2011 Tums Fast Relief 500

The 2011 Tums Fast Relief 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 30, 2011, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.526-mile (2.414 km) oval, it was the 33rd race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the seventh race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season. The race was won by Tony Stewart for the Stewart Haas Racing team. Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Jeff Gordon clinched third.

2011 TUMS Fast Relief 500
Race details[1][2]
Race 33 of 36 in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date October 30, 2011 (2011-10-30)
Location Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States
Course Permanent racing facility
0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance 500 laps, 263 mi (423 km)
Weather Mostly sunny with a high around 60; wind out of the NNE at 4 mph.
Pole position
Driver Roush Fenway Racing
Most laps led
Driver Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps 125
Winner
No. 14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing
Television in the United States
Network ESPN
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree

Report

Background

Martinsville Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Martinsville Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway.[3] The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has s zero degree banking.[4] The racetrack has seats for 63,000 spectators.[4]

Before the race, Carl Edwards led the Drivers' Championship with 2,237 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 2,223 points. Brad Keselowski followed in third with 2,219 points, one ahead of Tony Stewart and eight ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth and fifth. Kyle Busch with 2,197 was ten points ahead of Jimmie Johnson, as Kurt Busch with 2,185 points, was 22 ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and 30 in front of Jeff Gordon.[5] Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman was eleventh and twelfth with 2,153 and 2,149 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 217 points, 44 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 164 points, was 14 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.[6] Hamlin was the race's defending champion.[7]

Carl Edwards was given the pole position after qualifying was cancelled

Practice and qualifying

Two 90 minute practice sessions were scheduled to be held on Friday in preparation for the race.[8] However, wet track conditions postponed and combined the sessions into one practice session on Saturday.[9] Afterward, the only session was delayed because of the wet track conditions.[9] Once the first and only session of practice began,[10] Michael McDowell was quickest with a time of 19.747 seconds in the first session, 0.023 seconds faster than Clint Bowyer.[11] Johnson was just off Bowyer's pace, followed by Carl Jamie McMurray, Scott Speed, and Paul Menard. David Stremme was seventh, still within a tenth of a second of McDowell's time.[11] Also in the session, there was a collision involving Harvick and Greg Biffle. Neither car was severely damaged from the incident.[10]

Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.[12] Wet track conditions before the scheduled starting time canceled the session, causing the grid to be created by Owners' Championship points.[13] Edwards was given the pole position.[14] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kenseth.[14] Keselowski started third, Stewart took fourth, and Harvick fifth.[14] Kyle Busch, Johnson, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt, Jr. and Gordon completed the top ten.[14] The two drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Dennis Setzer and Derrike Cope.[14] Afterward, Edwards commented:

"We hope to have a good run here. We're leaning on Matt Kenseth’s success here from the last race and how well he ran, and I feel that we've got a good car, but you never know. This place has been a really tough racetrack for me and for our team, but we have had some really good runs here, and Matt's good run in the spring is really what gives us the confidence we have here, and, hopefully, we can go run well and keep this points lead or extend it moving forward toward some tracks that we're really confident about."[15]

Race

Tony Stewart won the race.

The race, the 33rd in the season, began at 2:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ESPN.[1] The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature around 50 °F (10 °C).[16] Tony Beach, associate Pastor at Ft. Trial Baptist Church in Stanleytown, Virginia, began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Next, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Blue and Gold Marching Machine performed the national anthem, and Ashley Young, winner of the Tums Sweepstakes, gave the command for drivers to start their engines.[16] A late race caution set up a restart with 3 laps remaining, with Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart on the front row. Johnson chose the heavily-favored inside line, but Stewart had a great restart and cleared Johnson off of Turn 4 coming to 2 to go. Brad Keselowski was spun out on the restart, but was able to get back going and NASCAR decided not to throw the caution. Stewart would go on to win the race, his 3rd race victory of the 2011 season, all of them coming during the Chase.

