2011 Bank of America 500

2011 Bank of America 500

Race details[1][2][3]
Race 31 of 36 in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date	October 15, 2011
Location	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Distance	334 laps, 501 mi (806 km)
Weather	Clear with temperatures around 72 °F (22 °C), wind WNW at 8 mph.
Average speed	146.194 miles per hour (235.276 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Tony Stewart	Stewart Haas Racing
Time	28.131
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	110
Winner
No. 17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett, and Andy Petree

The 2011 Bank of America 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 15, 2011, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt quad-oval, it was the 31st race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the fifth race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season. The race was won by Matt Kenseth for the Roush Fenway Racing team. Kyle Busch finished second, and Carl Edwards clinched third.

Report

Background

Charlotte Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.^[4] The standard track at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long.^[5] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also had a five degree banking.^[5] The racetrack has seats for 140,000 spectators.^[5]

Heading into the fifth race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Ford driver Carl Edwards was leading the Drivers' Championship with 2,161 points; Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick was second with 2,160 points, one point behind Edwards.^[6] Behind Edwards and Harvick in the Drivers' Championship, Jimmie Johnson was third with 2,157 points in a Chevrolet, and Brad Keselowski was fourth with 2,150 points. Matt Kenseth was fifth with 2,149, four points ahead of Kurt Busch.^[6] Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jeff Gordon rounded out the first ten positions in the Drivers' Championship.^[6] Chevrolet had already secured the Manufacturer's Championship one week earlier after the Hollywood Casino 400, and entered the race on 204 points, 43 points ahead of Ford on 161 points and 50 points ahead of Toyota.^[7] Jamie McMurray was the race's defending winner.^[8]

Practice and qualifying

Tony Stewart qualified on the pole position for Stewart Haas Racing

Three practice sessions were held before the race; the first on Thursday, which lasted 90 minutes. The second and third were both on Friday afternoon. The first Saturday practice lasted 45 minutes, while the second lasted 60.^[9] Kasey Kahne was quickest with a time of 28.205 seconds in the first session, 0.018 seconds faster than Paul Menard.^[10] Greg Biffle was just off Busch's pace, followed by Mark Martin, Regan Smith, and Marcos Ambrose. Denny Hamlin was seventh, still within two-tenths of a second of Edwards's time.^[10]

Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.^[11] Stewart clinched the 13th pole position of his career, with a time of 28.131 seconds.^[12] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kenseth.^[12] Edwards qualified third, A. J. Allmendinger took fourth, and Biffle started fifth.^[12] Ryan Newman, Menard, Kahne, Johnson and Trevor Bayne rounded out the first ten positions. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Geoffrey Bodine, Scott Speed, and Josh Wise.^[12]

Once the qualifying session completed, Stewart commented, "I was watching guys' lap times, and looking at the sheet to seeing what they practiced, and it wasn't as much [of an increase] as what we've seen. I think, obviously, we've had a lot of cloud cover today and cool temperatures here the last couple of days, so I don't think the track changed as much and got as hot during the day as what we typically see here. I think that's the reason that we didn't have the big pick-ups. But you still anticipate that, at night, the guys are going to pick up speed. It just seems like the air's a little muggier right now. I don't know whether that hurt horsepower or even created more drag and kind of evened everything out."^[13]

In the second practice session, Keselowski was fastest with a time of 28.810 seconds, less than a tenth of a second quicker than second-placed Kahne. Newman took third place, ahead of Kurt Busch, Stewart and Kyle Busch. Johnson was only quick enough for the 10th position.^[14] In the third and final practice, Kahne remained quickest with a time of 28.700 seconds. Menard followed in second, ahead of Biffle and Johnson. Jeff Burton was fifth quickest, with a time of 28.855 seconds. Newman, Ambrose, Gordon, Allmendinger, and Kurt Busch rounded out the first ten positions.^[15]

