What To Know: Brickyard 400 Weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Indianapolis Motor Speedway kicks off Brickyard 400 weekend Friday, July 21 as NASCAR fans flock to the track for the race and other festivities. The weekend NASCAR fun runs through Sunday, July 23, and include NASCAR practices, qualifying, Sunday's main event and 400 Fest. 400 Fest is a new event during the 2017 Brickyard 400 featuring two-days of superstar performers, starting Friday at 7 p.m., according to Indianapolis Motor Speedway website.

Before the concert starts and the music fans flock into the speedway, NASCAR fans can watch two XFINITY Series practices starting at 1 p.m. Friday, followed by the NASCAR Hauler Parade at 4:30 p.m. on Main Street in Speedway. The NASCAR parking lot is open, and the 400 Fest parking lot opens at 3 p.m. Concert gates open at 5 p.m. Star performers Cheat Codes, Mac Miller and Major Lazer take the stage Friday night, and DNCE, Pretty Lights and The Chainsmokers will finish out the two-day concert event Saturday starting at 7 p.m.

For race fans, NASCAR gates open 8 a.m. Saturday for a day filled with practice, qualifying and the Lilly Diabetes 250, which starts at 3:49 p.m. It's all followed by 400 Fest, as Saturday's full schedule is listed on the IMS website.

Friday and Saturday NASCAR fun all leads up to the 24th running of the Brickyard 400, when the phrase "Drivers start your engines" kicks off the 160-lap race at 2:49 p.m. (For free email alerts and news updates, subscribe to the Indianapolis Patch newsletter and like Indianapolis Patch on Facebook).

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All parking, ticket and direction information can be found at indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

It's going to be a heat-filled weekend across Indianapolis, so stay hydrated and safe if you are going to be outside at the speedway.

For updated traffic information throughout the weekend, follow Indiana Department of Transportation on Twitter, @INDOT for the latest traffic updates.

(Rick Diamond/Entertainment/Getty Images)