LOOKING IN ON: MOTOR SPORTS

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006 | 8 a.m.

The winner of Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will earn the same amount of points as if he had won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway or Watkins Glen International.

But make no mistake about it: The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is not just another race on the Nextel Cup schedule.

Twelve years after the stock cars invaded the hallowed grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time, this race is considered by most drivers to be one of the two most prestigious events on the Nextel Cup schedule, right behind the Daytona 500.

"There are two races every driver wants to win: the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and the Daytona 500," third-year driver Kasey Kahne said.

Kahne is one of a growing number of NASCAR drivers who got their start in open-wheel racing and therefore have more than a passing interest in the 2.5-mile oval that first hosted the most famous auto race in the world - the Indianapolis 500 - in 1911.

But it doesn't take open-wheel roots to appreciate the history of the Brickyard.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and what it's meant to the history of motor sports," veteran NASCAR driver Jeff Burton said. "Certainly it has been an icon in American motor sports and in worldwide motor sports, for that matter.

"One of the reasons it's such a special place for me is we have the honor of going to a place to race which another form of racing made so famous. I hold that in high regard and I hold the racetrack and all of its history in a higher regard."

Joe Nemechek has competed in every NASCAR race at Indy and said he still gets excited every time he drives his rental car into the massive facility.

"As soon as you come through the tunnel at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ... the chills start to run up and down your spine," he said. "It's hard to remain cool and tell yourself that this is just another race when you're at the most famous racing venue in the world."

Ricky Rudd once said his victory in the 1997 Brickyard 400 overshadowed his other 22 NASCAR Cup victories.

"I hate to be remembered (for) just winning one race, but if you're going to win one race, the Brickyard 400 would definitely be the one to win."

That's not to say, however, that the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard has surpassed the Daytona 500 as the Super Bowl of stock car racing.

"It's big, but it's not the Daytona 500," Kyle Petty said. "That is still the biggest event on the schedule for us; that's the race that has stock car history and the prestige if you race stock cars all your life."

Petty admitted that he would have a hard time convincing Tony Stewart of that. Stewart, a former open-wheel champion, often said he would trade his 2002 NASCAR championship for a victory at the Brickyard before he finally broke through and won last year's race.

"This is a big race for a lot of guys that came up through USAC and open-wheel," Petty said. "I think we saw witness of that last year when (Stewart) finally won.

"The track is the home of the Indianapolis 500; they just let us run here in August. The big race here is still in May. NASCAR's biggest race is in February."

Whether a driver's roots are in stock cars or open-wheel racing, there is no dismissing the fact that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a special venue and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is a special race.

Dale Jarrett, a three-time winner of the Daytona 500 and a two-time winner at Indy in a stock car, summed it up best:

"I don't think you can help but be a little awestruck anytime you go to Indy," he said. "I don't know what else to compare it to other than the first time I got on the racetrack at Daytona.

"Whenever you drive out onto this racetrack, it's just a different feeling than a lot of these other places (we race)."

NASCAR Cup victories for Jeff Gordon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Top-10 finishes for Jeff Gordon in 12 Brickyard 400 starts

"As a kid growing up a fan of the Indianapolis 500 and realizing what Al Unser, Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt accomplished I still don't compare (my) wins to what those guys have done in the Indy 500."

Jeff Gordon

on being tied with Unser, Mears and Foyt with four career victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway