For many years, Indianapolis Motor Speedway only allowed open-wheel car racing. The Indianapolis 500 was the only race held on the hallowed track, which dates to 1909. Its legendary bricks were only suitable for Indy car racing.

The late 1980s saw a gradual change in that custom. The track’s leadership, led by Tony George, the then-CEO and president of IMS, debated whether or not it should be used for another purpose.

According to George, the notion that IMS ought to play home to a NASCAR Cup Series race emerged on September 24, 1991, as he told The Athletic. George was at the racetrack where four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt was filming a commercial on this particular day.

Foyt drove his Cup car around the track a few times during the shoot. George and Foyt did not

For many years, Indianapolis Motor Speedway only allowed open-wheel car racing. The Indianapolis 500 was the only race held on the hallowed track, which dates to 1909. Its legendary bricks were only suitable for Indy car racing.

The late 1980s saw a gradual change in that custom. Conversations between George and the France family, the NASCAR owners, quickly started, spearheaded by then-IM. They decided to use the 2.5-mile track to host a tire test the following June including nine of the biggest names in NASCAR. Although it was said that this was just a test, the people who were chosen to take part knew better because NASCAR would hold its first-ever Cup race at IMS two years later.

As NASCAR celebrates its 30th anniversary at the Indianapolis oval,

The Athletic combined quotes from brothers Geoff and Brett Bodine from our 2020 story about their infamous run-in during the race with new interviews with nine people involved in that moment to examine a moment that helped bring NASCAR into the national consciousness as the series returns to the Indianapolis oval on the 30th anniversary of the inaugural race. Here’s the detailed account of