The 2011 GEICO 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that was scheduled to be held on September 18, 2011 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. However, because of wet track conditions, the race was postponed until September 19, 2011. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.500-mile (2.414 km) asphalt oval, it was the 27th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the first race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season. Tony Stewart of Stewart–Haas Racing won the race, while Kevin Harvick finished second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinched third.
This was Stewart's first win in the 2011 season, and the 40th of his career. The result advanced Stewart to second in the Drivers' Championship, seven points behind Harvick and three ahead of Carl Edwards. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, thirty points ahead of Ford and thirty-eight ahead of Toyota, with nine races remaining in the season. A total of 95,000 people attended the race, while 3.68 million watched it on television.
Report
Background
Chicagoland Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Chicagoland Speedway is a four-turn tri-oval track that is long. The track's turns are each banked at 18 degrees and have a turn width of 55 feet. The racetrack has a grandstand capacity of 75,000.
Before the race, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick each led the Drivers' Championship with 2,012 points, with Jeff Gordon in third place with 2,009. Matt Kenseth had a total of 2,006 points, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Ryan Newman were tied for fifth place with 2,003 points. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the first 12 positions with 2,000 points each. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 171 points, 27 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 139 points, was 21 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third place. David Reutimann was the race's defending champion.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held in preparation for the race; both on Friday. The first session lasted 90 minutes long, while the second was 60 minutes long. Reutimann was quickest with a time of 29.486 seconds in the first session, 28 milliseconds faster than Clint Bowyer. Mark Martin was just off Bowyer's pace, followed by Kyle Busch, Trevor Bayne, and Newman. Some Chase for the Sprint Cup participants were not scored high in the first practice, such as Johnson and Hamlin, who were 36th and 40th in the session.
In the second and final practice, Brian Vickers was quickest with a time of 29.304 seconds. Kasey Kahne followed in second, ahead of Kenseth and Paul Menard. Harvick was fifth quickest, with a time of 29.455 seconds. Gordon, Greg Biffle, Johnson, David Stremme, and Edwards rounded out the first ten positions. Kyle Busch, who was third in the first session, could only manage forty-fourth.
Forty-seven cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Kenseth clinched his sixth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 29.469 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Menard. Kurt Busch qualified third, Newman took fourth, and Edwards started fifth. Johnson, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twelfth, while Harvick was scored thirtieth. The four drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Travis Kvapil, David Starr, Stephen Leicht and Mike Skinner (T. J. Bell was gonna enter the race but withdrew).
Once qualifying concluded Kenseth said, "I think starting up front is nice, having a good pit stall. Hopefully, you can get a good start and get a bonus point for leading a lap and try to keep up with the track a little better. We've been qualifying a lot better, if you throw Richmond out, but we've been slipping a little at the end of the race. I'm really happy to be on the pole, but it's just a starting position, and we've got to work really hard on the race, keeping up with our adjustments and that type of thing."
Race The race, the twenty-seventh of the season, was scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. EDT on September 18, but wet track conditions postponed the race to September 19, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The race was televised live in the United States on ESPN. The first caution was the competition caution on lap 31. The next 2 cautions came out for debris on laps 72 and 146. The 4th caution came out on lap 165 when Jamie McMurray blew an engine. On lap 205, the 5th caution came out when J. J. Yeley crashed in turn 3. The final caution came out for debris on lap 214. Towards the end of the race, a majority of cars ran out of fuel. Tony Stewart was able to hold on for his first win of the season.
Results Qualifying Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Time (s) Speed1 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.469 2 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.488 3 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 29.503 4 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.507 5 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.522 6 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 29.531 7 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.565 8 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Toyota 29.575 9 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.615 10 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.620 11 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 29.634 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.667 13 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 29.690 14 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.696 15 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 29.729 16 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 29.752 17 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.752 18 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.767 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.784 20 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.787 21 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.790 22 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.790 23 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.807 24 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Toyota 29.812 25 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.822 26 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 29.828 27 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.879 28 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 29.894 29 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.900 30 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.913 31 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 29.973 32 38 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.980 33 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 29.990 34 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 29.991 35 46 Scott Speed Whitney Motorsports Ford 30.000 36 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 30.016 37 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 30.039 38 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 30.196 39 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 30.228 40 71 Andy Lally (R) TRG Motorsports Ford 30.238 41 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 30.262 42 32 Mike Bliss FAS Lane Racing Ford 30.313 43 37 Josh Wise Max Q Motorsports Ford 30.136 Failed to Qualify 55 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 95 David Starr Leavine Family Racing Ford 35 Stephen Leicht Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 60 Mike Skinner Germain Racing Chevrolet Source:
Race results Pos Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points 1 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 267 47 2 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 267 42 3 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 267 41 4 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 267 41 5 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 267 40 6 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 267 40 7 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 267 37 8 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 267 37 9 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 267 35 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 267 35 11 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 267 33 12 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Toyota 267 32 13 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Toyota 267 31 14 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 267 30 15 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 267 29 16 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 267 28 17 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 267 27 18 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 267 27 19 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 267 25 20 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 267 24 21 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 266 24 22 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 266 23 23 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 266 0 24 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 265 20 25 32 Mike Bliss FAS Lane Racing Ford 265 0 26 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 265 18 27 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 265 17 28 71 Andy Lally (R) TRG Motorsports Ford 265 16 29 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 265 15 30 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 264 0 31 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 264 13 32 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 263 12 33 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 263 11 34 38 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 263 11 35 46 Scott Speed Whitney Motorsports Ford 260 0 36 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 259 8 37 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daughtery Racing Toyota 236 7 38 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 163 6 39 7 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 77 5 40 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 45 0 41 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 44 3 42 37 Josh Wise Max Q Motorsports Ford 41 0 43 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 25 1
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kevin Harvick 2,054 2 Tony Stewart 2,047 3 Carl Edwards 2,044 4 Kurt Busch 2,043 5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2,041 6 Brad Keselowski 2,040 7 Ryan Newman 2,040 8 Jimmie Johnson 2,038 9 Kyle Busch 2,035 10 Matt Kenseth 2,030 11 Jeff Gordon 2,029 12 Denny Hamlin 2,013
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 180 2 Ford 150 3 Toyota 142 4 Dodge 122
Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the driver standings.
References