NASCAR runs dry on milk tradition

The only disappointment for Bill Elliott when he won the Brickyard 400 last August came in Victory Lane -- when he found out there was no milk to drink.

"I kept asking where my milk was," Elliott said. "I thought you got to drink milk when you won there. I guess that's one thing that the open-wheel guys get that we don't."

Although the Winston Cup race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has become one of NASCAR's biggest events as it heads into its 10th running Sunday, the Indianapolis 500 has been around since 1911 -- with the exception of a few war years -- and has built a considerable amount of lore in its 87 races.

The tradition of drinking milk in Victory Lane dates back to the mid-1930s when three-time Indy winner Louie Meyer was caught by a photographer taking a swig of his mother's homemade buttermilk.

Since then, it's been a priority in the 500 victory celebration.

Tradition is what Indy is all about, and the NASCAR stars love being part of it. One postrace ritual they've quickly adopted is kneeling down to kiss the yard-wide strip of original bricks at the start-finish line on the historic 2 1/2-mile oval.

"I don't know what it is," Elliott said. "There's just something about it. I just think it adds to how special it is when you do well here.

"There's a lot of racing history at the track and it just means so much to be a part of that now. I can't describe what it was like to kiss those bricks. It's a day I'll never forget."

Indy aces

Six of the 50 drivers entered in the Brickyard 400 have direct ties to open-wheel racing.

Among them, John Andretti was the first to convert to stock car racing. Andretti, an eight-year CART regular and seven-time Indy 500 starter, hasn't driven an open-wheel car at the track since 1994.