Motorsports Venues - 2012 IMS Schedule Jam-packed With Sprint Cup, Nationwide And GRAND-AM Racing

INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 - As part of today's officially announced 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, the expanded Brickyard 400 weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, dubbed Super Weekend, stands out as one of the new twists of next year's 38 week race schedule.

The anchor event for Super Weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be the 19th annual running of the 400-mile Sprint Cup event which will be named in 2012 the Crown Royal "Your Hero's Name Here" 400 at the Brickyard. The race will be run on Sunday, July 29.

As part of an expanded event weekend, the 2012 Super Weekend will include track activity beginning on Thursday, July 26 with NASCAR Nationwide practice before the track is converted to the IMS infield road course that evening to accommodate the GRAND-AM Road Racing event on Friday, July 27. The GRAND-AM race day will include nearly 12-hours of on-track activity culminating in an historic, first-time ever, sports-car endurance race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Saturday, July 28 will feature Nationwide and Sprint Cup practice and qualifying, followed by a late-afternoon start of the inaugural Nationwide race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Some Super Weekend highlights include:

Expansion of on-track activity from 3-days to 4-days and from one race (Sprint Cup) to four (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, GRAND-AM Rolex and GRAND-AM Continental Tire).

Inaugural Nationwide series event at IMS

First-ever sports-car endurance race on the 16-turn IMS road course.

Newly titled Crown Royal "Your Hero's Name Here" 400 at the Brickyard.

Continued placement as the first race in the ESPN/ABC televised portion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup broadcast schedule.

New ticket pricing and packaging, including price reductions in certain, top-tiered seating locations.

Race distances and start times for the GRAND-AM and Nationwide events will be announced at a later date.