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Driver of No. 24 was trying to avoid spinning Clint Bowyer

RELATED: Gordon says goodbye to the Brickyard

Jeff Gordon ran into trouble on Lap 50 in his final appearance as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gordon damaged the left-front side of his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet when he hit the wall at the 2.5-mile superspeedway while trying to avoid a spinning Clint Bowyer.

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Gordon made light contact with teammate Kasey Kahne‘s No. 5 Chevrolet as he veered right to avoid Bowyer.

The driver of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 Toyota was racing alongside Kevin Harvick when his car appeared to get loose and went into a spin.

"I was underneath Kasey Kahne and we were just racing for position," Gordon said. "I saw (Clint) Bowyer get sideways. I don’t know what caused it. Me and Kasey were trying to check up to avoid it. I don’t know if he got loose or we just both got loose together. Then I just lost control and got in the wall."

Gordon, a five-time winner at Indianapolis who spent time racing as a teenager while living in Pittsboro, Indiana, went to pit road twice to get significant repairs. The second time, NBCSN reported that the crew had to cut away part of the left-front fender to prevent it from rubbing the tire, and he was penalized for speeding on pit road.

RELATED: Gordon goes home to Pittsboro

Gordon returned to the track but, by Lap 66, was scored five laps down. The NASCAR tower asked Gordon to pick up his speed as he was having trouble meeting the minimum 58.11-second lap required of cars in the race. When Gordon couldn’t meet the speed, he brought the No. 24 to the garage.

"Yeah, we’re never going to give up," Gordon said. "We got back out there as fast as we could. The splitter was too torn up on the front and creating lift. The car didn’t have any front downforce and was pushing bad. We’re probably going to cut the nose off, put a new nose on and get back out there."

Gordon got back out on the track eventually and was scored 42nd in his final run at the Brickyard.

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Logano has finished second to Kyle Busch twice this season

MORE: Full race results | Updated series standings

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — There’s no satisfaction to finishing second for Joey Logano.

The disappointment weighs a little heavier for the Team Penske driver this time around.

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Logano, attempting to become only the second driver to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, came up short. 

"You come to Indy, it’s all about the win, either win or finish last," Logano said Sunday evening after finishing second to Kyle Busch in the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard. 

"At least that’s the way I race when I come to a racetrack like this."

The 25-year-old had his chances as cautions regrouped the field three times within the final 10 laps. Logano was third, trailing eventual race winner Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) on a Lap-153 restart. He was still third when the field was reset after a caution for debris set up the first of two attempts at a green, white, checkered finish. 

And he was second, with a final opportunity, after a third yellow on Lap 159.

Although Logano was officially scored out front when the final restart got underway, Busch managed to pull ahead shortly after crossing the line. Logano briefly closed the gap, but Busch held the position. 

"The worst part," Logano said, "is the same guy beat me the last two times I finished second. I’m glad he’s back and all but geez … you don’t have to come back like that.

"We’ve been working our guts out all year and he comes right back and (is) doing it. … It’s impressive what those guys have been doing, too. That’s amazing, the run they’re on." 

Busch, who missed the first 11 Sprint Cup races of the season after breaking his right leg and suffering multiple fractures to his left foot in an XFINITY Series crash at Daytona International Speedway, has won four of the last five Sprint Cup races, including the last three. 

Crew chief Todd Gordon said there was no gameplan for the final restarts, but he felt comfortable with where his driver was positioned.

"We don’t get to dictate the plan," Gordon said. "I thought the 4 (of Harvick) was a good car to have behind us (on the restart); we worked with him earlier in the day. Just need to find a little more speed. Our restarts were pretty good. We’re getting closer, we can definitely see it, but we need to find a little more speed."

Team owner Roger Penske has won a NASCAR championship, and his record in the Indianapolis 500 is sterling. But just like Logano, the wait for a Brickyard win resumes. 

"Obviously with the guy I drive for, he really wants to win these races and you don’t want to let him down," Logano said. "I’m sure it stings for him just as much as it stings for me.

"He’s been coming here a long time and deserves to get a win here, and I wanted to be the guy and be the team to give it to him."

