Kyle Busch Sets Historic Weekend Pace
Kyle Busch Sets Historic Weekend Pace
SPEEDWAY, IN - RIS - July 24, 2016
Kyle Busch closed his dominating weekend here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by fending off multiple restart challenges and winning the 23rd Annual Crown Royal presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 (actually 425 miles today) at the Brickyard. Kyle was the first driver in NASCAR history to win both Coors Light poles and NASCAR races in the same weekend, all in convincing fashion. He led 149 of 170 laps today and 79 of 80 laps yesterday (including his 20 lap heat race), a new record here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Today's race had 4 cautions and subsequent restarts in the last 20 laps, all starting with debris in turn 1 on lap 151. This led to 3 more restarts and accidents over the next 10 laps and then the final restart to the checkered flag. Running out of fuel was probably the only way Kyle Busch was not going to win today as he fended off all comers on all restarts and once out front was untouchable. Busch said, "The repeatability of restarts was what I was looking for, let alone having five of them or however many there were. We just wanted to have the race go green to the end. You never know what happens on restarts. There were a lot of different characters on the restarts: Truex on my outside, Kenseth on my outside, Carl to my outside and Joey Logano to my outside. Once I got out front into turn 1, I was able to focus on hitting my marks in turn 2 and set sail each time. All those restarts just made it more challinging and we rose to the occasion." Busch added, "This Skittle Camry was awesome. I can't thank everyone from Skittles and M&Ms enough. After the second practice this weekend, I knew we had a great car. I am sure we will use this car later in the year. This thing was on rails. Our guys in the shop did a great job! It was just so fast and able to get out front and stay out front. Not even my teammates could challenge us. I want to thank the fans, everyone for being here and everyone watching on TV - you guys are awesome! Thank you to all of our partners! It is fun to come out here and have such a dominant car at Indy. This doesn't come along often, so I was just hoping I didn't screw it up."
Rounding out the top 10 and surviving the restarts to follow the leader to the checkered flag were Matt Kenseth (#20 Dollar General Toyota), Jimmie Johnson (#48 Lowe's Red Vest Chevrolet), Denny Hamlin (#11 FedEx Express Toyota), Kyle Larson (#42 Energizer Chevrolet), Kevin Harvick (#4 Jimmy John's Chevrolet), Joey Logano (#22 Shell Pennzoil Ford), Martin Truex Jr (#78 Auo-Owners Insurance Toyota), Austin Dillon (#3 DOW/Mycogen Chevrolet) and Paul Menard (#27 Valvoline/Menards Chevrolet). Kenseth said, "We never got in front of him all day and the clear air is always really big here. It was a great day for our Dollar General Camry." With respect to the last restart, Kenseth said, "I got through the gears fine and got into position, just couldn't do anything when I got there. I just barely held off the 48 (Johnson) and 11 (Hamlin)." Johnson added, "The restart really worked to our benefit, restarting in seventh and ending up third. The 11 got inside the 78 (Truex Jr) so that opened the door for me, and we both got the 22 (Logano) and I was able to get the 11 coming to the checkered coming off Turn 4. I never really had a chance to see what the 18 had." Logano said, "That last restart just was not good. The 20 (Kenseth) got underneath me and I was stuck from that point and fell into the clutches of the tires behind me. They just kept turning underneath me."
Also running strong today were Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon (who drove Dale Earnhardt Jr's #88 Axalta Chevrolet). Stewart said, "I had a lot of fun this weekend, which is much better than being frustrated all the time. I wanted to run another lap after the checkered flag and there was no better person to run that lap with than Jeff Gordon. However, we are not done yet. We going to keep having fun and keep going for it." Jeff Gordon said, "Thank you, Tony Stewart, for inviting me to make that last lap with him! He is a class act." As for this race, Gordon said, "This year was better than last year. I got my butt kicked on restarts today. I am going to need a lot of practice on restarts for Pocono. Other than restarts, everything went well. My crew chief made an awesome call to pit today and that made up a lot of spots for us. I can't wait to talk to Dale Jr, debrief him and see how he is doing."
Kevin Harvick retains the Sprint Cup Points lead over Brad Keselowski (-24) and Kurt Busch (-44). Joey Logano (-64) and Kyle Busch (-70) each gained a place at Carl Edwards' expense (-78). The rest of the top 10 remained in place: Martin Truex Jr (-98), Jimmie Johnson (-119), Matt Kenseth (-126), and Denny Hamllin (-129). With regard to the Chase, both Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch have 4 wins while Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth have 2 wins.
The top rookie finishers today were Chris Buescher (#24 Dockside Logistics Ford) in 14th place, immediately followed by Chase Elliott (#24 NAPA Aut Parts Chevrolet.
Today's race duration was 3 hours, 17 minutes and 46 seconds with an average speed of 128.940 MPH and a margin of victory of 2.126 seconds. There were 4 lead changes among 3 drivers (Ky. Busch 1-26, B. Keselowski 27-41, Ky. Busch 42-55, J. Logano 56-61, Ky.Busch 61-170) and 8 cautions for 34 laps (5-8 Oil #83, 54-58 Accident #16, 121-127 Accident #23, 132-134 Accident #7, 151-153 Debris, 155-158 Accident Multiple Cars (2, 19, 21, 31), 160-164 Accident #6 and #15, 166-168 Accident Multiple Cars (1, 14, 31, 44)).
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup race is the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway on July 31, 2016.
John Hanna
Has been an RIS contributor for over 20 years. John retired from the Ohio Army National Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2015.