Boilermaker Ryan Newman Wins Brickyard 400

Ryan Newman only has 17 wins in 14 years on the NASCAR circuit, but a couple of his wins now have been very big. He won the premier NASCAR race, the Daytona 500, in 2008. He has now won the second-best NASCAR event (arguably), after winning today's Brickyard 400.

This was the 20^th running of the Brickyard and it is an event that has now been dominated by Indiana drivers. Jeff Gordon (four times) and Tony Stewart (twice) have won it as Indiana drivers, making Newman's win today the seventh in 20 events that has been won by a driver from Indiana.

We're celebrating here, of course, because Ryan Newman is a Boilermaker. He started the race on the pole and ended in first place, meaning that there was little point in everyone else showing up because he was going to stay in front regardless. In the victory he ended a 49-race drought without a victory and he prevented Jimmy Johnson from becoming the first 5-time winner of a major event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Boiler Up, Ryan!