Results

Qualifying

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time	Speed	Grid
14	Tony Stewart	Stewart Haas Racing	Chevrolet	28.131	191.959	1
17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.137	191.918	2
99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.144	191.870	3
43	A. J. Allmendinger	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	28.159	191.768	4
16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.163	191.741	5
39	Ryan Newman	Stewart Haas Racing	Chevrolet	28.186	191.585	6
27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.204	191.462	7
4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Racing Team	Toyota	28.214	191.394	8
48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.222	191.340	9
21	Trevor Bayne	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	28.234	191.259	10
6	David Ragan	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.272	191.002	11
9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	28.272	191.002	12
5	Mark Martin	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.287	190.900	13
29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.288	190.894	14
88	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.297	190.833	15
20	Joey Logano	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.299	190.820	16
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.302	190.799	17
56	Martin Truex, Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	28.326	190.638	18
33	Clint Bowyer	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.330	190.611	19
22	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Dodge	28.336	190.570	20
78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	28.357	190.429	21
47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	28.383	190.255	22
24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.420	190.007	23
13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Toyota	28.462	189.727	24
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.490	189.540	25
2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Dodge	28.493	189.520	26
1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	28.511	189.401	27
31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.559	189.082	28
00	David Reutimann	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	28.583	188.923	29
51	Landon Cassill	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	28.594	188.851	30
83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Racing Team	Toyota	28.606	188.772	31
42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	28.613	188.725	32
34	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	28.632	188.600	33
55	Travis Kvapil	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	28.682	188.271	34
36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	28.687	188.239	35
30	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.736	187.918	36
66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing	Toyota	28.807	187.454	37
38	J. J. Yeley	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	28.818	187.383	38
87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Toyota	28.829	187.311	39
77	Andy Lally	TRG Motorsports	Ford	28.930	186.657	40
71	Hermie Sadler	TRG Motorsports	Ford	29.083	185.676	41
32	Mike Bliss	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	29.120	185.440	42
7	Robby Gordon	Robby Gordon Motorsports	Dodge	28.985	186.303	43
Failed to Qualify
35	Geoffrey Bodine	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	28.994	186.245
46	Scott Speed	Whitney Motorsports	Ford	29.000	186.207
37	Josh Wise	Max Q Motorsports	Ford	29.129	185.382
Source:[12][16][17]

Race results

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps Run	Points
1	2	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	334	47
2	25	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	334	44
3	3	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	334	42
4	8	4	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Racing Team	Toyota	334	40
5	12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	334	39
6	14	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	334	38
7	4	43	A. J. Allmendinger	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	334	37
8	1	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart Haas Racing	Chevrolet	334	37
9	17	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	334	35
10	6	39	Ryan Newman	Stewart Haas Racing	Chevrolet	334	35
11	11	6	David Ragan	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	334	34
12	16	20	Joey Logano	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	334	32
13	20	22	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	Dodge	334	31
14	32	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	334	31
15	5	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	334	30
16	26	2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Dodge	333	28
17	7	27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	333	27
18	28	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	333	26
19	15	88	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	333	25
20	31	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Racing Team	Toyota	333	24
21	23	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	333	23
22	38	38	J. J. Yeley	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	333	23
23	18	56	Martin Truex, Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	332	21
24	19	33	Clint Bowyer	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	332	20
25	21	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	332	19
26	29	00	David Reutimann	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	332	18
27	27	1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	332	17
28	30	51	Landon Cassill	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	332	0
29	22	47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	331	15
30	42	32	Mike Bliss	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	331	0
31	10	21	Trevor Bayne	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	329	0
32	24	13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Toyota	323	12
33	41	71	Hermie Sadler	TRG Motorsports	Ford	322	0
34	9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	316	11
35	35	36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	292	9
36	33	34	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	289	8
37	13	5	Mark Martin	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	287	7
38	43	7	Robby Gordon	Robby Gordon Motorsports	Dodge	33	6
39	37	66	Michael McDowell	HP Racing	Toyota	30	5
40	34	55	Travis Kvapil	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	27	0
41	36	30	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports	Chevrolet	22	3
42	40	77	Andy Lally	TRG Motorsports	Ford	20	0
43	39	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Toyota	11	0
Source:[18]

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Carl Edwards 2,203 2 Kevin Harvick 2,198 3 Matt Kenseth 2,196 4 Kyle Busch 2,185 5 Tony Stewart 2,179 6 Brad Keselowski 2,178 7 Kurt Busch 2,176 8 Jimmie Johnson 2,168 9 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 2,143 10 Ryan Newman 2,142 11 Jeff Gordon 2,137 12 Denny Hamlin 2,117

Manufacturers' Championship standings[7] Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 208 2 Ford 170 3 Toyota 160 4 Dodge 144 Note: Only the first twelve positions are included for the driver standings.

References

1. "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
2. Brown, Brian. "The Bank of America 500". October 11, 2011. RotoWorld.com. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
3. "Stewart claims pole at Charlotte". inRacingNews.com. October 14, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
4. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
5. "NASCAR Tracks—The Charlotte Motor Speedway". Charlotte Motor Speedway. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
6. "Pre-race Drivers' Championship Standings". NASCAR. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
7. "Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site – 2011 Manufacturers Championship Standings". Jayski.com. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
8. "2010 Bank of America 500". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
9. "Jayski'sŽ NASCAR Silly Season Site – Sprint Cup Race Info / Rundown Page". Jayski.com. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
10. "Practice One Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
11. "Qualifying Entry List". NASCAR. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
12. "Race Official Lineup". Nascar.Com. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
13. "Stewart scores Charlotte Cup pole, his first of '11". Sporting News Wire Service. NASCAR. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
14. "Practice Two Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
15. "Practice Three Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
16. "Lineup Statistics". Motor Racing Network. International Speedway Corporation. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
17. "Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site — Indianapolis Sprint Cup Qualifying Order/Results, Lineup". Jayski.com. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
18. "Bank of America 500 Race Results". Motor Racing Network. International Speedway Corporation. October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011.