Posted on by Nascar

Read the notes NASCAR provides during the drivers’ meeting

Play: NASCAR Fantasy Live

NASCAR SPECIAL AWARDS

Award Driver
Coors Light Pole Award Carl Edwards
3M Lap Leader Award Kyle Busch
American Ethanol "Green Flag Restart" Award Kyle Busch
Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" Award Kyle Busch
Freescale "Wide Open" Award Kevin Harvick
Ingersoll Rand Power Mover Award David Gilliland
Mahle Engine Builder of the Race Award Brad Keselowski
Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race Award Kyle Busch
Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race Award Austin Dillon
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap Award Kyle Busch
Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award Brett Moffitt

RACE TIME

Event Time (ET)
Driver Introductions 2:50 p.m.
Pre-race prep: Tires, interior & remove generators 3 p.m.
Line up crews — facing the flag 3:16 p.m.
America the Beautiful 3:17 p.m.
Invocation 3:20 p.m.
National Anthem 3:21 p.m.
Command to start engines 3:27 p.m.

SPECIAL INFORMATION

Number of Laps 160 laps
Pit Road Speed 55 mph
Caution Car Speed 70 mph
Pit Road Speed Begins 180 feet before the first pit box
Pit Road Speed Ends 150 feet past the last pit box
Minimum Speed 58.11 seconds
Exiting the Pits (Blend Line) Use the warm-up lane until the exit of Turn 2
Fuel Pit Stalls 1-43 Sunoco pumps in the NSCS garage
Post-Race 2-6 stop in pit stalls 10-12A
All Others/Two crew members per car Double file, across from pit stall 12A

NEXT RACE

Event Track/Day/Time (ET)
Next week Pocono Raceway
Hauler parking 6 p.m. ET, Thursday, July 30
Garage opens 6 a.m. ET, Friday, July 31
First practice 11 a.m. ET, Friday, July 31
Posted on by Holly Cain

Catch up quickly before the Brickyard 400, 3:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN/Live Extra)

RELATED: See the paint schemes for all 43 cars

What: Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard
Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2.5-mile oval in Speedway, Ind.
When: Sunday, July 26; 3:30 pm ET.
TV/Radio: NBCSN, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Distance: 400 miles, 160 laps.
Pit road speed: 55 mph
Caution car speed: 70 mph
Fuel window: 33 laps

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On the front row | See full starting lineup
The Indianapolis front row should look very familiar to NASCAR fans as pole-winner Carl Edwards and outside polesitter Joey Logano started in the same positions last week at New Hampshire. Edwards’ pole-winning speed of 183.464 mph in the No. 19 Toyota earned the Joe Gibbs Racing driver his first front row start at the iconic Indy track and it is the first NASCAR pole position for Toyota at Indy. Logano’s second place qualifying effort will mean his eighth front row start in 19 races. He has four poles.

Fastest in practice
First practice: Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota (182.208 mph) | Full practice results
Second practice: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet (181.466 mph) | Full practice results
Final practice: Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (181.987 mph) | Full practice results

Last year’s winner: The event’s inaugural winner Jeff Gordon won his record fifth Brickyard 400 last July, tying him with Formula One’s Michael Schumacher for the most victories at the famous speedway. After passing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne on a late restart Gordon pulled away to a hefty 2.3-second win over JGR teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. It marked Gordon’s 90th career Cup win.

On the line: Seven races remain to set the 16-car Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field, and you have to go back six races to Truex’s June 7 win at Pocono to find the last driver to automatically punch his winning ticket into the Chase. Kyle Busch has won three of the last four races, but still sits 58 points out of 30th place — the cutoff points position to qualify for the Chase. The recent schedule has been dominated by repeat winners while preseason favorites such as Clint Bowyer, three-time Cup champ Tony Stewart, Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMuray and Kyle Larson and Hendrick drivers Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne are among the A-list names still looking for a victory.

Home cooking: Just listening to the cheers from the crowd, there’s no doubt that Indianapolis loves its homegrown drivers. That was apparent with every qualifying attempt on Saturday and will be evident in Sunday’s race. Of course it’s easy to cheer for your own when that includes four-time Cup champion Gordon, of Pittsboro, Indiana, three-time champion Tony Stewart from nearby, Columbus, Indiana, and former Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner Ryan Newman, of South Bend, Indiana.

And the three account for eight Brickyard 400 wins (Gordon, 5; Stewart 2, Newman 1).

"That’s huge, when you come home, that’s what you want,” Stewart said of the reception he received after posting the fastest lap in the first round of Saturday’s qualifying.

Gordon was equally appreciative.

"It’s amazing and I love that,” said the retiring Gordon, whose hometown Pittsboro honored him with a parade Thursday afternoon on a day the governor declared "Jeff Gordon Day."

"When I’m in the car I’m focused on doing my job, but when I’m out of it, I feel the support here and not just this weekend, it’s over the years."

