Ready to roll
Kyle Busch used his first Brickyard 400 victory for momentum to his first Sprint Cup title. He hopes to do it again after a dominant weekend at Indianapolis.
INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Busch used his first Brickyard 400 victory as a springboard to his first Sprint Cup title.
He’s trying to make sure it happens again.
Another dominant weekend at Indianapolis sent Busch home with a historic sweep, a reputation for having tamed Indianapolis’ tricky 2.5-mile oval and plenty of momentum heading into the chase.
“To come out of here, at a place this hard to race and be able to have two years like this, I think, is really special,” team owner and Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs said. “That’s a tribute to him, the team and (crew chief) Adam Stevens.”
If Busch keeps driving this well, he’ll be impossible to catch. He posted the fastest laps in both of Friday’s practices, the best speed in two of the three rounds of Cup qualifying Saturday and led a record 149 laps in the double overtime race that went 10 laps longer than the scheduled 160.
Busch also won the Xfinity Series race from the pole while leading all but one lap, and the first of two heat races.
It’s the first time a NASCAR driver has captured two poles and two wins on the same weekend, and he joined Jimmie Johnson as the only back-to-back winners of the Brickyard. Johnson finished third Sunday.
Busch was so strong at Indianapolis, that he overshadowed Jeff Gordon in his comeback and Tony Stewart in his farewell race on their home track.
Now Busch is looking to replicate the aftermath of last year’s two-race Indy sweep — building off the momentum at Pocono as the title quest nears.
“I thought last year the momentum did carry over,” he said. “We won this race and then we were running right behind Joey Logano for much of the last stint at Pocono, and we thought we had just enough fuel to make it. We didn’t. We ran out.”
EARNHARDT’S STATUS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. warned Monday that his return to NASCAR could take longer than planned.
NASCAR’s most popular driver is scheduled to miss his third consecutive race this Sunday with concussion-like symptoms. On his weekly podcast, he said he will have another evaluation soon to see “what kind of gains we’ve made and get in front of my doctors and let them tell me where they think I’m at, and that will help us make the decision on what we’re going to do for Watkins Glen.”
Jeff Gordon came out of retirement to drive for Earnhardt on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Gordon will race the No. 88 car again this weekend at Pocono. No decision has been made by Hendrick Motorsports about next month’s race at Watkins Glen.
READY, SET, POKEMON GO
Sprint Cup cars aren’t the only things that will go at Darlington Raceway this summer.
The track “Too Tough To Tame” is opening its gates Thursday for players of the “Pokemon Go” game and search for virtual characters inside the raceway.
Players will be charged $10. They’ll receive a $5 ticket to the Sept. 2 practice session for next month’s Southern 500. The other half of the admission price will go the track’s charitable arm.