The 2012 Quicken Loans 400 was the 15th stock car race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on June 17, 2012, in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, before a crowd of 82,000 people. The track is a superspeedway that holds NASCAR races. Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the 200-lap race starting from 17th place. Tony Stewart of the Stewart–Haas Racing team finished in second, and Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth was third.
Marcos Ambrose won his first career pole position by posting a new track record speed in qualifying. He led the first five laps until Greg Biffle passed him on the sixth lap. He led the next twenty laps before Ambrose retook it for another five laps afterward. Biffle retook the lead on lap 54, holding it until Ambrose re-passed him to return to the front of the field fifteen laps later. Earnhardt took the lead for the first time on the 70th lap, and he kept the position for a total of 95 laps, more than any other driver. At the race's final restart on 141, Earnhardt led through the final round of green flag pit stops to win the race. There were a total of eight cautions and 23 lead changes among 14 drivers during the event.
The victory was Earnhardt's first in 143 races, his second at Michigan International Speedway, and the 19th of his career. The result moved him to within four points of Drivers' Championship leader Kenseth. Biffle maintained third place, and Jimmie Johnson moved past Denny Hamlin in fourth place. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship with 105 points, 18 points ahead of Toyota, 28 points in front of Ford, and 44 points ahead of Dodge with 21 races left in the season. The race attracted 5,284,000 television viewers.
Background
The 2012 Quicken Loans 400 was the 15th of 36 scheduled stock car races of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It ran for 200 laps over a distance of , and was held on June 17, 2012, in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, a superspeedway that holds NASCAR races. The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway. The track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the front stretch (the location of the finish line) is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking.
In preparation for the race, NASCAR held two test sessions on June 12, 2012, for teams to test the newer pavement at Michigan, the first since 1995. During the first test session (which was held in the morning and lasted for four hours) Mark Martin was quickest ahead of Kevin Harvick with a speed of and a time of 35.805 seconds, while Tony Stewart was fastest in the second and final test session with a time of 35.662 seconds and recorded a speed of . Top speeds approached during the day; NASCAR determined that the installation of restrictor plates would not be required, and NASCAR vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton spoke of his expectation that speeds would reduce as the surface rubbered in and track temperatures increased.
Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 523 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 513 points. Greg Biffle was in third place on 507 points, three points ahead of Denny Hamlin in fourth and fourteen points in front of Jimmie Johnson in fifth. Harvick, with 470 points, was five points in front of Martin Truex Jr., as Stewart with 448 points, was five points in front of Clint Bowyer in ninth and eight points in front of the tenth-placed Brad Keselowski. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch rounded out the top twelve drivers. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 96 points, thirteen points ahead of Toyota in the second position. Ford, with 71 points, was also thirteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third place. Hamlin was the race's defending champion.
There were two driver changes heading into the race. After he was suspended from the preceding Pocono 400 for verbally abusing The Sporting News reporter Bob Pockrass at the Nationwide Series round at Dover International Speedway, Kurt Busch was reinstated to the 51 Phoenix Racing car after David Reutimann drove in his place. Team owner James Finch spoke to Busch during the week, and confirmed that the driver would remain with the team until the end of the year. Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that driver Tony Raines would compete in its No. 10 car in place of Reutimann as part of the team's plan for the upcoming races.
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race. The first and second sessions that took place on Friday ran for 80 minutes, and the third additional practice session held on Saturday lasted 75 minutes. In the first practice session, Martin was fastest with a lap of 35.754 seconds, almost six hundredths of a second faster than Earnhardt in second. Trevor Bayne, Stewart, Kenseth, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, and Truex followed in positions three to ten. Biffle paced the second practice session with a 35.172 seconds lap. He was six hundredths of a second faster than Marcos Ambrose in the second position. Harvick, Edwards, Menard, Bayne, Johnson, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, and Kenseth completed the top ten ahead of the qualifying session. The only incident in the Friday practice sessions was Jamie McMurray scraping the right-hand quarter of his vehicle when he made contact with the outside barrier.
Early average practice speeds approached , breaking the official qualifying stock car speed record of . Blisters appeared on several front-side tires used by an estimated one-quarter of teams during the session, and that caused drivers to raise concerns about the speed they were driving at on the warm track surface and the hot weather temperatures that were experienced in the opening two practice sessions. Harvick suggested that all the drivers slow to manage the wear of their tires when the track surface rubbered in, while Edwards and Hamlin reported no issues with their tires; the former said he would discuss the situation with his crew chief Bob Osborne. NASCAR's control tire supplier Goodyear advised all teams to scuff their tires, and run them through a heat cycle. The tires run in practice were later utilized in the Saturday morning qualifying session.
