The 2009 AAA 400 was the twenty-eighth stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the second in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. It was held on September 27, 2009, at Dover International Speedway, in Dover, Delaware before a crowd of 110,000 people. The 400-lap race was won by Jimmie Johnson of the Hendrick Motorsports team after he started from pole position. His teammate Mark Martin finished second and Roush Fenway Racing driver Matt Kenseth was third.
Martin was the pre-race Drivers' Championship leader with a 35-point margin over Johnson and Denny Hamlin in second. Johnson won the pole position with the fastest overall lap time in the qualifying session and maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race. After a competition caution to allow for tire checks on lap 25, Ryan Newman became the leader of the race. Chase for the Sprint Cup participants Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon were in the top ten for most of the race. Johnson reclaimed the lead, after passing Kurt Busch on the 176th lap. Johnson maintained the first position to lead the most laps of 271, and to win his fourth race of the season. There were nine cautions and six lead changes among four different drivers during the course of the race.
The race victory was Johnson's fourth of the 2009 season, as well as the forty-fourth of his career. The result kept Martin in the lead in the Drivers' Championship, ten points ahead of Johnson, and sixty-five in front of Juan Pablo Montoya. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, forty-five ahead of Toyota and seventy-five in front of Ford, who bumped Dodge, with one-hundred and twenty-two points, to fourth place. The race attracted 5.08 million television viewers.
Background
The 2009 AAA 400 was the twenty-eighth of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the second in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. It took place on September 27, 2009, in Dover, Delaware, at Dover International Speedway, a short track that holds NASCAR races. The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval 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 backstretch are banked at nine degrees.
Before the race, Mark Martin led the Drivers' Championship with 5,230 points; Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin were tied for second with 5,195 points each, 35 points behind Martin. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth with 5,175 points, ten ahead of Kurt Busch and nineteen ahead of Tony Stewart in fifth and sixth respectively. Ryan Newman with 5,151 was eleven points ahead of Brian Vickers, as Greg Biffle with 5,138 points, was ten ahead of Jeff Gordon. Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top twelve positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with 5,117 and 5,069 points respectively. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 199 points, thirty-nine points ahead of their rivals Toyota in second place. Dodge, with 118 points, were one point ahead of Ford in the battle for third place. Johnson was the race's defending champion.
Johnson had finished first in the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover earlier in the season, and he entered the AAA 400, an event that thought he had the opportunity to win, as optimistic. He thought that track evolution and significant to car balances would make for better racing for the event. His teammate Martin, who won the preceding Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, said he hoped to drive fast and win the race at Dover but stressed the importance of avoiding getting overexcited, "There's a lot of stuff left to happen and a lot of racing left to happen. Don't get carried away". After finishing third at New Hampshire, Montoya acknowledged he and his team's lack of experience of being in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and said that he had to perform to the best of his ability, "There's no holding back, nothing, we have to go... We are doing the best we can and hopefully we are going to be good enough to at least fight for it"
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, and the second 45 minutes. The final session lasted 60 minutes. In the first practice session, Johnson was fastest by setting a lap of 22.781 seconds, placing ahead of Newman in second and Montoya in third. Biffle took fourth position and Kurt Busch placed fifth. A. J. Allmendinger, David Reutimann, Kevin Harvick, Martin and David Gilliland rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session. During the session, Bowyer broke a rocker arm, and his team changed engines as a consequence.
There were forty-four drivers 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. Johnson clinched the 21st pole position of his career, with a lap of 22.878 seconds that he recorded at his first attempt. He was joined on the grid's front row by Montoya who held pole position until Johnson's lap. Newman qualified third, Biffle took fourth and Reutimann started fifth. Kahne, Gordon, Bowyer, Sam Hornish Jr. and Paul Menard completed the top ten positions. The driver that failed to qualify was Scott Wimmer, who set the slowest overall lap time. During qualifying, Elliott Sadler's changed his car's engine, after one failed during the session. After the qualifier Johnson said, "A pole today will make the start of the weekend much better and give us a lot of direction and momentum moving into tomorrow, It does carry you, and there is an aspect of momentum. But at the same time, you've got to go out and perform."
