Indianapolis ? There’s a golf course, four holes of it, anyway, in the infield at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It even hosted a Champions Tour event for seven years in the 1990s.

So maybe it makes sense that many drivers used a little golf terminology in describing today’s Allstate 400 as one of their sport’s “majors.” They put it right up there with the Daytona 500 in terms of importance.

“Winning this race can make a driver’s career,” said Jimmie Johnson, the defending champion. “We’ve seen it through Nextel Cup; we’ve seen it in IndyCar. If you win at this facility, you’ve done something very few men have ever done.”

Since 1998, six winners of the Indy race have gone on to win the Cup championship, including Tony Stewart in 2005 and Johnson last season. And only two of the winners in the event’s 13 years haven’t won a championship in their careers. That shows that the top teams normally find a way to win at the historic track, and that winning can provide a huge boost in momentum.

Sunday’s race also signals the unofficial start of NASCAR’s version of scoreboard watching. It’s the stretch drive, a seven-race sprint to the Chase for the Nextel Cup that determines the season champion.

Some teams will play the final seven holes conservatively, hitting irons off the tee and playing for par to hold their spots in the Chase field. Others will pull out the driver and shoot for the pins, taking some chances to try to score birdies and make up ground to get in the championship hunt.

The most interesting on-track drama of the next few months could center around two teams – Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Penske Racing.

DEI, which merged with Ginn Racing this week, has two cars currently in the Chase field. Martin Truex Jr., who has stepped up as DEI’s team leader since Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was heading to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, is 11th. He has one win and six other top-10 finishes. Earnhardt is 12th in the standings and has stayed there the last five races.

But Penske Racing has two drivers right on DEI’s rear bumper. Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are 13th and 14th in the points, with Newman just 30 points behind Earnhardt.

Neither DEI nor Penske Racing has won a Cup race at Indy. Of course, Roger Penske has won 14 Indy 500s. And his No. 2 and No. 12 cars have run well in the past at the Brickyard. Busch would already be in the top 12 if he hadn’t nearly run over Stewart’s jackman on pit road at Dover. He was lucky NASCAR docked him only 100 points. Busch has three top-10s in six career races at Indy. Newman has one top-10 (fourth in 2002) in six career starts, but has had some bad luck after qualifying well.

Earnhardt, who hasn’t raced great at Indy, did have his best finish here last season. He was sixth after a late-race gamble not to pit under caution with 20 laps left. It vaulted the No. 8 car into the top 10 and the team eventually made the Chase, finishing fifth overall.

Momentum matters, and Indy would be a great place to get some.

Stewart wants to keep his momentum going. He won at Chicagoland two weeks ago, ending a 20-race winless drought. And he’s an Indiana native who loves the Brickyard. Stewart came on strong late in 2006, winning three times in the Chase, and won the Allstate 400 in 2005. He wants to get on another late-season roll and contend for his third Cup championship.

So the back-nine racing excitement really gets going as teams try to make the Chase cut. Is there any better place to do that than at a major?