New package: The loudest buzz in the garage centered on NASCAR’s new aerodynamic package being used Sunday at Indianapolis (and again at Michigan next month). Cars have been outfitted with a 9-inch spoiler that sits three inches higher than used at the 1.5-mile tracks and 6-inches taller than used at the 1-mile New Hampshire oval last week.

The hope is the higher drag created by the spoiler will increase passing on the 2.5-mile speedway. A different variation to the cars — a lower downforce package — used at Kentucky two weeks ago produced a track record 22 green-flag passes for the lead. After three practice sessions Friday, the verdict was still unclear on what to expect Sunday.

"I’m extremely happy with NASCAR’s ability to make some changes and really experiment and try new things,” said Gordon, who qualified 19th for his final Brickyard start. "But, it’s going to be really crazy out there. So, I don’t know for sure. For the little bit of time I spent behind other cars, it was a handful through the corners. So, restarts are going to be wild and crazy; so everybody needs to stay tuned-in."

RELATED: See what the new spoiler looks like

Nuts and Bolts
Kyle Busch has eight top-10 finishes at Indianapolis — including runner-up finishes two of the last three years — despite having only one top-10 start at the track. … Toyota has won its first pole for the Brickyard 400 but Chevrolet holds a 12-year winning streak in the race — the longest current streak for a manufacturer. … Amazingly 17 of 21 Brickyard 400 races have been won by Sprint Cup Series champions including, Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Bobby Labonte and Stewart.

They said it
"Well, I mean it could go and be a natural disaster tomorrow. It could all be for nothing. It’s the way you want to start the weekend for sure is to have two good runs in qualifying and have a decent starting spot. That is definitely what we were looking for today." — Tony Stewart, driver of No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevy after his fourth-place qualifying effort.

"Regardless of how this race turns out, as a group we’ve been working really good together and I’m hoping it continues to build. Kyle Busch coming back, although it is making us look a little bad the last few weeks, I think it’s been really good. He’s hauling the mail, going really fast and doing a good job. We’re going to keep building on that. It’s neat to be competitive within your own group in a productive way." —Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Stanley Tools Toyota, after earning himself and the car manufacturer its first NASCAR pole position at Indianapolis.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Smith, Sadler, Blaney and Suarez advance to Dash 4 Cash at Bristol

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Regan Smith‘s eighth place finish in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 XFINITY Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn’t the victory he’d hoped for, but Smith and his JR Motorsports team was still able to celebrate having gotten one step closer to winning a million dollars in the series’ Dash 4 Cash incentive program.

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While race winner Kyle Busch was hoisting trophies nearby in victory lane, Smith accepted a check for $100,000 as the second round winner of the Dash4Cash program. He also collected $100,000 on May 30, after winning the first round at Dover, Delaware.

Any driver who wins the first three Dash 4 Cash awards then wins the final round race outright — Sept. 5 at Darlington — would total $1 million for the effort.

Smith bettered championship leader Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Brendan Gaughan to claim Saturday’s portion of the winnings.

Smith, along with Indianapolis’ runner-up Ryan Blaney, third place finisher Daniel Suarez and fifth place finisher Elliott Sadler now advance and are eligible for the third round of competition Aug. 21 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"We had three battles we were fighting today,” Smith said standing alongside his No. 7 AmericasPower.org Chevy covered in pretend dollar bills.

"First and foremost we wanted to win the race and we weren’t capable of doing that today. We knew that so then we wanted to win the money and gain points on the 60-car and we did both of those things today and that’s what we’ve got to keep doing every week.

"I know as a company we’re working hard to get going further forward.

"I thought we could have been anywhere from 6th to 10th . We’ll take that and we’re going to bust our ass the rest of the year."

Smith, last year’s championship runner-up sits fourth in the rankings entering next week’s XFINITY Series race at Iowa Speedway. He trails Buescher by 51 points.

In the meantime, Smith joked that he already had an idea how to spend at least a portion of his now $200,000 Dash 4 Cash effort.

"I’d like to buy a cool box, I’m really hot right now," he joked with a big smile.

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Busch leads the most laps, wins from pole at Indianapolis

RELATED: Complete race results

INDIANAPOLIS — With a relentless charge that forced Ryan Blaney into a mistake on the final lap, Kyle Busch grabbed the lead with a half-lap left at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and took the checkered flag in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

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Blaney missed his mark in Turn 2 as Busch closed in, and with his momentum broken, the driver of the No. 22 Ford couldn’t stave off Busch’s winning pass on the backstretch. The No. 54 pulled away to win by .421 seconds, as Busch continued his white-hot run with his second XFINITY victory of the season, his second at The Brickyard and the record 72nd of his career.

