Wednesday, July 18th 'What If' Question

Since 1909 the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has welcomed racers from around the world and all across the country.

And since that time they've crowned winners in many different forms. From F1, MotoGP, IndyCar and then to the surprise of many, NASCAR. Beginning in 1994 it was stock cars roaring around the famed Brickyard with Jeff Gordon taking home the first checkered flag.

Since then the Brickyard 400 has become one of NASCAR's most prestigious races, and according to IMS the second-highest paying race behind the Daytona 500.

Just two years after NASCAR got there a great Indianapolis tradition was born. In the name of tradition and winning big races, the Daytona International Speedway places the winners car in the Daytona 500 USA museum for a year. The driver is the introduced as the Daytona 500 winner for the remainder of the year and their name goes into the record books not just as winner, but a Daytona 500 champion.

Now when a driver wins at Indy they end up with much the same accolades. Part of their tradition is taking a ride around the speedway in the pace car and going to the "Yard of Bricks."

That's where they'll have one of the most memorable kisses of their life. It was Dale Jarrett and crew chief Todd Parrott who started the tradition in '96 when they innocently went to kiss the bricks after their win. They were soon joined by the entire team who also kissed the bricks and the rest as they say is history.

NASCAR winners and IndyCar winners all get their chance to kiss the bricks and go down in history as a winner at Indianapolis. Win there and you'll be remembered forever, regardless of whatever else you've done.

Beginning next weekend Indianapolis will now host the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the big track. For many years the NNS and CWTS raced away from Indianapolis at the small oval in Clermont, Indiana. The Lucas Oil Raceway - formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park and O'Reilly Raceway Park - will not be hosting NNS or CWTS races beginning in 2012, although many agreed the shorttrack put on some great racing throughout its history.

Now the Brickyard will go from hosting just Sprint Cup drivers and race to the NNS the day before. While Daytona does the same, with only the Cup race being known as a "big" race, this will be the first time in recent memory that a famed track and big race has gone from hosting just Cup cars to sharing it with the NNS.

Cars hit the track starting on Thursday, July 26th when the NNS hits the track for the very first time in practice. When they do it will bring many questions, which will only be answered throughout the weekend.

But ...

What if w/Nationwide now at Indy & if they start kissing the bricks, will it change your view of the prestige of the Cup race there?


@Talon64 yes, but only because the Cup guys would get Nationwide's sloppy seconds on the brick kiss.

@mrheadrick No. Has the prestige of Daytona been tarnished by multiple series running there? The whole #Indycar split several years ago killed the prestige of Indy in my eyes.

@dustin_n_va No not at all any win at indy is prestigious

@JoJo_6040 Yep, but I'm sure the winner will since it's a tradition for cup. Now you have me curious haha. Wish they kept nns at orp.