Indiana Governor Mike Braun has received a special commemorative gift ahead of this weekend's Brickyard 400, marking the 30th anniversary of one of NASCAR's most famous traditions.

In a post shared on X, Braun thanked Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles for presenting him with a custom brick, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Dale Jarrett's 1996 Brickyard 400 victory, the race that gave birth to the ‘Kiss the Bricks’ celebration.

“Thank you to IMS President Doug Boles for the custom brick commemorating this weekend's Brickyard 400. What a way to mark the 30th anniversary of NASCAR champ Dale Jarrett kissing the bricks — starting a lasting and beloved tradition at the track!" Braun tweeted.

The tradition started spontaneously when Jarrett's crew chief Todd Parrott reminded him that if they won, they should go out and kiss the Yard of Bricks at the start-finish line. And they did that. The next year, Ricky Rudd repeated it, and since then, virtually every winner joined in and made it the iconic tradition it is today.

In the same post on X, Braun also shared a photo of himself holding the brick that arrived in a 'Crown Jewel' box, which features Brickyard 400 branding and appears to have been created for the celebration.

The significance of this celebration was explained by renowned NBC reporter Nate Ryan in an interaction on the Hauler Talk podcast. During a pre-race test session, Dale Jarrett and his crew chief, Todd Parrott, discussed the importance of creating their own special celebration if they won. 

According to Ryan, Jarrett and Parrott wanted to make their victory memorable, in a similar vein to the tradition of drinking milk, which is reserved for the Indy 500 winner. The celebration eventually expanded beyond NASCAR, as it was later embraced by winners of other major events at the famed Indianapolis venue, including the Indianapolis 500 and IMSA races.

When Kevin Harvick took three hours to address the media  

In the same episode of the Hauler Talk podcast, Ryan further shared an incident from Kevin Harvick’s 2003 Brickyard win. He noted that because the celebrations took so long, a huge number of reporters had to wait nearly three hours before Harvick finally arrived in the media center.

“The second Brickyard 400 I covered, it was 2003, won by Kevin Harvick. And we were in the media center, me and, oh, maybe five or six dozen sports writers who were all on deadline waiting to hear what Kevin Harvick thought of his victory in the Brickyard 400. 

And about three hours later, Kevin Harvick entered the media center to discuss what it was like winning the Brickyard 400 three hours earlier, and the legendary late David Poole that was, he led off the press conference. That was his first question was, Kevin, do you remember what it was like to win the Brick Yard 400?”

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Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason