2008 Allstate 400 At The Brickyard

2008 Allstate 400 at The Brickyard:

The 2008 Allstate 400 at The Brickyard continues to be one of the biggest events on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule. This is one of NASCAR's marquis events on one of the most famous race tracks in the world.

The Brickyard 400 brings out the best in NASCAR's best as the huge crowds and huge purse make a Sprint Cup victory at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway even more special.

Tickets:

Speedway ticket office 317-492-6700 or 800-822-INDY

The Track:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5 mile rectangle is one of the most famous race courses in the world. Unfortunately it wasn't built for stock cars as it has only 9 degrees of banking in the four distinct corners and very long straightaways. This makes passing very difficult and track position is everything. As a result, this fast, flat track isn't a great place for stock car racing.

Race Distance:

160 Laps = 400 Miles

The Big Picture:

Kyle Busch did it again last week at Chicagoland. He stretched his point lead further and claimed even more bonus points for The Chase with another big 2008 win.

Clint Bowyer fell out of the top twelve tonight as Kevin Harvick jumped all the war from thirteenth up to ninth in points. Denny Hamlin is now on the bubble with a 27 point cushion over Bowyer.

The top twelve are now:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -259
3. Jeff Burton -288
4. Carl Edwards -372
5. Jimmie Johnson -387
6. Jeff Gordon -497
7. Greg Biffle -563
8. Matt Kenseth -564
9. Kevin Harvick -573
10. Tony Stewart -576
11. Kasey Kahne -589
12. Denny Hamlin -598

Storylines:

The Allstate 400 seems to bring out the best in NASCAR's biggest stars. Six times in the 13 year history of the Brickyard 400 the winner of this race has gone on to win the Championship.

• 1998 - Jeff Gordon
• 1999 - Dale Jarrett
• 2000 - Bobby Labonte
• 2001 - Jeff Gordon
• 2005 - Tony Stewart
• 2006 - Jimmie Johnson

There is something about this race that causes the cream to rise to the top. Is there something special about the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway that brings out the champions?

Media Coverage:

TV: ESPN Sunday, July 27th, 1:00PM Eastern.

Actual Race: 2:10PM Eastern

Recent Events:

2007 Winner: Tony Stewart

2007 Polesitter: Reed Sorenson

Last Year:

In 2007 the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard started slowly. The first 1/3 of the race saw a bunch of drivers' Brickyard dreams dashed. There were six crashes in the first 60 laps. These incidents took out a number of favorites including Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman.

The end of the race was a little better as Tony Stewart made the final pass for the win with just ten laps to go. However much of the middle portion of the race was not too interesting as Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated much of the day.

Predictions:

Given the history of this track in order to pick the winner in this race you need to also consider who you think could win the championship.

Without a doubt the current odds-on favorite to win the 2008 Sprint Cup Championship is Kyle Busch. Since the Brickyard has a pretty high rate of wins by future champs I am going with the current point leader to win this weekend's race.

For my backup this week I am going to stick with Toyota. Tony Stewart won this race last season. Stewart has put together some strong runs in 2008 but has come up short of Victory Lane through a variety of bad luck. This could be the week that Stewart breaks through in 2008.