More hype than substance

For its mediocre racing, Brickyard doesn't deserve hoopla

Ah, Indy. The Brickyard. The Ol’ Yard of Bricks. It’s an auto racing palace, site of the world’s most famous race. It evokes nostalgia, awe and a sense of history, and in just a decade has become home to what many would argue is the second biggest race NASCAR runs.

“Anything you do here means a lot to me,” Kevin Harvick said before the race. “Obviously there’s a lot of history with open-wheel and stock cars and it’s an important place for my team.” Then he went out and won, which choked him up because he wanted to be like his favorite driver, Rick Mears, and win at the track.

The reason behind Harvick’s emotion shows why it’s odd that NASCAR has built this race up like it has, to convey upon it so much esteem -- it hasn’t really earned it. No disrespect to the track and its history, but from a stock car standpoint, it’s a new track that has given us some pretty boring races. (Sunday’s notwithstanding; but that was due largely to the pit stop strategizing we saw down the stretch: Stewart coming in for left side tires and a chassis adjustment under yellow after stopping for rights only a few laps earlier under green, and Kenseth calling off a four-tire stop and only taking two.) Sure, the track is oozing with history, but it’s not NASCAR’s. If you had an Ultimate Frisbee tournament at Fenway Park would it be any more special than a tournament held on whatever Ultimate Frisbee’s hallowed ground is?

I’ve got no problem with the track, and I’ll admit it’s really cool seeing a race there. But the Brickyard 400 doesn’t have its own history yet, and until it does it’s not right to hold it in higher esteem than, say, the Southern 500. And I’m not the only one who thinks this way. “Strategy could really end up being important,” Jeff Gordon said before the race. (He turned out to be exactly right.) “This track has never been the best for putting on a great [NASCAR] race. It’s a flat, fast track and that doesn't make for good racing for us. Don’t get me wrong, it’s dramatic. But this place is more about hype than it is great racing.”

Mat Kenseth . Okay, he’s making a mockery of this points race. He’s got 16 top tens in 21 starts. Impressive, but nowhere near a modern era record. In 1975 Cale Yarborough had 27 top tens -- in 30 starts. That’s a rate of 90 percent. Not too shabby.

Bobby Labonte . Remember when I expressed my desire to buy a farm, find a place that gives midseason odds on NASCAR and bet it on Bobby Labonte? Like most of my plans, it’s a good thing I didn’t go through with it. In his last four races he’s finished 36th, 14th, 30th and 22nd.

Ken Schrader . One of the sport’s nicer guys had his consecutive starts streak snapped at 579 when he didn’t qualify for the Brickyard. It was the third-longest active streak and the fifth-longest of all-time.

Robby Gordon vs. Kevin Harvick. Oh no. This teammate feud is cooling off. Harvick wins the pole, then Gordon says that just inspires him to work harder. Then Harvick wins the race and says “This one’s as much his as it is ours.” You know, reporting on a feud in which the participants are being all nice just isn’t fun. Come on, guys. Talk some smack.

“[Indy is] probably more like Pocono than any place we go to, but yet it's not Pocono. It’s like four 90-degree turns, not 120- or 180-degree turns, but four 90-degree turns, and that's the only place we have a racetrack like that. So, it's really unique onto itself, in spite of the fact that it's flat like Pocono.” -- It’s geometry with Jack Roush.