COLUMN: Kiss the bricks, then gargle

            INDIANAPOLIS - Jeff Gordon is the only man ever to win four NASCAR races at the Brickyard. Tony Stewart has won two of the past three. In Kyle Busch's three previous races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his finishes, in order, have been 10^th, seventh and fourth, which creates a pattern headed inexorably toward first.

            Come to think of it, the whole season has been a pattern of Kyle Busch headed inexorably toward first.

            As usual, there are subplots. Juan Montoya, the only man ever to race at this famed track in the Indy 500, United States Grand Prix and Allstate 400, finished second last year. There's no pattern in second alone, just promise.

            Then, of course, there's the somewhat mystical background of NASCAR's forays here. The winner of this race has gone on to win the championship six times. Six out of 14 isn't unerring. It isn't an out-and-out predictor. It's impressive, though, particularly when viewed in relation to the fact that, going back a decade, only two Daytona 500 winners have gone on to win championships in the same year and no Coca-Cola 600 winner has leapfrogged from Indy's victory lane to the stage of the Waldorf-Astoria in the same year since 1998.

            Busch probably put it in perspective than anyone else - right now, he probably bowls better than anyone else; he probably signs autographs faster; he probably writes better text messages better; he may be turning tin into gold in his spare time - when he said that Indianapolis is a difficult, important race that teams prepare for, and the teams that prepare bet for the Allstate 400 are likely to be better prepared for other races, too, and hence, more likely to win championships.

"If you look at it, the Brickyard is a tough place," he said. "A lot goes into winning here, just like winning a championship. It's takes a lot to prepare for. So I guess that's why you've seen some of the best drivers in the sport win at Indy and then go on to win the championship. It'd be pretty cool to do the same thing."

            Everything seems "pretty cool" to Kyle Busch these days. The 23-year-old, skinny, awkward-looking kid from Vegas doesn't look much like a 300-pound gorilla, but put him in a race car (or truck) and he hops around, pounding his chest.

            Just because Busch has been putting a whipping on Gordon and Stewart so far this year that would make a hockey "enforcer" cringe, it doesn't make it easy. Gordon and Stewart are hard men to pound into the boards over and over without getting a little high-sticking in return.

            This race may be decided in a late-race duel between Montoya and Robby Gordon, for all we know, but it's not the way to bet. How sweet would it be to see a street fight break out on the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

            Indy isn't always exciting, but it's hard. Even when the race isn't great, the story usually is.

            Why do you suppose no one has ever won the Brickyard back to back? Maybe it's because it takes a team a year to recover from all the germs they got kissing the bricks? Nothing like rubber icing on a cake mix of clay.

            You can reach Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.