SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH)- Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend this year’s Brickyard 400 Race weekend. On Main street, restaurants are experiencing an increase in foot traffic.

“Foot traffic in the area never hurt anybody,” said Brian Theising, shop lead at Speedway City Garage. “The weather is nice, so the garage door is open.”

The newly opened cafe has ordered additional supplies for race weekend. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway says more than 70,000 fans are expected for the annual NASCAR race.

“We came up with a couple of new menu items. We got one called the ‘Shake and Bake’ and the ‘Ricky Bobby’ for the NASCAR fans, a couple of cocktails here and there. We’re having a little bit of fun with it while everyone’s in town,” Theising said with a smile.

IMS President Doug Boles said the race will bring about $200 million to the state. For local businesses, that’s good news. Dawson’s On Main has been serving up its famous tenderloin for 20 years. The manager, Delaney Hill, said they’ve seen an uptick in customers over the past few days.

“Indy 500 is definitely our biggest event of the year,” Hill said, “but events like the Brickyard also bring a boost to our business as well. The Hauler parade was a lot of fun with the trucks lining up and the vendors. Just a cool experience for anyone that lives here and doesn’t live here as well.”

Despite the increase in customers, some said there are fewer race fans. At Tacos and Tequila on Main, the staff said they’re not serving as much food and drinks as they had in the past years.

“The Brickyard 400 isn’t nearly as big as it used to be,” said bartender Parker Levy. “We still tend to get a bit of overflow from events today. We had more than a couple people come and eat for breaks in between practice. With NASCAR running the next two days, we’ll probably see something tomorrow as well, but NASCAR isn’t as popular as it used to be and it shows in the business that we receive.”

Still, this weekend is anything but typical, with race fans from around the world coming to Speedway.

“I mean it’s definitely a bigger uptick on the weekend. We expect Sunday to be a banger,” said Theising.

The restaurants said they’re all set and prepped for the influx of people. The race begins Sunday at 2 P.M.

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