Chasing The Checkers
A late race caution gave teams a chance to gamble on pit strategy. Leader Juan Montoya took four tires but returned to the track in seventh place as six other drivers took two to try to gain track position.
Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart made up the front row as the green flag flew with eighteen laps to go. McMurray got a great jump and Kevin Harvick followed him through into second place on the start.
Track position proved to be more important than four tires. The drivers stuck in the pack were not able to move forward while the leaders with clean air were able to pull away.
Kevin Harvick took the lead with fifteen laps to go just as the caution flew again for Juan Montoya's front stretch crash after leading over half of the race. For the second year in a row Juan Montoya dominated the Brickyard 400 and came away empty.
Harvick and McMurray brought them back to the green with ten laps to go. McMurray made it work on the outside in turn one and took the lead in the short shoot.
McMurray was able to take advantage of the clean air and pulled out to a 1.2 second lead as the laps clicked away.
Jamie McMurray won the 2010 Brickyard 400 and completed an amazing sweep for car owner Chip Ganassi. Ganassi won the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year.
Top Ten
- Jamie McMurray
- Kevin Harvick
- Greg Biffle
- Clint Bowyer
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Burton
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Kurt Busch
The Points
Once again Kevin Harvick finished up front and extended his 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup point lead. Harvick's three closest chasers in the points were non-factors today and finished outside of the top ten.
The top twelve are now:
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Gordon -184
- Denny Hamlin -260
- Jimmie Johnson -261
- Kurt Busch -262
- Kyle Busch -290
- Jeff Burton -305
- Matt Kenseth -347
- Tony Stewart -376
- Carl Edwards -424
- Greg Biffle -458
- Clint Bowyer -474
