Brickyard 400 - Race Recaps

Race Recaps

1994: The first running of the Brickyard 400 in 1994 saw the largest crowd to date to witness a NASCAR event, and the single largest race purse to date. Rick Mast won the pole position, and became the first stock car driver to lead a lap at Indy. Young second-year driver Jeff Gordon took the lead late in the race after Ernie Irvan suffered a flat tire. Gordon drove on to a historic win in NASCAR's debut at the Brickyard. In an effort to attract more entries, the event was concurrently included on the NASCAR Winston West schedule. No Winston West competitors qualified on speed, but point leader Mike Chase made the field via a Winston West provisional. Gordon's inaugural Brickyard 400 winning car (nicknamed "Booger") is on display at the Hendrick Motorsports museum.

1995: Second-round qualification was rained out on Friday, and only a short "happy hour" practice followed. On Saturday, rain delayed the start of the race until late in the afternoon. Dale Earnhardt cruised to victory, in a race that was slowed only once for four laps under yellow. Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett battled close over the final 20 laps for second, with Wallace holding off the challenge.

1996: Dale Jarrett and his Robert Yates Racing crew began the tradition of the winning driver and crew kissing the row of bricks at the start-finish line., which has carried over to the Indianapolis 500. The race saw several blown tires after the speedway removed some rumble strips from the apron of the corners; Kyle Petty was injured when he blew a tire, slammed into the outside and inside wall off turn four, and was T-boned by Sterling Marlin. Johnny Benson led the most laps (70), but faded to 8th at the finish. Jarrett became the first driver to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. After injures suffered at Talladega, defending race winner Dale Earnhardt was relieved by Mike Skinner on lap 7, who drove to a 15th place finish.

1997: In the final twenty laps Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin held the top three, but none of the three would be able to make it to the finish without a pit stop for fuel. Jeff Burton and Ricky Rudd also were close on fuel. On lap 145, Robby Gordon brushed the wall, and Burton ran over debris. He was forced to pit under green, but as he was finishing his stop, the caution came out. Burton flew out of the pits to beat the leaders, and for a moment it appeared he was in the cat bird's seat with four fresh tires, and would be the leader after all drivers cycled through their stops. However, he was penalized for speeding in the pits, and dropped to 15th. Ricky Rudd was among a few drivers who stayed out, and his gamble put him in the lead. Rudd drove the final 46 laps without a pit stop to take the victory.

1998: Jeff Gordon became the first repeat winner, holding off Mark Martin for the win. Dale Jarrett dominated the second 100 miles of the race but lost his chance near the halfway point when he ran out of fuel, and coasted back to the pits; he lost four laps but made them up due to numerous cautions. Gordon's victory was the first in the Winston No Bull 5 program.

1999: Late in the race, Dale Jarrett leads, but fourth-place Bobby Labonte is the only car in the top 5 that can go the distance without pitting for fuel. A caution comes out with 17 laps to go, allowing the leaders to pit, foiling Labonte's chances to steal the win. As the leaders pitted, in an unexpected move, Dale Jarrett took on only two tires. Jeff Burton saw this and pulled away after taking only two tires. His pit crew, however, had already tried to loosen the lug nuts on the left side. Jarrett led the rest of the way, becomes the second two-time winner, and erases his heartbreak from 1998.

2000: Rusty Wallace leads 114 laps, and is leading late when Bobby Labonte charges down the back stretch. Labonte takes the lead at the stripe, and pulls away for the win. The race is slowed by only two cautions for 7 laps.

2001: With 25 laps to go, Jeff Gordon passes Sterling Marlin on a restart, and pulls away for the win. Gordon becomes the first three-time winner of the Brickyard 400.

2002: Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer, locked in a burgeoning feud dating back to Bristol, collided on lap 36. Busch hit the turn 3 wall. Veteran Bill Elliott added the Brickyard to his long resume, and Rusty Wallace finished second for the third time.

2003: With 16 laps to go, Kevin Harvick used lap traffic to get by Matt Kenseth on a restart. A huge pileup occurred in turn three, and Harvick held off over the final ten laps to become the first driver to win the race from the pole position.

