INDIANAPOLIS -- If the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the world's largest theater of human drama, many of its top acts have been some of the biggest and most experienced names in the sport.

But in Sunday's ninth running of the NASCAR Brickyard 400, some of stock car racing's younger drivers are ready to steal the show.

	Matt Kenseth is considered one of the young guns putting pressure on the veteran drivers.

Youth may not only be served, it will be showcased on the 2 ½-mile oval.

"The way the rookies have been running this year with the equipment that has been put behind them, Indianapolis is going to be the race of the year," predicted Kurt Busch, who turns 24 on race day at Indy and is in his second Winston Cup season for Roush Racing.

"The same amount of points are up for stake, but there is a lot of money, a lot of prestige and a lot of testing that goes into that race," he added.

What was once a sport that rewarded age and experience, Winston Cup racing has become a young man's game.

When Jeff Gordon came south from Indiana to spend two years in the Busch Series before beginning his stellar Winston Cup career in 1993, he was barely old enough to order a beer in a bar. The kid quickly became a star, winning three Winston Cup championships by the time he was 28.

He added a fourth Winston Cup title last year in a season highlighted by his third win in this event.

"The Daytona 500 is probably the most prestigious event we have, but to me personally, the Brickyard 400 probably means the most of any race that I run in," said Gordon, another race day birthday boy who turns 31 on Sunday.

One year Gordon's arrival on the Winston Cup scene, Jeff Burton followed in 1994 and has become a leading contender for the championship.

Tony Stewart showed NASCAR just how talented open-wheel racers can be when he joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 1999 and set a rookie record with three wins. He won six races in 2000 and followed with a second-place finish in the 2001 Winston Cup standings. That established Stewart as one of the sport's most exciting stars before he turned 30.

During Saturday's pole qualifications, Stewart was the fastest in the field and will start in the pole Sunday.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth joined the series as rookies in 2000 and produced three victories between them, with Kenseth winning the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award. Kenseth is having a stellar season this year and leads a Roush Racing brigade into "The Brickyard."

Last year, youth was served in a big way with the twentysomething set led by Kevin Harvick, Busch and Casey Atwood. This year, the bar has been raised even higher by drivers who are lowering the age including Ryan Newman of South Bend, Ind., and Jimmie Johnson of El Cajon, Calif.

The youth movement has led some of NASCAR's top drivers to consider the possibility of early retirement.

"This sport will retire drivers sooner in the future than it ever has because of the ability of young drivers to come into the sport and get it right off the bat," Jeff Burton said. "And, the financial rewards now are larger so that people can retire. Guys like Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth will put enough pressure on the older drivers to where they have had enough."

Newman is a 24-year-old engineering student at Purdue University and the graduate of LaSalle High School in South Bend ready to compete in his second Brickyard 400. He qualified fifth last year and duplicated that starting position Saturday.

Team owner Roger Penske and Newman met at Daytona in 2000. The famed team owner was so impressed with Newman's talent and attitude that he immediately put together a deal to have him as part of his stock car operation in Mooresville, N.C.

"Ryan had won races, he was a winner," said Penske, who won a record 12th Indianapolis 500 as a team owner this past May. "He is technically as savvy as any young man on the race track because of his engineering background. He is committed. His mom and dad are solidly behind him and he is the type of man who will fit well with our race team. I think he is a focused young man. He loves it. He is in the shop everyday. He lives and breathes racing and that is what you need today to be a winner."

Newman's primary contender for top rookie honors is Johnson, a 25-year-old who has the greatest driver in Brickyard 400 history -- Jeff Gordon -- as one of his owners at Hendrick Motorsports.

"We've both been able to be in great situations with teammates who are veterans that have seen all forms of success and that are there for us both on and off the race track," Johnson said. "Off the track, Ryan and I have formed a friendship that continues to grow week in and week out. He is a serious competitor and a smart guy who knows about his racecars. He does a great job in the car as well.

"Unfortunately he's had some weird things happen to him mechanically that have kept him out of contention. He's had the car to beat at three or four races now, but has had something happen that you don't normally expect. But he's going to win races and be a future star of NASCAR. He already is. I'm looking forward to this rivalry lasting for our entire careers."

Johnson already had two victories by the end of June. He and Gordon will lead a four-car contingent from Hendrick Motorsports that also includes Joe Nemechek and two-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte.

Johnson may have an edge in that he has already driven the same car Gordon drove to victory in last year's Brickyard 400.

"The fleet of cars I'm driving, the car Jeff Gordon won at the Brickyard last year is the car that I won at Dover with," Johnson said. "It's going to be really neat. I grew up watching racing on television. I always wanted to race the Indianapolis 500. To be there in a stock car, not necessarily an Indy car, is the best of both worlds for me. I always wanted to race at that race track but I've always favored NASCAR racing just because of the type of racing you have, side-by-side racing."

	“	I grew up watching racing on television. I always wanted to race the Indianapolis 500. To be there in a stock car, not necessarily an Indy car, is the best of both worlds for me. ”
		— Jimmie Johnson

Another West Coast driver who has already won in just his second Winston Cup season is Busch, who is driving the No. 97 Ford Taurus for team owner Jack Roush.

"Kurt is extraordinarily motivated, he is quick to adapt, he listens, he is a sponge, he takes information quickly and assimilates it very wisely for his purpose," Roush said. "The sky is the limit on him."

Busch may be young but has proven experience in various forms of racing from his days out west. He started 34th and finished fifth in his first Brickyard 400 last year and learned a great deal about what it takes to win at Indianapolis.

"I drove by Gordon running about 20th place and said, 'Where the hell is he going? He's going the wrong way.' Lo and behold, he ends up winning the race.

"It's a race where tire strategy comes into play. Fuel mileage is always an issue at a flat race track that never has cautions. When you go to compete there, the experienced crews do lend themselves to good finishes as far as pit stops and having that veteran crew chief up on top of the pit box."

Racing on a flat track presents new challenges to drivers, whether they are young or have plenty of experience.

"It's just a matter of finding your niche and everybody respects the Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Busch said. "The way it is set up, there are 90-degree corners, every corner you go into. And every corner has a different characteristic to it. It comes down to the way you approach your setups, the way you engineer different setups around different race tracks. Being smart and understanding every aspect of the race car can give you a one-up on what the next guy has been doing for 20 years."

Even though he has benefited by having two of the best young drivers in Winston Cup racing in Kenseth and Busch, owner Jack Roush has tried to put NASCAR's youth movement into perspective.

"I think there is still a lot of life left in Ricky Rudd and Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace," Roush said. "I don't think you have heard the last of them yet. They will not go quietly. There are a number of places like Pocono where speed is one thing, but you have to have a certain amount of experience and awareness of the track. If you don't have that, regardless of your youth, enthusiasm and talent, it will leave you without much.

"The rookies have blinding speed, based on courage and ability and being in good cars. They are winning their share of races. I think there has been too much said about the rookies and too little respect paid to the guys who have been doing it for a long time."