Forty-five drivers were entered in the qualifier on Saturday afternoon, according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, 43 were allowed to race. Each driver was limited to two timed laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. Recording a track speed record of that broke's Ryan Newman's achievement in June 2005, Ambrose clinched the first pole position of his career with a time of 35.426 seconds. He was the fourth driver to complete a qualifying lap that was faster than , and it was the fastest speed set in any qualifier since Bill Elliott's 1987 Talladega Superspeedway lap. He was joined on the grid's front row by Harvick who was 0.211 seconds slower, and held the pole until Ambrose's lap. Biffle qualified third, Kahne took fourth, and Newman started fifth. Kenseth, Bayne, Stewart, Logano, and Johnson rounded out the top ten qualifiers. Edwards' engine developed a possible fuel related issue on his warm-up lap, and he did not set a timed effort. The two drivers who failed to qualify were David Stremme and Stacy Compton. After qualifying, Ambrose said, "It is a good bragging right, I'll give it that, I'm just really excited to get the speed, and to claim to be the fastest guy out there is just awesome. We've missed some poles — this is my first pole in Sprint Cup. We've missed some by thousandths of a second and conditions changing, so it's good that we actually got one to stick, and one that's got so many records attached to it."
After qualifying, Goodyear changed the left-hand side tire combination to a more durable and harder compound after consulting teams and analysing data, but retained the original right-hand side compound. They transported 1,200 tires from a warehouse in North Carolina to ensure each team met NASCAR's requirement of using 10 sets of tires for the event, and they arrived in Michigan on Saturday afternoon. An extra 75 minute practice session was scheduled following the track's Nationwide Series race. Biffle was quickest with a lap of 36.801 seconds, followed by Johnson, Edwards, Kahne, McMurray, Kurt Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Truex, Martin, and Harvick. Top speeds approached no higher than , but the new left-hand side tires received a mixed reception from drivers. Newman felt that NASCAR made the correct decision, and Edwards predicted that the while the cars were looser, it would improve the quality of racing. Earnhardt, however, commented that he could not complete extra laps due to a handling difficulty, and Ambrose noted a lower amount of grip and increased vehicular imbalance provided by the tires.
Qualifying results Driver Team Manufacturer 1 9Marcos AmbroseRichard Petty MotorsportsFord 35.426203.241 2 29Kevin HarvickRichard Childress RacingChevrolet35.637202.037 3 16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway Racing Ford 35.676201.816 4 5Kasey KahneHendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 35.693201.720 5 39Ryan NewmanStewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet35.737201.472 6 17Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 35.739201.461 7 21Trevor BayneWood Brothers Racing Ford 35.742201.444 8 14Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 35.755201.370 9 20Joey LoganoJoe Gibbs RacingToyota 35.777201.247 10 48Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 35.789201.179 11 11Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 35.842200.882 1278Regan SmithFurniture Row Racing Chevrolet 35.870200.725 13 15Clint BowyerMichael Waltrip Racing Toyota 35.877200.686 14 55Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 35.894200.591 15 43Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford35.930200.390 16 56Martin Truex Jr.Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 35.931200.384 17 88Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 35.943200.317 18 27Paul MenardRichard Childress Racing Chevrolet 35.976200.133 19 1Jamie McMurrayEarnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 35.980200.111 20 22A. J. AllmendingerPenske RacingDodge36.010199.945 21 42Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 36.070199.612 22 33Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet36.083199.540 23 23Scott RiggsR3 MotorsportsChevrolet 36.095199.474 24 13Casey MearsGermain Racing Ford36.262198.555 25 2Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 36.277198.473 26 51Kurt BuschPhoenix Racing Chevrolet 36.320198.238 27 98Michael McDowellPhil Parsons Racing Ford 36.342198.118 28 24Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 36.378197.922 29 19Mike BlissHumphrey Smith RacingToyota 36.404197.781 30 26Josh WiseFront Row Motorsports Ford 36.419197.699 31 47Bobby LabonteJTG Daugherty Racing Toyota36.475197.395 32 83Landon CassillBK Racing Toyota36.532197.087 33 31Jeff BurtonRichard Childress Racing Chevrolet36.538197.055 34 18Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota36.543197.028 35 38David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford36.580196.829 36 36Dave BlaneyTommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet35.582196.818 37 87Joe NemechekNEMCO Motorsports Toyota 36.591196.770 3834David RaganFront Row Motorsports Ford 36.609196.673 39 93Travis KvapilBK Racing Toyota37.285193.107 4032Ken SchraderFAS Lane Racing Ford37.768190.638 4110Tony RainesTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet38.254188.216 4299Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway Racing Ford—— 4349J. J. YeleyRobinson-Blakeney Racing Toyota36.901195.119Failed to qualify 44 30David StremmeInception Motorsports Toyota37.057194.295 45 74Stacy ComptonTurn One Racing Chevrolet37.189193.606
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