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Crown Royal Presents the 'Your Hero's Name Here' 400 at the Brickyard (formerly and commonly known as simply the Brickyard 400) is an annual NASCAR Sprint Cup points race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994, and the 400 was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916. In its inaugural season, the Brickyard 400 became NASCAR's most-attended event, drawing an estimated crowd of more than 250,000 spectators in 1994. It also pays NASCAR's second-highest purse, second only to the Daytona 500. The term "Brickyard" is a reference to the nickname historically used for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When the race course opened in 1909, the track surface was crushed stone and tar. That surface was the cause of numerous and sometimes fatal accidents, so the track was repaved with 3.2 million bricks in time for the inaugural Indy 500 in 1911, giving rise to the name Brickyard. Over time the bricks have been covered with asphalt, and now only a one-yard strip of brick at the start/finish line remains exposed. From 2005–2009, the race was known as the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, under a naming rights arrangement with Allstate Insurance. From 2011-2014, Big Machine Records was the presenting sponsor. Since 2011, Crown Royal has been the title sponsor of the race; 〔 Under Crown Royal sponsorship, the race has also been part of Crown Royal's "Your Hero's Name Here" program, in which the race is named after a U.S. armed forces member or first responder nominated by fans. Accordingly, the 2015 race was branded as Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard. The names of the winners of the Brickyard 400 are inscribed on the PPG Trophy, which is permanently housed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Jeff Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 on August 6, 1994. He is the most-successful driver in the history of the race, with a record five victories and three pole positions. Hendrick Motorsports has been the most successful team with nine total wins and five poles. The race is currently part of the Super Weekend at the Brickyard, which features races for the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the United SportsCar Championship. The stock car races are on the oval, while the sports car events are conducted on the speedway's road course layout. ==Race origins== In September 1991, A. J. Foyt filmed a commercial for Craftsman tools at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While filming in the garage area, Foyt, and Speedway president Tony George decided to take Foyt's NASCAR Winston Cup car for a few laps around the track. Foyt was the first driver to do so, and later on, George himself took a few laps. The event was not planned, and had no implications, but caused some interest and speculation for the future. On June 22–23, 1992, nine top NASCAR Winston Cup series teams were invited to Indy to participate in a Goodyear tire test. Over the weekend, the teams had raced in the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Although no official announcements were made, it was in fact an unofficial compatibility test to see if stock cars would be competitive at the circuit. An estimated 10,000 spectators watched two days of history in the making. A. J. Foyt took a few laps around the track in Dale Earnhardt's car on the second day. Following the test, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway started an extensive improvement project. The outside retaining wall and catch fence were replaced. The new wall and fence were decidedly stronger, and could support the 3,500 pound NASCAR stock cars. The pit area was widened, and the individual pit stalls were replaced in concrete. This was done to better support the pneumatic jacks used by the Indy cars, and to handle the refuel spillage of gasoline from the NASCAR machines. The largest project, however, involved the removal of the track apron, and the construction of the new warm-up lane, similar to that built at Nazareth Speedway in 1987. On April 14, 1993 Speedway President Tony George, and the president of NASCAR, Bill France, Jr. jointly announced the Inaugural Brickyard 400 would be held Saturday August 6, 1994. A new race logo was also unveiled. On August 16–17 the same year, thirty-five NASCAR teams took part in an open test at the Speedway. It was held as the teams returned from the second race at Michigan, the Champion Spark Plug 400. The top 35 teams in NASCAR points received invitations. Hosting the test in August mimicked the weather conditions expected for the race in 1994. Several thousand spectators attended, and many announcements were made. NASCAR legend Richard Petty, who had retired from competition the previous November, took a few fast laps himself, then donated his car to the Speedway museum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brickyard 400」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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