Nascar Racing Online

History is set to be made again on Sunday afternoon as the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series take to the timeless Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 17th running of the Brickyard 400.

Short of winning the Daytona 500, a single victory could not mean more to the 43 drivers on the starting grid of today’s event.

Find out why after the fold.

The favorite and pole-sitter for today’s Brickyard 400 knows what it takes to win at The Speedway but has yet to do so in NASCAR. Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the 2009 event before a pit road violation handed the win to series champion Jimmie Johnson. Most felt that Montoya was unjustly routed of a career-defining victory but the fact remains that Montoya was over the mandated pit road speed. The Columbian was placed in the back of the longest line and finished in 11th.

If Montoya is the favorite and ‘Driver 1A’  to win today’s race then Johnson has to be ‘Driver 1B’.

The Brickyard lends itself to championship calibur drivers as the winner of the Brickyard 400 has notably gone on to win the Sprint Cup championship in the same season eight times out of 16 runnings from 1994-2009.

Most recently, that driver has been Johnson, kissing the bricks in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Only two winners of the Brickyard has failed to win a Cup Series championship and one of those drivers, Kevin Harvick, leads the 2010 standings.

With the Chase for the Championship just seven races away, the numbers heavily favor that NASCAR could crown its champion today; not in the numbers but by the tradition and history of the Brickyard 400.

Pre-race coverage will be covered by ESPN Countdown and SPEED Raceday. Live flag-to-flag coverage will air on ESPN and espn3.com starting at 1 p.m./ET. Green flag is set for 1:15 with Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree providing the calls.

Let this post serve as Ranting and Raving’s official race thread. A brief post race will post shortly after the finish.

“See you on the other side!”

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