The 2011 Food City 250 was the 25th stock car race of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series. It was held on August 26, 2011, at Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, before a crowd of 108,000 spectators. Kyle Busch of the Joe Gibbs Racing team won the 250-lap race from the pole position. His teammate Joey Logano finished in second, and Kevin Harvick Incorporated driver Clint Bowyer was third.
Busch won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying, and held the lead for the opening 112 laps until he was passed by Bowyer on the 113th lap. Busch retook the lead at the start on the 163rd lap. He maintained the first position for the next 24 laps, with Bowyer retaking the lead on lap 187. Two laps later, Busch overtook Bowyer to reclaim the lead. Logano was the leader at the final restart on lap 198. On the 206th lap, Busch got ahead of his teammate Logano to advance back into first. Over the final 34 laps, Logano tried to get by his teammate Busch, but he was unsuccessful, as Busch held him off to win by 0.019 seconds, the closest finish in a Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The win was Busch's third consecutive at Bristol Motor Speedway (the first time in Nationwide Series history), his 12th at the track, and the 50th of his career in the division, breaking Mark Martin's record of most series wins he held since 1997. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintained the lead in the Drivers' Championship, with Elliott Sadler reducing his advantage to five points. Joe Gibbs's 18 team increased their advantage over the No. 60 team of Jack Roush at the top of the Owners' Championship, while Toyota moved past Ford to lead the Manufacturers' Championship with nine races left in the season.
Background
The 2011 Food City 250 was the 25th of 34 scheduled stock car races of the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series. It was held on August 26, 2011, in Bristol, Tennessee, at Bristol Motor Speedway, a short track that holds NASCAR races. The standard track is a four-turn short oval. The track's turns are banked from 24 to 30 degrees, while both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked from six to ten degrees.
Before the race Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the Drivers' Championship with 834 points, with Elliott Sadler eight points behind in the second position. Reed Sorenson was in third with 825 points, Justin Allgaier was fourth with 772 points and Aric Almirola stood in fifth on 770 points. Jason Leffler, Kenny Wallace, Steve Wallace, Brian Scott and Michael Annett rounded out the top ten. Joe Gibbs, owner of the 18 car, led the Owners' Championship with 912 points. Jack Roush's No. 60 team followed in second with 870 points, while Sandra Turner's No. 32, DeLana Harvick's No. 33, and Roush's No. 6 team completed the top five. Ford led the Manufacturers' Championship with 142 points; Toyota, Chevrolet, and Dodge followed with 141, 134, and 110 points, respectively. Kyle Busch was the race's defending champion.
There was one driver change heading into the race. Penske Racing announced that Camping World Truck Series driver Parker Kligerman would drive the 22 car in place of Brad Keselowski who was recovering from an ankle fracture and a strained back that he sustained in a testing crash at Road Atlanta in early August 2011. It was later disclosed that Penske driver Kurt Busch declined an offer to fill in for Keselowski because he wanted to focus on challenging for the Sprint Cup Series championship.
Practice and qualification
One 120 minute practice session was held on the morning of August 26. With a time of 16.02 seconds, Sadler was the fastest driver in the sole practice session, ahead of Kenny Wallace in second, and Trevor Bayne in third. Leffler was fourth-fastest, Busch came fifth, and Joey Logano placed sixth. Carl Edwards was seventh-quickest, Steve Wallace eighth, Mike Bliss ninth, and Kasey Kahne tenth. During practice, T. J. Bell accidentally reversed on the pit road, and ran over the pelvis of his team's crew chief Cory Howe, who sustained a cut to his head. Howe was conscious when he was airlifted to Wellmont Health System in Kingsport, Tennessee for treatment to his injuries. Tests for any severe injuries to Howe were negative.
A total of 49 cars attempted to qualify for the event 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 lap times. Busch took his second Nationwide Series pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway, and the 23rd of his career, with a lap of 15.979 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Logano, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, who recorded a time that was 0.018 seconds slower. Sadler qualified in the third position, Kenny Wallace took fourth, and Leffer started from fifth place. Edwards, Bayne, Allgaier, Clint Bowyer, and Stenhouse completed the top ten qualifiers. Johnny Chapman, John Jackson, J. J. Yeley, Bell, Jennifer Jo Cobb, and Carl Long were the six drivers who failed to qualify.
