Date: Sept. 10, 2018
Event: Brickyard 400 (Round 26 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 160 laps, broken into three stages (50 laps/50 laps/60 laps)
Start/Finish: 8th/5th (Running, completed 160 of 160)
Point Standing: 5th with 2,015 points, 35 points out of first – IN THE PLAYOFFS
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Clint Bowyer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Recap (Ended at Lap 50):
● Bowyer started eighth and finished first to earn 10 bonus points.
● Moved to from eighth to fifth in the first five laps
● Pitted under green on lap 9 for tires and fuel.
● Stayed on the track during the lap 10 competition caution and moved to second.
● Remained in second throughout the stage until he passed teammate Kurt Busch at lap 45.
● Bowyer won his first stage of the year and second of career.
● Bowyer’s last stage victory came at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in July, 2017.
Stage 2 Recap (Ended at Lap 100):
● Bowyer started 14th and finished 15th.
● Moved to eighth by lap 58.
● Moved from seventh to third on lap 69 when he stayed on the track while others pitted.
● Took over the lead when Kevin Harvick pitted with 11 laps remaining in the stage.
● Gave up the lead with two laps left in the stage to pit for fuel and tires.
Stage 3 Recap (Ended at Lap 160):
● Bowyer started second and finished fifth.
● Led the first laps of the final stage before Denny Hamlin regained the lead with 17 laps remaining.
● Bowyer closed in on Hamlin in the closing laps but could not make the pass.
● The race restarted with three laps remaining and Bowyer could not hold off the cars with newer tires.
Notes:
● This was Bowyer’s seventh top-five and 12th top-10 finish of 2018.
● Bowyer earned his third top-five and fourth top-10 in 13 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Indianapolis.
● Bowyer finished first in Stage 1 to earn 10 bonus points and one playoff point.
● Bowyer led three times for 37 laps to increase his laps-led total at Indianapolis to 43.
● Bowyer qualified for the playoffs by earning two victories in 2018, two stage wins, and finishing seventh in the points giving him 15 bonus points for the playoffs.
● This is Bowyer’s seventh playoff appearance and first since 2015.
● Brad Keselowski won the Brickyard 400 to score his 26th career Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Indianapolis. His margin of victory over second-place Erik Jones was .908 of a second.
● Keselowski’s triumph delivered the 102nd points-paying victory for Ford’s Fusion in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It was Ford’s 671st all-time win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 39 laps.
● Only 22 of the 40 drivers in the Brickyard 400 finished on the lead lap.
Playoff Standings:
1. Kevin Harvick (2,050 points)
2. Kyle Busch (2,050 points)
3. Martin Truex Jr. (2,035 points, -15)
4. Brad Keselowski (2,019 points, -31)
5. Clint Bowyer (2,015 points, -35)
6. Kurt Busch (2,014 points, -36)
7. Joey Logano (2,014 points, -36)
8. Chase Elliott (2,008 points, -42)
9. Ryan Blaney (2007 points, -43)
10. Erik Jones (2,005 points, -45)
11. Austin Dillon (2,005 points, -45)
12. Kyle Larson (2,005 points, -45)
13. Denny Hamlin (2,003 points, -47)
14. Aric Almirola (2,001 points, -49)
15. Jimmie Johnson (2,000 points, -50)
16. Alex Bowman (2,000 points, -50)
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Rush Truck Centers Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Do you take any solace from running so well today?
“Absolutely. You’ve got to use good runs like that for a confidence-booster for the Playoffs. It was a good run for us. Man, it’s a game of luck. There wasn’t really any strategy. You can’t strategize for cautions that you don’t know are gonna exist. I felt like we were definitely faster than (Hamlin), but when he beat us out of the pits there, that position nobody passed anybody for the lead and unless they were a huge advantage on tires, and then all of a sudden the cautions come out and hand the (Keselowski) the win. That’s what’s frustrating, but that’s the nature of the beast here.”