Indianapolis Motor Speedway to hold dirt-track race on NASCAR Brickyard weekend

Jim Ayello | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Why NASCAR driver Kyle Larson loves dirt tracks While Kyle Larson has established himself as one of the premier drivers in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, he still possesses a strong passion for racing on dirt tracks, which is where his ascent to stardom began.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues in its dogged effort to nurse the Brickyard 400 back to health.

Its latest endeavor, track president Doug Boles confirmed Tuesday, is to host a USAC dirt track race to kick off the NASCAR race weekend (Sept. 6-9).

In recent years, Brickyard attendance has nose-dived from the hundreds of thousands that used to attend to around 40,000-50,000. No single countermeasure will be the cure-all for the event but Boles is hopeful this latest venture — in combination with others — will help reverse a troubling trend.

"The short-track community in a lot of ways is the heart and soul of racing across America," Boles said. "USAC midget racing, especially in the Midwest, is really strong and competitive, and attracts people like Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Rico Abreu when they have time to come race.

"So for us, we thought, is there away we could connect with that short track guy or gal, who spends their weekend at the local track on Saturday? And we thought this was good way to experiment with connecting with that fan base."

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The near-quarter-mile race will be inside of Turn 3 and is scheduled for either the Thursday or Friday of race weekend. IMS plans to make an official announcement with finalized details, including the event name, title sponsor and specific date, early next week.

Boles added that the track is planning to add enough bleachers to seat 5,000 spectators around the track. IMS began bringing dirt into the track on Tuesday morning.

Among the dirt track race’s biggest attractions could be NASCAR stars with short-track racing roots, including Larson and Stenhouse. Just a few weeks ago, Larson was in Indiana, racing in a couple of USAC Midget Week shows.

Boles could not guarantee their participation, though he is hopeful they might try their hands at this new race. However, he is excited about the talent Indy's local community already boasts.

This will not be the first time a dirt-track race has taken place on IMS' hallowed grounds. A couple of years ago, to celebrate the retirement of NASCAR star and Indiana racing legend Tony Stewart, IMS used fill-dirt to construct a temporary quarter-mile dirt track in Turn 3 for an exhibition race.

"That was just a fun stunt," Boles said. "It was just about (celebrating) Tony. ... But all the drivers got out afterwards and said you could make this work if you built a proper race track instead of using fill-dirt. So for the past couple of years, we've sort of been thinking about it.

The dirt track race is the latest in a series of moves made by IMS and NASCAR in order to help the restore some lost luster to the Brickyard weekend.

Big Machine Vodka was, in part, brought as title sponsor for its ability to help deliver headliner music acts such as this year's performer, Florida-Georgia Line.

The date of the Brickyard 400 also was changed to help boost attendance. The event was moved to early September after fans complained of the high temperatures during its former date in July. Now the race caps the NASCAR regular season, and the series plans to crown a regular-season champion following the race's conclusion.

Of course, with its new date, the Brickyard will go head-to-head with the Colts' home opener, but Boles believes the benefits of moving the race to September outweigh the downsides of the scheduling conflict.

"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 said. "Our goal is to grow the Brickyard 400, and that's what we're trying to do."