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Tuesday 31 July 2012

#3WideBlog Race Review: 5-Time Becomes 4-Time at Indy


Race Review

     The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series raced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday for the Crown Royal Presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at "The Brickyard". This race marked the 6th time that Crown Royal awarded the naming rights to an adult race fan. Curtiss Shaver is a firefighter from Alabama's Troy fire department, and became a firefighter after he lost part of his left leg in an accident When he was 18. He was driven to help save others and become a firefighter because firefighters had helped him. Nominated by a fellow firefighter, Shaver beat out four others in a Facebook contest to determine the winner.

Lined up (Getty)
     Denny Hamlin started on the pole with a lap of 49.244 seconds at 182.763 mph. This was his first Coors Light pole award at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his second of 2012, and the 11th of his career. Carl Edwards started on the outside pole with a time over 2/10ths of a second and almost a full mile an hour slower. Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle, three time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, last years Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard, four time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon and current Sprint Cup points leader Matt Kenseth filled out the top 10 starting positions.

Mari Hulman George, chairwoman of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, gave the command to fire engines, and Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag. After five laps Hamlin had a 1 second lead over Johnson and Edwards settled into third. Edwards wouldn't be settled for long, at lap 13 he dropped of the pace and had to make an unscheduled pit stop, he would return to the track in 39th place two laps down and fall off the radar finishing 29th four laps down.

Kvapil after hitting the wall
Hamlin led until the first round of green flag pitstops, where Johnson, who had been reeling him in, passed him on the flat pit exit road to take the lead. After those stops the top 5 were Johnson, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Gordon and Biffle, and they would remain that way until the races first caution at lap 41 when Travis Kvapil blew a right front tire in turn 2 and slammed the wall. This caution also marked the longest green flag run at Indianapolis in NASCAR history at 41 laps. Leaving pit road Kyle Busch's car slowed as it puked black smoke from the pipes and he lost several positions.

     The race restarted on lap 46 and Dennny Hamlin got out of the groove and lost several positions as a result. There was another caution one lap later when Clint Bowyer made contact with Juan Pablo Montoya and spun. Restart lap 52 saw Jimmie Johnson still leading with Brad Keselowski, Biffle, Gordon and Logano were the top 5. At halfway the race is again taking a green flag feel with not much changing up front, Keselowski is leading followed by Johnson, Gordon, Biffle, and Kyle Busch who had fought back from earlier problems on pit road. Hamlin is mired back in 12th place 21.3 seconds behind after his earlier miscue

     The next caution came at lap 93, tying the newly set green flag run record of 41 laps, when Casey Mears smacks the wall and puts debris on the racing surface. On the restart at lap 101, the top five are Keselowski, Regan Smith, Johnson, Biffle and Gordon. Smith initially takes the lead on the outside, but Johnson then goes to the front in a scramble as Keselowski gets loose under Smith and drops back to 7th as a result. The caution flag waved again at lap 124 for debris left behind from Jeff Burton's flat tire, but up until that point Johnson had built up an almost 4 second lead over teammate Jeff Gordon, Johnson was dominant.

Logano into Kenseth
Whats left of Kenseths car
     Restart lap 129 and a trip down pit road has changed the running order. Greg Biffle won the race off pit road followed by, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin recovering after dropping back and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who had fought his way into the top 5 after starting 20th. They wouldn't be green very long though, at lap 132 while racing  Trevor Bayne, Joey Logano got loose and slid down to the bottom groove making contact with Bobby Labonte. Logano then slid back up the track towards the high lane where Matt Kenseth was attempting to drive around the incident, but was pancaked by Logano into the wall, ending his day and time atop the points standings. Kenseth would wind up 35th, 26 laps down and drop to 2nd in the point standings 14 points back of the new leader.
Victory lane (Getty)

     The restart at lap 140 would prove to be the last, and set up a 20 lap dash to decide the winner. Jimmie Johnson had already decided though. He drove off to a remarkable 4.758 second victory to earn his record tying 4th Brickyard 400 victory (ties Jeff Gordon for most). It is Johnson's 3rd victory of the year (tying Keselowski and Tony Stewart for most) and the 58th victory of his career (8th all-time). Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon were 2nd - 5th.
   
   
"kissing the bricks" (Getty)
     Dale Earnhardt Jr. also made some headlines with his 4th place finish, he assumed the points lead with a 14 point margin over 2nd place Matt Kenseth. Having a career season he has 1 win, 9 top-5's and 15 top-10's, he leads the points for the first time since October in Talladega 2004. In 2004 however he only held the top spot for two days due to a 25-point penalty levied by NASCAR for cursing during a post-race television interview.Note: Earnhardt Jr.'s Brickyard post race interview was free of colourful language.
 


