2012 Quicken Loans 400

Michigan International Speedway, where the race was held.

The 2012 Quicken Loans 400 was the 15th of 36 scheduled stock car races of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on June 17, 2012, in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway,[2] a superspeedway that holds NASCAR races.[6] The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn 2 mi (3.2 km) superspeedway.[7] The track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the front stretch (the location of the finish line) is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking.[7]

In preparation for the race, NASCAR held two test sessions on June 12, 2012 for teams to test the newer pavement at Michigan, the first since 1995.[8] During the first test session (which was held in the morning and lasted for four hours) Mark Martin was quickest ahead of Kevin Harvick with a speed of 201.089 miles per hour (323.621 km/h) and a time of 35.805 seconds, while Tony Stewart was fastest in the second and final test session with a time of 35.662 seconds and recorded a speed of 201.896 miles per hour (324.920 km/h). Top speeds approached 218 miles per hour (351 km/h) during the day; NASCAR determined that the installation of restrictor plates would not be required, and NASCAR vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton spoke of his expectation that speeds would reduce as the surface rubbered in and track temperatures increased.[9]

Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 523 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 513 points. Greg Biffle was in third place on 507 points, three points ahead of Denny Hamlin in fourth and fourteen points in front of Jimmie Johnson in fifth. Harvick, with 470 points, was five points in front of Martin Truex Jr., as Stewart with 448 points, was five points in front of Clint Bowyer in ninth and eight points in front of the tenth-placed Brad Keselowski. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch rounded out the top twelve drivers.[10] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 96 points, thirteen points ahead of Toyota in the second position. Ford, with 71 points, was also thirteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third place.[11] Hamlin was the race's defending champion.[12]

There were two driver changes heading into the race. After he was suspended from the preceding Pocono 400 for verbally abusing Sporting News reporter Bob Pockrass at the Nationwide Series round at Dover International Speedway, Kurt Busch was reinstated to the No. 51 Phoenix Racing car after David Reutimann drove in his place.[13][14] Team owner James Finch spoke to Busch during the week, and confirmed that the driver would remain with the team until the end of the year.[14] Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that driver Tony Raines would compete in its No. 10 car in place of Reutimann as part of the team's plan for the upcoming races.[15]

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race. The first and second sessions that took place on Friday ran for 80 minutes, and the third additional practice session held on Saturday lasted 75 minutes.[3] In the first practice session, Martin was fastest with a lap of 35.754 seconds, almost six hundredths of a second faster than Earnhardt in second. Trevor Bayne, Stewart, Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, and Truex followed in positions three to ten.[16] Biffle paced the second practice session with a 35.172 seconds lap. He was six hundredths of a second faster than Marcos Ambrose in the second position. Harvick, Edwards, Menard, Bayne, Johnson, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, and Kenseth completed the top ten ahead of the qualifying session.[16] The only incident in the Friday practice sessions was Jamie McMurray scraping the right-hand quarter of his vehicle when he made contact with the outside barrier.[16]

Marcos Ambrose had the first pole position of his career with a new track speed record of Michigan International Speedway.

Early average practice speeds approached 200 mph (320 km/h), breaking the official qualifying stock car speed record of 194.232 mph (312.586 km/h).[17] Blisters appeared on several front-side tires used by an estimated one-quarter of teams during the session, and that caused drivers to raise concerns about the speed they were driving at on the warm track surface and the hot weather temperatures that were experienced in the opening two practice sessions.[18] Harvick suggested that all the drivers slow to manage the wear of their tires when the track surface rubbered in,[18] while Edwards and Hamlin reported no issues with their tires; the former said he would discuss the situation with his crew chief Bob Osborne.[16] NASCAR's control tire supplier Goodyear advised all teams to scuff their tires, and run them through a heat cycle.[17] The tires run in practice were later utilized in the Saturday morning qualifying session.[19]