On Saturday morning, Kurt Busch was fastest in the second practice session with a time of 23.524 seconds, ahead of Montoya in second, and Newman in third. Johnson was fourth quickest, and Bowyer took fifth. Kyle Busch managed sixth. Stewart, Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Gilliland followed in the top ten. Of the other drivers in the Chase, Biffle finished with the eleventh fastest time, while Kahne set the fourteenth fastest time. Kahne set the fastest time of 23.682 seconds in the final practice session, while Montoya and Joey Logano followed in second and third respectively. Martin was fourth quickest, ahead of Biffle and Johnson. Kurt Busch was seventh fastest, Jamie McMurray eighth, Gilliland ninth and Martin Truex Jr. tenth. Other chase drivers included Newman in eleventh and Hamlin in eighteenth.
Qualifying results Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 148 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.878 157.356 242 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.974 156.699 339 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 23.019 156.393 416 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 23.035 156.284 500 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 23.080 155.979 69 Kasey Kahne Evernham Motorsports Dodge 23.096 155.871 724 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.110 155.777 833 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23.143 155.555 977 Sam Hornish Jr.Team Penske Dodge 23.152 155.494 1098 Paul Menard Robert Yates Racing Ford 23.161 155.434 1120 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 23.170 155.373 1283 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 23.173 155.353 1311 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 23.197 155.193 145 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.219 155.045 1518 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 23.227 154.992 162 Kurt Busch Penske Championship Racing Dodge 23.240 154.905 1712 David Stremme Penske Racing Dodge 23.251 154.832 1871 David Gilliland TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 23.280 154.639 1944 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 23.281 154.633 2029 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23.285 154.606 216 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 23.290 154.573 2214 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 23.296 154.533 2317 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 23.304 154.480 2488 Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.315 154.407 2526 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford 23.333 154.288 2643 Reed Sorenson Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 23.356 154.136 2747 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 23.366 154.070 2831 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23.395 153.879 2907 Casey Mears Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23.406 153.807 3099 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 23.444 153.557 317 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 23.462 153.440 321 Martin Truex Jr.Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 23.470 153.387 3378 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 23.497 153.211 3419 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 23.513 153.107 3566 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 23.518 153.074 3609 Mike Bliss Phoenix Racing Dodge 23.525 153.029 3734 John Andretti Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 23.539 152.938 3855 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 23.549 152.873 3982 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 23.588 152.620 4087 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 23.677 152.046 4196 Bobby Labonte Hall of Fame Racing Ford 23.684 152.001 4237 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Dodge 23.755 151.547 4336 Michael McDowell Prism Motorsports Toyota 23.780 151.388 444 Scott Wimmer Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 24.121 149.247
Race The race commenced at 2:17 p.m. and was televised live in the United States on ESPN. Commentary was provided by Jerry Punch, Dale Jarrett, and Andy Petree. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were cloudy with the air temperature ; a moderate chance of rain was forecast. Pastor Dan Schafer began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Country music group and Show Dog-Universal Music recording artists Trailer Choir performed the national anthem, and Sergeant Major John Jones of the Pennsylvania National Guard gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Bowyer, Sadler and Tony Raines all had to move to the rear of the grid because of them changing their engines. NASCAR announced that a competition caution would take place on lap 25 to allow teams to check tire wear as a result of rain falling on the circuit overnight that removed most of the rubber laid down, meaning drivers would make mandatory pit stops. This also meant that teams would not be permitted to refuel their vehicles.
Johnson maintained his pole position lead into the first corner. One lap later, Newman passed Montoya for the second position. After starting the race in twelfth, Martin had lost four positions to run eighteenth by lap four. By the tenth lap, Johnson had built up a 1.2 second lead over Newman. Bowyer, who began the race at the rear of the grid, had moved up thirteen positions to twenty-ninth by lap 15. Two laps later, Raines drove to his garage. On lap 18, Kurt Busch passed Vickers for ninth, as Kahne claimed fourth position from Biffle, two laps later. On lap 27, the competition caution came out. Many competitors chose to have two tires installed to their cars during their pit stops. During the caution, all of the leaders made pit stops; Gilliland became the new leader on lap 28. After pit stops, Newman claimed the first position and held it at the restart.