The Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, introduced as the Brickyard 400 in 1994, is an annual 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event, when first held in 1994, marked the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916. Since the inaugural race, the Allstate 400 has become NASCAR's most-attended event, drawing an estimated crowd of more than 250,000 fans annually. It also has become NASCAR's second highest paying race in dollars (behind the Daytona 500).

The term "Brickyard" is in reference to the nickname historically used for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1910. The course was paved in brick in 1909, and a three foot strip of brick remains at the start/finish line. Source

For its first running in 1994, the race was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon at 12:15 p.m. EST. Since the race was not being held on a holiday weekend, track officials decided that a built-in rain date was necessary. Scheduling the race for Saturday allowed Sunday as a make-up date in case of rain.

In 1994, practice and pole qualifying was held Thursday. Practice, second round qualifying, and "Happy Hour" final practice was scheduled for Friday. In addition, during the first year, a special "pacing" practice was held where the field followed behind the pace car to measure pit road speed.

Starting in 1995, an additional practice session was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Pole qualifying was still held Thursday, and second round qualifying was held Friday. This schedule continued through 2000.

Starting in 1998, an IROC event was situated in the schedule. IROC practice would be held Friday, and the IROC race would be held Saturday.

Starting in 2001, the race was moved to Sunday. In addition, NASCAR eliminated second round qualifying. The schedule was compressed such that practice was held Friday, and the single pole qualifying round was held Saturday. "Happy hour" final practice was also held Saturday. This scheule differed from typical NASCAR weekend schedules, which normally saw practice and pole qualifying on Fridays. Moving the pole qualifying to Saturday allowed for a larger audience, and also opened up the schedule for the Kroger 200 held at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park. Source