With a brand new rules package yet again here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 22nd Annual Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard.
Surprising: Forget Game of Thrones, Kyle Busch pronounced the Brickyard 400 the ‘game of restarts’.
“It was a game of restarts at the end and who was helping who. That’s what this package allowed for today and what this race track gives,” Busch, driver of the victorious No. 18 Skittles Toyota, said. “First I have to thank Joey Logano, then I have to thank Martin Truex – those two guys behind me on those three restarts – they are the ones that just helped propel my car a little bit ahead so when I got to turn one, I could keep the gas down and pull ahead and get up to the lead.”
“I’m still in shock. It’s all gone by so fast. Every week you go on to the next one, but this is something spectacular. I always dreamed of wanting to race here let alone win here.”
This was Busch’s fourth win of the season and his third win in a row. He delivered not only his first victory at the Brickyard, but also the first win for Toyota at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Busch now sits just 23 points out of the 30th position for Chase eligibility.
Not Surprising: There were a number of ‘seconds’ that were hard pills to swallow. Joey Logano started second, finished second and continued to be second in the points. And of all those seconds, Logano said simply, “Second sucks. There are no trophies for second.
“Yeah, the worst part is the same guy beat me the last two times I’ve finished second.”
Both Trevor Bayne and Aric Almirola suffered seconds of their own, both wrecking twice, once separately as well as wrecking into each other. Almirola finished 38th and Bayne finished 40th.
“We worked at it from the drop of the green,” Bayne said after the race. “Today just wasn’t our day with the AdvoCare Ford. But it’s on to Pocono next week where hopefully we can run well like we did in the spring.”
Probably the most interesting of the ‘seconds’ was the fact that Austin Dillon not only sped on pit road but that he sped again for the second time while serving his penalty. After his second bout of speeding, Dillon soldiered on to finish 25th in his No. 3 Dow/Mycogen Chevrolet.
Surprising: While Kyle Busch was sweeping the Xfinity and Brickyard races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was doing some brushing off of his own.
“If it could happen today, it most likely did. Gotta brush it off and get back at it next week @poconoraceway. We like that place!” Junior tweeted after the race.
The driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet also had a little fun with his misfortune, when he spun through the grass, leading to his 22nd place finish.
“Although it wasn’t part of the plan, the trip through the grass reminded me of tearing through the yard in our go-kart when we were kids.”
Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon, who suffered heavy damage to his No. 24 3M Chevrolet after trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bowyer, remained upbeat and thankful for all of the wonderful memories he had at the Brickyard.
“Today was an unfortunate day,” Gordon said after finishing 42nd. “It seems like in recent years it’s been kind of feast or famine for us here. But I tell you what, from the first time I came here all the way through last year and even this year the fans have been amazing, the experiences have been amazing, the wins.
“Everything has been incredible and I feel so fortunate to have just gotten an opportunity to race here. Certainly to have five wins here is just unbelievable as well.”
Surprising: The third and fourth place finishers were quite busy falling on their respective swords. Harvick blamed himself for losing the lead and Truex blamed himself for mistiming his pushing efforts, or lack thereof, for Harvick.
“Yeah, we lost the lead there,” Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Budweiser Chevrolet said. “The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and No. 22 (Joey Logano) got hooked up on the restart there and got by us in Turn 1. The No. 78 (Martin Truex, Jr.) and I didn’t really get together and weren’t able to keep the lead.
“Then I lost the lead and Kyle had a faster pace than I wanted to go and spun the tires and then he was able to keep the lead. We lost a couple more spots because we got all jacked up once we started spinning the tires. All-in-all just really proud of everybody on the Jimmy John’s team, I just didn’t put it together there at the end.”
“Yeah, just feel a little bad for Kevin (Harvick) there,” Truex, driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet said. “I kind of screwed him. I was trying to push him, just mistimed it.
“I feel bad I messed him up a bit there. I kind of messed Kyle (Busch) up on the last one too and he still won. I wasn’t getting good starts.”
Harvick finished third while Truex finished right behind him in the fourth spot.
Not Surprising: There were a few unfortunate tire issues at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with both Sam Hornish Jr. and Kurt Busch suffering cut right rear tires early in the race. Both were able to recover, with Hornish rebounding to a 17th place finish and Busch scoring an 8th place run.
“We ended up flattening the right rear tire,” Hornish, driver of the No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford Fusion, said. “We pitted and we stuck with it. The guys made good changes throughout the day and got our Medallion Bank Ford Fusion up there to 17th.”
“We chiseled away on each green flag run and each restart, except for the last two,” Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet said. “And overall, I was pleased with the car’s performance. We were missing a little bit with leaning on the right front tire and not having the car bust loose on me; but overall, the Haas Automation Chevy was a good car.
“Eighth is a little bit worse than what I thought we would have finished, but we weren’t a winning Chevrolet. All-in-all, these are those types of days that you really have to find something and learn from it and that way you can turn an eighth into a third into a shot to win.”
Surprising: No matter the manufacturer, whether Toyota, Chevrolet or Ford, drivers from each of the manufacturers spoke out about the new rules package unveiled at the Brickyard.
“It just seemed like you couldn’t pass,” Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Lilly Ford, said. “It was really hard to get up there and get a run on guys. It is difficult to try to get beside guys and it was really, really loose once you caught them. I would say the Kentucky package is way, way better and it put on a way better race than what that did.”
“It’s terrible, that’s what I think,” Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, said of the new package. “You just can’t pass. Yeah, you can run up on the straightaway a little bit, but you can’t run through the corner with anything.”
“It was really bad,” Kyle Larson, behind the wheel of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet said of the aero package. “There was lots of grip by yourself and then as soon as you get within like five car lengths of the guy in front of you, it’s no grip.
“So, I don’t know. Restarts are intense. But, other than that, it’s pretty bad.”
Not Surprising: With a runner-up finish in the XFinity Series and a special paint scheme, the Brickyard was a place full of learning for young driver Ryan Blaney, who finished a respectable 12th.
“I didn’t really sleep that much last night and I was thinking about turn 2 over and over,” the driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, said. “I thought about it more than I should. You just learn from your mistakes and focus on today. There were some things that happened yesterday that I applied today and it worked out.”
“It’s really cool to be part of this JDRF deal,” Blaney continued. “It’s my first year and it’s interesting to learn about type 1 diabetes and good for me to learn about all the kids who have it and battle it. It makes you appreciate things more. It was great to have a good finish for them.”
Surprising: While the temps were up, the heat seemed not to play the role or factor that it did in Sunday’s race as opposed to the race on Saturday where drivers were really spent and complaining.
“It was a hot day but that is what we do,” Brad Keselowski said after finishing 10th in his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford. “That is part of being a race car driver.”
Not Surprising: In spite of the stellar NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing at Eldora Speedway last Wednesday, Tony Stewart, who looked like the Smoke of old at the start of the race, could not finish it off the way he wanted.
The driver of No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet started the race in the fourth position but ended up 28th when the checkered flag flew.
The Sprint Cup Series will now move on to the mountains in Pennsylvania for the Windows 10 400 race weekend, taking place at Pocono Raceway.
