First, we need something to cause every race fan to get chills of excitement:



The boys (and girls) are back in (my) town. And man, isn't that music on the video just awesome?

Yep, racing has returned to Indianapolis in the form of stock car racing for the 15th-straight year as the Sprint Cup Series lights up the engines Friday afternoon for the first practice session teams will be given to get prepared for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

The "big cars" will be running at the "big track", the historic and venerable Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while just a hop, skip and a jump to the west towards the Indiana corn fields both the Nationwide Series (Saturday night) and the Craftsman Truck Series (Friday night) will compete at the half-mile O'Reilly Raceway Park oval.

And for the second NASCAR weekend in a row, I'll be on hand to cover all of the festivities from both tracks -- taking it all in and trying to spell it all out for you from the two tracks I know the most about, thanks to their nearby location to my home base.

Hopefully, I'll be able to miss significant traffic tie-ups as I head back and forth from each track, but in the mean time, here's some things to look forward to this weekend at NASCAR invades Indianapolis:

• - Tony Stewart Press Conference 11a.m./ET: Hopefully Tony will be announcing his car number and sponsors for 2009. I'll be in the media room for this, so if you have a question you think Tony needs to answer, feel free to leave a comment below.
• - Chevy Day at the Brickyard: Select Chevrolet drivers will participate in a number of fan-related promos, including taking laps around the track in the pace car and R/C car races. There's bound to be something interesting there.
• - Advantage Not Toyota?: After winning 14 or 21 races in 2008 Nationwide Series competition, NASCAR changed their engine package this week. We'll see if that holds Kyle Busch down. (Doubt it)
• - Many, many more exciting things: Face it folks, I'm writing this at 3 a.m. because I'm so excited about this weekend that I couldn't sleep. That doesn't mean I'm thinking clearly though.

Welcome to the Brickyard, ladies and gents!