Brickyard always great, even when racing isn't

Back when he was crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, Andy Petree never went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway without a brand new race car. Jeff Gordon ranks his three Brickyard 400 triumphs among the most important accomplishments of his illustrious career. Tuesday afternoon the four-time series champion took part in a telephone debriefing to go over setup tactics for this weekend's event, fine-tuning strategies that his No. 24 team has been working on for months.

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To those who will compete Sunday at the legendary race track at the intersection of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, there is no question that NASCAR's annual stop in Indianapolis is one of the most important races on the schedule. That much is obvious in the preparation teams put into it, in the surge of adrenaline drivers get just by passing through the gates, in the raw emotion almost always experienced by the winners. The Brickyard 400 is a great race in so many ways, in scope and size and significance, even if the action on the race track isn't always great in and of itself.

And therein lies the conundrum that is stock-car competition at Indianapolis, a place so awe-inspiring and history-laden that it can make a race fan out of just about anybody, even when there's not a soul in the grandstands or a car on the track. Standing on the yard of bricks, taking the bus tour around the 2.5-mile square of asphalt, walking through the museum, watching the short film narrated by track historian Donald Davidson -- it's very, very difficult not to get caught up in all the magic and myth, those intangible things that define Indianapolis, that give drivers goose bumps, that made NASCAR want to come to the facility in the first place.

Then there's the race, a 400-mile track position battle on an oval with narrow straightaways and 9-degree banked corners, where single-file runs are the norm and passing is always an effort. Last year's event featured just nine lead changes, and came to signify the frustration so many spectators have with Indianapolis -- the history and grandeur are undisputed, yes, but it simply doesn't produce the kind of side-by-side competition that NASCAR fans were raised on and have come to expect every week.

"We talk about the lack of banking there, [and] that's the biggest thing," said former Brickyard winner Dale Jarrett, who will call the race this weekend as part of the ESPN crew. "With a 3,400-pound stock car, you find your better situations of side-by-side racing happening on race tracks that have a lot of banking. It just makes perfect sense that that's how it would be. ... It's just difficult with that lack of banking. It doesn't progress as you go up the race track any. Everybody's going for that same spot, and if you can take that inside groove away, you're probably going to be able to make the pass. We have seen some side-by-side through the corners, but again, it's so very difficult, because you don't have that [banking] to lean on as you get to that outside part of the race track."

There's some belief that the rear spoiler might change that, that it will punch a bigger hole in the air and allow a drafting car to pull out and make a slingshot-type move down the straightaway.

"There are opportunities for these guys to get up underneath the bumper and loosen the guy up without even touching him," Jarrett said. "And because the spoiler puts more drag on these cars, that's going to keep them close getting to the corners if that opportunity is there." (Continued)