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Last year Kyle Busch won the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2016 he became the first driver ever to win both poles and both races on the same weekend. The younger Busch brother dominated this years Brickyard 400 leading 149 of the 160 laps. Kyle Busch is the first driver to win back to back Brickyard 400’s since 6-time champion Jimmie Johnson won back to back in 2008 and 2009. This is also Kyle Busch’s fourth win of the season.
Even though Kyle Busch had an historic day, the top stories of the weekend were Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. This would be Stewart’s last race at his home track as Stewart is retiring at the end of the 2016 Sprint Cup season. And, Jeff Gordon came out of retirement to help out his friend Dale Earnhardt Jr. Gordon would fill in for Earnhardt in the #88 Axalta Chevy at Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to Earnhardt suffering from concussion like symptoms.
Stewart and Gordon both had decent runs at the Brickyard with Stewart finishing 11th and Gordon finishing 13th. These great competitors will go down in history as two of the best.
Below are highlights and turn by turn action from the Brickyard 400. Race recapped by Last Lap Insider.
2016 Brickyard 400 Race Recap:
Lap 1 – Kyle Busch leads the field into Turn 1. Tony Stewart moves to 2nd place going into Turn 3. Jeff Gordon is now 20th.
Lap 4/160 – The first caution of the day comes out for Matt Dibenedetto blowing up on the frontstrech.
Restart, Lap 9/160 – Kyle Busch clears Tony Stewart going into Turn 1 and has already put a few car lengths in between them. While the top 10 is single file, from 15th on back are side by side.
Lap 15/160 – Kyle Busch has opened a 5 second lead on 2nd place Tony Stewart and 3rd place Denny Hamlin. Jeff Gordon is 19th.
Lap 17/160 – Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick have passed Tony Stewart for 2nd and 3rd.
Lap 25/160 – Tony Stewart has fallen to the eighth position with a very tight race car. Martin Truex Jr is the first car to come down pit road for green flag pit stops.
Lap 34/160 – Kevin Harvick has to come back to pit road because he thinks he had a tire going down. Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have yet to pit. Harvick’s crew has told the #4 driver that he did not have a flat tire. And now Brad Keselowski is having communication issues with his crew chief.
Lap 43/160 – finally Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano have come in for their green-flag pit stops. Kyle Busch retakes the lead.
Lap 53/160 – The second caution of the day comes out for Greg Biffle blowing a tire and hitting the wall
in Turn 1. Everyone comes in for pit stops except Joey Logano. Brad Keselowski wins the race off pit road with a 2 tire stop. On the restart Keselowski did not get a good launch and will lose 2nd and 3rd spot to Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. Keselowski is falling back.
Lap 64/160 – Kyle Busch takes the lead away from Joey Logano. Jeff Gordon is 23rd.
Lap 73/160 – The top 10 – Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch. AJ Allmendinger comes to pit road with a blown engine.
46 laps to go – Kyle Busch continues to dominate as he is the leader with 46 laps remaining. Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski finish out the top 10. Jeff Gordon has just passed Kurt Busch for the 11th position.
40 laps to go – the third caution comes out for David Ragan blowing a tire and getting into the wall coming out of Turn 2. Ragan sensed he had a flat tire but couldn’t save the car quick enough. Kyle Busch easily wins the race off pit road with Carl Edwards 2nd and Martin Truex Jr 3rd. Tony Stewart gets snagged for speeding on pit road.
32 laps to go – Kyle Busch takes off on the restart. Caution comes back out for a little bit of smoke coming from the #7 of Regan Smith. All of the leaders stay out while Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Chase Elliott, Tony Stewart and Casey Mears come in for fresh new rubber.
Restart with 26 laps to go – Carl Edwards tried to dive his Toyota into Turn 1 and make the pass on the #18 but he wouldn’t prevail. Again, Kyle Busch has set sail. Jeff Gordon is running 16th and Tony Stewart 18th. On the most recent pit stops, a crew member on Brad Keselowski’s Ford was hit in the forehead by a airborne lugnut that was shot out from another drivers tire. Even though he was bleeding a little bit, he is okay.
10 laps to go – the 5th caution comes out for debris. From 4th place on back everybody comes down pit road. Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano stay out.
Restart with 8 laps to go – Carl Edwards got tight entering Turn 1 sliding up into the #31 of Ryan Newman spinning him out. Carl Edwards would make hard contact with the wall. Edwards collected Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Blaney. The race has been red flagged.
Restart with 2 laps to go – Kyle Busch takes off on the restart with Joey Logano taking second spot away from Matt Kenseth. Trevor Bayne was trying to block Clint Bowyer but ended up getting spun out. Trevor Bayne and Clint Bowyer would both hit the wall sustaining heavy damage. The race is going into overtime.
Overtime restart with 2 laps to go – on the restart, Jamie McMurray saw a hole and went to fill it but ended up cutting off Tony Stewart. McMurray would slide through the Turn 1 grass collecting Ryan Newman and Brian Scott. Kasey Kahne gets the lucky dog. Kyle Busch’s crew chief Adam Stevens is telling Kyle to save fuel.
Last Lap – Kyle Busch easily pulled away on the last restart and will win the 2016 Brickyard 400. On the cool down lap, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon took an extra lap driving side by side to say goodbye to Indianapolis fans. This is most likely the last time Stewart and Gordon will race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Full Brickyard 400 Results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Kyle Larson
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Joey Logano
8. Martin Truex Jr
9. Austin Dillon
10. Paul Menard
11. Tony Stewart
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
13. Jeff Gordon
14. Chris Buescher
15. Chase Elliott
16. Kurt Busch
17. Brad Keselowski
18. Kasey Kahne
19. Jamie McMurray
20. Landon Cassill
21. Clint Bowyer
22. Danica Patrick
23. Michael Mcdowell
24. Casey Mears
25. Aric Almirola
26. Regan Smith
27. Brian Scott
28. Michael Annett
29. Cole Whitt
30. Ryan Newman
31. Trevor Bayne
32. Ryan Ellis
33. Reed Sorenson
34. Patrick Carpentier
35. Carl Edwards – Crash
36. Ryan Blaney – Crash
37. David Ragan – Crash
38. AJ Allmendinger – Blown Engine
39. Greg Biffle – Crash
40. Matt Dibenedetto – Blown Engine
The next race will be at the Pocono Raceway this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. For more Sprint Cup updates check out the Last Lap Insider on Instagram @lastlapinsider.
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