It's off before Indianapolis, where dreams come true

The race season never really stops, every now and then it just slows down a little bit. There is always plenty to do, plenty to see and lots to talk about. Some people believe that actually hurts the sport. Die-hard fans can never get enough. That's something else we can talk about.

For the teams that race in the Nextel Cup Series, this is not "an" off-weekend but The Off Weekend. It has moved around a little bit the past few years, but this year it comes in mid-July. The Brickyard 400 is July 29th. The season finale in Homestead is November 18th. That is 17 consecutive weeks of racing, including the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup.

• NASCAR on TNT

Teams have been through it before and this year they will do it again; it is a grind. Saturday night races help. Races close to Charlotte help. ... Races in California and Phoenix can really take their toll. So this is the last pit stop on the road to the championship.

Sure, many drivers will be racing at various tracks across the country, but this weekend is not really about giving the drivers a weekend of rest, it is more about giving the crew a weekend of rest. Then it is back to work. And it is not just back to work for any race; it is back to work for the Brickyard 400. It is back to work at Indianapolis.

Teams like to take the schedule one race at a time, but before the season even starts, just about every person on every race team can tell you three race dates without looking at a calendar; two of those races are at Daytona. The other one is at Indianapolis.

I know, every race is big -- and they all paid the same amount of points. But, face it: They all don't pay the same amount of prestige. Indy is Indy. Win there and you get to brag about it forever.

I remember Jamie McMurray in Victory Lane at the Pepsi 400: "I can't believe I won at Daytona." Well, that is the same feeling drivers get at Indianapolis. The track was not designed for stock cars, we all know that. And from green flag to checkered flag it is not the most exciting race when it comes to side-by-side racing.

But at this track with these cars you have to appreciate everything that happens during the race to enjoy the race, and those events hopefully set the stage for an exciting finish.

Can 43 cars make it through turn one on the first lap? Don't run out of fuel on the frontstretch, you'll never make it back. Pit road is long and narrow, the pit crew has to be good, and the driver has to be lucky. Be careful on restarts, through the years the Brickyard 400 has had more than its' share of trouble on restarts.

And then what about pit strategy?

Remember the caution with 15 laps to go in 2005? Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne had been battling for the lead. Then the yellow flag flew. Stewart and crew chief Greg Zipadelli had to agree on a decision. Pit or stay out. Stewart told Zipadelli he was too nervous to make the call. They stayed out. Stewart caught Kahne, made the pass, pulled away and was unchallenged at the checkered flag.

"You guys helped me live my lifelong dream today," Stewart told his team on the radio after the race. He drove by some friends in a suite, and then climbed the fence on the frontstretch.

"If I die tomorrow or die right now, my life is complete," said Stewart, who grew up about 45 minutes down the road.

"It was awesome to finally accomplish a lifelong dream," Stewart told me before the 2006 Brickyard 400. "I was just very fortunate to finally get my name on this list of people who have been fortunate to win here."

And what a list it is. We don't have to go into the stars of open-wheel racing that have shined on Memorial Day. But if you just stick with the stock-cars boys, the list is pretty impressive.

Bobby Labonte won the Brickyard 400 in 2000 after starting from the third position. He raced on to the capture the series championship. "I've got one trophy at my house and it's the Brickyard trophy," Labonte said.

In February, Kevin Harvick won the Daytona 500. In '03 he started from the pole, and won at Indianapolis.

"I grew up in Bakersfield [Calif.] a racing fan and wanted to race Indy cars my whole life Just to step foot in here and win a race is pretty much a dream come true," Harvick said.

Dale Jarrett is a former series champion. He has struggled through much of this season; he is 40th in driver points. He does not have a top-10 finish in 2007. He has made just 13 of 19 races this year. I can assure you, this is one race he does not want to miss. He won the Brickyard 400 in 1996. In '99 he won it again, charged to the championship later that season.

"Dad [former series champion Ned Jarrett] used to take me to watch [the Indianapolis 500] on a closed-circuit TV and I knew how big it was. The first time I came here, it was an unbelievable feeling, I mean it was bigger in real life than what you had made it out to be."

I really like that description.

And just like Stewart alluded to, the drivers, teams and fans know that NASCAR did not build the foundation of history at Indianapolis, but they do enjoy adding to it.

"The first time we came here as NASCAR I mean it was kind of like walking on the grounds we weren't supposed to be walking on," Labonte said. "We beat Rusty [in 2000] and it was just a phenomenal day. It sunk in right away. It was five hours before we left that day."

After his win in 2005, Stewart said he would give anything to keep the sun from setting just so he could continue to enjoy the day. Later that season he won his second Cup championship.

Jimmie Johnson is the defending champion of the Brickyard 400. He knows the history, too.

"Growing up in southern California, Robby Gordon, Rick Mears, Roger Mears all those guys left off road racing and went to Indy car. So that was my vision as a kid," Johnson said.

He never made it there. He made it here. In 2006 he won the Brickyard 400 and the Nextel Cup championship.

"It was very special to do it and to be in the category of guys who have won both Indy and the championship," Johnson said. "I look back at last year and the All-Star race and Daytona 500. It was just an awesome year with all the big events being taken down by the No. 48.

"I hope we can go back and get the Brickyard trophy again. It was a great experience and it really got our team fired up."

Now they have a weekend off to think that. Think about the next race. Think about Indy.

"I'm excited to go back," Johnson said. "It's the first time I've ever been excited to go back to Indy. I've always struggled there. And after our victory last year, I'm really pumped up to go back."

But every Brickyard winner knows, the title of reigning champion at the Brickyard expires after one short year.

"Nobody ever owns this place," Stewart said. "It's kind of like a lease on the place for a year, I guess."

And there's a long line forming at the leasing office.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.