Sunday's Brickyard 400 could become one of the most significant races in NASCAR history.

For it's at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway that NASCAR fans and teams will be introduced to the next generation in safety protection, the start of an era that will hopefully prevent the kind of tragedies we've seen in recent years, such as the deaths of Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin, Adam Petty and Tony Roper.

Following its successful debut at the Indianapolis 500 in May, this Sunday marks the first time SAFER walls (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) will be used in NASCAR competition.

The significance cannot be understated. In their first trial at Indy, at the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, the SAFER walls came through with flying colors. Several drivers who crashed either during practice, the two qualifying weekends or in the event itself praised the energy absorption ability of the walls, which are the brainchild of researchers at the University of Nebraska's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MRSF).

What's more, CART and IRL drivers who could likely have been hurt badly at IMS had it not been for the walls, literally walked away from their wrecks, relatively unscathed.

If a so-called "soft wall" can safely absorb impact and greatly reduce the chance of injury to a driver as a result, can anyone come up with a legitimate reason not to use them?

Anything that can enhance safety should be adopted as quickly as the device is proven worthy and safe. That's why IMS will be the maiden voyage for SAFER walls in NASCAR.

And, if all goes well, you'll quickly see soft walls crop up at other venues next season, if not later this year. Talladega Superspeedway is reportedly on the short list to be the next facility to install the SAFER system because of the inherent danger and inevitable major crash or two that occurs there at almost every Winston Cup event due to the close confines of restrictor plate racing.

Daytona International Speedway is also expected to have the SAFER system in place for next February's season-opening Daytona 500. If the soft walls had been developed and ready two years ago, who knows if we might still have Earnhardt with us today.

If everything goes right, NASCAR officials predict that every track on the circuit will have soft walls installed by the 2004 season, if not sooner. Hopefully, it will indeed be sooner.

While we fortunately have been spared any more tragedy this season, there have been several instances where SAFER walls could likely have made a significant difference. One example is battered and bruised Johnny Benson, who has gone through two bouts of broken and/or cracked ribs in crashes during the first half of the season. Had he hit a soft wall rather than concrete, he may have suffered only minor scrapes, if that.

A week prior to this year's Indianapolis 500, I spoke at length about SAFER walls and their adaptation to NASCAR's safety guru, Gary Nelson. While Nelson was as excited as anyone about what SAFER walls could mean to the sport, he admittedly was a bit hesitant -- and with good reason.

"The one thing we don't want to do is bring the soft walls out too early and find they're not quite ready to be adapted to Winston Cup racing," Nelson said at the time.

Nelson even said at the time the first NASCAR race to utilize soft walls may not be until next season. But because of extensive lobbying by several tracks that hold Winston Cup events -- namely last week's host, New Hampshire International Speedway (where both Irwin and Petty died in crashes after hitting walls), Texas Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, among others -- NASCAR and Nelson had to reevaluate their timetables, thus pushing up the debut of the walls in Winston Cup racing.

And with the high television, media and ticket sale exposure Indianapolis provides, coupled with the successful test during the Indy 500, Sunday and IMS were chosen as the day and venue to put SAFER walls to the ultimate test in stock-car racing.

Admittedly, there's still some hesitation on the part of various members of the racing community -- even Nelson admitted to having reservations back in May -- about putting the system in operation so quickly.

	The SAFER barrier, shown here in Turn 1 at Indianapolis, will make its NASCAR debut there in August.

After all, SAFER walls, while they have endured countless tests with prototype stock-cars at MRSF, have never been used or implemented at an actual Winston Cup event until this weekend.

What's more, open-wheel cars weigh about half of a conventional Winston Cup car, give or take a hundred pounds. In theory, that means Winston Cup cars will carry twice as much momentum, resulting in twice as much impact and striking force, than an Indy Car does into a soft wall.

In addition, Indy Cars are specifically built to have tear-away zones to help keep a driver safer from impact, while Winston Cup cars crumple hard upon contact but don't break away, retaining much of the energy of the impact in the subsequent wreckage.

While soft walls proved they can stand up admirably in open-wheel crashes, how they will react with a bulky 3,600-pound stock car is still the biggest unknown variable about their usage.

Perhaps that's why NASCAR is not taking anything to chance. For those who saw the SAFER walls in use at the Indy 500, they'll notice significant alterations and improvements to the walls specifically for Sunday's race.

First of all, engineers for both MRSF and NASCAR have added roughly eight inches of padding to the walls to give them even more cushion, roughly two feet of safety protection that, in theory until it passes or fails a live-race test, has the potential to make for perhaps the safest racing NASCAR has ever seen.

Secondly, even just the perception that energy absorbing safety devices are in place should put drivers a bit more at ease when it comes to fears of crashing into IMS's infamous hard walls.

But there's one thing that still has me a bit concerned. Because NASCAR will be racing for its ninth year at Indianapolis on Sunday, some of the veterans like Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and others have gotten used to the unique configuration of the 2½-mile track. That's especially true in the notoriously nasty turns.

Now, throw in a "soft wall" that juts out two feet heading into, at the middle and exiting a turn, and suddenly drivers have to completely rethink their on-track strategy. Furthermore, when drivers have two feet less of real estate to maneuver through in the turns, trying to go in three-wide becomes a much more riskier proposition that could ultimately affect the quality of the show.

Likewise, making a sweeping exit coming out of a turn and close to the walls, as Winston Cup cars are known for, becomes a bit riskier until a driver becomes comfortable with the new configuration and finds the best new line without crashing. That's why I predict you'll see several drivers inadvertently sideswipe, if not smash directly into the soft walls during Sunday's race because of the altered circumference of the turns.

Believe me, I'm all for the SAFER walls, soft walls, energy absorption systems -- or whatever name they're known by. In a sense, Sunday's race will be the birth of a brand new baby for NASCAR, one that will continue to grow and mature into full adulthood in a few years.

However, things won't stop there. MRSF officials have already begun working on a next-generation soft wall that will further enhance the safety features that we'll likely see tested at least a time or two -- or more -- Sunday.

If I have just one regret, though, it's that Dale, Adam, Kenny and Tony won't be around to see how important the implementation of soft walls will be to the sport and its future.

We've had far too many deaths and injuries due to unyielding concrete walls in NASCAR over the past half-century. If the SAFER system prevents even just one death or injury in the future, it'll have paid for itself innumerable times over.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.