivers like Tony Kanaan face adversity in the emotional journey to conquer IMS, a relationship is built between spectators and the vanquished racer. It’s because there is a strong belief that the mythical powers of the Brickyard chooses who wins there, and Hamlin is tied to that legacy now.
Good feelings about the Brickyard’s redemption will only last so long, though. IMS’ lore will prop the race up for as long as it’s run, but growth has to come from NASCAR’s commitment in making this a tentpole event in the summer. With its place smack dab right in the middle of the year, it can easily be on par with the Daytona 500 and the Championship 4. There’s a unique opportunity to anchor NASCAR’s calendar with this marquee event as the series plunges months away from its grandest race at Daytona and still half a year until the champion is crowned.
NASCAR should consider creating a promotional week, much like the old Speedweeks before Daytona. Work with IMS to stand up more fan events to draw attention and build anticipation. The drivers will have to be involved to promote it as well, like the NTT IndyCar Series does with the Indianapolis 500.
This year, IMS President Doug Boles did an excellent job in bringing the past to the present. He had multiple drivers from the inaugural Brickyard in house and included them in race-day ceremonies. This is similar to what is done in May for Legends Day, the event on Saturday before the race. It’s another example of how the race is propped up with meaning and prestige.
Finally, the on-track product cannot be accepted. That is the critical factor in making all this work for fans. Otherwise, ownership will have to look at new ideas like running the road course again. Unfortunately this year, the Cup Series didn’t have the best show for the weekend, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series race the day before was one of the best all year by any NASCAR division.
To continue to build this event’s legacy on track, it will need memorable moments that get fans going “wow.” All efforts should be tried, including full-field, simulated racing to find the right package to work (please don’t do three or four cars only). That’s what the series did in 1993 prior to announcing the Brickyard 400, it should be tried again until the setup is right. The fans deserve it, and the drivers want the ability to race up from the back of the field, too.
The Brickyard was a pivotal moment for NASCAR this year. It wasn’t a flawless race, but it reestablished an opportunity for drivers to experience career-defining moments again that shroud them in motorsports immortality. Now, the work has to be put in to make it grow, to become the Midwest’s version of the Daytona 500 and for the show to be some of the best on the circuit.
Otherwise, the return of the Brickyard 400 in 2024 will be a flash, slowly disappearing back into the seams of stock car history as the racing product erodes its legacy.
About the author
Tom is an IndyCar writer at Frontstretch, joining in March 2023. Besides writing the IndyCar Previews and the occasional Inside Indycar, he will hop on as a fill-in guest on the Open Wheel podcast The Pit Straight. His full-time job is with the Department of Veterans Affairs History Office and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard. After graduating from Purdue University with a Creative Writing degree, he was commissioned in the Army and served a 15-month deployment as a tank platoon leader with the 3d ACR in Mosul, Iraq. A native Hoosier, he calls Fort Wayne home. Follow Tom on Twitter @TomBlackburn42.
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Congratulations, you have penned one of the best articles ever on Frontstretch!
You covered all aspects of this event, once great then slid into sadness on the road course. I was there for all Gordon’s sideways drive, Tony’s climbing the fence, etc. instant history for NASCAR, along with Jarretts immortal kissing the bricks.
Bring back those old legends, their cars and make a huge deal about it.
Love the idea of bringing back Speedweeks type atmosphere too!
Indy is just too special of a place to just be another stop for the NASCAR circus!!!!
I don’t get the hate for the combination road courses, like Indy and Charlotte. Its something different. The only thing i don’t like about Indy’s road course is the sharp turn 1, that practically forces cars to bang into each other to make the turn. I would like to see them widen it out, like Watkins Glen’s turn 1, so drivers have more room.
I enjoy Daytona’s road course too, both when it was the Busch Clash a few years ago, and during the Rolex 24.
Quite the contrary, I love road racing on a REAL course, not some jacked up mess like the Roval and Indy too.
And NASCARs reluctance to get more road races on the schedule is perplexing, as the roots of the sport stem from dodging the law hustling moonshine thru winding back roads. ??
Daytona is different, agree that the turn 1 at Indy is way to tight, as it’s a 24 hour event, which I’d love to attend.
The example of Brian’s product is being held at the wrong track!