Since returning to competition in May after an injury absence, Busch has won three times in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and twice on the XFINITY circuit.

Blaney led by more than .6 seconds when he crossed the stripe to complete Lap 97 of 100. But the lapped car of Derrike Cope slowed his progress on the following circuit, and Busch cut the advantage in half.

Busch had closed the gap to .279 seconds when he took the white flag, and constant pressure from the No. 54 Toyota finally forced Blaney into a mistake.

"I just got close enough to make him mess up and made him get tight off (Turn) 2, and then I was able to capitalize underneath him with him losing his momentum off of 2 and being able to get under him," Busch said. "It was the class of the field. We should have won this thing going away, but I guess we had to make it exciting."

With the XFINITY Series running a higher-drag package this weekend, Busch tried in vain — until the final circuit-to get around Blaney in the closing laps.

"I was trying to back up so I could get some clean air and keep my tires as fresh as possible, but I got too far back and got out of the draft and then I couldn’t make up any ground anymore, so I was kind of stuck back there about eight or 10 car lengths and not really going anywhere," he explained.

"Fortunately, a couple of lapped cars messed up his momentum and didn’t mess up mine as much, and I was able to get through there. Once I got back close enough to him, I pushed him into a mistake and that was all that it took."

A despondent Blaney took the blame for the loss.

"It’s my fault, obviously," Blaney said. "You saw it. I screwed up. This team doesn’t deserve that. I dropped the ball for them today, and I take full responsibility. It’s all my fault…I got tight and I got too deep and didn’t get off the long corner.

"It’s a pretty bad feeling to throw one away here at the Brickyard. There was no pressure for 24 laps, and the last one I just made a mistake."

Blaney had taken the lead from Busch on a restart on Lap 76, after Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Erik Jones, hit the wall on lap 70, and NASCAR called a caution because of fluid on the track.

Rookie Daniel Suarez ran third in his first visit to The Brickyard, collecting his third straight top-five of the season. Paul Menard finished fourth, followed by Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson.

Regan Smith came home eighth and claimed his second straight $100,000 bonus in the XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash program, keeping his hopes alive for a $1-million payday. If Smith is the highest-finishing eligible driver at Bristol (Aug. 21) and Darlington (Sept. 5), he’ll earn a total of $1 million.

Blaney, Suarez, Sadler and Smith are the eligible Dash 4 Cash drivers at Bristol, having secured their spots as the top four finishing series regulars at Indianapolis.

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After Daytona accident, ‘Smoke’ first on scene to check on ‘Rowdy’

INDIANAPOLIS — A day after suffering a broken right leg and left foot in a Feb. 21 crash at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch had his first hospital visitor.
 
It was Tony Stewart, who had been sidelined in August 2013 by a sprint car accident that had caused a compound fracture of his right leg.

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As Busch’s mind raced through possible dire consequences of his injuries, Stewart was there to offer support and counsel.
 
"Tony was actually the first one to the hospital," Busch said on Saturday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN). "As soon as the Daytona 500 was over, he was there. He actually told everybody that was on his plane that they were going to wait. He was there for about four hours. We had a good talk.
 
"We had a good discussion about just what it was like and the process that he had to go through and how long it was probably going to be or what it was going to be. In all reality, our injuries were the same but entirely different. His was much more severe than mine. Just being able to talk with him, my mind-set was OK."
 
Stewart helped allay Busch’s fears that his injury might be career-ending.
 
"At first I was like, ‘I’m never going to race again, and I don’t know what I’m going to do’ — all those things go through your mind," Busch said. "You just continue to power through and listen to your doctors and those that are around you and, of course, my wife and the support system that I had.
 
"I wouldn’t call it painless. There was certainly a lot of pain, but it went really, really well as far as you could say any injury healing goes. I was pretty pleased with everything."
 
If recent results are any indication, Busch has returned stronger than ever. He has won three of the last four Sprint Cup events, at Sonoma, Kentucky and New Hampshire.

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JGR driver claims back-to-back poles at Loudon, Indy

RELATED: Full Indy lineup

INDIANAPOLIS — If Toyota and Ford are to break the Chevrolet stranglehold on Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the two manufacturers took a positive step in that direction during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series time trials on Saturday.

