2012 Pennsylvania 400

The 2012 Pennsylvania 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 5, 2012 at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Contested over 98 laps of 160, it was the twenty-first race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. On August 10, 2011, track president Brandon Igdalsky announced that the race will be shortened from 500 miles to 400 miles.[4] Jeff Gordon, from the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, won his first race of the season while Kasey Kahne finished second. Martin Truex, Jr. clinched the third position. The race later ended after 98 laps due to thunderstorms in the area.[5] The win gave Gordon his first of the 2012 season, as well as his sixth at the track, the most at Pocono,[6] breaking a tie with Bill Elliott.[7]

2012 Pennsylvania 400
Race details[1][2]
Race 21 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date August 5, 2012 (2012-August-05)
Location Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 98 laps, 245 mi (394.28 km)
Scheduled Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Weather Isolated thunder storms with a high temperature around 80; wind out of the S at 7 mph.
Average speed 139.249 miles per hour (224.100 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Time 51.124
Most laps led
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 44
Winner
No. 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network ESPN
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree
Nielsen Ratings 4.449 million [3]

Report

Background

Pocono Raceway, the race track where the race was held.

Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.[8] The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.[9] The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°.[9] However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°. Brad Keselowski was the defending race winner.[10]

Before the race, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led the Drivers' Championship with 731 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 717. Greg Biffle was third in the Drivers' Championship with 709 points, five ahead of Jimmie Johnson and 42 ahead of Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick with 653 was even with Martin Truex, Jr., as Tony Stewart with 652 points, was three ahead of Brad Keselowski, and nine in front of Clint Bowyer.[11] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with144 points, 28 ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 97 points, was fourteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.[12]

Practice and qualifying

Juan Pablo Montoya (shown here in 2007) won the pole position ahead of Denny Hamlin.

Two practice sessions were held before the race on August 3, 2012. The first and second session were each 90 minutes long.[13] Johnson was quickest with a time of 51.638 seconds in the first session, 0.088 faster than Kyle Busch.[14] Carl Edwards was third quickest, followed by Kenseth, Biffle, and Kasey Kahne. Joey Logano was seventh, still within a three-tenths of a second of Johnson's time.[14] Shortly before the first session concluded, Paul Menard sustained major damages to his car after crashing, causing the team to use their replacement car.[15] In the second and final practice session, Earnhardt, Jr. was quickest with a time of 50.721 seconds.[16] Kenseth with a time of 50.855, was second quickest, ahead of Biffle, Kyle Busch, and Edwards.[16] Jamie McMurray, Truex, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, and Johnson completed the first ten positions.[16]

Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.[17] Juan Pablo Montoya clinched his eighth pole position of his career,[18] with a time of 51.124 seconds.[19] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Hamlin.[19] Menard qualified third, Kahne took fourth, and Marcos Ambrose started fifth.[19] Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Earnhardt, Jr., Ryan Newman and Johnson rounded out the top ten. The driver that failed to qualify for the race was Stephen Leicht.[19]

Once the qualifying session had concluded, Montoya stated, "I know (Sunday) is going to be a reality check that we've still got to work on it a lot. But the race hasn't even started, and we haven't seen how the car works in clean air. We know there's a lot of really strong cars, but you make the right strategy and if you get track position, we've shown we've got the speed. I'm really open-minded. I told people, 'Let's enjoy today.' "[18]

Race

The race started 90 minutes late due to a rain delay.[20] The first ten laps of the race featured two lead changes and four others as Denny Hamlin and pole-sitter Juan Pablo Montoya repassed each other four times in two laps. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was also in contention for the lead before his transmission broke, and Jimmie Johnson led the most laps, but would crash on a restart with Matt Kenseth and Hamlin in Turn 1 on Lap 91. Jeff Gordon, who was running fifth on the restart avoided the crash, and would become the new leader. Seven laps later under caution, the thunderstorm hit the track and after 98 of the scheduled 160 laps, giving Gordon his 86th career Sprint Cup win. Kasey Kahne came in second, and his contentions in the race were dashed in pit road during the final caution,[21] when he ran over an air hose and had a flat right-rear tire.[22]