2004: For the first time in Sprint Cup series history, the Green-white-checker finish rule caused a race to be extended, in this case for one additional lap. On the extra lap, Casey Mears blew a tire, Ricky Rudd hit the wall, then Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered tire failures. Jeff Gordon retained the lead to become the first four-time winner of the Brickyard.

2005: Hometown favorite Tony Stewart won his first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and climbed the catch fence to celebrate, in the same fashion as Hélio Castroneves.

2006: After suffering a blown front left tire early in the race that caused some fender damage, Jimmie Johnson passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with six laps left to win at Indy for the first time, and became only the second driver to win both the Daytona 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same year. The other was Dale Jarrett in 1996.

2007: Juan Pablo Montoya became the first (and, to date, only) driver to race in all three of the major events hosted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indy 500, Brickyard 400, and the U.S.G.P.). Montoya, a rookie in the Sprint Cup series, finished second to Tony Stewart. Stewart's 2007 winning car is owned and on rotating display at the Speedway museum.

2008: The Car of Tomorrow was used at Indy for the first time. The Goodyear tires suffered bad wear patterns, causing blowouts in some cases after only ten laps of green-flag racing. Lengthy competition cautions were put out at roughly 10-lap intervals for teams to change tires, which caused controversy and angered fans and media. Jimmie Johnson managed to tame the tire problems by winning for the second time in his career at Indy, holding off a mild challenge from Carl Edwards.

2009: Former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya dominated most of the race, leading 116 laps. However, with 35 laps to go, Montoya was penalized (not without protest and a heated rant) for speeding in the pits. The infraction left Jimmie Johnson holding off polesitter Mark Martin for the victory. Johnson became the second three-time winner, and the first back–to–back winner of the 400.

2010: Former Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya dominated most of the race for the second year in a row, leading 86 laps. However, Montoya gave up the lead when he took four tires in a late pit stop. He restarted the race in 7th with 18 laps to go and was never able to recover. Montoya crashed with 16 laps to go. Before the caution came out, Kevin Harvick had passed race leader Jamie McMurray for the lead. On the final restart of the race McMurray passed Harvick to go on to win the 400. He became the third driver to win the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season, joining Dale Jarrett (1996) and Jimmie Johnson (2006). McMurray's win also gave car owner Chip Ganassi a Daytona 500 win, Indianapolis 500 win and Brickyard 400 win in the same season, the first owner to do so.

2011: The final caution came out on lap 121 with Brad Keselowski leading. With 39 laps to go, if would be difficult for the leaders to make it to the finish on fuel if they pit under that yellow. Since race laps at Indy are in the 51-second range, and a pit stop (including entering and exiting the pit lane) takes upwards of 40–45 seconds, green flag pits stops are not necessarily discouraged, unlike other circuits. Among the drivers who pitted on lap 123 was Paul Menard. After the green came back out, Jeff Gordon pitted on lap 134. As the leaders shuffled through their final pit stops, Paul Menard took over the lead on lap 145. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon with two new tires, began dramatically charging through the field. He was quickly in the top ten, and moved into second on lap 158. Menard stretched his fuel and held off Gordon on the last lap to score his first career Cup series victory. Menard's win finished off a sweep of first-time winners at NASCAR's three oldest circuits that were one mile or longer, following Trevor Bayne and David Ragan at the Daytona races and Regan Smith at Darlington. Paul Menard is the first, and so far only driver as of now to score his first Sprint Cup win in the Brickyard 400.

2012: The final caution came out on lap 130 with Jimmie Johnson leading. With 20 laps to go, Johnson held off Kyle Busch by almost 5 seconds and Greg Biffle on the last lap and tied Jeff Gordon's record with his fourth Brickyard 400 victory.

Five of the eleven drivers to win the 400 have gone on to win the championship in the same year, and 8 times out of 19 years the driver that won the 400 went on to win the championship the year. These include: Jeff Gordon (1998, 2001), Dale Jarrett (1999), Bobby Labonte (2000), Tony Stewart (2005) and Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2008, 2009). In addition, race winners Dale Earnhardt (1995), and Bill Elliott (2002) are also past Cup champions, Earnhardt in (1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994) and Elliott in (1988). The only winners of the 400 never to have won the Cup are Ricky Rudd (1997), Kevin Harvick (2003), Jamie McMurray (2010), and Paul Menard (2011).