Kurt Busch makes it less miles in Charlotte than in Indy after engine expires

Kurt Busch's Sprint Cup Series car engine prevented him from completing all 1,100 miles of the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday.

After Busch finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500, his engine erupted in a big plume of white smoke just over two-thirds of the way through the 600, ending his day.

Officially, Busch ended up completing 406.5 miles in the 600, to bring his Sunday total to 906.5. His car owner, Tony Stewart, remains the only driver to complete every mile of both races in the same day.

But before the engine grenaded, Busch wasn't going to complete all 1,100 miles anyway. His team had been battling a shock issue after getting back on the lead lap, but the engine started acting sour and went down a cylinder or two, sapping Busch of much-needed horsepower.

It's been a brutal season for Busch since he won at Martinsville in March. After the win, he has finishes of 39th, 31st, 23rd, 33rd, 29th and likely 38th at Charlotte.

Because of the win at Martinsville, Busch is going to make the Chase and despite the terrible finishes, he has an extremely, extremely slim chance of dropping out of the top 30 in the points and negating the possibility of a Chase berth. Entering Charlotte, he was 52 points ahead of David Gilliland in 31st place. That's more than a full race win and bonus points (48).

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg