When the stock cars first pulled onto Gasoline Alley, there was disapproval, disdain -- even anger. Indianapolis Motor Speedway was and is a bastion for open-wheel racing. It's marquee event is open wheel; the series which is headquartered there is open wheel. The people of Indy rolled their eyes as NASCAR's stock cars rolled in.

Midwestern man don't need them around, anyhow.

"I was actually one of them that wasn't extremely excited -- just because of the history of the place," said Indy native Tony Stewart.

That was 1994. In 2003, as NASCAR's Winston Cup Series gets set to run its 10th race at the Brickyard, Stewart isn't the only one who has changed his mind about the marriage between the country's most popular racing series and the country's most highly regarded racetrack.

Not only do Brickyard attendance figures routinely beat that of the Daytona 500; not only are drivers now just as likely to say a Brickyard win would make a career as they are to say a Daytona victory would; but the Indy fans have come around, too.

In less than 10 years, stock-car racing's visit to Indianapolis Motor Speedway has softened the state's view of the "boxy cars" and created fans in a market some in NASCAR worried might never come around.

"For a while, when that was the only place Jeff Gordon was getting cheers -- and he was getting booed everywhere else -- I thought maybe they just wouldn't get it," St. Louis native Rusty Wallace joked. "But you look at it now and there's some really great fans there that show up and, when you come down that straightaway and see the fans packed in on both sides of you it's really amazing."

"It's just like anything else," said Stewart, who followed up his 1997 open-wheel title in the Indy Racing League with last year's Winston Cup championship. "A lot of times, people are scared of change. As the years have gone on, people have accepted it. In all reality, they've seen what a good change it's been for Indianapolis and the community."

And for NASCAR.

For years, stock-car drivers had to sit idly by while open-wheel racers vied for one of the most prestigious titles in the racing world: Indy victor. Lately, some have crossed over and tried to take on the Indy 500, themselves. For the last nine years, though, Cuppers have had their very own shot at beating Indy every year.

	Ray Evernham, left, and Bill Elliott found Victory Lane at Indy in 2002.

"Indianapolis is beginning to build its stock-car racing tradition," North Carolina native Kyle Petty said. "That's good. That's something I think everybody in the garage wants to help them build. It is building within the garage -- I think the Brickyard 400 is one of the very biggest races of the season for everybody in terms of prestige and definitely in terms of purse. A stock-car racing heritage at Indianapolis is good for everybody."

"It's a great racetrack; a great facility," Indy native Ryan Newman said. "It's legendary. A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, all the people that have walked through that garage area and you're stepping in the same footprints they did years upon years ago."

Newman said he remembers when NASCAR and IMS President Tony George first announced the addition of the Brickyard to the Cup schedule. He remembers the city, and some of his friends, being none too excited.

Almost 10 races later, he's seen that change.

"It's definitely been a positive for NASCAR in respect to the Indianapolis and the Indiana markets," Newman said. "The closest we got (before) was Michigan before Chicago came along to that market, and I think from a fan's perspective and from a racer's perspective there's been a growth of NASCAR fans in that area. I've realized that just from some friends I've known throughout open-wheel racing. I went back and visited a few of them at the Indianapolis test, and they're pretty excited about the Brickyard."

Indy's 400 will never be the Indy 500, at least in terms of name recognition. No one says it will. But NASCAR drivers still get pumped up to get to Indy because they know there will be a boost in the TV audience, in the attendance and in the purse. They know very few men and women before them have run around that track and even fewer have kissed the bricks that form the start/finish line -- all that remain from the all-brick surface of decades ago.

"I think it is pretty important for NASCAR to be at Indy," Petty said. "It's a place that obviously has a lot of history and a lot of tradition. It's hard to believe this is the 10th year. That is pretty amazing. Every time we go there it always feels like it's the first time I was there. There is something about the atmosphere at that place."

"I remember my first time here in 1996," Michigan native Johnny Benson said. "We came up there to test and it was a big place with lots of seats, but it was really just kind of like any other racetrack. We came back in August and on the first day there were a lot of people who showed up just for qualifying. There was more the next day and that was impressive.

"Then, race morning they had all the drivers take a lap in the pace car and I was like 'You got to be kidding.' I couldn't believe the number of people. It was like the whole city decided it wanted to see a race. I have never witnessed anything like that."

It's that atmosphere, and the growing support in the area, that have made this one of the few dates teams circle on their calendars. That, and the fact that it's Indianapolis.

"I have raced from Europe to Australia to Canada to the United States," former F1 driver Christian Fittipaldi said. "There is nothing like racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the Mecca of automobile racing. It's certainly the most impressive track that I have ever seen. There are tracks that are also impressive, but Indy is for sure the top infrastructure that I have ever seen."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.