Results

Qualifying

No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed Grid
42Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet51.124176.0431
11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota51.196175.7952
27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet51.245175.6273
5Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet51.300175.4394
9Marcos AmbroseRichard Petty MotorsportsFord51.30251.3025
51Kurt BuschPhoenix RacingChevrolet51.329175.3396
17Matt KensethRoush Fenway RacingFord51.379175.1697
88Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet51.390175.1318
39Ryan NewmanStewart-Haas RacingChevrolet51.400175.0979
48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet51.409175.06710
78Regan SmithFurniture Row RacingChevrolet51.418175.03611
16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord51.439174.96412
43Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord51.486174.80513
20Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota51.489174.79514
56Martin Truex, Jr.Michael Waltrip RacingToyota51.541174.61815
1Jamie McMurrayEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet51.558174.56116
99Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord51.596174.43217
55Mark MartinMichael Waltrip RacingToyota51.600174.41918
15Clint BowyerMichael Waltrip RacingToyota51.631174.31419
18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota51.64251.64220
29Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet51.661174.21321
83Landon CassillBK RacingToyota51.676174.16222
31Jeff BurtonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet51.748173.92023
10David ReutimannTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet51.852173.57124
22Sam Hornish, Jr.Penske RacingDodge51.866173.52425
38David GillilandFront Row MotorsportsFord51.900173.41026
24Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet51.933173.30027
14Tony StewartStewart-Haas RacingChevrolet51.964173.19728
13Casey MearsGermain RacingFord52.064172.86429
19Mike BlissHumphrey Smith RacingToyota52.138172.61930
2Brad KeselowskiPenske RacingDodge52.213172.37131
34David RaganFront Row MotorsportsFord52.314172.03832
23Scott RiggsR3 MotorsportsToyota52.351171.91733
26Josh WiseFront Row MotorsportsFord52.352171.91334
37J. J. YeleyMax Q MotorsportsChevrolet52.384171.80835
30David StremmeInception MotorsportsToyota52.436171.63836
93Travis KvapilBK RacingToyota52.556171.24637
87Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsToyota52.692170.80438
47Bobby LabonteJTG Daugherty RacingToyota52.737170.65839
91Reed SorensonHumphrey Smith RacingFord52.761170.58140
32Jason WhiteFAS Lane RacingFord53.611167.87641
36Tony RainesTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet
42
98Mike SkinnerPhil Parsons RacingFord52.781170.51643
Failed to Qualify
33Stephen LeichtCircle Sport RacingChevrolet52.790170.487
Source:[19]

Race results

Jeff Gordon was declared the winner after rain shortened the race to 98 laps.
Pos Grid Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
12724Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet9847
245Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet9843
31656Martin Truex, Jr.Michael Waltrip RacingToyota9841
4312Brad KeselowskiPenske RacingDodge9841
52814Tony StewartStewart-Haas RacingChevrolet9839
6939Ryan NewmanStewart-Haas RacingChevrolet9838
71799Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord9837
81915Clint BowyerMichael Waltrip RacingToyota9836
91178Regan SmithFurniture Row RacingChevrolet9835
1059Marcos AmbroseRichard Petty MotorsportsFord9834
11327Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet9833
121855Mark MartinMichael Waltrip RacingToyota9832
131420Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota9831
141048Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet9832
151216Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord9829
162129Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet9828
17161Jamie McMurrayEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet9828
181343Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord9826
192522Sam Hornish, Jr.Penske RacingDodge980
20142Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi RacingChevrolet9825
212638David GillilandFront Row MotorsportsFord9823
222331Jeff BurtonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet9822
23717Matt KensethRoush Fenway RacingFord9822
242410David ReutimannTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet9720
253793Travis KvapilBK RacingToyota9719
262283Landon CassillBK RacingToyota9718
273947Bobby LabonteJTG Daugherty RacingToyota9617
283234David RaganFront Row MotorsportsFord9616
29211Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota9016
30651Kurt BuschPhoenix RacingChevrolet8415
314132Jason WhiteFAS Lane RacingFord810
32888Dale Earnhardt, Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet8013
332018Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota7411
343630David StremmeInception MotorsportsToyota4310
352913Casey MearsGermain RacingFord409
363887Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsToyota370
373426Josh WiseFront Row MotorsportsFord347
384236Tony RainesTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet316
393019Mike BlissHumphrey Smith RacingToyota290
403537J. J. YeleyMax Q MotorsportsChevrolet274
414398Mike SkinnerPhil Parsons RacingFord263
424091Reed SorensonHumphrey Smith RacingFord100
433323Scott RiggsR3 MotorsportsToyota91
Source:[23]

Standings after the race

Lightning strikes

After the race, a spectator was killed by a lightning strike, while nine others (one critical) were injured.[24][25] The nine injured spectators were taken to area hospitals, and five of them were later taken to local hospitals for examination.[5] The track had tweeted for fans to "seek shelter as severe lightning and heavy winds are in our area",[26] and the fans were instructed by public address systems at the track to take cover. However, fans posted on the track's Facebook page that they could not hear the warnings, and a fan tweeted to the Associated Press that the noise levels at races are so loud that little could hear the public address system. The race wasn't called until 42 minutes after the warning, leading to questions over whether or not NASCAR should have ended the race earlier or stopped the race prior to Lap 81 (which would have led to a Monday morning resumption of the race as less than half distance was reached).[27] Race winner Jeff Gordon stated that he had heard a crack while he was on pit road.[26]

"You could tell it was very close. I mean, that's the thing that's going to take away from the victory, is the fact that somebody was affected by that."[26]

The victim, 41-year-old Brian Zimmerman from Moosic, Pennsylvania, was standing next to his car at the track's parking lot behind the Turn 3 grandstand. Bystanders had attempted to perform CPR on him until paramedics arrived. Zimmerman was later taken to the track's medical facility, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 6:11 pm. The victim that was in critical condition after getting struck was later in stable condition on August 6.[28]

