While Busch started from the pole and paced the field through most of the race, two other drivers were able to take turns out in front.
Brad Keselowski led 15 laps after Busch pitted on the 27th round of the race, hoping he and his teammate Joey Logano could make a three-stop strategy work into a Brickyard win, while Logano paced six circuits after staying out under the second caution of the day at lap 53, before Busch resumed command to the end.
However, Rowdy’s path in the closing laps was far from easy.
Six cautions inside the final 40 laps, sparked when David Ragan lost a left-rear tire in turn two on lap 120, would mean a myriad of restarts in the final laps and a myriad of contenders that went down through the closing stages of the race.
Chief among the chaos was a multi-car crash with seven laps to go, in which Carl Edwards was turned into oncoming traffic after falling back on the restart and collected Ryan Blaney, Ryan Newman, Danica Patrick and Keselowski in the aftermath.
That necessitated a red flag period for cleanup, which combined with additional cleanup for fluid that leaked onto the frontstretch from one of the NASCAR jet dryers to create a restart with two laps left in regulation.
Busch led teammate Matt Kenseth on the drop of the green flag, but a crash that saw Trevor Bayne turned into the inside wall with help from Clint Bowyer meant that an overtime restart would be in order, with Busch now leading Logano and all of the frontrunners (who had last pitted at lap 122) nervous about fuel in the closing moments.
The first overtime restart took the green on lap 164 but was stalled out by the time the field reached turn one, with Jamie McMurray spinning on entrance to the corner and collecting Brian Scott, among others, in his wake.
That allowed the field to set up for one final dash to the finish, with Busch leading handily over Kenseth by the time the field reached the overtime line.
The next time by, it was over, a margin of 2.126 seconds the gap as Busch cruised home to a trophy and a kiss of the bricks.
