Hoosier Ryan Newman won the Brickyard 400 from pole position, his first win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Newman led forty-five laps and a decision to take two tires on his final pit stop assured Newman getting out ahead of Jimmie Johnson for the lead. Johnson finished second after leading a race high seventy-three laps. The Chevrolets of Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart took the next two positions with Matt Kenseth rounding out the top five. This was Chevrolet's eleventh consecutive Brickyard 400 win.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished sixth after having to pit on lap twelve for a loose lug nut, dropping him one lap down. Jeff Gordon finished seventh with Joey Logano finishing eighth, the highest Ford. Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten. Martin Truex, Jr. finished eleventh after starting thirty-eighth. 2011 Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard finished twelfth ahead of Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and 2010 Brickyard 400 winner Jamie McMurray. The Richard Petty Motorsports' Fords of Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola finished sixteenth and seventeenth with Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top twenty. Brad Keselowski finished twenty-first after leading five laps. AJ Allmendinger finished twenty-second with Mark Martin finishing twenty-third, the final car on the lead lap.
Jimmie Johnson remains the points leader, seventy-five markers ahead of Clint Bowyer. Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. round out the top five with the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch in tow. Greg Biffle is eighth ahead of the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon. Tony Stewart is eleventh, one point behind Gordon for the final guaranteed spot in the Chase. Martin Truex, Jr. is twelfth, five points behind Gordon. Stewart and Truex currently hold the wild card positions, each with one win to their names. The only other driver with a win from eleventh to twentieth is Ryan Newman, who is sixteenth in points after his win today. Newman is twenty-five points behind Gordon for tenth.
Of the drivers outside the top ten needing to win a race to have any shot at a wild card, Brad Keselowski is thirteenth, six points behind Gordon for tenth, Kurt Busch is thirteen behind Gordon, Jamie McMurray is twenty-two back of Gordon. Aric Almirola is seventeenth in points, thirty back of tenth with the only other wild card eligible drivers of Joey Logano, Paul Menard and Jeff Burton being thirty-five, thirty-nine and sixty points back of tenth respectively. The only other championship eligible driver with a win is David Ragan. He is twenty-eighth in points, one-hundred and forty-seven back of Burton.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Pocono Raceway next weekend.
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