The NASCAR Cup Series was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 Sunday (7/23) and it was Kasey Kahne that got to Kiss the Bricks for the first time.
After winning the past two Brickyard 400 races, Kyle Busch qualified to start from the pole for the 2017 running of the race at Indy Speedway. He immediately began serving notice that he had every intention of becoming the first driver to win three Brickyard 400s in a row. He was the winner of stage one and stage two of the race while leading the most laps in the race for the day.
However, throughout the race there was plenty of drama as crashes and blown engines took drivers out of the race. Names like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson fell victim to a wild race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There was a track record 14 caution periods in the race.
One of those cautions set up Kyle Busch and his stiffest challenger on the day Martin Truex Jr. to re-start the race from the front row. When the green flag waived the two cars went into turn one side by side. The fierce racing resulted in Martin getting loose and sliding into Kyle taking both cars out of the race and contention for the win.
With the fastest two cars for the day eliminated it opened the door for some of the other front runners to have a shot at the win. Kasey Kahne had used strategy and had a little luck to be int he right place to take advantage of the opportunity created by the crash between Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch.
Kasey lost the lead he had during one of the race restarts. However, as that restart was taking place another crash took place giving him a chance to regain the lead as the race headed to overtime for a green-white-checkered finish.
When the green flag waived again, Kasey had a great re-start and was able to regain the lead. As the #5 Chevrolet rocketed down the backstretch cars began wrecking once again. Kasey crossed the “overtime line” on the backstretch before the caution was issued. That meant that under NASCAR rule there would not be another attempt at a restart. Kasey was able ride around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway under the yellow flag for the remaining lap and a half to claim his first ever victory in the Brickyard 400. The Brickyard win is the tenth for his team owner Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports.
The win also broke a 102 race winless streak for the driver of the #5 Chevrolet. Kasey also now has the win he needed to secure his spot on the Chase Grid for NASCAR’s playoffs that start after the next six races.
Bard Keselowski claimed the second place finish followed by Ryan Newman in third place. Joey Logano took home a fourth place finish with Matt Kenseth rounding out the top five. See the complete race results for the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 here.
Following the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Martin Truex Jr. remains the leader in the point standings with Kyle Larson also holding steady in second place. Kevin Harvick moves up a spot to third place while Kyle Busch falls back a spot to fourth. Denny Hamlin remains the fifth driver in the standings. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
The NASCAR Cup Series teams that have not secured their spot in the Chase Grid now only have six races remaining to do so, as I alluded to earlier. That means for many drivers the pressure will be on as they head to the “Tricky triangle” of Pocono Raceway this coming weekend for the Overton’s 400.
By: Buck Stevens
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