Motor car race
The
2012 GEICO 400
was a
NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series
stock car
race held on September 16, 2012, at
Chicagoland Speedway
in
Joliet, Illinois
. Contested over 267 laps, it was the twenty-seventh in the
2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
, as well as the first race in the ten-race
Chase for the Sprint Cup
, which ends the season.
Report
[
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]
Background
[
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]
Chicagoland Speedway
is one of ten
intermediate tracks
to hold
NASCAR
races; the others are
Atlanta Motor Speedway
,
Kansas Speedway
,
Charlotte Motor Speedway
,
Darlington Raceway
,
Homestead Miami Speedway
,
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
,
Kentucky Speedway
,
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
, and
Texas Motor Speedway
.
[3]
The standard track at Chicagoland Speedway is a four-turn
tri-oval
track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long.
[4]
The track's turns are each
banked
at 18
degrees
and have a turn width of 55 feet.
[4]
The racetrack has a grandstand capacity of 75,000.
[4]
Before the race,
Denny Hamlin
led the
Drivers' Championship
with 2,012 points, with
Jimmie Johnson
in second place with, 2,009.
Tony Stewart
and
Brad Keselowski
were tied with Johnson for the second position, while
Greg Biffle
had 2,006 points.
Clint Bowyer
also with 2,006 points was one point ahead of
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
and
Matt Kenseth
, as
Kevin Harvick
and
Martin Truex Jr.
rounded out the top ten with 2,000 points each.
[5]
In the parallel
Chase for the Sprint Cup
,
Kasey Kahne
and
Jeff Gordon
both started with their points total reset to 2,000.
[5]
In the
Manufacturers' Championship
,
Chevrolet
was leading with 179 points, twenty-four points ahead of
Toyota
.
Ford
, with 129 points, was twenty points ahead of
Dodge
in the battle for third place.
[6]
Stewart was the race's defending winner.
[7]
Practice and qualifying
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]
Two practice sessions were held in preparation for the race; both on Friday, September 14, 2012. The first session and second session lasted for 90 minutes each.
[8]
During the first practice session, Truex Jr., for the
Michael Waltrip Racing
team, was quickest ahead of Earnhardt Jr. in second and Keselowski in third.
[9]
Trevor Bayne
was scored fourth, and Hamlin managed fifth.
[9]
Jamie McMurray
,
Mark Martin
,
Jeff Burton
,
Carl Edwards
and
Ryan Newman
rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.
[9]
Kyle Busch
was quickest in the second and final practice session, ahead of
Aric Almirola
in second, and Martin in third.
[10]
Edwards was fourth quickest, and Hamlin took fifth.
[10]
Kahne, Johnson, Bayne, Kenseth, and Gordon followed in the top ten.
[10]
Of the other drivers in the
Chase for the Sprint Cup
, Stewart was scored fourteenth fastest, while Truex Jr. was scored twenty-fifth.
[10]
Forty-seven cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could race because of NASCAR's
qualifying procedure
.
[11]
Johnson clinched his second
pole position
in the season, with a time of 29.530.
[12]
He was joined on the front row of the
grid
by Almirola.
[12]
Kenseth qualified third, Earnhardt Jr. took fourth, and Edwards started fifth.
[12]
Biffle, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twenty-second, while Harvick was scored thirty-fifth.
[12]
The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were
Scott Riggs
,
Reed Sorenson
,
J. J. Yeley
, and
Jason Leffler
.
[12]
Results
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]
Race results
[
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]
Standings after the race
[
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]
- Drivers' Championship standings
Pos
|
Driver
|
Points
|
1
|
Brad Keselowski
|
2,056
|
2
|
Jimmie Johnson
|
2,053
|
3
|
Tony Stewart
|
2,048
|
4
|
Denny Hamlin
|
2,041
|
5
|
Kasey Kahne
|
2,041
|
6
|
Clint Bowyer
|
2,041
|
7
|
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
|
2,039
|
8
|
Greg Biffle
|
2,037
|
9
|
Martin Truex Jr.
|
2,035
|
10
|
Kevin Harvick
|
2,032
|
11
|
Matt Kenseth
|
2,030
|
12
|
Jeff Gordon
|
2,009
|
|
- Manufacturers' Championship standings
[6]
- Note
: Only the first twelve positions are included for the driver standings.
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule"
. ESPN
. Retrieved
September 8,
2012
.
- ^
Brown, Brian (September 11, 2012).
"The GEICO 400"
.
RotoWorld.com
. NBC Sports. Archived from
the original
on September 12, 2012
. Retrieved
September 15,
2012
.
- ^
"NASCAR Race Tracks"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports. Archived from
the original
on August 15, 2010
. Retrieved
September 9,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
"NASCAR Tracks?The Chicagoland Speedway"
. Chicagoland Speedway. Archived from
the original
on 2012-06-23
. Retrieved
September 9,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Pre-race Driver's Championship Classification"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports
. Retrieved
September 14,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Manufacturers' Championship Classification"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. ESPN. Archived from
the original
on November 30, 2012
. Retrieved
September 14,
2012
.
- ^
"2011 GEICO 400"
.
Racing-Reference
. USA Today Sports Media Group
. Retrieved
September 14,
2012
.
- ^
"Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site ? Sprint Cup Race Info / Rundown Page"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. ESPN. Archived from
the original
on September 12, 2012
. Retrieved
September 9,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Practice One Timing and Scoring"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports
. Retrieved
September 14,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Practice Two Timing and Scoring"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports
. Retrieved
September 14,
2012
.
- ^
"Qualifying Order"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports
. Retrieved
September 15,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Race Lineup: Chicagoland"
.
NASCAR
. Turner Sports
. Retrieved
September 15,
2012
.