Forty-five drivers were entered in the qualifier on Saturday afternoon,[3][20] according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, 43 were allowed to race. Each driver was limited to two timed laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times.[3] Recording a track speed record of 203.241 mph (327.085 km/h) that broke's Ryan Newman's achievement in June 2005,[21][n 1] Ambrose clinched the first pole position of his career with a time of 35.426 seconds.[19] He was the fourth driver to complete a qualifying lap that was faster than 200 mph (320 km/h),[23] and it was the fastest speed set in any qualifier since Bill Elliott's 1987 Talladega Superspeedway lap.[21] He was joined on the grid's front row by Harvick who was 0.211 seconds slower, and held the pole until Ambrose's lap.[24] Biffle qualified third, Kahne took fourth, and Newman started fifth. Kenseth, Bayne, Stewart, Logano, and Johnson rounded out the top ten qualifiers.[21] Edwards' engine developed a possible fuel related issue on his warm-up lap, and he did not set a timed effort.[19][23] The two drivers who failed to qualify were David Stremme and Stacy Compton.[21] After qualifying, Ambrose said, "It is a good bragging right, I’ll give it that, I’m just really excited to get the speed, and to claim to be the fastest guy out there is just awesome. We’ve missed some poles — this is my first pole in Sprint Cup. We’ve missed some by thousandths of a second and conditions changing, so it’s good that we actually got one to stick, and one that’s got so many records attached to it."[25]

After qualifying, Goodyear changed the left-hand side tire combination, to one that was harder and more durable through consultation with teams and analysing data, but retained the original right-hand side compound. They transported 1,200 tires from a warehouse in North Carolina to ensure each team met NASCAR's requirement of using 10 sets of tires for the event, and they arrived in Michigan on Saturday afternoon.[n 2] An extra 75 minute practice session was scheduled after the track's Nationwide Series race.[26][27] Biffle was quickest with a lap of 36.801 seconds, followed by Johnson, Edwards, Kahne, McMurray, Kurt Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Truex, Martin, and Harvick.[28] Top speeds approached no higher than 195.647 mph (314.863 km/h), but the new left-hand side tires received a mixed reception from drivers. Newman spoke of his feeling that NASCAR made the correct decision, and Edwards predicted that the while the cars were looser, it would improve the quality of racing.[27] Earnhardt, however, commented that he could not complete extra laps due to a handling difficulty,[29] and Ambrose noted a lower amount of grip and increased vehicular imbalance provided by the tires.[27]

Live television coverage of the race began at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−05:00) in the United States on TNT. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were partly cloudy with the air temperature at 68 °F (20 °C); the air temperature was expected to reach a high of 83 °F (28 °C), and scattered showers were forecast to fall on the track. The start was delayed at 1:18 local time because jet driers were instructed to remove standing water. It began to drizzle 73 minutes later, and jet driers again circulated the track.[31] Doug Bradshaw, pastor of Williamston Free Methodist Church, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation.[3] Members of the United States Army Band performed the national anthem,[31] and Detroit Red Wings ice hockey starting goaltender Jimmy Howard and his son James commanded the drivers to start their engines.[32] During the pace laps, Johnson and Newman moved to the rear of the field because they had changed their engines.[3]

Matt Kenseth (pictured in 2009) led after passing Ambrose early in the race and eventually finished third after leading 17 laps.

The race commenced at 3:05 p.m. local time. Ambrose broke free from the pack to lead on the approach to the first turn. The first caution came on the following lap when Kurt Busch spun on the backstretch. Ambrose maintained the lead at the lap five restart and held off a challenge from Biffle. On lap six, Biffle tried again, and was successful next time round, getting ahead of Ambrose to take over the lead. Josh Wise's engine failed on lap ten, necessitating the second caution as oil was laid on the track. During the caution, Earnhardt and his teammate Biffle made pit stops. The race restarted six laps later, with Biffle keeping his lead over Ambrose. After starting ninth, Logano had moved into the third position by the 21st lap. On the next lap, Kenseth passed Logano to move into third place. A competition caution was waved on lap 26 to mandate that teams made pit stops because of the new left-hand side tires, and the track's newer pavement. Ambrose led the field at the restart on the 31st lap. Kenseth overtook Ambrose to claim the lead on the next lap.[2][31][33]

