Kyle Busch completes weekend sweep at Indianapolis
Kyle Busch won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday to make it a clean sweep at Indianapolis.
He led a race-record 149 of the 170 laps and beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth to the finish line by 2.126 seconds. Jimmie Johnson was third, 2.638 seconds behind the defending Sprint Cup champ – thanks to the double overtime forced by three late crashes.
“I guess, I didn’t expect it,” Busch said when asked about his dominance. “I guess, I hoped it would be this way. But this Toyota was awesome today. It was so fast, and we stayed out front.”
Busch became the first NASCAR driver to sweep the Xfinity Series and Cup poles and races on the same weekend. He also joined Johnson as the only Cup drivers with back-to-back wins on Indy’ 2.5-mile oval. Johnson won in 2008 and 2009.
Tony Stewart was 11th in his final Brickyard race after being assessed a late penalty for speeding on pit road.
Five-time race winner Jeff Gordon finished 13th after coming out of retirement to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt is fighting concussion-like symptoms.
“It was better than last year,” Gordon joked. “It was a fight. Wow! And I got kicked on the restarts.”
Before teams arrived in Indy on Thursday night, all the talk was about Stewart’s farewell and Gordon’s comeback.
Even during the drivers’ meeting, Gordon and Stewart were front and center. Gordon delivered a moving speech in which he thanked Stewart for the impact he has made on the sport and ended with a standing ovation for the three-time Cup champ and two-time Brickyard winner. Afterward, the two drivers drove around the track together, likely for the final time on their home track.
But Busch’s domination overshadowed everything and everyone.
He surrendered the lead for 14 laps after his first pit stop, regained it when race leader Brad Keselowski pitted then gave it up again for only five laps when he made his second pit stop. Everyone else spent the day chasing Busch.
Formula One
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest for a record fifth time to take the championship lead from teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished second.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was third, followed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
Hamilton now has five F1 victories this season for 192 points, with Rosberg on 186 and Ricciardo third with 115.
NHRA
John Force and Tony Schumacher raced to their first victories of the season in the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado.
The 67-year-old Force beat daughter Courtney in the Funny Car final between Chevy Camaros.
Schumacher, an eight-time Top Fuel season champion, also busted a lengthy winless streak with his third victory at the track and 82nd of his career. Schumacher hadn’t won since July 2015 in Chicago.
Allen Johnson won in Pro Stock, and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.