Just another brick in the wall?

No matter what you race -- open-wheel cars, stock cars or Pinewood Derby cars -- getting a checkered flag at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a big deal.

When we first agreed upon this topic for Head2Head, I had just finished watching the British Open, one of golf's four majors. So the first question I had was what would be NASCAR's four majors?

Obviously, the Daytona 500 is first on the list because it's tied to the birth of stock-car racing and we've heard it referred to over and over as the "Super Bowl" of NASCAR. For me, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte also is on that list, as is the night race at Bristol and this week's race at Indianapolis.

In my mind, there are two things that make an event a "major." You have to have history and a winner's list that looks like a Hall of Fame ballot. Obviously, we don't need to debate the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While most of it isn't NASCAR history, a good deal of the history of racing in America is tied to Indianapolis. Who doesn't remember Jim McKay calling victories for guys like Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt or the Unsers?

That's history.

Wanna talk recent NASCAR history, check out the list of drivers who have taken a stock-car to Victory Lane at the Brickyard: Earnhardt, Gordon, Stewart, Jarrett, Rudd, Labonte, Elliott, Harvick and Johnson.

Find me a name in there that won't be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame someday.

Ahhh, the Brickyard. It's time for NASCAR's annual to visit to the track that has a start/finish line made of bricks, the Pagoda, and more history than any other track on the NASCAR schedule.

Yet, I don't think fans consider this a "must-see" race, and I don't believe drivers look at this race differently than any other.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a historical landmark -- no one questions that. Indy is auto racing -- but it's not NASCAR.

IMS is open-wheel, it's the Indianapolis 500, and that's why this track never will be among the greatest in NASCAR. If a list was made of the 20 biggest moments in Indy history -- there would be no mention of NASCAR.

With just 16 races at the famed Speedway, it's among the newest tracks on the schedule. Sure, there have been some dramatic finishes at the Brickyard, but it doesn't hold the same regard among fans and drivers as Daytona, Darlington, Charlotte or Bristol.

Then there is the racing. Indy hosted some fantastic racing when it first came onto the NASCAR scene, but lately the races have been largely unforgettable, sans the tire debacle in 2008. Half of the past 10 races have been won by more than a second.

For guys like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, Midwest guys who grew up around the mystique of Indy, it's a big race. But for a majority of the garage and the fans watching on TV, Indy is just one of 36, nothing more, nothing less.