How prestigious is the Brickyard 400?

The Brickyard 400 has been a special race ever since its inaugural running in 1994, because the race is held at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the just as world-famous Indianapolis 500. But just how much prestige does a stock car race at Indianapolis have? People don't seem to care that tomorrow's NASCAR Sprint Cup race is only the 21st running of the series at Indy; as long as a race is held as a famous venue, that race, it seems, is famous in itself.

Back in the 1980s and '90s, NASCAR's top series, then known as the Winston Cup Series, had four events it regarded as "crown jewels": the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega in the spring, Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend (when the Indy 500 is also held), and the Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor Day weekend. These were the four races where a driver could get one million dollars (in addition to normal prize money) for winning three of them in the same year, and it was known as the Winston Million. It was replaced in 1998 by a different program called the Winston No Bull 5, which featured five eligible drivers competing for a $1 million prize at five races, which varied every year, but included the Brickyard 400 in its first year. The No Bull 5 was discontinued after 2002.

The Brickyard 400 and the Southern 500 co-existed for eleven seasons. What many fans consider to be the last "true" Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend took place in 2003. In 2004 it was held in November as the penultimate race of the season, and in 2005 the race weekend was moved to Texas. The "Southern 500" name was applied to the spring race at Darlington in 2009, but fans do not think this makes it as prestigious as the Labor Day race. Since 2005 or maybe earlier, fans have either referred to the three remaining former Grand Slam races (Daytona, Talladega and Charlotte) as NASCAR's "Triple Crown", or considered the Brickyard 400 to be the new fourth major as Darlington's replacement. This is where some of the Brickyard 400's prestige comes from despite it being a relatively new race.

So the reasons people think the Brickyard 400 is special, almost as much as the Daytona 500, is because of its location at a more than 100-year-old speedway with a huge amount of racing history, combined with its consideration to be upgraded to one of NASCAR's major races due to being held at this historic speedway. Basically, fans believe it's more about historical value than the age of the race when it comes to fame and prestige. And that is why the Brickyard 400 has always been thought of so highly.