The 2009 Samsung 500 was the seventh stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on April 5, 2009, at Texas Motor Speedway, in Fort Worth, Texas before a crowd of 176,300 people. The 334-lap race was won by Jeff Gordon of the Hendrick Motorsports team after starting from second position. His teammate Jimmie Johnson finished second and Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle placed third.
Gordon was the Drivers' Championship leader with 959 points entering the event. David Reutimann won the pole position by recording the fastest lap time in the qualifying session, and maintained his lead going into the first corner to begin the race, but Gordon took over the lead before the first lap was over. Afterward, Reutimann took back the lead, holding it until Matt Kenseth passed him on lap 47. Gordon led after the final pit stops. In the final laps, Johnson was gaining on Gordon, but Gordon maintained the lead to achieve the race victory. There were six cautions and twenty-eight lead changes among thirteen different drivers during the race.
The race was Gordon's first win of the 2009 season, and the eighty-second of his career. The result kept Gordon in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, one-hundred and sixty-two ahead of Johnson, and one-hundred and eighty ahead of Kurt Busch. Chevrolet increased its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, ten points ahead of Ford, who bumped Toyota to third place, with twenty-nine races remaining in the season remaining. The race attracted 7.4 million television viewers.
Background
The 2009 Samsung 500 was the seventh of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It took place on April 5, 2009, in Fort Worth, Texas, at Texas Motor Speedway, an intermediate track that holds NASCAR races. The standard track at Texas Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch have a five degree banking.
Before the race, Jeff Gordon led the Drivers' Championship with 959 points, followed by Clint Bowyer with 870. Kurt Busch was third with 827 points, Jimmie Johnson was fourth with 817 and Denny Hamlin was fifth with 811 points. Kurt's younger brother Kyle Busch, along with Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top ten. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 39 points, five points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 32 points, was five points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third place. Edwards was the race's defending champion.
Jeff Gordon had not won a race at Texas Motor Speedway in 16 attempts and said he would not base anything based on his second-place finish at the circuit in late 2008, "The team worked hard over the offseason and our performances on intermediate tracks have improved. We are just a different team with different race cars right now. Texas is one of those places that is on my radar. I want to turn things around and conquer it."
Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were before the Sunday race — one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The third and final practice session lasted 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Mark Martin was fastest with a lap of 28.467 seconds, placing ahead of David Reutimann in second and Kurt Busch in third. Greg Biffle was scored fourth, and Johnson placed fifth. Jeff Gordon, Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Stremme and David Ragan rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session.
Forty-eight drivers were entered in the qualifier on Friday afternoon; according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, forty-three were allowed to race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. Reutimann clinched his second pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 28.344 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Jeff Gordon, who held the pole position until Reutimann's lap. Matt Kenseth qualified third, Ragan took fourth in his best qualifying performance of the season, and Paul Menard started fifth to put three Fords in the first five places. Kahne in sixth was the sole Dodge driver in the top ten positions. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Johnson were in places seventh to ninth. Joey Logano followed in tenth place due to his car being difficult to steer. The five drivers who failed to qualify were Joe Nemechek, Scott Speed, Jeremy Mayfield, Todd Bodine and Scott Riggs. After the qualifier Reutimann said, "We had a great car all day, right off the truck. This pole reminds me of how much things have changed for me in the past few years. I didn't make the field here two years ago, during a bad time in my racing career."
On Saturday morning, Reuitmann was fastest in the second practice session by setting a time of 28.999 seconds, ahead of Johnson in second, and Hamlin in third. Edwards was fourth quickest, and Jeff Gordon took fifth. Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton rounded out the top ten. Later that day, Johnson paced the final practice session with a time of 29.393 seconds, with Hamlin and Kyle Busch followed in second and third respectively. Jamie McMurray was fourth fastest, ahead of David Gilliland and Burton. Martin placed seventh, Edwards eighth, Juan Pablo Montoya ninth, and Martin Truex Jr. tenth.
