Busch completes sweep with Brickyard 400 win
INDIANAPOLIS— Kyle Busch won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday to make it clean sweep at Indianapolis.
Busch led a race-record 149 of the 170 laps and beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to the finish line by a healthy 2.126 seconds. Jimmie Johnson ran third, 2.638 seconds behind the defending Sprint Cup champ — thanks to double overtime forced by three late crashes.
Busch became the first NASCAR driver to sweep the Xfinity Series and Cup poles and races on the same weekend. He also joined Johnson as the only Cup drivers with back-toback wins on Indy’s 2.5-mile oval. Johnson won in 2008 and 2009.
Tony Stewart wound up 11th in his final Brickyard race after being assessed a late penalty for speeding on pit road.
Five-time race winner Jeff Gordon finished 13th after coming out of retirement to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt is fighting concussion symptoms and has not yet been cleared by doctors to drive.
Before teams arrived in Indy on Thursday night, all the talk was about Stewart’s farewell and Gordon’s comeback. Even during the drivers’ meeting, Gordon and Stewart were front and centre. Gordon delivered a moving speech in which he thanked Stewart for the impact he’s had on the sport and ended with a standing ovation for the three-time Cup champ and two-time Brickyard winner. Afterward, the drivers toured the track together, likely for the final time on their home circuit.
But Busch’s domination overshadowed all of it. He surrendered the lead for 14 laps after his first pit stop, regained it when race leader Brad Keselowski pitted, then gave it up again for only five laps when he made his second pit stop.