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THE MAIN ATTRACTION

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 21, 2008

Coming off its final open weekend of the year, NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway to begin a season-ending stretch of 17 races in 17 weeks.

Chevrolet has been dominant at the Brickyard, winning nine of the previous 14 races, including five straight and six of eight this decade.

As two-time winner Tony Stewart looks to become the first Sprint Cup driver to record back-to-back victories at Indy, here are five fast facts to keep in mind as NASCAR returns to the track that ranks just behind Daytona as the standard for success.

1. Dale Jarrett started the winner's tradition of kissing the Yard of Bricks at the start/finish line in 1996 after the first of his two Brickyard victories, a ritual that continues to this day and has carried over to the Indianapolis 500.

2. Jeff Gordon, who won the inaugural race in 1994, leads with four victories at the Brickyard. Jarrett and Stewart are the other multiple winners.

3. Indy features NASCAR's flattest oval (9-degree banking in the turns) and drivers have to deal with two 3,000-foot straightaways, putting premiums on speed and handling. Kevin Harvick (2003) is the only winner who started on the pole.

4. Gordon, Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin are the only drivers who have raced in all 14 Brickyard 400s.

5. Last year, Sprint Cup rookie Juan Pablo Montoya became the first driver to race in all three of the major events hosted by Indy: the Allstate 400, the Indianapolis 500 (he won in his only attempt in 2000) and the Formula One United States Grand Prix (2001-06).

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