07/23/2017 – Pontiacs raced at the Brickyard starting at 1994’s inaugural event all the through their final year in Cup, 2003.
Pontiacs visited victory lane just once, courtesy of Bobby Labonte in the Interstate Batteries Grand Prix who outdueled Rusty Wallace in the Penske Ford in the 2000 Brickyard 400, as Labonte nudged the former Pontiac champion out of the way with 15 laps to go.
Pontiacs led the field to the green flag on 2 occasions – 1998 with Ernie Irvan in Nelson Bowers’ Skittles Grand Prix (Irvan would finish 6th on the day), and 2002 with home state hero Tony Stewart in Joe Gibbs’ Home Depot Grand Prix (Stewart would finish 12th on the day).
Some Pontiac Brickyard side-notes –
For the inaugural 1994 event, the first stock car to attempt an official qualifying run was long-time Pontiac campaigner H.B. Bailey in his red #36 Grand Prix. NASCAR followers and even Pontiac fans knew Bailey probably wouldn’t qualify considering the depth of the field and the high-dollar teams present, and he didn’t, qualifying 69th out of a whopping 86 entries.
Johnny Benson Jr led 70 laps in the Pennzoil Grand Prix for the 1996 Brickyard 400, this is still (up to and including 2017) the highest number of laps led by a Cup rookie at Indy.
Pontiac Racing 