Brickyard 400: Kyle Busch takes another NASCAR Sprint Cup win
Kyle Busch maintained his remarkable run of form to win the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis for the first time and take his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win
Busch took the lead away from Kevin Harvick at a restart with eight laps to go and held on through two further caution periods, resisting the attention of Joey Logano at a green-white-chequered finish.
Logano had taken the lead at the start of the race from second on the grid, going around the outside of Carl Edwards at Turn 2.
He sat second to Harvick with 40 laps remaining when the leaders pitted for the final time, under caution.
Having been fourth, Busch led the race off pit road and rejoined fifth behind those who stayed out.
Once that out-of-sequence quartet had stopped by the time the race went under caution for the sixth time due to debris, it was Harvick who returned to the lead after making a good comeback from a slow stop, ahead of Edwards and Busch.
Busch took second at the restart that followed, and after the seventh caution for a Dale Earnhardt Jr spin, he snatched the lead from Harvick thanks to a push from Logano.
The penultimate caution came with five laps left due to debris, after which Harvick made a poor restart and fell to fourth behind Logano and Martin Truex Jr.
Trevor Bayne spun to set up the green-white-chequered, with Busch holding on to take his and Toyota's first Brickyard win, ending a 12-year Chevrolet streak in the race.
It brings Busch up to within two places and 23 points of the 30th position he needs to make the Chase.
Harvick repassed Truex to finish third, with Denny Hamlin fifth and Clint Bowyer recovering from an early spin to take sixth.
Matt Kenseth was seventh ahead of Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski.
Edwards finished up 13th after pitting when he lost second to Busch with 10 laps to go.
Five-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon had a tough final race at Indianapolis after hitting the wall in avoidance of a spinning Bowyer on the first restart at the 50-lap mark.
He was initially able to continue despite heavy damage but ended up 53 laps down, hurting his chances of making the Chase on points.
RESULTS - 164 LAPS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3h06m51.s |
| 2 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 0.332s |
| 3 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 1.517s |
| 4 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 2.035s |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2.476s |
| 6 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 3.259s |
| 7 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3.855s |
| 8 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 3.944s |
| 9 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 4.014s |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 4.110s |
| 11 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 4.585s |
| 12 | Ryan Blaney | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 4.843s |
| 13 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 4.960s |
| 14 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 5.288s |
| 15 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5.547s |
| 16 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 5.706s |
| 17 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 6.124s |
| 18 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6.320s |
| 19 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 6.614s |
| 20 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 7.438s |
| 21 | David Ragan | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 7.541s |
| 22 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7.997s |
| 23 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 8.674s |
| 24 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8.679s |
| 25 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 8.725s |
| 26 | Landon Cassill | Hillman Smith Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8.835s |
| 27 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 9.150s |
| 28 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 9.241s |
| 29 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 1 Lap |
| 30 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 2 Laps |
| 31 | Michael McDowell | Leavine Family Racing | Ford | 2 Laps |
| 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 2 Laps |
| 33 | Cole Whitt | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 2 Laps |
| 34 | Brett Moffitt | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 2 Laps |
| 35 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 3 Laps |
| 36 | Brian Scott | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 3 Laps |
| 37 | Justin Allgaier | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 Laps |
| 38 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 3 Laps |
| 39 | J.J. Yeley | BK Racing | Toyota | 4 Laps |
| 40 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | Accident |
| 41 | Timmy Hill | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford | 53 Laps |
| 42 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 54 Laps |
| 43 | Alex Bowman | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | Engine |
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