Why the Brickyard 400 might be NASCAR’s toughest race to win

Every driver wants to win at The Brickyard. Few have had the luxury of kissing Indianapolis Motor Speedway's famous bricks, however, because this race is hard as heck to win. Just look at the list of former winners -- it's chock-full of NASCAR's biggest names, dripping with talent and experience. Take a look through some of these wild stats about one of NASCAR's crown jewel races -- and why it might just be NASCAR's toughest race to win, reserved for the best of the best -- and tune in Sunday for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (2 p.m. ET, NBC).

Since NASCAR started racing at Indy in 1994, just 15 drivers have landed in Victory Lane. Of those 15, 10 are Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champions, with those 10 winning 20 of the 25 total races.

The winner of the 400 has gone on to win the championship later that season nine times. Native Indianan Tony Stewart did it in 2005, while Jimmie Johnson did it three times, Jeff Gordon twice and Kyle Busch, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte doing so once apiece.

Sixteen of the 25 races were won by just eight drivers who have also won the Daytona 500 -- another of NASCAR's crown jewel events.

Gone are the days of drivers going on extended runs at Indy, with eight different drivers having won the last nine events. Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2016 is the only repeat winner in that time frame.

Team owner Roger Penske has won the prestigious Indy 500 a whopping 18 times, but Brad Keselowski's win last year was Penske's first in the Brickyard 400 -- after his drivers were passed for the win in three of the previous four runnings.

Even when a driver thinks he has it in the bag, he might not. The final lead change was with two laps to go in three of the last four Indy races.

And despite track position being the name of the game here, leading the most laps most certainly does not guarantee a win. The driver who led the most laps has won only one of the last six races.

Even Johnson, whose four wins in the Brickyard 400 rank second all-time to Gordon's five, isn't immune to struggling here. "Seven-Time" has 10 finishes of 14th or worse at the track, including four of the last five.

You might as well cross off any inexperienced drivers winning, too, as Paul Menard's 2011 victory marks the only time a driver got his first career win at Indy. It happened in his fifth full-time season.

Age appears to be a factor, as well. The last 15 Indy races were won by drivers age 30 or over.