Qualifying results + Qualifying results Driver Team Manufacturer 1 18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota 15.979120.083 2 20Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15.997119.948 32Elliott SadlerKevin Harvick IncorporatedChevrolet 16.015119.813 4 09Kenny WallaceRAB Racing Toyota 16.067119.425 530Jason LefflerTurner Motorsports Chevrolet16.095119.217 6 60Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord16.106119.136 7 16Trevor BayneRoush Fenway Racing Ford16.114119.077 8 31Justin AllgaierTurner Motorsports Chevrolet16.155118.774 9 33Clint BowyerKevin Harvick Incorporated Chevrolet16.161118.730 10 6Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford16.170118.664 11 11Brian Scott Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota16.170118.664 12 22Parker KligermanPenske RacingDodge16.185118.554 13 70David StremmeML Motorsports Chevrolet 16.199118.452 14 64David ReutimannRusty Wallace Racing Toyota16.210118.371 15 66Steve WallaceRusty Wallace Racing Toyota16.232118.211 16 88Aric AlmirolaJR MotorsportsChevrolet 16.235118.189 17 38Kasey KahneTurner Motorsports Chevrolet16.237118.174 18 32Reed SorensonTurner Motorsports Chevrolet16.245118.116 19 7Josh Wise JR Motorsports Chevrolet16.293117.768 20 19Mike BlissTriStar Motorsports Chevrolet16.304117.689 21 62Michael AnnettRusty Wallace Racing Toyota16.345117.394 22 97Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsToyota 16.438116.729 23 03Scott RiggsR3 MotorsportsChevrolet 16.461116.566 2405David StarrDay Enterprises MotorsportsChevrolet 16.466116.531 25 51Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet 16.494116.333 2604Benny GordonGo Green Racing Ford16.500116.291 27 49Mark GreenJay Robinson RacingChevrolet 16.528116.094 28 42Tim AndrewsKey Motorsports Chevrolet 16.530116.080 29 46Chase MillerKey Motorsports Chevrolet16.533116.059 30 15Timmy HillRick Ware Racing Ford16.539116.017 31 71Matt CarterRick Ware Racing Ford16.548115.954 32 23Dennis SetzerJay Robinson RacingChevrolet16.589115.667 33 28Derrike CopeJay Robinson RacingChevrolet 16.611115.514 34 87Kevin ConwayNEMCO MotorsportsToyota16.625115.416 35 47Brian KeselowskiKey Motorsports Chevrolet16.633115.361 36 14Eric McClureTriStar Motorsports Chevrolet16.657115.195 37 40Scott WimmerKey MotorsportsChevrolet 16.671115.098 38 89Morgan ShepherdFaith MotorsportsChevrolet 16.673115.084 39 01Mike WallaceJD MotorsportsChevrolet 16.676115.064 40 81Blake KochMacDonald Motorsports Dodge16.735114.658 4139Fain SkinnerGo Green Racing Ford16.843113.923 42 52Kevin LepageMeans MotorsportsChevrolet17.177111.707 43 44Jeff GreenTriStar Motorsports Chevrolet16.651115.236Failed to qualify 44 41Johnny ChapmanRick Ware RacingChevrolet 16.665115.140 45 74J. J. YeleyMike Harmon Racing Chevrolet16.877113.693 46 72John JacksonJohn Carter Racing Toyota16.927113.357 47 50T. J. BellMAKE MotorsportsChevrolet 16.970113.070 48 13Jennifer Jo CobbJJC RacingDodge 17.310110.849 49 75Carl LongRick Ware Racing Ford17.709108.352
Race Live television coverage began at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00) in the United States on ESPN. Around the start of the race, rain fell on the track, but it later dissipated. Mike Rife, senior minister of Vansant Church of Christ, began pre-race ceremonies with an invocation. Country music singer JT Hodges performed the national anthem, and Sullivan County Deputy Sheriff Carolyn Gudger commanded the drivers to start their engines. No driver moved to the back of the grid during the pace laps.
The race began at 7:46 p.m. local time. Busch maintained the lead from his teammate Logano on the first lap. On lap four, Bowyer attempted to get between two Roush Fenway Racing cars, and ran into the rear of Stenhouse's car exiting turn four. By the ninth lap, Logano was 1.3 seconds adrift of race leader Busch. Sadler began battling Kenny Wallace for third on lap 13, and got ahead of him seven laps later. The first caution was waved on lap 35, as David Reutimann was hit from behind by Kahne, sending him spinning in the fourth turn, and reducing Busch's lead of more than 2.6 seconds to nothing. During the caution, several drivers chose to make pit stops. Busch led at the lap 42 restart, followed by Logano, Bowyer, and Sadler. Around this time, Sadler advanced to second place but Logano retook it on the 47th lap.
By lap 68, Busch moved to around 1.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Logano. Three laps later, Bowyer passed Logano on the inside lane between the third and fourth turns to move into second place. He began closing the gap to Busch while the two were within slower traffic. Bowyer clung onto the rear of Busch on lap 110, and he made a pass for the lead between turns three and four on the 113th lap. Busch then began reporting a tight handling car. On lap 122, Bowyer eased off the accelerator pedal to avoid hitting Sorenson and David Starr in turn four. As the surface of the circuit caused drivers to have difficulties with steering their vehicles, on lap 125, Jeremy Clements' tire failed, grazing the catchfence, and littering debris on the track, necessitating the second caution. Busch made a pit stop under caution on the 127th lap. Bowyer maintained the lead at the lap 132 restart. Four laps later, Kenny Wallace caused a third caution when his tire failed, and he made contact with the barrier between turns three and four.
The race restarted on lap 141 with Bowyer leading Busch and his teammate Logano. Sadler sought a way past Busch on the 143rd lap but he could not complete the overtake. A fourth caution came out on lap 145, as Kligerman spun 180 degrees up the circuit in turn two while attempting to pass Stenhouse. Bowyer again maintained the first position at the lap 151 restart. That lap, Bayne unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Busch for second. Bayne later fell behind Leffler and Edwards to fourth on the 160th lap. Busch went to the outside to pass Bowyer to retake the lead at the start/finish line to start lap 163. Five laps later, Edwards began battling Leffler for the third position, and the trio of Bayne, Sadler and Almirola were in a duel for sixth place by lap 173. By the 178th lap, Busch and Bowyer pulled away to lead the third-placed Leffler by five seconds.