SPEEDWAY, Ind. — As if we needed any proof that Speedway is the racing capital of the world, NASCAR haulers and three years’ worth of anticipation filled Main Street on Thursday.
It’s a sight people have been waiting for since NASCAR first announced its return to the oval.
“My kids are here, my dad is from Pennsylvania. The hauler parade is really just something I can bring the kids to, I can enjoy myself at the race,” fan Eric Myers said.
“If you’re from Indiana, you know the Indy 500. With the Brickyard 400, it’s just as big, just as great,” fan Rhyder Morgan said.
Even if you’re not from Indiana, you know there’s something special about this place.
“It’s a bucket list track for me,” fan Steven Demello said. “I drove down from Massachusetts on Monday, 14 hours straight. 948 miles I think it was.”
Past champion Dale Jarrett and his crew chief, Todd Parrott, helped kick off the festivities. If you love the tradition of winners kissing the bricks at IMS – you can thank this pair for starting it back in 1996.
“This was just two guys – a driver and a crew chief – wanting to do something different to celebrate what we were hoping was going to be a win, and it turned out to be that,” Jarrett said.
What makes this year even more special is that it marks the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400.
“Our ticket sales are really strong. Maybe the best ticket sales year we’ve had since 2017. We haven’t seen that kind of turnaround since 2002. The last 20 years have been a struggle,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles said. “I feel like this is a great year to reset and begin to grow the Brickyard 400 back to what it used to be.”
Every fan is getting in the spirit for what’s shaping up to be a great race weekend.
“I went to the inaugural Brickyard many many years ago. So it’s nice to get a whole new generation interested in racing and out to the track as well,” fan Jeremy Garrett said.
“There’s a lot of feelings. Because this has been around for a long time, like 20 years,” one young fan named Xander added.
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