INDIANAPOLIS -- There's no magic inside those bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sure, to a lot of folks who've kissed the start/finish line made of bricks they are magical. But there's no abracadabra that instantly turns the Brickyard 400 victor into the Winston Cup champion.

	Jeff Gordon is hoping a win at Indianapolis will help him make a charge for another title.

Yet that's what has happened the last four years. The last four winners of the Brickyard 400 -- Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett and Gordon again -- have gone on to win the last four Winston Cup championships.

But, say the champs, it probably has more to do with the time of year this race is held and the demands this track puts on a team than anything else.

"You've got to give a little merit to it, I guess," Jarrett said. "I think by that time most of the championship contenders have been shaken out and the teams that are performing well at this stage are the ones that are going to go on and battle for the championship. That's a race track that takes all facets of your game.

"You have to have a good handling car, you have to have a good aero package and you have to have a good engine. If you have that, then you're probably going to contend and you're going to have a chance to win at the Brickyard."

And if you have all of those things, you have a good shot at winning the title.

Of course, Gordon doesn't just pinpoint the Brickyard. To him, it's Watkins Glen, N.Y., afterward and Pocono, Pa., and Darlington, S.C., and all the tough courses in between.

"That may be just a coincidence, but I think this summer stretch is crucial to a team's championship hopes," Gordon said. "It's not just Indianapolis, you have to perform well at Michigan, Pocono and Darlington -- that's what makes or breaks your season."

And to perform well, the team -- as well as the team's cars -- have got to be dialed in and running smoothly.

"It's how well the team clicks and how well they're working together at that point in the season," Gordon said. "That's why I think for the last three or four years, we've seen the teams that have won here have gone on to win the championship because those are the ones that have their acts together.

"Their horsepower is there. Their aero package is there. Their communication is there. The whole thing is just clicking. Those are the teams that rise to the top and are the teams that battle for the championship."

But it's more than just battling for the championship, isn't it? After all, the last four Brickyard 400 winners haven't gone on to battle for the title -- they've gone on to win the crown.

According to Jarrett, this track is a tough one to figure out and it takes the best team at that point in time to do so. The confidence one receives from winning at such a historic place is tremendous, but the fact your team had what it took means it is better than the rest -- even the other contenders.

"It's because I don't think you can be off in any of those places and have a chance at winning that race," Jarrett said. "There again, we're going to get in a situation where it's very fast through the corners now since they've done their work on the track and you're going to have to be good at all of those places.

"So, yeah, the teams that are performing well right now and in the championship hunt are the teams that will probably go there and do well."

What does that mean? Well, points leader Sterling Marlin is performing well again. Mark Martin seems to be the season's most consistent racer. And Jimmie Johnson has been the biggest surprise, weighing in at third in the standings as a rookie.

But none of these guys has ever won at Indy (Johnson will race there for the first time) and only Martin has notched a top-five. To them, the occurrences of the past four years are just a bunch of hokus-pokus.

"We want to win this race," said Marlin, who has led the points since the second race of the year. "But I'm not going to pack it up if I don't."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for the Raleigh News & Observer.