INDIANAPOLIS | Generally regarded as one of the top two events of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard was just one of three reasons Cedar Lake's Frank Witt, Dyer's Mike Scherer and Crown Point's Mark Smit were in Indianapolis this weekend.

"It's not so much the (Brickyard) but the whole weekend, the whole package," Witt, 60, said.

That package included as many trips to the track as the longtime friends could cram into their annual three-day getaway.

They took in the Stroke Diesel Craftsman Series 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park on Friday, saw the Kroger 200 at the same venue Saturday and capped the festivities at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard on Sunday.

Jimmie Johnson won the weekend's biggest race, holding off Carl Edwards to capture his second victory at Indianapolis on a day that was marred by tire trouble and yellow caution flags.

Witt and Scherer would have preferred to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. win. Smit is more of a Kyle Busch fan. So he could be forgiven for bragging about Busch's win Saturday at the Kroger 200, not to mention the 23-year-old driver's stellar season.

"Anybody that drives a Chevy, they're fans of," Smit, 47, said of Witt and Scherer. "Anybody that drives a Toyota, they don't like. ... I'm kind of outnumbered."

This much, though, they can agree on.

"We like speed," said Scherer, 45, a heavy equipment mechanic.

In their younger days, the three raced dirt bikes. Now they try to make an annual winter trip to Wisconsin to tool around on snowmobiles.

But during the spring and summer, they and their larger network of racing fans travel to as many as 10 NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup races a year.

They've been to, among other tracks, Chicagoland Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and, of course, Indianapolis.

"It's kind of a release," Smit, a heavy machinery operator, said of the trip to Indy.

For Witt, who has been going to the Brickyard since 1995, it also is a chance to visit family. Three of his four children live in Indianapolis.

"We look forward to this one," said Witt, who owns a heavy equipment repair shop. "Especially because it's three days."