The 2011 Jeff Byrd 500 presented by Food City was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on March 20, 2011, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps, it was the fourth race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The race was won by Kyle Busch for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Carl Edwards finished second, and Jimmie Johnson clinched third.

There were ten cautions and 17 lead changes among eight different drivers throughout the race. It was Busch's first win of the 2011 season, and the 20th of his career.

Report Background

As a tribute to the late president of the Speedway who died in 2010, longtime race title sponsor K-VA-T Food City, which celebrated the 20th year of race sponsorship in 2011 (as of 2013, the longest continuous sponsorship deal in NASCAR for a race), named the race in his memory.

The track, Bristol Motor Speedway, is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races, the others being Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway. The standard track at Bristol Motor Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is long. The track's turns are banked from twenty-four to thirty degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked from six to ten degrees. The back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees.

Before the race, Tony Stewart was leading the Drivers' Championship with 113 points, tied with Kyle Busch in second. Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya followed in third and fourth with 106 points, three ahead of Ryan Newman and ten ahead of Paul Menard in fifth and sixth. Martin Truex Jr. in seventh had 95, the same number of points as Denny Hamlin in eighth. They were one point ahead of A. J. Allmendinger in ninth, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was tenth with 91. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Ford was leading with 21 points, three ahead of Toyota in second. Chevrolet was placed in third with 16 points, while Dodge followed with 11. Jimmie Johnson was the race's defending winner from 2010.

Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the race; the first on Friday, which lasted 90 minutes. The second and third were both on Saturday afternoon, and lasted 45 minutes each. Edwards was quickest with a time of 14.912 seconds in the first session, 0.076 seconds faster than Johnson. Greg Biffle was just off Johnson's pace, followed by Kasey Kahne, Menard, and David Ragan. Kyle Busch was seventh, still within a second of Edwards' time.

Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Edwards clinched the 9th pole position of his career, with a time of 14.989 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Biffle. Regan Smith qualified third, Menard took fourth, and Ragan started fifth. Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Truex, Mark Martin and Kahne rounded out the top ten. The driver that failed to qualify for the race was Ken Schrader. Once the qualifying session concluded, Edwards stated, "I'm enjoying this. I'm having fun. I'm hoping it lasts, and I'm going to keep driving the way I'm driving until we win a championship, or this car won't go as fast."

In the second practice session, Stewart was fastest with a time of 15.364 seconds, more than six hundredths of a second quicker than second-placed Reutimann. Martin took third place, ahead of Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton. In the third and final practice, Martin was quickest with a time of 15.472 seconds. Brian Vickers followed in second, ahead of Hamlin and Joey Logano. Stewart, who was first in the second practice, was fifth quickest, with a time of 15.570 seconds. Montoya, Gordon, Truex, Menard, and Kurt Busch rounded out the first ten positions.

Race

The race, the fourth of the season, began at 1:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on Fox. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at ; mostly cloudy skies were expected. Mike Rife, reverend of the Vansant Church of Christ, began pre-race ceremonies with the invocation. Actor and country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus performed the national anthem, while Claudia Byrd, Christian Byrd and Belton Caldwell gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

Results Qualifying Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 1 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 14.989 128.014 2 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 15.035 127.622 3 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 15.040 127.580 4 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.045 127.537 5 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 15.055 127.453 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.059 127.419 7 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.076 127.275 8 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 15.104 127.039 9 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.108 127.006 10 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 15.115 126.947 11 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 15.121 126.896 12 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.123 126.880 13 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15.129 126.829 14 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 15.131 126.812 15 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.150 126.654 16 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 15.152 126.637 17 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.171 126.478 18 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.171 126.478 19 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 15.174 126.453 20 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 15.181 126.395 21 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15.181 126.395 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15.191 126.312 23 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 15.215 126.112 24 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 15.216 126.104 25 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.219 126.079 26 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 15.228 126.005 27 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 15.233 125.963 28 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 15.257 125.765 29 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.258 125.757 30 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 15.276 125.609 31 09 Bill Elliott Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 15.325 125.207 32 60 Landon Cassill Germain Racing Toyota 15.336 125.117 33 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 15.371 124.832 34 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 15.414 124.484 35 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.436 124.307 36 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 15.437 124.299 37 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 15.462 124.098 38 46 J. J. Yeley Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet 15.473 124.010 39 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 15.475 123.993 40 92 Dennis Setzer K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge 15.565 123.277 41 37 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Ford 15.616 15.616 42 71 Andy Lally TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 15.869 120.915 43 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 15.610 122.921 Failed to Qualify 32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 15.660 122.529

Race results Pos Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points 118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 500 47 299 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 43 348 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 43 417 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 40 527 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 40 629 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 500 39 722 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 500 37 816 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 36 94 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 500 35 1039 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 500 35 1188 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 33 125 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 32 1347 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 500 31 1424 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 500 30 159 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 500 29 166 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 500 28 1756 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 500 28 182 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 500 26 1914 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 500 25 2031 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 498 24 211 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 498 23 2278 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 498 22 2320 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 497 21 2442 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 497 20 2536 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 497 19 2638 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 496 0 2734 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 495 18 2837 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Ford 494 16 2909 Bill Elliott Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 493 15 3000 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 493 14 3143 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 493 13 3271 Andy Lally TRG Motorsports Ford 491 12 3311 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 488 11 3421 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 482 0 3533 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 456 9 3683 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 441 8 3713 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 427 7 3892 Dennis Setzer K-Automotive Motorsports Chevrolet 336 0 397 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 127 5 4046 J. J. Yeley Whitney Motorsports Ford 97 4 4187 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 72 0 4260 Landon Cassill Germain Racing Toyota 36 0 4366 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 35 1

Standings after the race

+ Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1Kurt Busch150 2Carl Edwards149 3Tony Stewart138 4Ryan Newman138 5Paul Menard136

+ Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1Ford27 2Toyota25 3Chevrolet22 4Dodge14

Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

References