The famed speedway began building a dirt track this week
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a paved 2.5-mile rectangular race track. INDYCAR is their bread and butter. However, once per year they welcome the NASCAR Cup Series to the speedway.
In recent years, the race has taken a bit of criticism from the fanbase. The attendance is the largest voice as the grandstands now sit mostly empty when stock cars roll into town. The Brickyard 400 formerly brought crowds in by the hundreds of thousands. Now, the NASCAR event is lucky to get 50,000 spectators.
Speedway officials are taking a new approach to their 2018 NASCAR weekend. They will be adding a dirt track and running that on the same weekend.
“When you think about the total re-positioning of the Brickyard 400 weekend – a new date, a partner like Big Machine and now a grassroots connection, we think it kind of rounds out the whole weekend,” Boles told the Indianapolis Star. “Our goal is to grow the Brickyard 400, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
USAC open wheel dirt cars will enter Indianapolis Motor Speedway on NASCAR weekend in September. The dirt race is expected to be run on a Thursday or Friday.
The track is expected to be sized at around a 1/4-mile oval. It will rest on the infield of turn 3 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
They began bringing in the dirt on Tuesday of this week. The track president expects to put in new bleachers around the speedway, enough to sit 5000 dirt racing fans.
This is far from the first time dirt as been at Indianapolis. In 2016, Tony Stewart brought the dirt to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bryan Clauson, Tony Stewart, Sarah Fisher and more were a part of the ‘Tony Stewart Dirt Track Experience’.
This year, the Brickyard 400 is the final regular season race for the NASCAR Cup Series field. It will be run on September 9th, 2018.
2016 Indianapolis Dirt Track (Video)
**The video below is from the 2016 installment of a dirt track in turn 3 at Indianapolis**
