Busch takes elusive Indy victory for 4th win in five races

Busch was like a kid in a candy store after the Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard.

Gave Toyota its first victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, breaking a string of 12 straight wins by Chevrolet at the 2.5-mile track. Busch led the pack to start the green-white-checkered finish, just the second in race history and the first in 11 years, he choose an inside line and held on the final two laps.

“To come home with a victory here at the Brickyard 400, there’s nothing else like it”, Busch said. Less than 24 hours later, a revived Busch wouldn’t celebrate sitting down. They selected the checked banner, motioned towards the audience and kissed the speedway’s renowned property of stones.

The Brickyard is the third consecutive win for Busch, and his fourth of the season. It also continues his remarkable run in recent weeks, winning four of the last five events, including the last three.

But the way he won Sunday was every bit as incredible as his sudden surge.

The qualifier that was No. NINE easily relocated in to the topfive and slept there all the evening and his time was impressive. 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. The result was the 42 year old’s worst finish of the season and at this point in the year, is a finish he can’t afford to repeat.

“I’m trying to soak it in”, Busch said. “I wish there was more of a draft; but those only pop-up on restarts”. “I am not going to let a couple races overthrow the races that have gone well”. “That’s what I had to do in order to win this thing”. Gordon is retiring at the end of the season and the four-time NASCAR champion was feted Thursday in nearby Pittsboro, where he attended high school and pursued his racing career. A win at Indy is prestigious, but fans want action.

Almirola trails Clint Bowyer by 30 points for what will be the final spot while Gordon has a 67 point advantage over Almirola. Gordon pitted twice before taking the auto back to the garage, where his crew fixed the vehicle. Several drivers throughout both races looked to be physically drained from the heat. “The resources that we were able to apply against it, getting into the wind tunnel right away and just really overworking to make sure that … when we unloaded Friday that we were decent”.

PENSKE’S MISTAKE: probably the most productive workforce owner in Indianapolis 500 record Penske, has not got any chance within the Brickyard. The drought continued Sunday.

Beckman raced to his fourth victory of the year and 19th overall, topping 66-year-old John Force with a 4.190 at 293.92 in a Dodge Charger R/T. Beckman had three career wins at Bandimere Speedway.

Yet nothing was changed before Sunday’s race, which featured just 16 lead changes. The engine manufacturer has won at all 23 tracks on the NASCAR circuit.

Vettel dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi, the French driver who died last week at the age of 25 from injuries sustained in a head-on crash at the Japanese GP last October.

Having struggled with relatively less horsepower during the 2014 season from engines built by Toyota Racing Development, JGR did what all teams do in such circumstances – worked extra hard on the handling.

When NASCAR’s Vice Chairman and President Mike Helton joined SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday morning, he said it was too early offer a precise analysis of the competition under the new rules package. Post-race reviews were mixed.