After starting 34th, Kyle Busch was running in seventh by lap 34. As Kenseth increased his lead over Ambrose, Martin overtook Logano for third place on the 39th lap. Four laps later, Logano lost the fourth position to Biffle. That same lap, Keselowski got ahead of Almirola for tenth. Upfront, Ambrose closed the gap to Kenseth, and he overtook him for the lead on lap 49 despite the presence of Ken Schrader's slower car. A second competition caution for drivers to make mandatory pit stops came out on lap 51. The caution was withdrawn five laps later, and Biffle led the field at the restart, followed by Ambrose and Martin. On lap 60, Ambrose attempted to challenge Biffle for the first position but he could not pass him. Keselowski moved into fifth four laps later. On the 69th lap, Ambrose passed Biffle for the lead, and Earnhardt got ahead of Biffle soon after. On the next lap, Earnhardt overtook Ambrose to become the new leader. While Earnhardt increased his advantage at the front of the pack, Martin got by Biffle to advance into third by the 79th lap.[31][33]

In the meantime, drivers elected to make green flag pit stops between the 78th to 81st laps. On lap 82, the fifth caution was prompted when foam from a SAFER barrier beside the circuit had to be cleared by series officials. Drivers continued to make pit stops under caution conditions. At the lap 87 restart, Earnhardt was passed by Stewart on the entry to the first turn for the first position. Newman and Logano got ahead of Ambrose to move into sixth and seventh places on lap 90. Ambrose lost a further four positions to Martin, Keselowski, Menard, and Montoya during lap 91. By the following lap, Gordon was in fourth place. Later, Stewart increased his lead over Earnhardt to seven-tenths of a second by lap 97. However, eight laps later, Earnhardt closed the gap to Stewart and passed him to get back the lead. Green flag pit stops were made from laps 115 and 120, before a sixth caution came out for Kurt Busch who spun for a second time in the second turn on the 121st lap. Gordon led at the lap 126 restart, but his teammate Earnhardt passed him around the outside in turn two soon after.[2][31][33]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (pictured in 2015) led a race-high 95 to end a 143-race winless streak and claim the 19th victory of his career.

On the lap, a seventh caution was prompted for a three-car accident, that began when Logano attempted to avoid hitting Gilliland (who made contact with the barrier), and lost control of his car. Logano turned back into the wall, collecting Gilliland and Kahne. Logano was transported out of the track via an ambulance as a precaution. The race restarted on the 133rd lap, with Earnhardt holding the lead over Gordon and Montoya through the first and second turns.[31][33] Soon after, the eighth caution was waved;[2] Hamlin and Newman made contact, sending Hamlin spinning on the exit to turn four,[34] and into the grass.[35] As Hamlin went down pit road with oil trailing from his car, its right-hand side caught fire, and he stopped in his pit box. Hamlin received assistance to exit his car by Newman's and Kyle Busch's pit crews, as safety officials extinguished the fire.[34][36] Hamlin was unhurt.[35] Earnhardt continued to maintain the lead through turn one at the lap 141 restart. Behind Earnhardt, Stewart kept second place from Gordon. Five laps later, Biffle passed Bowyer for fourth, and Ambrose was overtaken by Martin for tenth.[31][33]

Johnson got past Montoya on the 147th lap. Twelve laps later, Bowyer was passed by Kenseth. Biffle overtook Gordon to move into third on lap 160. The final round of green flag pit stops began on lap 163, as Earnhardt made his stop. Biffle, Bowyer, McMurray, and Keselowski each led the pack over the next seven laps, until Earnhardt regained the lead after all pit stops had been completed. On lap 186, Biffle lost third place to Johnson. Six laps later, Johnson lost third to Kenseth, and fell to fifth as Biffle got ahead of him.[31][33] In the meantime, Earnhardt opened his lead at the front of the field to more than five seconds, and he held it for the remainder of the race to win. It was his first victory in 143 races, his second at Michigan International Speedway, and the 19th of his career.[35] Stewart finished second, Kenseth was third, Biffle took fourth, and Johnson fifth. Gordon, Bowyer, Montoya, Ambrose, and Harvick rounded out the top ten finishers. There were 23 lead changes among 14 different drivers during the race. Earnhardt's 95 laps led was the most of any competitor.[2]