Kyle Busch never gave the field a chance in the 23rd running of the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The dominating performance saw Busch lead 149 of the race’s 170 laps after starting on the pole. He also added a new page in the history books by becoming the first driver to sweep a NASCAR weekend by winning both pole positions and the race in the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series.
The victory was Busch’s second at Indianapolis in 12 starts and his fourth of the 2016 season.
MORE: results and statistics from the Combat Wounded Coalition 400
MORE: Kevin Harvick remains the point leader after Indy
Four restarts inside seven laps to go put the pressure on the defending Sprint Cup Series champion, but as he had been all day, Busch remained untouchable. The final restart was the second attempt at overtime and saw Busch quickly drive away from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, and Jimmie Johnson.
Denny Hamlin finished fourth, Kyle Larson finished fifth with Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Dillon, and Paul Menard rounding out the top 10.
“This Toyota was awesome today,” Busch told NBCSN in victory lane. “Man, it was just so fast and being able to get out front and stay out front, and not even some of my teammates could challenge us. We just had it hooked up, man. This thing was on rails.”
The victory also marked the second consecutive for Toyota at Indianapolis after Chevrolet went to victory lane 12 years in a row.
HOW BUSCH WON: Busch survived two overtime attempts and drove away from Matt Kenseth.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Kyle Larson had a quiet day and finished fifth … Richard Childress Racing placed two cars in the top 10 with Austin Dillon finishing ninth and Paul Menard finishing 10th … Rookie Chris Buescher scored a career-best finish of 14th
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Brad Keselowski led 15 laps early but was collected in a late wreck and finished 17th … Kasey Kahne struggled all day and finished 18th … Carl Edwards crashed while running inside the top 10 and finished 35th
NOTABLE: Kyle Busch led 149 laps, which is an Indianapolis Motor Speedway record.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “That was cool. I knew when we got the checkered you just didn’t want to come in quite yet, I wanted to run one more lap. Jeff (Gordon) was around us and before that last green run and I told my spotter to go get his spotter and after this thing’s over we need to go a lap around here together because it most likely is the last time we’ll both get a chance to do that.” --- Tony Stewart
WHAT’S NEXT: The Sprint Cup Series returns to Pocono Raceway for the Pennsylvania 400 on July 31 at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN.