Kyle Busch wins Brickyard, third straight Cup race

Four the fourth time in the past five races, Kyle Busch cruised to victory in Sunday's Brickyard 400 in the Sprint Cup Series, keeping the #18 Skittles Toyota ahead of the #22 Ford of Joey Logano (this year's Daytona 500 winner, another major race) through several late cautions and a green-white-checkered finish. The race came down to fuel strategy almost from the beginning, as there were at least two separate pit cycles each consisting of roughly half the field. Busch and Logano were mostly on separate cycles throughout the day. Tony Stewart (#14) got caught off sequence multiple times. Many of the leaders were short on fuel until about lap 141.

Timmy Hill suffered an early engine at the drop of the green flag in his #98 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. The first caution was for two yellow balloons on the track. A few laps later, Clint Bowyer spun his #15 Toyota and collected the #24 Chevrolet of Jeff Gordon, appearing in his 22nd and final Brickyard 400; he won the inaugural running in 1994 and also came into Sunday as the defending champion. The Fords of Aric Almirola (#43) and Trevor Bayne (#6) also had a couple of run-ins, and both drivers were angry following the race. Bayne caused the final caution which set up a green-white-checkered finish, during which Kevin Harvick (#4), the leader of 75 of 164 laps, got shuffled back several positions. A few laps before that, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had a couple of pit problems during the race, spun his #88 Chevrolet in turn 1.

The race, of course, ended with Kyle Busch in victory lane, followed by the ceremonial kissing of the bricks at the track's start/finish line complete with sponsor Skittles. Next week, the series heads to Pennsylvania's Pocono Raceway for its second race of the season along with the Truck series.

Race Results:

1. (9) 18-Kyle Busch - Toyota - 164 laps, led 19 laps
2. (2) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 164 laps, led 28 laps
3. (6) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 164 laps, led 75 laps
4. (13) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 164 laps
5. (17) 11-Denny Hamlin - Toyota - 164 laps
6. (7) 15-Clint Bowyer - Toyota - 164 laps
7. (23) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 164 laps
8. (14) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 164 laps
9. (5) 42-Kyle Larson - Chevrolet - 164 laps
10. (31) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 164 laps, led 17 laps