Indianapolis Motor Speedway reveals new Brickyard 400 trophy with a 'personal twist'

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has something unique and special in store for the winner of Sunday’s Brickyard 400.

Whoever that driver is that takes the checkered flag will be presented with a trophy which dates back to the first one Jeff Gordon took home after his victory in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at IMS back in 1994. The trophy has a brick molded from the original brick at IMS on top of the original trophy.

We knew if the #Brickyard400 was returning, the trophy had to return, too.

On Behind the Bricks, @jdouglas4 shows off how we added a modern, and personal, twist to an iconic #NASCAR trophy.

— Indianapolis Motor Speedway (@IMS) July 18, 2024

“The winner of the Brickyard 400 will be standing and enjoying time with his car and his crew after picking up that victory for the 30th anniversary. But you know what that driver gets? It’s pretty cool,” said J. Douglas Boles, president of IMS. “This trophy that driver gets to take home is a pretty unique trophy. There’s some cool trophies in NASCAR. You get a clock at Martinsville. There’s a guitar in Nashville. Right here, you get a brick and that’s something that’s been going on from the very beginning. Jeff Gordon got a brick and tiny little base. In 1995, it got expanded and got a little bit bigger.

“For the last three years for the road course, it wasn’t quite this trophy. But coming back to the Brickyard on the oval, we decided to go back to that historic and iconic trophy that features the brick. One difference this year, this brick is actually molded from an original brick here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, not a fake polished brick. So, whoever wins the 30th anniversary of the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG, will take home a very unique trophy but it still connects to the history of the trophy from 1994.”

NASCAR makes its return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval

The Brickyard 400 is back after three years of NASCAR racing on the infield road course. The 160-lap, 400-mile race is similar to Pocono in its size, meaning strategy and fuel mileage will be key. One driver desperate to get to Victory Lane at the IMS oval is Denny Hamlin.

In 15 prior Cup Series starts on the IMS oval, Hamlin has tallied eight top 10s and finished inside the top-three on three occasions. He’s been close, but never gotten it done at IMS. Will he change that this Sunday?

“I want to win it bad,” Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast. “I also know that I need to control what I can control, do my job on the racetrack, off the racetrack. This is gonna be a race that can be frustrating. You can have a very, very fast car. And if you put that fast car in 10th place, it’s gonna be tough. It’ll be tough to come back from that. It comes from executing right when you unload to the checkered flag. I just got to make sure I do my job to the best of my ability and if we do, we’re gonna have a great shot. But I wanna win bad.”