INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Busch’s incredible comeback rolled through Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he won the Brickyard 400 on Sunday for a weekend sweep at the historic track.
Busch missed the first 11 races of the season with a broken right leg and broken left foot. He returned in late May and has won three consecutive Sprint Cup Series races and four of the last five.
“This has been a phenomenal return,” Busch said. “I won’t say phenomenal year because it was a dismal year to start, but I guess I’ll take that 11-week vacation any year if it’s going to look like this.”
Now he has a prestigious Brickyard victory to give him one of NASCAR’s elusive crown jewels. His Indianapolis victory ranks alongside his Southern 500 win at Darlington Raceway as the biggest of his career.
“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 500.
Busch, who also won the second-tier Xfinity Series race Saturday at Indy, moved 23 points away from cracking the top 30 in the standings. 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.
“We’re a championship-contending team, we just need to be championship eligible,” Busch said.
The win for Joe Gibbs Racing was the first Sprint Cup Series victory at Indy for Toyota, which now has won at all 23 active tracks.
Chevrolet had entered the race on a 12-year winning streak and won 16 of the 21 Brickyards. The manufacturer also won the Indy 500 in May with Roger Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
But Penske was denied its first Brickyard 400 win when Joey Logano finished second to Busch on Sunday in a Ford.
“Geez, I guess Kyle’s back,” Daytona 500 winner Logano said. “It’s just so frustrating running second at the Brickyard. Second hurts.”
Busch knows that all too well. He finished second in two of the previous three Brickyards.
Kevin Harvick was third in a Chevrolet, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Busch teammate Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. Matt Kenseth, another Gibbs driver, was seventh, followed by Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson.
Penske driver Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.
Thumbnail photo via Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports Images
