Out of last pit first, Johnson wins Brickyard debacle (cont'd)

The longest green-flag run Sunday was 13 laps.

"I've never seen anything like this," said fifth-place finisher Jeff Gordon. "I really hate that it happened here at the Brickyard -- it's such a big race. I think all of us are disappointed in what went on here [Sunday, but] it was a great shootout there at the end."

Brickyard to dust

A debacle like the one that happened Sunday shouldn't happen anywhere. But it absolutely cannot happen at Indy, writes David Caraviello.

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The start-and-stop nature of the event prevented drivers from establishing a rhythm.

"That was a long day," Edwards said. "Yeah, that was hard work. It was just really hard to get in a rhythm and race. No one ran 100 percent until the last run. ..."

Matt Kenseth perhaps was the most notable victim of tire trouble, blowing his right-rear tire on Lap 47 and destroying the right rear of his car in the process (watch video). After repairs, Kenseth returned to the race with his car heavily taped and finished 16 laps down in 38th position.

Kenseth faulted NASCAR for not holding an open test at the Brickyard. Goodyear conducted a tire test at Indy in April that featured three drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brian Vickers and Kurt Busch.

"It's a really, really, really disappointing situation," Kenseth said. "This is one of the two biggest races of the year, and to never have this tire here before and not come and do an open test and work on these things and work on the tires -- it's pretty darn disappointing.

"We had a great car [Sunday]. I feel bad for the fans. We're running three-quarters speed, because we're worried of the tires blowing out, and they get blown out every eight laps."

"We appreciate NASCAR and Goodyear working closely to manage the tire situation and to get the cars to the checkered flag," IMS president Joie Chitwood said. "Obviously, it's not the race you want to present to the largest crowd to watch a stock-car race this year, but we do appreciate the hard work of the drivers and the teams."

All that's left for Goodyear is to re-evaluate.

"Obviously, the tread wear didn't improve as we thought it would over the course of the afternoon," said Greg Stucker, director of race-tire sales for Goodyear. "We don't have the answer as to why that didn't happen, so we've got to go back and look at that and try to figure out how to make it better."

With tires wearing to the cords within five to 10 laps during Saturday's two practice sessions, Goodyear began rationing tires. The manufacturer was wary enough of the situation that tires intended for use next week at Pocono were trucked in as a contingency plan. That they didn't have to be used Sunday was about the only good news on the tire front.

"I really don't give a damn if they race 10 laps at a time. It's frustrating, but it's the same for everyone," Edwards said. "I'm sure we won't have that race again. I'm sure that will not happen again. That's the only thing I can say. I guarantee there will be some sort of better testing that comes from this."

Notes: Points leader Kyle Busch finished 15th but lost little ground to second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., who lost a lap early in the race but recovered to finish 12th. Busch leads Earnhardt by 253 points. ... Mark Martin fell short of his prediction in early June at Pocono that he would win at the Brickyard. Early tire problems and misjudging the timing of the competition cautions cost Martin track position, and after that, he was never in the mix for the victory. He finished 11th. ... One driver who took advantage of the frequent cautions was A.J. Allmendinger, who managed to stay near the front of the field with a succession of two-tire pit stops. Allmendinger finished a career-best 10th and improved the position of his No. 83 Red Bull Toyota to 37th in the owner standings, 63 points behind the 35th-place No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet.