2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400

The 2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on September 10, 2011, at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.

2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400
Race details[1][2]
Race 26 of 36 in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Layout of Richmond International Raceway
Date September 10, 2011 (2011-09-10)
Location Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Virginia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.75 mi (1.21 km)
Distance 400 laps, 300 mi (483 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 86 °F (30 °C); wind speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Average speed 89.91 miles per hour (144.70 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Michael Waltrip Racing
Time 21.196
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing
Laps 202
Winner
No. 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network ABC
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree

Contested over 400 laps, it was the 26th race of the 2011 season. The race was won by Kevin Harvick for the Richard Childress Racing team. Carl Edwards finished second, and Jeff Gordon clinched third. For only the second time in modern-Sprint Cup history, an event was followed four days after another one. In this case, the AdvoCare 500 was held four days earlier than this event.

Summary

This race was dominated by accidents both involving single cars and multiple cars. Each green flag run averaged almost 20 laps while more than 21% of the race would be held under a caution flag. Kevin Harvick would dominate a good portion of the race while Jeff Gordon had a reasonable chance to win the race between laps 378 and 384. Scott Speed was the last-place finisher of the race due to a crash on lap 7. Despite Paul Menard's awful finish, he was the last driver to finish the race without any mechanical issues.[3]

Juan Pablo Montoya's 15th-place finish and Marcos Ambrose's 21st-place finish were respectable finishes for the token foreigners in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.[3] According to the gambling pundits, Kyle Busch was the mostly likely to win prior to the checkered flag while Ambrose, Regan Smith and Bobby Labonte were the three dark horses of the event.[4]

Each finisher was given a different amount of money as his/her individual winnings. These winnings were given out in addition to the driver's weekly salary as a part of a multi-car team. While Kevin Harvick received $256,736 for his valiant effort ($291,790.34 when considering inflation), last-place driver Scott Speed received a meager $66,860 ($75,988.96 when considering inflation).[5]

Top ten finishers
Pos[3] Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Laps led
1 729Kevin HarvickChevrolet400202
2 899Carl EdwardsFord400113
3 1724Jeff GordonChevrolet4007
4 206David RaganFord4000
5 1122Kurt BuschDodge4000
6 1318Kyle BuschToyota4000
7 2214Tony StewartChevrolet4000
8 1839Ryan NewmanChevrolet4000
9 2811Denny HamlinToyota4000
10 45Mark MartinChevrolet4000

Timeline
  • The Voice of Sarge in Toy Story R. Lee Ermey gives the command to start engines
  • Start of race: Jamie McMurray led the Racing grid as the green flag was waved
  • Lap 20: Jimmie Johnson took over the lead from Jamie McMurray
  • Lap 58: Kevin Harvick took over the lead from Jimmie Johnson
  • Lap 59: Matt Kenseth took over the lead from Kevin Harvick
  • Lap 74: Kevin Harvick took over the lead from Matt Kenseth
  • Lap 157: Greg Biffle took over the lead from Kevin Harvick
  • Lap 163: Kevin Harvick took over the lead from Greg Biffle
  • Lap 202: Carl Edwards took over the lead from Kevin Harvick
  • Lap 315: Kevin Harvick took over the lead from Carl Edwards
  • Lap 378: Jeff Gordon took over the lead from Kevin Harvick
  • Lap 385: Kevin Harvick took over the lead from Jeff Gordon
  • Finish: Kevin Harvick was officially declared the winner of the event

Championship standings
Pos Driver Points[3]
1 Kyle Busch 2012
2 Kevin Harvick 2012
3 Jeff Gordon 2009
4 Matt Kenseth 2006
5 Jimmie Johnson 2003

References
  1. "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  2. Weather information for the 2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  3. "2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 race results". Racing Reference. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  4. "2011 Wonderful Pistachios 400 pundits' information". TheSpread.com. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  5. Individual winnings information Archived 2015-04-25 at the Wayback Machine at Driver Averages
Previous race:
2011 AdvoCare 500		 Sprint Cup Series
2011 season		 Next race:
2011 GEICO 400
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