The American flag at the track was flown at half-mast the morning after the race.[28] Pocono Raceway later established the "Pennsylvania 400 Memorial Fund" to help benefit the victims of the strikes.[29]

On August 5, 2014, Zimmerman's wife sued NASCAR, seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death.[30]

As a result, ACCUS-FIA, the governing body on motorsport in the United States that consists of the major motorsport sanctioning bodies (NASCAR, INDYCAR, IMSA, NHRA, SCCA, USAC, WKA), has adopted rules on lightning consistent with other sporting events. This applies to all motorsport in the United States governed by ACCUS-FIA members. If, at any time, weather radar detects lightning inside a 13 kilometer (eight mile) radius of the venue, spectator warnings are immediately delivered to clear the grandstands by public address system and video boards at the circuit. The race is immediately suspended, with a 30-minute suspension clock starting immediately. The safety car is deployed and leads the field to pit lane, with an immediate red flag. All race marshals are immediately sent indoors to a safe area, most transported by safety trucks. Teams then cover cars (removing electrical equipment) with drivers and crews (including media) headed to an indoor media centre. For each lightning strike inside the radius (marked on the weather radar), the 30-minute clock is reset. Activity may not resume until the 13 km area suffers no lightning strikes for 30 consecutive minutes. [31]

During the 2014 INDYCAR Barber round, the event was delayed and shortened because of lighting before the 3 PM CT start. At the Detroit INDYCAR Race 1 in 2015, the race ended because of lightning. At the 2017 IMSA Road America round for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the two-hour race ended at 1:20 because of lightning. At NASCAR's 2017 Brantley Gilbert Big Machine 400, the lightning policy was implemented on Lap 12. Twice in consecutive weeks during the 2019 season (Joliet and Daytona July), the lightning policy was implemented. The safety car was called on Lap 11 at Joliet and a restart was aborted on Lap 128 at Daytona because of lightning, leading to long delays caused by lightning. The Joliet race was suspended for more than three hours, while the Daytona race ended abruptly because of lightning and later rain. INDYCAR also called a lightning delay in 2019 at Detroit, where the race was shortened to 1 hour, 15 minutes after severe lightning delayed the start. Lightning also ended that season's Pocono round after 128 laps.

References

  1. "2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  2. Brown, Brian (August 1, 2012). "The Pennsylvania 400". RotoWorld.com. NBC Sports. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  3. "Cable Top 25: 'The Closer' Tops Cable Viewership For Week Ending August 6, 2012 - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  4. Track Release (2011-08-10). "Pocono Cup races shortened to 400 miles in 2012 – Aug 10, 2011". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  5. David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM. "Spectator killed by lightning strike at Pocono – Aug 06, 2012". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  6. "2012 NSCS Pennsylvania 400 Race Results". Catchfence.
  7. "Pennsylvania 400 Past Winners, History, Pennsylvania 400 Past Results, Previous Winners". Altiusdirectory.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-23. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  8. "List of NASCAR race tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  9. "Pocono Raceway". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  10. "2011 Good Sam RV Insurance 500". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  11. "Driver's Championship Classification". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  12. "Manufactures' Championship Classification". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  13. "Race Info Page". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  14. "Practice One Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  15. Jensen, Tom (August 3, 2012). "CUP: Johnson Opens Strong Again". Speed TV. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  16. "Practice Two Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  17. "Qualifying Entry List". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  18. Ryan, Nate (August 4, 2012). "Juan Pablo Montoya starts 1st at Pocono; can he stay there?". USA Today. Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  19. "Race Official Lineup". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  20. "NASCAR Pocono Race Underway After 90-Minute Rain Delay". SBNation.com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  21. NASCAR Wire Service (2012-08-06). "Gordon wins rain-shortened Pocono race – Aug 06, 2012". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  22. "CUP: Wild Card Race Wide Open". Fox News. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  23. "2012 Official Race Results : Pennsylvania 400". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  24. David Newton (2008-01-01). "One dead, nine others injured in lightning strikes following NASCAR race at Pocono – ESPN". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  25. DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer. "Fan Hit by Lightning Goes From Critical to Stable – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
  26. "Lightning kills one at Pocono Raceway – Philly.com". Articles.philly.com. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2012-08-11.
  27. "NASCAR fan killed by lightning strike at Pocono – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  28. Seth Livingstone, Special to NASCAR.COM (2012-08-07). "Weather warnings scrutinized after fan's death – Aug 07, 2012". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  29. Westfall, Bob (2012-08-03). "INSIDE TRACK: Pennsylvania 400 Memorial Fund Established to Bene – WTRF 7 News Sports Weather – Wheeling Steubenville". Wtrf.com. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  30. Thompson, Andrew (2014-08-05). "Widow Sues NASCAR for Lightning Strike". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  31. "Lighting Safety Toolkit for Outdoor Venues" (PDF). National Weather Service. 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
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