Kyle Busch won his third consecutive race in the Sprint Cup Series after holding off Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick in a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
One day after winning the 250-mile Xfinity Series race at this historic 2.5- mile track, Busch grabbed the lead from Harvick following a restart with 12 laps to go and then pulled away from the field in two more restarts, including the final one for a two-lap overtime finish. He crossed the finish line 0.3 seconds ahead of Logano, who won the Daytona 500 earlier this year. Harvick, who led the most laps in this event with 75, placed third.
Busch, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, started ninth and led a total of 19 laps. He became the first driver to win three or more races in a row in NASCAR's premier series since 2007 when Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat.
Busch moved up to 32nd in the standings. He is now 23 points behind 30th- place Justin Allgaier, as six races remain before the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship begins. Busch must finish in the top-30 in points when the regular season concludes on Sept. 12 at Richmond in order to qualify for the Chase.
He missed the first 11 Sprint Cup races this season after he suffered a fractured lower right leg and left foot during an accident in the Feb. 21 Xfinity season-opener at Daytona. He returned to competition a little more than two months ago and has started in nine points-paying events since.
Busch is now tied with Johnson for most Sprint Cup victories this season with four.
Logano, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, was trying to become the fourth driver to win the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season. He was also hoping to deliver team owner Roger Penske his first Sprint Cup victory at Indy. Penske has won the Indianapolis 500 a record 16 times, including a victory this year with driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin was fifth. Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski completed the top-10. Johnson, a four-time winner at Indy, placed 15th and Tony Stewart, a two-time winner here, 28th.
Jeff Gordon, who made his 22nd and final start in the Brickyard 400, finished 42nd after he was involved in an accident with Bowyer in the early going and spent more than 50 laps in the garage for repairs. Gordon is a record five- time winner of this prestigious race, including a victory here last year.
