NASCAR returns to the Brickyard: History of Cup Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval

The NASCAR Cup Series is back on the oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 after a three-season hiatus.

There has been good and bad throughout the 27 Cup Series races at the IMS oval, and those experiences have helped tell the story of why oval-reliant NASCAR shifted to the road course at the world’s most recognizable oval in 2021 and back again.

Here’s a quick run through the history of NASCAR at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

NASCAR debut at Indianapolis in 1994

NASCAR first approached the idea of running a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992 with a tire test. A year later, IMS and NASCAR announced the race date for the first weekend in August 1994.

Think of IMS and the Indianapolis 500 at that time as the motorsports version of Augusta National and the Masters in terms of exclusivity and exposure. The Masters takes place in early April, and that was the lone major golf tournament at Augusta National year-round. The Indianapolis 500 took place throughout a few weeks in May, and that’s all race fans around the country saw of IMS until the next year’s race.

The inaugural Brickyard 400 was a true spectacle in the modern history of NASCAR. Eighty-six cars entered the race for 43 spots. Among other drivers, 59-year-old A.J. Foyt made the field while Charlie Glotzbach failed to qualify in his final career Cup Series race attempt.

Jeff Gordon, who moved from California to Indiana as a kid to jumpstart his young racing career, won the inaugural race after a late-race duel with Ernie Irvan. The Charlotte Observer’s Tom Higgins wrote in the next day’s edition that “there are predictions (the Brickyard 400) will widen the popularity of Winston Cup racing.”

The 400 almost instantly became one of the crown jewel events on Cup schedule, and the popularity of NASCAR did increase through the 1990s and 2000s. Until it stopped.

Kissing the bricks is Indy tradition, born from the Brickyard 400 and Dale Jarrett in 1996

The Brickyard 400 has had a long-term impact on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy 500 in at least one aspect.

After wining the 400 in 1996, Dale Jarrett and crew chief Todd Parrott led their Robert Yates Racing team to the brick-laid start-finish line to kiss the bricks at the Brickyard.

The late Scott Brayton did kiss the bricks after winning the pole for the 1995 Indy 500, but Jarrett, Parrott and the entire No. 88 Robert Yates Racing team sealed the tradition with a postrace kiss of the bricks.

Kissing the bricks is now synonymous with winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, much like drinking milk in victory lane.

Tire issues in 2008 was lowpoint of the Brickyard 400

NASCAR and Goodyear have never missed the mark so badly as they did with the tire they brought to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2008.

The track failed to take on rubber throughout the weekend, leading to major tire degradation during the 400. Several cars suffered cut tires and major damage because of it during the race, forcing NASCAR to stagger competition cautions and use extra tire sets to get through the full 160 laps. NASCAR president Mike Helton even joined the ESPN broadcast booth to assuage concerns.

The race, won by Jimmie Johnson, contained six competition cautions for tire wear, with the longest green-flag run at 13 laps. By the end, race pace had notably slowed as drivers shifted into survival mode.

“You don’t need me to tell you what happened on Sunday was a joke,” The Charlotte Observer’s David Poole said to lead off his race-day observations in the July 28, 2008, edition of the paper.

“The lamest spectacle in racing,” read one headline in the July 28, 2008, edition of the Indianapolis Star.

Race shifts to IMS road course in 2021

Attendance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway sagged significantly in the 2010s, and the quality of racing waned.

Still, it was notable in the fall of 2020 when NASCAR announced the IMS race date would take place on the road course in 2021. The Cup and Xfinity Series ran races on the IMS road course from 2021-2023, and both the track and the racing wasn’t a clear step up. For one, the inaugural Cup road course race featured an issue with curbing through turns 5 and 6, which caused multiple issues and many wrecked race cars for simply trying to race through the corners.

But it also was the preeminent oval-racing series in the world running a road course at the preeminent oval track in the world.

That has changed in 2024, and the Brickyard 400 is back.

NASCAR Indianapolis: Brickyard 400 previous winners

• 2020: Kevin Harvick
• 2019: Kevin Harvick
• 2018: Brad Keselowski
• 2017: Kasey Kahne
• 2016: Kyle Busch
• 2015: Kyle Busch
• 2014: Jeff Gordon
• 2013: Ryan Newman
• 2012: Jimmie Johnson
• 2011: Paul Menard
• 2010: Jamie McMurray
• 2009: Jimmie Johnson
• 2008: Jimmie Johnson
• 2007: Tony Stewart
• 2006: Jimmie Johnson
• 2005: Tony Stewart
• 2004: Jeff Gordon
• 2003: Kevin Harvick
• 2002: Bill Elliott
• 2001: Jeff Gordon
• 2000: Bobby Labonte
• 1999: Dale Jarrett
• 1998: Jeff Gordon
• 1997: Ricky Rudd
• 1996: Dale Jarrett
• 1995: Dale Earnhardt
• 1994: Jeff Gordon

NASCAR Cup Series Indianapolis race TV schedule, start time

• Green Flag Time:  Approx. 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, July 21
• TV coverage: NBC (watch FREE on Fubo)
• Radio:  IMS Radio Network (102.5 FM in Nashville)
• Streaming: FUBO (free trial available); NBC Sports app (subscription required); NASCAR.com and SiriusXM for audio (subscription required).

The Brickyard 400 will be broadcast nationally on NBC. Streaming options for the race include the NBC Sports app and FUBO, which offers a free trial to potential subscribers.

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.