BRICKYARD 400

**SPEAKER_1** (0:05)
You're listening to The Hammer and Nigel Show. You're telling me the kid that won the Brickyard 400 yesterday is just a part-time racer?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:17)
Yeah.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:17)
Old babyface Corey Heim?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:19)
Right. Not to be confused with Corey Heim from 80s teen heartthrob fame, licensed to drive and Lost Boys and all that. No, he won the Brickyard 400 in his first ever race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He is a part-time driver, but he's really good. He won this naval base race in San Diego earlier in the year. I don't really know if that's like an official like NASCAR thing.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:53)
Was that him on top of the aircraft carrier and stuff?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:56)
Yeah.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:56)
Getting out of his car.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:57)
So the kid's got some talent, man. I think he's only 23 years old. I mean, you look at him and you're right. That's a baby face. And totally three and a half hours in 90 plus degree temperatures going around that track.
He pulled it out, got the lead on a restart with about 35 laps to go. And then after that, if it stays green, nobody's passing.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:23)
I was going to say, you and you and I had money on a Hamlin there right towards the end.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:27)
And he was in the lead. But once that yellow came out with 35 to go, we kind of knew if he gets passed, we're in trouble. And that's what happened. It's just a track and cars that are not designed to give you a lot of passing right now. And that's a problem. NASCAR is going to have to figure that out because the attendance was seventy thousand give or take. That's what I've heard from the folks at the Motor Speedway.
Now, when you compare that to the Indianapolis 500, I feel like that's apples and oranges.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:59)
There's no comparison.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:01)
We just wrapped up the World Cup. And think about how big of a deal that was. That's not even close to what we do every May for the Indy 500 The Indy 500 is the world's largest one day sporting event. Three hundred and fifty thousand plus people. Everybody's there. It's packed. It's what we do. So I feel like it's a little unfair to compare it to the Indy 500 But if you take seventy thousand and you put them at pretty much any other NASCAR race, take the Daytona 500 out of the equation because that's their crown jewel. That's their Super Bowl. That's about one hundred and ten thousand.
This spread out around that massive facility. Seventy thousand isn't bad, but it looks horrible on television because everybody's sitting so spread out. Nobody wants to be sitting right next to some fat guy when it's ninety degrees outside. So I get that.
But I think if you ask Atlanta or Phoenix or any one of these other tracks, how would you like to have a guaranteed seventy thousand? Would you take it? They would jump at that opportunity.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:06)
Some of those short tracks.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:07)
Right. Yeah, absolutely. You know, even Bristol doesn't sell out both of their races anymore. Like the night races become like I think the popular one.
But yeah, NASCAR has got a little bit of an attendance problem. So seventy grand is not bad. I know a lot of people like to crap all over the crowd. My son went yesterday and he goes to everything at the Motor Speedway. Right. He's a racing rat. He said the crowd, just by the eyeball test, looked larger than last year. OK, so take that.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:38)
I mean, there's been years when there's been six figures there.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:42)
Oh, the early days of this event, it was packed. But you also had the newness of the event.

**SPEAKER_1** (3:49)
True.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:49)
And you had some of the biggest names in the history of the sport. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, you know, the LeBonni. She had all these dudes there.
Right now, NASCAR also needs a personality boost because it's gotten too corporate. Like, really, with the passing of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin is the only red ass that's left. Yeah, like if you do him dirty late in the race, he may punch you. Now, maybe Carson Hosavar is getting there, but he's not known yet.
They need some personality because there are too many corporate mannequins. Everybody's afraid to say anything controversial because it might hurt their brand or might make a sponsor mad. Back in the day, Ricky Rudd didn't give a damn. Back in the day, Dale Earnhardt didn't give a damn or Darrell Waltrip or any of these dudes.