Underscoring the recent resurgence of Joe Gibbs Racing, Carl Edwards toured the 2.5-mile track in 49.056 seconds (183.464 mph) to put his No. 19 Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, IMS, SiriusXM), edging Joey Logano‘s Team Penske Ford (183.139 mph) by .087 seconds.
 
David Ragan (182.886 mph) qualified third in the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. Fourth-place qualifier Tony Stewart (182.823 mph) had the fastest Chevrolet in the final round. Chevrolets have won the last 12 Sprint Cup races at Indianapolis.
 
Stewart, though, had the fastest lap of the afternoon (185.547 mph) in the first round of time trials, which trimmed the number of drivers eligible for the pole from 46 to 12.
 
The Coors Light Pole Award was Edwards’ first at the Brickyard, his second of the season, his second in a row and the 15th of his career.
 
"After yesterday, this is amazing," Edwards said. "We started so slow yesterday and we struggled. I think at one point (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) and I were looking at each other going, ‘What are we going to do here?’
 
"It was a struggle, and everybody buckled down, worked hard — I’m so proud of my guys. TRD and Toyota have been putting so much effort into this whole program. Stanley has been behind us 100 percent — not just me, but Matt Kenseth and our whole team. This is big. It will be neat to start up front."
 
Kyle Busch, Edwards’ JGR teammate, will start ninth on Sunday in search of his third consecutive victory in the Sprint Cup Series. Sidelined for the first 11 events of the season by injuries sustained in an accident at Daytona in February, Busch has won three of the last four races and has seven races left in which to regain eligibility for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by finishing the regular season in the top 30 in the series standings.
 
Entering Sunday’s race, Busch is 33rd in points, 58 behind David Gilliland in 30th place.
 
Behind Stewart, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will line up fifth through eighth on the grid.
 
After qualifying, Logano and Ragan were quick to point out an unusual coincidence. Edwards, Logano and Ragan started 1-2-3, in that order, a week before at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a one-mile flat track.
 
The Sprint Cup cars are running a completely different high-drag aerodynamic package this week, with a nine-inch-tall rear spoiler and a one-inch wicker. Last week at Loudon, the cars featured the regular 2015 rules package with a six-inch spoiler.
 
"David and I were just laughing up here that these are the same three race cars that started up front at Loudon," Logano said. "A completely different race track, different package and the same cars are fast. It’s good for us. We’re close. Second always hurts, but it’s nice to be up toward the front, especially here."
 
Jeff Gordon‘s final run at Indianapolis as a full-time driver didn’t start the way the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet would have hoped.
 
"I really think our 3M Chevrolet is really good," said Gordon, who qualified 19th. "It’s been good all weekend. I feel like I underestimated the grip. I had a little wiggle out of three coming to the green and that concerned me slightly. The grip was there in Turn 4, and I was aggressive into Turn 1, but not aggressive enough.
 
"That’s what’s disappointing; it wasn’t a balance issue or a speed issue. I didn’t get enough speed through (Turn) 1. It adds up with this new package. Yeah, I’m pretty disappointed to start back there."
 
Notes: Josh Wise, Jeb Burton and Reed Sorenson failed to make the 43-car field. … Ryan Newman’s time was disallowed because he ran his lap without the mandatory right-side window in his car. Newman will start 43rd on Sunday on a provisional.

Posted on by Staff Report

High temperatures lead to driver dehydration in XFINITY Series race

Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway saw high speeds and even higher temperatures. 

Race winner Kyle Busch along with Ty Dillon and Elliott Sadler were taken to the infield care center post-race, where the drivers were all treated and released.

"It’s a hot day," Sadler said, noting his air conditioning wasn’t working for 80 percent of the race. "I got hot. With like 30 (laps) to go I was like, ‘Man, this is a lot hotter than I’ve been in a race car in a long time.’ I had to stick it out."

A few drivers even took to Twitter to comment on the heat. 

Posted on by Staff Report

Carl Edwards gets first pick after winning pole in Saturday’s qualifying

The pit stall assignments are out for Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) with pole sitter Carl Edwards getting his pick of the spots on pit road for the second week in a row.

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The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will be serviced in the first pit stall leading into Turn 1. Second-place qualifier Joey Logano chose the second pit stall on the side closest to the exit of pit road heading into Turn 1.

David Ragan (starting third), Tony Stewart (starting fourth) and Paul Menard‘s (starting 11th) pit stalls all have openings in front of them.

Ragan, in the No. 55 Toyota, has the pit stall even with the start-finish line at the Brickyard.