New points leader Dale Jr. (Getty)
     Pocono is the next stop for the Sprint Cup Series, and the wildcard battle is heating up. Kasey Kahne holds the #1 Wildcard spot with 2 wins and 579 points followed by Kyle Busch with one win and 588 points. With two other drivers in the top 20 that have one win (Newman & Logano), and names like Edwards, Gordon and Burton in the mix the 6 races leading up to the chase should be exciting


                Race Facts

• The race remained within its 160 lap distance, with a time of 2:56:35.
• There were 5 cautions for 25 laps
• Average speed was 137.676 Mph
• Jimmies performance is his 10th top-five (most in CUP) and 15th top-10 of 2012 (tied for most).
• Jimmie Johnson led five times for 99 laps, including the final 29.
• It's the 205th all-time win for Hendrick Motorsports, and their Cup-high sixth of the season.
• Hendrick Motorsports notched their eighth win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- no other team has more than three.
• Kyle Busch (second) had his best Brickyard finish in his eighth start
• Greg Biffle (third) matched his best Brickyard finish with his fifth-straight IMS top-10, the longest current streak.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth) is the new points leader, as he had his ninth top-five finish of 2012 -- he had nine combined from 2009-2011.
• It was the 21st consecutive time that Dale Jr. finished on the lead lap, tying Jeff Gordon's Cup record.
• Jeff Gordon (fifth) grabbed his eighth top-10 finish of 2012, including five in the last six races.

Crown Royal Presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at "The Brickyard" Race Results
FINSTCARDRIVERMAKESPONSORPTS/BNSLAPSSTATUSWINNINGS
1648Jimmie JohnsonChevroletLowe's / Kobalt Tools48/5160Running430,461
2718Kyle BuschToyotaM&M's43/1160Running362,108
3516Greg BiffleFord3M42/1160Running298,525
42088Dale Earnhardt Jr.ChevroletAMP Energy / National Guard40/0160Running263,750
5924Jeff GordonChevroletDrive to End Hunger40/1160Running266,961
6111Denny HamlinToyotaFedEx Express39/1160Running250,091
71139Ryan NewmanChevroletQuicken Loans37/0160Running230,058
81756Martin Truex Jr.ToyotaNAPA Auto Parts36/0160Running212,539
9222Brad KeselowskiDodgeMiller Lite36/1160Running214,470
102814Tony StewartChevroletMobil 1 / Office Depot34/0160Running230,175
111955Mark MartinToyotaAaron's Dream Machine33/0160Running170,175
12155Kasey KahneChevroletFarmers Insurance32/0160Running172,850
132729Kevin HarvickChevroletJimmy Johns31/0160Running205,236
14827Paul MenardChevroletMenards / Nibco30/0160Running167,300
153315Clint BowyerToyota5-hour Energy29/0160Running186,139
162422Sam Hornish Jr.DodgeShell / Pennzoil0160Running197,475
171821Trevor BayneFordMotorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center0160Running155,525
181478Regan SmithChevroletFurniture Row / Farm American26/0160Running180,483
19443Aric AlmirolaFordEckrich25/0160Running191,411
20239Marcos AmbroseFordDEWALT24/0160Running181,208
211242Juan MontoyaChevroletTarget23/0160Running180,966
22161Jamie McMurrayChevroletBass Pro Shops / Tracker22/0160Running180,908
233236Dave BlaneyChevroletSealWrap21/0160Running148,725
242630David StremmeToyotaInception Motorsports20/0160Running163,783
253883Landon CassillToyotaBurger King20/1160Running173,395
262947Bobby LabonteToyotaScott Products19/1160Running167,858
273138David GillilandFordBig Machine Records17/0160Running156,008
283634David RaganFordScorpion Coatings / Al's Liners16/0160Running152,397
29299Carl EdwardsFordFastenal15/0156Running189,591
304232Ken SchraderFordSpecial Operations For America.org14/0156Running148,825
313733Stephen Leicht *ChevroletLittle Joes
Autos.com
13/0154Running148,275
322131Jeff BurtonChevroletRain-X12/0151Running180,350
33320Joey LoganoToyotaDollar General11/0144Running148,525
342513Casey MearsFordGEICO10/0137Running137,725
351017Matt KensethFordFifth Third Bank10/1132Accident186,011
361351Kurt BuschChevroletHendrickCars.com8/0126Engine145,375
373093Travis KvapilToyotaBurger King7/040Accident145,300
3834195Scott SpeedFordLeavine Family Racing6/023Brakes137,170
394110J.J. YeleyChevroletTommy Baldwin Racing5/020Transmission133,325
403526Josh Wise *ChevroletTaco Bell4/019Brakes133,245
414023Scott RiggsChevroletNorth Texas Pipe3/014Rear Gear133,070
4239179Mike SkinnerFordKoma Unwind2/011Rear Gear132,975
4343119Mike BlissToyotaHumphrey Smith Racing05Engine133,356
                         Race facts and Race results via NASCAR.com