The two NASCAR drivers arguably most associated with Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been elected to the track’s newly rechristened Hall of Fame.
Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, who combined to win the Brickyard 400 seven times, will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame on May 24.
The announcement came Tuesday on “Founders Day,” the 109th anniversary of the day the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company was officially formed.
They are the first to be enshrined under the Hall’s new framework, which includes the Brickyard 400 and United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis for the first time.
Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, and Stewart, a three-time Cup champion, were selected from a ballot of 14 nominees by a panel of auto racing journalists, participants and historians.
“We are thrilled that the first class of inductees with our new name and election criteria honor two drivers who mean so much to fans in Central Indiana and around the world” said Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation in a press release.
Both Gordon and Stewart, who made their final Cup starts at IMS in 2016, have called Indiana home.
Gordon grew up and went to High School in Pittsboro, Indiana, after moving from California. Stewart is a native of Columbus, Indiana.
Gordon won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 and went on to win the race in 1998, 2001, 2004 and in 2014.
Stewart won the race in 2005 and 2007.