The 2017 Brickyard 400 (branded as the Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 for sponsorship reasons) was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on July 23, 2017 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The 24th running of the Brickyard 400, it was contested over 167 laps – extended from 160 laps due to an overtime finish – on the speedway, and was the 20th race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne took his first Cup Series victory since 2014, and his 18th win overall.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 J. J. Yeley (i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Joey Gase (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 B. J. McLeod (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 55 Gray Gaulding (R) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 66 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 48.022 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.022 187.414 2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 48.502 185.559 3 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.596 185.200Official first practice results
Final practice Erik Jones was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 48.425 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 48.425 185.854 2 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 48.433 185.824 3 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 48.435 185.816Official final practice results
Qualifying
Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 48.051 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.192 48.216 48.051 24 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 48.235 48.357 48.301 31 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48.027 48.462 48.316 448 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.230 48.538 48.426 511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.552 48.303 48.434 678 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 48.760 48.372 48.456 722 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 48.316 48.412 48.461 831 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.330 48.696 48.611 977 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 48.395 48.514 48.677 1021 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 48.404 48.739 48.750 112 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 48.317 48.686 48.845 1241 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas RacingFord 48.595 48.733 48.871 1388 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.233 48.760 — 1420 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.678 48.789 — 1519 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.743 48.793 — 1624 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.481 48.844 — 1727 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.768 48.991 — 1814 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas RacingFord 48.781 49.020 — 195 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.949 49.036 — 203 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.713 49.099 — 2117 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.794 49.104 — 226 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.504 49.136 — 2310 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 48.866 49.489 — 2495 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 48.912 49.500 — 2542 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 49.072 — — 2637 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 49.102 — — 2732 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 49.313 — — 2813 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 49.343 — — 2943 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 49.427 — — 3038 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.674 — — 3134 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.755 — — 3223 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 50.166 — — 337 J. J. Yeley (i) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 50.421 — — 3472 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 50.620 — — 3551 B. J. McLeod (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 51.051 — — 3655 Gray Gaulding (R) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 51.178 — — 3733 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 51.398 — — 3866 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Chevrolet 51.747 — — 3915 Joey Gase (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 55.336 — — 4047 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 0.000 — —Official qualifying results
Race First stage Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 2:46pm. The first caution of the race flew when Corey LaJoie spun out and hit the wall in Turn 3. Minutes later, the race was red-flagged due to lightning in the area, as well as a downpour, that lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Race was restarted at 4:48pm and went green on lap 18, and the second caution flew on lap 31 for a scheduled competition caution. During that 13-lap run, Chase Elliott retired from the race with a failed engine.
The race restarted on lap 35, it went green the remainder of the first stage, which was won by Busch at the end of lap 50. The third caution of the race flew to conclude stage one.
Second stage The race restarted on lap 56, and a caution flew two laps later for a three-car wreck in Turn 1. It started when J. J. Yeley spun exiting Turn 1. David Ragan spun exiting Turn 1, veered down the track and slammed the inside wall. Jeffrey Earnhardt was also collected.
The race restarted on lap 64, only for debris from Yeley's car to bring out the fifth caution of the race, on lap 72. Erik Jones took the lead when Busch committed to pit road.
The race restarted on lap 76, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Trevor Bayne made contact, and Earnhardt's car suffered radiator damage that resulted in the sixth caution of the race one lap later.
The race restarted on lap 80, Ryan Blaney took the lead from Jones going into Turn 1. Busch retook the lead on Lap 87 and won the second stage. That would bring out the seventh caution to conclude the stage. Martin Truex Jr. exited pit road with the race lead.
Final stage
The final stage began under green on lap 106. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jimmie Johnson made contact exiting Turn 2 two laps later, sending Stenhouse down the track and into the inside wall, therefore bringing out an eighth caution.
The race restarted under green on lap 111, Truex got loose going into Turn 1, got into the left-rear corner of Busch, sending him spinning into the wall, therefore bringing out the ninth caution of the race. Truex got swept around by side force and slammed the wall, and his car caught fire. Both cars were out of the race, denying Kyle Busch's shot at a third consecutive victory at the Brickyard 400. This incident handed the race lead to Matt Kenseth.
The race restarted under green with 40 laps to go. Drivers started hitting pit road to make their final stop of the race with 31 to go. Kenseth pitted from the lead with 28 to go and Jones pitted the next lap, handing the lead to Brad Keselowski.
In the closing laps, the first three cars, Keselowski, Johnson and Kasey Kahne, chose to gamble on fuel, but probably couldn't make it to the finish on fuel if there were no more cautions. Fourth place Trevor Bayne was the highest placed car with enough fuel to make it to the end. This all went out the window with 11 to go when Clint Bowyer got loose and spun down the track, with help from Jones, slammed the inside wall and ricocheted back onto the racing surface into the path of Kurt Busch, who t-boned him, slammed the wall and came to a halt down the track, the tenth caution of the race flew for a multi-car wreck, Kahne pitted from third just as the wreck happened, which proved crucial for him as he inherited the lead. The race was red-flagged for the second time to ensue cleanup on the track, It was lifted after 20 minutes and 20 seconds.
Kahne held off Keselowski's charge into Turn 1 on the restart when the race went back to green with seven laps to go. When the field came back down the front stretch, Kyle Larson slammed the outside wall, bringing out the 11th caution.
The race restarted with two laps to go, Kahne and Keselowski raced side-by-side from the start/finish line through Turn 3. Heading down the backstretch, Johnson, with smoke billowing from his left-rear tire, got to the inside of the two to battle for the lead going into Turn 3, setting up the 12th caution of the race; rounding the turn, Johnson spun out and hit the outside wall, sending the race into overtime.
Overtime First attempt On the first attempt, the field did not make it to the start/finish line before all the pushing and shoving caused a multi-car wreck, bringing out the 13th caution. Keselowski was ahead of Kahne when the caution flew and assumed the lead; the red flag was displayed for the third time to again ensue cleanup of the track, and was lifted after 24 minutes and 16 seconds.
Second attempt At 8:53 PM, the second attempt at finishing the race began. Kahne got the advantage, jumped past Keselowski going into Turn 1 and set sail. Exiting Turn 2, Denny Hamlin suffered a left-rear tire failure and spun towards the outside wall, getting clipped by Paul Menard in the process. Despite this wreck happening well before Kahne, the race leader, reached the pre-determined mark on the backstretch that designated an official restart under NASCAR's green–white–checkered finish rule that allowed NASCAR to end the race under caution, officials waited until he passed the line, then threw the caution to end the race. This ended the race and secured victory for Kahne.
Controversy came as a result of this finish, primarily over darkness issues and that Indianapolis Motor Speedway does not have lights. Due to the rain delay early in the race, and numerous cautions in the final stage, including two red flags, it was 8:54 PM, with official sunset at 9:05 PM. Some drivers asked if safety vehicles could turn on their headlights before the final restart, but this was denied. Furthermore, after the incident, NASCAR found oil as a result of the incident, and questions arose if the track could have been cleaned up in time or the race would have been stopped for darkness with less than ten minutes of daylight available.
NASCAR subsequently made a rule change eliminating the overtime line, and reverting to the green–white–checkered rule from 2010 to 2015, albeit with one change – eliminating the maximum number of attempts. In 2024, a rule change regarding darkness or logistics was made where a time-certain finish time can be set by race control.
Race results