Qualifying results Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 100 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.344 190.516 224 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.392 190.194 317 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.428 189.954 46 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.431 189.934 598 Paul Menard Robert Yates Racing Ford 28.435 189.907 69 Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 28.436 189.000 714 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 28.450 189.907 818 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.507 189.427 948 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.508 189.421 1020 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.531 189.268 1147 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 28.538 189.221 1277 Sam Hornish Jr.Team Penske Dodge 28.539 189.215 1399 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.545 189.175 1416 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.548 189.155 1531 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.553 189.122 1642 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.593 188.857 1729 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.597 188.831 1883 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 28.605 188.778 1933 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.606 188.772 2088 Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.610 188.745 2139 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 28.628 188.626 2211 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.641 188.541 235 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.645 188.515 2496 Bobby Labonte Hall of Fame Racing Ford 28.652 188.469 2544 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 28.678 188.298 2634 John Andretti Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 28.679 188.291 2709 Mike Bliss Phoenix Racing Dodge 28.722 188.009 282 Kurt Busch Penske Championship Racing Dodge 28.731 187.950 297 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 28.739 187.898 30171 David Gilliland TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 28.749 187.833 311 Martin Truex Jr.Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.772 187.682 3212 David Stremme Penske Racing Dodge 28.801 187.493 3378 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 28.802 187.487 3455 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.830 187.305 3507 Casey Mears Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.834 187.279 3626 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.840 187.240 3721 Bill Elliott Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.871 187.039 3843 Reed Sorenson Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 28.885 186.948 39113 Max Papis Germain Racing Toyota 28.955 186.496 4025 Brad Keselowski Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.977 186.355 418 Aric Almirola Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.008 186.156 4219 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 29.606 182.395 4366 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 29.015 186.111 44187 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 29.027 186.034 4582 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 29.065 185.790 4641 Jeremy Mayfield Mayfield Motorsports Toyota 29.135 185.344 4764 Todd Bodine Gunselman Motorsports Toyota 29.261 184.546 4836 Scott Riggs Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota 29.352 183.974
Race Television coverage for the race began at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time live in the United States on Fox. Commentary was provided by Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip. Wind speeds at the start of the race were between . Roger Marsh of Texas Alliance Raceway Ministries began pre-race ceremonies with the invocation. Pianist Lewis Warren Jr. performed the national anthem, and contest winner Mark Fredde commanded the drivers to start their engines. No driver was required to move to the rear of the grid at the start of the race.
The race began at 2:17 p.m. Jeff Gordon passed Reuitmann almost immediately by the end of the first lap. Three laps later, Kurt Busch collided with Robby Gordon, with the latter sustaining minor damage and both drivers managed to continue. On lap eight, Reutimann took back the lead from Jeff Gordon by passing him in the third turn. Jeff Gordon dropped a further position when he was passed by Kenseth during the following lap. By lap 20, Reuitmann had a lead of about 1.6 seconds over Kenseth. Kurt Busch, who began the race in twenty-sixth, had moved up seven positions to nineteenth by lap 24. On lap 29, Stewart claimed fifth from Menard.
By lap 30, Earnhardt had moved up eight positions to twelfth. Ten laps later, Reutimann had maintained a lead of 1.7 seconds over Kenseth. On lap 42, Marcos Ambrose moved into seventh. Five laps later, Kenseth claimed the lead off Reutimann who was blocked by Casey Mears. On lap 51, green flag pit stops began, as Kenseth made a pit stop handling the lead to Stewart. On lap 54, Kyle Busch became the new race leader after Stewart came into pit road. Kyle Busch made a pit stop one lap later, handing the lead back to Kenseth. By lap 60, Kenseth had built up his lead over Reutimann by over two seconds. Eight laps later, Stewart passed Reutimann for second. On lap 79, Biffle passed Reutimann for third. Seven laps later, Stewart claimed the lead from Kenseth. During the 97th lap, debris was spotted on the backstretch, prompting the first caution of the race. During the caution, all of the drivers on the lead lap made pit stops. Kenseth reclaimed the lead and maintained it at the restart on lap 103.
On the 109th lap, Kyle Busch's car suffered a cut left front tire from contact with John Andretti, forcing Kyle Busch to come to pit road. Seven laps later, Biffle passed Kenseth on the outside in the dogleg for the lead, while Jeff Gordon passed Reuitmann for fourth thirteen laps later. By the 135th lap, Biffle had built a lead over Kenseth to three seconds. Green flag pit stops began on the 152nd lap; Kenseth made his pit stop on the same lap. Johnson and Biffle made a pit stop the next lap, handing the lead to Jeff Gordon. After pit stops, Biffle reclaimed the first position. On lap 157, Elliott Sadler spun out exiting the final corner and went sideways across the start/finish line, causing the second caution. None of the leaders elected to pit under the caution. The race restarted on lap 162 with Biffle in the lead, ahead of Kenseth and Jeff Gordon. By the 190th lap, Biffle's lead was three seconds. Another round of green flag pit stops began on lap 203 when Truex made a pit stop; Kenseth was the first of the leaders to pit the following lap. On lap 208, Jeff Gordon became the new race leader after Biffle came into pit road. After pit stops, Biffle reclaimed the top position.