2011 AdvoCare 500

Race details[1][2][3][4]
Race 25 of 36 in the2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date	September 6, 2011 (2011-09-06)
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway,Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	1.54 miles (2.48 km)
Distance	325 laps, 500.5 mi (805.5 km)
Weather	Partly cloudy with temperatures around 95 °F (35 °C); wind out of the SW at 5 mph (8.0 km/h).
Pole position
Driver	Kasey Kahne	Red Bull Racing Team
Time	29.775
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	146
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Allen Bestwick,Dale Jarrett andAndy Petree

The2011 AdvoCare 500 was aNASCARSprint Cup Seriesstock car race scheduled to be held on September 4, 2011, atAtlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Georgia, but was rescheduled to September 6, 2011, because ofTropical Storm Lee. Contested over 325 laps, it was the 25th race of the2011 Sprint Cup Series season.Jeff Gordon's win, the 85th of his Cup Series career, gave him sole possession of the record for most Cup wins in NASCAR's "modern era" (1972–present), surpassingDarrell Waltrip.^[5] Gordon also took sole possession of third place on the all-time Cup Series wins list, ahead of Waltrip andBobby Allison.^[6] The race was also known for being the first NASCAR race since 2007 to be run on a Tuesday.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of tenintermediate to holdNASCAR races; the others areCharlotte Motor Speedway,Chicagoland Speedway,Darlington Raceway,Homestead Miami Speedway,Kansas Speedway,Kentucky Speedway,Las Vegas Motor Speedway,New Hampshire Motor Speedway, andTexas Motor Speedway.^[7] The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a four-turnquad-oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.^[8] The track's turns arebanked at twenty-fourdegrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.^[8]

Before the race,Kyle Busch andJimmie Johnson led theDrivers' Championship with 830 points, andMatt Kenseth stood in third with 798 points.Carl Edwards was fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 795 points, andKevin Harvick was fifth with 782 points.Jeff Gordon,Ryan Newman,Kurt Busch,Dale Earnhardt Jr. andTony Stewart rounded out the first ten positions.^[9] In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 153 points, 19 points ahead ofFord.Toyota, with 133 points, was 25 points ahead ofDodge in the battle for third.^[10] Stewart was the race's defending champion.^[11]

Two practice sessions were held before the Sunday race, one on Friday and the other on Saturday. The first session lasted 80 minutes, while the second session ran for 90 minutes.^[12] During the first practice session,Brad Keselowski was quickest, ahead ofDenny Hamlin andClint Bowyer in second and third.^[13]Martin Truex Jr. was scored fourth quickest, whileMark Martin was fifth.^[13] In the second and final practice session, Gordon was scored quickest, as Stewart and Bowyer followed in the second and third positions.^[14] Keselowski was scored in the fourth position, whileGreg Biffle followed in fifth.^[14]

During qualifying, forty-seven cars were entered, but only forty-three would be able because of NASCAR'squalifying procedure.^[15]Kasey Kahne clinched his eighth careerpole position, with a time of 29.775 seconds.^[16] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Bowyer.^[16] Kyle Busch qualified third,Brian Vickers took fourth, and Gordon started fifth.^[16] Kenseth, Edwards, Truex Jr., Newman, and Kurt Busch rounded out the first ten positions.^[16] The four drivers that failed to qualify for the race wereT. J. Bell,David Stremme,Geoffrey Bodine, andTony Raines.^[16]

After winning the pole position, Kahne stated, "It was definitely not a perfect lap, but it was a little better than what everyone else did. I've ran better laps than that before and not been on the pole. You never know what you're going to get, but the track is pretty slippery right now and I like it like that." He also commented, "We need to win if we want to make the Chase. Right now we're one of the ones on the outside looking in." Bowyer, who qualified second, was relieved because of his good starting position: "A good qualifying run is a breath of fresh air for all of us. We need a good run desperately." He continued, "She was loose, holy cow! It was a handful for all of us."^[17]

The race, the 25th in theseason, was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.EDT.^[1] However, because of inclement weather fromTropical Storm Lee, NASCAR moved the start time twenty minutes earlier than the scheduled time.^[18] The race was not able to be held as expected on September 4, 2011, and was rescheduled on September 6, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. EDT.^[19] The race was televised live in the United States onESPN.^[1]This race was the first NASCAR race to be held on a Tuesday since 2007.

• 2011 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
• 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• September 2011 sports events in the United States

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