On an overcast day in Indianapolis, Kyle Busch shone brightest to win the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.
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The race came down to a green-white-checkered finish between Busch, on the inside of the front row, and 2015 Daytona 500 victor Joey Logano. Larson needs to keep his streak alive as the series heads to Pocono Raceway. Gordon returned to the track but was credited with a 42nd-place finish, a far cry from the record fifth Brickyard victory he posted past year.
“All the steps that we went through to get back into the race vehicle was quite challenging”, Busch said.
“Oh my gosh. I just can’t believe this run right now”, Busch said.
(88) squints as he checks speeds on the scoreboard during qualifying for the NASCAR Brickyard 400 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Saturday, July 25, 2015.
It doesn’t rank with stretches like Jeff Gordon’s seven wins in nine races in 1998 or Tony Stewart’s five Chase wins in 2011. And at least the first and the last wins at Kentucky and Indianapolis came on aerodynamic-dependent tracks where JGR teams had struggled since the start of 2014 through May 2015.
Although he missed 11 races after suffering injuries in the season-opening Xfinity Series race at the Daytona worldwide Speedway, the sanctioning body said if he won a race and finished in the top 30 in points, he would move into the playoffs.
And of his career at the track that oozes racing history. “I’ve got sweat in my eyes…” But if you just protect that bottom and not let that guy get a chance inside of you, you’re really going to mess him up. Busch’s win is also Toyota’s first at Indianapolis. With the win, Busch is 23 points away from cracking the top-30 in points, and NASCAR has already done his a solid by granting him a waiver to be eligible for the Chase.
However, the young driver received some words of encouragement from some of the best drivers in NASCAR.
Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, announced in January he plans to retire from full-time racing and become part of Fox’s broadcasting crew next year.
With all the momentum in the world on his side, he very well could win Darlington next month and carry that all the way towards the Chase for the Championship… all after missing 11 races for a broken leg and a broken foot. It was the first stop of a farewell tour this week that had earmarked victory lane as the final destination. Kevin Harvick retook the lead with Carl Edwards in second place.
“Geez, I guess Kyle’s back”.
“Second always hurts, but it is nice to be up toward the front, especially here (at Indianapolis)”, Logano said. He got a lot of help with four cautions in the final 25 laps that allowed him to turn off his engine and coast. She said she found an ally in Jeff Gordon, who lived in Pittsboro as he pursued racing and has also announced his retirement from full-time racing after the season.
Lap Leaders: C. Edwards 0; J.
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It has been a mad busy year for Kyle, and the Associated Press is reporting that Busch is now seeing the light after a bad start of the year. Rookie Daniel Suarez of Mexico finished third.
