Jeff Gordon honored at boyhood home before final Brickyard 400

But broken bones heal and it’s obvious Busch has a thirst to prove many wrong, his pursuit of a place in the playoff becoming stronger each week after missing the season’s first 11 races following his crash.

In fact, he won for the third time in eight races. In recent years some of the sports best conspiracy theories have involved Jimmie Johnson being handed championships and phantom cautions.

“If you are back in traffic, it’s a little more frustrating because it can be hard to pass (at Indianapolis)”, Busch said. “To me, personally, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is just the ultimate track that I get to compete on”. That’s just a place that’s special to me. “Last season when we won the race, the horsepower we had on that final restart put me out front, and we were able to take the checkered flag”.

“And (Gordon) said, ‘Yes, I know about the race”.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The brother of famed “American Sniper” Chris Kyle will be honored this weekend at the NASCAR race in Indianapolis.

George gets labeled as the man who single handedly destroyed open-wheel racing, which at a time was far more popular than NASCAR. “You really have to be particular in hitting your marks and getting your auto set up”.

This after working with a new crew chief in Adam Stevens for 2015 and dealing with NASCAR’s new low-downforce rules package.

Busch, of course, has benefitted from a resurgence in all four Joe Gibbs Racing teams. That should make him formidable here but Jeff Gordon has yet to win a race in 2015, his last full year as a driver in NASCAR.

This week will be no walk in the park as the stakes are just as high as they have ever been. “I think the best part of that afternoon was having my family with me to enjoy the moment”. Track characteristics at the higher-banked, multiple-lane, two-mile Michigan global Speedway – which will use the same package as Indianapolis – are more likely to produce the desired result, Johnson said. The No. 24 will be on the hood of the pace vehicle Sunday, too.

Since 1994, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has descended upon the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 400 miles of raw speed, with drivers battling neck and neck for the right to be called “winner” at the Brickyard.

Dan Farkas Dan Farkas has won more than two-dozen awards for his reporting and started writing about NASCAR in 2007.

He has already run three – Martinsville, where he finished 38th, Richmond (16th) and Charlotte (18th) – and now will try to earn a spot in Sunday’s Brickyard 400. That remains the only NASCAR Sprint Cup race win in Paul Menard’s career.

“Growing up, this was one of my favourites to watch and follow”, the younger Elliott said. It’s the atmosphere when you arrive at the track that feels so powerful. “I think the biggest success factor is we bring the best horsepower to the race track with ECR Engines under the hood”. Sunday’s victor will get their chance at history, and to kiss the bricks.

“I feel like each time out in the No. 25 NAPA Chevy SS we’ve made gains and that’s what it’s all about”, he said.