There has been plenty of buzz around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year as May's Indianapolis 500 approaches, but that isn't the only race to be excited about.
NASCAR will return to the oval for the Cup and Xfinity Series races and the sport's return to its roots at the Brickyard 400 is already doing wonders for the historic venue.
Very few people paid to see the 2019 Cup race on the oval, and no one attended the 2020 Brickyard 400 due to Covid restrictions. Wanting to breathe new life into the event, IMS and NASCAR moved the race onto the road course, where it has run for the last three years.
With the novelty of the road course wearing off, and after several successful tests of the Next Gen car on the legendary 2. 5-mile oval, IMS and NASCAR moved the race back to the oval beginning in 2024.
Since the September announcement of NASCAR's return to the oval, ticket sales have been booming according to IMS President Doug Boles, who tells Motorsport.com that ticket sales are far outpacing recent Brickyard 400s.
"So, if you compare year over year, like this date, this many days from the race, we are up and we've been up really every day since we announced we were going back to the oval," Boles said.
He is impressed by the feedback from the fans about the return of the Brickyard 400.
"Pleasantly surprised with how that's going. So, I think that bodes well. We've gotten a ton of positive feedback from fans who are excited that it's on the oval. We've got a lot of people who had tickets previously who hadn't come since 2019, which was the last time fans could have seen the Cup cars on the oval in person," Boles said. "So, all indications are really positive, and we should be in a lot better spot in terms of attendance. I just think there's excitement and prestige obviously with the oval that brings that back."
Despite plenty of drama and action in the three NASCAR road course races at Indianapolis, it was time to get back to the oval. It just feels right, and it's good to see the Brickyard 400 back, and for ticket sales to be doing so well, especially for the 30th Anniversary of the first Brickyard 400.
