In one of the most bizarre races in recent history, Kasey Kahne went to Victory Lane in the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ending a 102-race winless streak in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Kahne was able to hold off the field on the second overtime restart in a race that was slowed a record 14 times for cautions, including three red flags, which took over six hours to complete.
“To win at this track is unreal,” Kahne said. “We used to always be really close. We lost to Jeff (Gordon) and we lost to Tony (Stewart); just some fast cars back then.”
“I’m exhausted. But, an unbelievable win. The team just kept working. We had great pit stops.”
Brad Keselowski restarted first on the final overtime restart of the afternoon but got passed by Kahne entering Turn 1 and had to settle for second.
“Kasey he did a heck of a job today. I was happy for him but of course I wanted it for my team,” Keselowski said. “I thought we were in the right spot. He drove in there and it just stuck and probably took the wrong lane there.”
Ryan Newman, Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five finishers.
Kahne becomes the 12th different driver to lock themselves into this year’s playoffs.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday as the series makes the second stop of the season at the Pocono Raceway.
How Kahne Won: Kahne was able to use pit strategy to get himself to the front of the field after coming to pit road with 11 laps to go before a multi-car crash broke out on the front stretch. After the leaders pitted, Kahne restarted first with seven laps to go and was able to stay near the front after two additional cautions during regulation.
After Kahne stumbled on the first overtime finish that was slowed for another multi-car crash on the front stretch, Keselowski was declared the race leader. After pleading with NASCAR trying to say Keselowski jumped the restart, Kahne lined up on the outside of the front row on the ensuing restart.
Kahne got a tremendous restart on the second overtime finish of the race, clearing Keselowski getting into Turn 1 and pulling away from the field down the backstretch. Kahne was determined to have passed the overtime line prior to the caution flag being displayed, giving him the race win.
“The one before just didn’t work. Everything went wrong,” Kahne said. “On the final one, everything went right. And once I got to Turn 1, I had good power and was able to clear him off 1.”
Who Had a Good Day: Joey Logano. Needing a good finish to try and maintain a chance at making the Playoffs, Logano finished fourth on Sunday. After finishing out of the top 30 in two of the last three races, Logano entered Sunday’s race outside the top 16 in points, needing to score as many points as possible or score an un-encumbered win to lock him in the post-season.
Who Had a Bad Day: Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. After dominating the first 110 laps, both drivers crashed hard while battling for the lead on a restart. Truex got loose underneath Busch entering Turn 1 and took Busch into the outside wall with him. Truex was looking for his fourth victory of the 2017 season, but Busch is still winless.
What Else Happened: Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were both knocked out of the Brickyard 400 early, Elliott for an engine failure and Earnhardt Jr. after running into the back of Trevor Bayne and knocking the radiator out of his car on a restart. With the playoffs fast approaching, both drivers were looking for their first wins of the season to lock them into the post-season.
Quotable: “Hindsight’s 20-20. Do I regret it? No. You race for the win. You race hard. You’re supposed to race hard. If I would have done the same thing as we did on the on the previous restart and he gets a three-second gap on me, we come to pit road under green, he keeps the three second gap on me, he wins the race, I’m gonna be thinking about it then.” – Kyle Busch on the restart crash with Truex Jr.
Notable: Daniel Suarez was the highest finishing rookie, coming home seventh… Matt DiBenedetto finished eighth – the third top-10 finish of his 88-race Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career… After starting 39th, AJ Allmendinger charged to finish 10th… Timmy Hill scored the best finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career with a 14th-place effort.