1 | INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Kyle Busch's incredible comeback rolled through Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Busch won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday for a weekend sweep at the historic track. |
2 | Busch missed the first 11 races of the season with a broken right leg and broken left foot. |
3 | He returned in late May and has won three consecutive Sprint Cup Series races and four of the last five. |
4 | ''This has been a phenomenal return,'' Busch said. |
5 | Now he has a prestigious Brickyard victory to give him one of NASCAR's elusive crown jewels. |
6 | His Indianapolis victory ranks alongside his Southern 500 win at Darlington Raceway as the biggest of his career. |
7 | ''Maybe I found my happy place,'' Busch said in victory lane when asked if he has found a new perspective since he was injured in a crash the day before the season-opening Daytona. |
8 | Busch, who also won the second-tier Xfinity Series race Saturday at Indianapolis, moved 23 points away from cracking the top 30 in the standings. |
9 | NASCAR granted him a waiver that will make him eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship should he be ranked inside the top 30 in points. |
10 | ''We're a championship contending team, we just need to be championship eligible,'' Busch said. |
11 | The win for Joe Gibbs Racing was the first Sprint Cup Series victory at Indianapolis for Toyota, which has now won at all 23 active tracks. |
12 | Chevrolet had entered the race on a 12-year winning streak and had won 16 of the 21 Brickyards. |
13 | The manufacturer also won the Indianapolis 500 in May with Roger Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya. |
14 | But Penske was denied his first Brickyard 400 win when Joey Logano finished second to Busch on Sunday in a Ford. |
15 | ''Geez, I guess Kyle's back,'' Daytona 500 winner Logano said. |
16 | ''It's just so frustrating running second at the Brickyard. |
17 | Busch knows that all too well. |
18 | He finished second in two of the previous three Brickyards. |
19 | Kevin Harvick was third in a Chevrolet, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Busch teammate Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. |
20 | Matt Kenseth, another Gibbs driver, was seventh, followed by Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson. |
21 | Penske driver Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10. |
22 | Jeff Gordon's final Brickyard 400 was a huge bust as an early spin caused considerable damage that eventually sent him to the garage for repairs. |
23 | Gordon, who has a record five victories at Indianapolis, finished 42nd. |
24 | He's retiring at the end of the year. |
25 | Two-time Brickyard winner Tony Stewart was strong early but strategy backfired on the Indiana native and he finished 28th. |
26 | NASCAR used a track-specific rules package Sunday that was designed to improve the racing on a track that has proven to be incredibly hard to pass at since the heavy stock cars began racing on the Brickyard. |
27 | But the low-drag package didn't appear to be much of an improvement as drivers complained all weekend that the turbulence was too strong around their car when they'd close in on another. |
28 | In the end, there were 16 lead changes among six drivers and Harvick, who called Sunday's race ''a science project,'' led a race-high 75 laps. |
29 | ''I think everybody put in a lot of effort to really try to make everything a lot better, spent a lot of money, but I don't know that we accomplished everything that we were looking to accomplish,'' Harvick said. |
30 | Aside from the lack of improved competition, the cars were extremely hot inside the cockpit because the aerodynamic package was trapping air inside. |
31 | Busch was one of many drivers physically drained following Saturday's race, and Sunday's race seemed to have the same consequence. |
32 | This same rules package is scheduled to be used next month at Michigan. |
33 | ''I got a huge blister on my foot,'' Logano said. |
34 | ''I think the extended bumper cover on the back of these things doesn't let the airflow underneath the car like it used to without it, and I think it builds the inside temperature up. |
35 | I've got sweat in my eyes. |