Results

Qualifying

No. Driver Team Manufacturer Grid
99Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord1
17Matt KensethRoush Fenway RacingFord2
2Brad KeselowskiPenske RacingDodge3
14Tony StewartStewart Haas RacingChevrolet4
29Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet5
18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota6
48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet7
22Kurt BuschPenske RacingDodge8
88Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet9
24Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet10
11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota11
39Ryan NewmanStewart Haas RacingChevrolet12
33Clint BowyerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet13
4Kasey KahneRed Bull Racing TeamToyota14
16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord15
43A. J. AllmendingerRichard Petty MotorsportsFord16
9Marcos AmbroseRichard Petty MotorsportsFord17
6David RaganRoush Fenway RacingFord18
5Mark MartinHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet19
42Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet20
27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet21
20Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota22
31Jeff BurtonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet23
56Martin Truex, Jr.Michael Waltrip RacingToyota24
83Brian VickersRed Bull Racing TeamToyota25
78Regan SmithFurniture Row RacingChevrolet26
1Jamie McMurrayEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet27
00David ReutimannMichael Waltrip RacingToyota28
47Bobby LabonteJTG Daugherty RacingToyota29
51Landon CassillPhoenix RacingChevrolet30
34David GillilandFront Row MotorsportsFord31
36Dave BlaneyTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet32
13Casey MearsGermain RacingToyota33
32Ken SchraderFAS Lane RacingFord34
38Travis KvapilFront Row MotorsportsFord35
71Hermie SadlerTRG MotorsportsFord36
7Reed SorensonRobby Gordon MotorsportsDodge37
37Mike SkinnerMax Q MotorsportsFord38
46Scott SpeedWhitney MotorsportsFord39
66Michael McDowellHP RacingToyota40
87Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsToyota41
30David StremmeInception MotorsportsChevrolet42
55J. J. YeleyFront Row MotorsportsFord43
Failed to Qualify
92Dennis SetzerK-Automotive MotorsportsChevrolet
75Derrike CopeStratus Racing GroupDodge
Note: Since qualifying was cancelled, there were no time trials.

Race results

Pos Grid Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points
1414Tony StewartStewart Haas RacingChevrolet50047
2748Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet50043
31024Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet50042
4529Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet50041
51111Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota50040
62331Jeff BurtonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet50038
7988Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet50037
82456Martin Truex, Jr.Michael Waltrip RacingToyota50036
9199Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord50036
101239Ryan NewmanStewart Haas RacingChevrolet50035
111643A. J. AllmendingerRichard Petty MotorsportsFord50034
123313Casey MearsGermain RacingToyota50032
132678Regan SmithFurniture Row RacingChevrolet50031
14822Kurt BuschPenske RacingDodge50030
151516Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord50029
163538Travis KvapilFront Row MotorsportsFord5000
1732Brad KeselowskiPenske RacingDodge50027
182220Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota50026
191333Clint BowyerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet50025
202800David ReutimannMichael Waltrip RacingToyota50024
213432Ken SchraderFAS Lane RacingFord50023
222042Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet49722
233236Dave BlaneyTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet49721
242127Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet49721
25144Kasey KahneRed Bull Racing TeamToyota49519
263671Hermie SadlerTRG MotorsportsFord4930
27618Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota49319
28195Mark MartinHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet49116
29179Marcos AmbroseRichard Petty MotorsportsFord48815
302583Brian VickersRed Bull Racing TeamToyota48414
31217Matt KensethRoush Fenway RacingFord47714
322947Bobby LabonteJTG Daugherty RacingToyota46412
33186David RaganRoush Fenway RacingFord44411
343134David GillilandFront Row MotorsportsFord35711
35271Jamie McMurrayEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet859
36377Reed SorensonRobby Gordon MotorsportsDodge770
373946Scott SpeedWhitney MotorsportsFord740
384230David StremmeInception MotorsportsChevrolet526
394066Michael McDowellHP RacingToyota450
404355J. J. YeleyFront Row MotorsportsFord404
414187Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsToyota330
423051Landon CassillPhoenix RacingChevrolet270
433837Mike SkinnerMax Q MotorsportsFord70
Source:

Standings after the race

References

  1. "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  2. "The Tums Fast Relief 500". rotoworld.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  3. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Archived from the original on February 7, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  4. "NASCAR Tracks—The Martinsville Speedway". Martinsville Speedway. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  5. "Driver's Championship Classification". NASCAR. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  6. "Manufactures' Championship Classification". Jayski.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  7. "2010 Tums Fast Relief 500". racing-reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  8. "Jayski'sŽ NASCAR Silly Season Site – Sprint Cup Race Info / Rundown Page". Jayski.com. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  9. "NASCAR — CUP: Rain Only Winner At Martinsville". Speedtv.com. October 28, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  10. "NASCAR — CUP: Harvick, Biffle Have bumpup in Practice". Speedtv.com. October 29, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  11. "Practice One Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  12. "Qualifying Entry List". NASCAR. Retrieved 2011-03-04.
  13. "Wet track forces cancellation of M'ville Cup quals". Sporting News Wire Service. NASCAR. October 29, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  14. "Race Official Lineup: Tums Fast Relief 500". NASCAR. October 29, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  15. "Rain hands Edwards Martinsville pole". inRacingNews.com. October 29, 2011. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  16. "Race Summary". NASCAR. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  17. "Lineup Statistics". MotorRacingNetwork.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  18. "Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site — Martinsville Sprint Cup Qualifying Order/Results, Lineup". Jayski.com. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
Previous race:
2011 Good Sam Club 500
Sprint Cup Series
2011 season
Next race:
2011 AAA Texas 500
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