Hey, Kyle Busch, not on the bricks!

They're just not bricks as Kyle Busch learned over the weekend.

Laid in a 3-foot strip — a yard as they're known — the bricks symbolically representing the start/finish line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway are the most iconic of their kind in sports. People kiss them, get photographed on them, covet the other original paving bricks — and they want them preserved.

Busch apparently got the message after scores of social media objections came pouring in after he left tire marks on the bricks following Saturday's Xfinity Series race. Even IMS officials sent a message of displeasure through proper NASCAR channels.

That's why there were so many eyes on Busch after winning Sunday's Brickyard 400. Track president Doug Boles was among those watching.

At the end of the cool-down lap, Busch drove past the bricks toward the south end of the track, then turned the No. 18 Toyota around and came back to the flag stand. But he only took the checkered flag and continued on without a burnout.

"I just didn't want to hear (the complaints), so I did my own deal and took my own sort of victory lap and gave the bow to the crowd later when there was a bunch of fans and Kyle Busch fans that were sticking around at the end," Busch said after the race.

The bricks date to the track's opening in 1909, and this strip has been present since the first complete paving in October 1961. The bricks have been defaced before, mostly by NASCAR drivers, which is part of the rub for the IMS faithful.

Jimmie Johnson did the most damage to the track's centerpiece after his Brickyard win in 2012. He pinned the nose of the No. 48 Chevrolet at the inside wall and let the tires rip. Mostly, it was the asphalt on the south side of the bricks that ripped; the indentation is still visible due to heat melting the track's surface. Some bricks damaged by Johnson's spinning left-side tires had to be replaced.

Ryan Newman (2013) and Jeff Gordon (2014) didn't hurt the bricks with their victory celebrations, but the circles they made on the asphalt near start/finish are still visible. Last year, Ty Dillon left marks on the bricks after winning last year's Xfinity race.

Boles understands the desire to celebrate. "But there's 3 feet of race track there that we ask 'don't do it' on," he said.

Cleanup is underway. The bricks are expected to have the tire marks removed by the time MotoGP takes control of the track next week. The pit box walls where people wrote notes to the drivers will be painted, too.

Follow Star reporter Curt Cavin on Facebook and on Twitter: @curtcavin.