“He was as good as they come,” Petty said. “There have been very few guys who had more confidence in what he could do than Herb. He was so strong-minded that he ‘willed’ his wins and what he was doing on the track. He was going to beat the guys on the track no matter what was going on. That was his mind set.”
Johnson controlled the Brickyard 400 until a slow pit stop late in the race likely cost him any chance at the win. He finished second behind Ryan Newman and still maintained a healthy led in the Sprint Cup point standings.
Sometimes it may be hard to like Kyle Busch. All you see on the track is his competitive drive that can lead to heat of the moment actions. That’s in the public eye. What you don’t get to see is what he is like behind the scenes, how much of a nice and caring guy he actually is.
After a rare pit mistake by the No.48 team that cost them a shot at history, Indiana race fans rejoiced as they watched native Hoosier, Ryan Newman triumph over all at the Brickyard. Newman and Johnson were the class of the field all day with Jimmie showing the most strength but this is a team sport and a 17 second pit stop with just a handful of laps remaining is nearly impossible to overcome when your rival takes two tires.
I am normally much more timely on these articles than this, and had actually toyed with the idea of scrapping this one completely to move to something more pressing. But, once I re-read what I had started writing I got fired up about the subject again and decided that this article deserved to be posted and hopefully read.
It was Jimmie Johnson's race to lose, so he did. The Brickyard 400 came down to a pit stop that took about four seconds too long, but more than three seconds more than pole sitter Ryan Newman needed to win.
Ryan Newman is riding home happy after scoring a hometown victory in the 20th edition of the Brickyard 400. Newman holds a very rare honor of not only winning today's historic event, but also having won the 50th annual Daytona 500.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the crown jewels of motorsports. When the speedway finally decided to let stock cars rumble around the 2.5-mile track, it was received with shouts of joy.
Was this onetime event a success? Considering that it was sold out the day tickets became available, that they sold tickets to 48 states, and 4 different countries, was standing room; and from the looks of lawn chair seating as well, then yes it was a success.
The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 26, at 2:00 pm ET on TNT Sports, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO Max.
