Kyle Busch set a Brickyard record for laps led and became the first driver to sweep both a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series race from the pole in the same weekend, but the real symbolism of Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t come until the event was over.
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Kyle Busch kisses his wife Samantha as he holds their son Brexton after wining the Brickyard 400 NASCAR auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
Maybe the fans knew that Busch would dominate, leaving the locals disappointed that Tony Stewart (11th) and Jeff Gordon (13th) would have good but not great days. It was fitting, because the weekend was largely about the pair.
Jimmy Johnson grabbed third place.
Series on Friday, won the poles, captured the first of two heat races to establish the rest of the starting order and put himself in position second straight sweep of the two races in Indy.
FOND FAREWELL: Gordon and Stewart both missed out on top-10 finishes. I thought past year was going to be my final race. He led 149 of 170 laps in what can only be JGR’s way of flexing their muscles and showing the word that they are in it to win it all. Kyle Busch also said to reporters after his victory ” we had the race in our hands that we can manipulate the restarts how I needed to and make sure that I got the NO. 1 spot like Matt [ KENSTEH] was able to do last week [at New Hampshire] Busch Said. And after the race, Stewart and Gordon – two IN drivers who were once rivals – took one final, slow lap around the track together to thank their home-state fans. Jeff Gordon finished 13th filling in for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “I knew when we got the checkered we just didn’t want to come in just yet”. Stewart wound up 11th after a late speeding penalty on pit road. The challenges to be out there against the best, especially on those restarts; I got my butt kicked on those restarts.
It happened again when Jamie McMurray slid through the first turn and into the wall on the next restart, but Busch pulled away one more time for a historic win in a race that actually took 425 miles. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five. It meant a lot to me that he invited me to come and make that last lap with him. He just wasn’t happy about it. “I certainly didn’t want one, let alone five of them or however many we had”. After winning each of the last four NASCAR races at Indy, the two-time Brickyard victor was asked if he wanted to follow his brother’s lead and try the 500.
Next week NASCAR heads to the Pensylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA. Here is the schedule for next weeks race. “Well, I won’t be following in his footsteps”. I’m too old to be doing this stuff.
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But the only thing he could taste was smoke from a burnout as he celebrated his fourth win of the season and his back-to-back Brickyard victories. The goal was to stretch out their runs long enough that they would have to make one fewer pit stop. It didn’t work against Busch, either. Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano continued their off the cuff pit strategies they started when they didn’t first pit until lap 42 and 43 – everyone else came in for green flag stops at lap 24.
