Kahne Survives, Conquers Chaotic Brickyard 400
INDIANAPOLIS – Former USAC star Kasey Kahne finally won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday in a whacky and weird 24th running of the Brickyard 400.
Kahne won a race that featured a race record 14 caution flags and ended in the darkness of night as the checkered flag waved at 8:57 p.m. Eastern Time – nearly six hours after the race had begun.
Kahne won the race despite a late race crash behind him on the backstretch involving Denny Hamlin, which happened before Kahne had gotten to the overtime line. NASCAR did not issue the caution until after Kahne’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet had crossed the overtime line, officially ending the marathon race.
Kahne won the race when he outdueled Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski on the final restart of overtime after numerous crashes marred the event, which was being run for the final time in July as it moves to early September beginning in 2018. It will become the final race of the NASCAR’s regular season.
“The history here at this track is tremendous,” Kahne said. “We’ve come really close before. Unbelievable win for Hendrick Motorsports. To win at Indy is unbelievable.
“I tried to pass Brad before and it didn’t work. Everything went wrong. Then I tried it again and everything went right. It feels good to win. It feels good to get them to victory lane and show them what we can do if everything goes our way.”
It was team owner Rick Hendrick’s 10th Brickyard 400 victory.
Kahne’s plans for 2018 has not been announced by Hendrick Motorsports and speculation has been rampant regarding his future with the team.
Keselowski finished second after leading the field back to the green flag for the final overtime restart.
“Kasey did a heck of a job today and drove a hell of a race,” Keselowski said. “I’m happy for him but disappointed for myself. The double-file restarts the way we have the cars today everybody was on edge there.”
Ryan Newman was third, followed by Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth.
Kahne won at an average speed of just 114.838 mph.
Kasey Kahne celebrates after winning the Brickyard 400. (HHP/Gregg Ellman Photo)
Kahne pitted just before a crash involving Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones and Kurt Busch on the frontstretch brought out the second red flag of the race. He was in front for a seven-lap shootout ahead of Keselowski, but with five laps to go Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet slammed into the frontstretch wall, skidding all the way down the track before coming to a stop in turn one for another caution as darkness began to become a problem.
Larson’s crash began when he tried to pass Ty Dillon and Dillon blocked his advance.
“He ran me down far enough to where I had nowhere else to go,” Larson said. “There was a ton of blocking – dirty blocking. That one was pretty bad.”
A quick three-lap caution set up another fight to the finish with two laps to go.
Kahne was side-by-side with Keselowski, who pulled ahead of Kahne in turn two but couldn’t clear him. Jimmie Johnson was running third when his car began smoking just after the restart. He managed to get to the inside of both Kahne and Keselowski entering turn three, with the trio attempting to make the turn three-wide.
Johnson was the driver who failed to make it out of the turn, with his Chevrolet spinning into the outside wall as Kahne and Keselowski continued on as the 12th caution flag of the contest waved.
“I didn’t think I was blowing up because I still had grip,” said Johnson, a four-time Brickyard 400 winner. “I was trying to win the Brickyard 400 for the fifth time so I wasn’t going to give up. The blocking today was really bad.
“Mark Martin would have a heart attack if he were still racing today.”
That sent the race into overtime.
As the field was coming to the flagstand to restart the race third-place Trevor Bayne and fourth-place Denny Hamlin began to try and push race leaders Kahne and Keselowski.
Bayne’s Ford broke loose after a push from the fifth-place car of Michael McDowell, sending him into the wall and triggering a multi-car crash. Once Bayne’s car got pushed out of line, chaos ensued with several other cars swallowed up in the incident.
“I’ve never been more disappointed in my whole career,” Bayne said. “Man, I’m disappointed. I don’t understand and it hurts.
“I was kissing the bricks in my head.”
NASCAR determined that Keselowski was the race leader at the time of the crash, with the Team Penske driver shown ahead of Kahne at the time of the caution flag. That led to the third red flag of the day and setup the final restart, which saw Kahne get back out front to win his first Brickyard 400.
Earlier in day the race was halted after just nine laps of racing when NASCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials saw a severe storm closing in on the speedway. The cars were brought onto pit road and covered up and the grandstands were evacuated while the sun was still shining because of the impending storm.
When it did hit, the speedway was drenched but quickly dried and the cars were sent back onto the track at 4:47 p.m. Eastern Time.
Kyle Busch had the dominant car throughout Sunday’s Brickyard 400 as he looked for his third-straight victory in the event. His dreams of winning the race again were dashed when Busch crashed with Martin Truex Jr. while battling for the race lead during a restart on lap 111.
For complete results, advance to the next page.
Source :speedsport.com
Comments
