2011 Tums Fast Relief 500

2011 TUMS Fast Relief 500
Race details
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

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 (847 m) 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.

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. The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long. 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. The racetrack has seats for 63,000 spectators.

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. 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. Hamlin was the race's defending champion.

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. However, wet track conditions postponed and combined the sessions into one practice session on Saturday. Afterward, the only session was delayed because of the wet track conditions. Once the first and only session of practice began, Michael McDowell was quickest with a time of 19.747 seconds in the first session, 0.023 seconds faster than Clint Bowyer. 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. Also in the session, there was a collision involving Harvick and Greg Biffle. Neither car was severely damaged from the incident.

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

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. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature around 50 °F (10 °C). 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. 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
99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1
17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2
2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 3
14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 4
29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 5
18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 6
48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7
22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 8
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9
24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 11
39 Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 12
33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 13
4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 14
16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 15
43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 16
9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 17
6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18
5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 19
42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 20
27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 21
20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22
31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23
56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 24
83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 25
78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 26
1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 27
00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28
47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 29
51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 30
34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 31
36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 32
13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 33
32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 34
38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 35
71 Hermie Sadler TRG Motorsports Ford 36
7 Reed Sorenson Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 37
37 Mike Skinner Max Q Motorsports Ford 38
46 Scott Speed Whitney Motorsports Ford 39
66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 40
87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 41
30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 42
55 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 43
Failed to Qualify
92 Dennis Setzer K-Automotive Motorsports Chevrolet
75 Derrike Cope Stratus Racing Group Dodge
Note: Since qualifying was cancelled, there were no time trials.
Sources:

Race results

Pos Grid Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points
1 4 14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 500 47
2 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 43
3 10 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 42
4 5 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 41
5 11 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 40
6 23 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 38
7 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 37
8 24 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 500 36
9 1 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 36
10 12 39 Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 500 35
11 16 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 500 34
12 33 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 500 32
13 26 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 500 31
14 8 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 500 30
15 15 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 29
16 35 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 500 0
17 3 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 500 27
18 22 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 26
19 13 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 25
20 28 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 500 24
21 34 32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 500 23
22 20 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 497 22
23 32 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 497 21
24 21 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 497 21
25 14 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 495 19
26 36 71 Hermie Sadler TRG Motorsports Ford 493 0
27 6 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 493 19
28 19 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 491 16
29 17 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 488 15
30 25 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 484 14
31 2 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 477 14
32 29 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 464 12
33 18 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 444 11
34 31 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 357 11
35 27 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 85 9
36 37 7 Reed Sorenson Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 77 0
37 39 46 Scott Speed Whitney Motorsports Ford 74 0
38 42 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 52 6
39 40 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 45 0
40 43 55 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 4
41 41 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 33 0
42 30 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 27 0
43 38 37 Mike Skinner Max Q Motorsports Ford 7 0
Source:

Standings after the race


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