| Race details[1][2][3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 33 of 36 in the2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | October 28, 2012 (2012-10-28) | ||
| Location | Martinsville Speedway,Ridgeway,Virginia | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | .526 miles (.847 km) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 263 mi (423 km) | ||
| Weather | Rain showers with the temperature around 54 °F (12 °C); wind out of the NNW at 10 miles per hour (16 km/h). | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 19.402 seconds | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 193 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Allen Bestwick,Dale Jarrett andAndy Petree | ||
The2012 Tums Fast Relief 500 was aNASCARSprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 28, 2012 atMartinsville Speedway inRidgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.526-mile (0.847 km) oval, it was the thirty-third race of the2012 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the seventh race in the ten-raceChase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season.Jimmie Johnson won the race, whileKyle Busch finished second, andKasey Kahne clinched third.Chevrolet clinched their 36th Manufacturers Championship with Jimmie's win.[4]
Martinsville Speedway is one of fiveshort tracks to holdNASCAR races.[5] The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short trackoval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long.[6] The track's turns arebanked at elevendegrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.[6] The racetrack has seats for 63,000 spectators.[6]
Before the race,Brad Keselowski led theDrivers' Championship with 2,250 points, andJimmie Johnson stood in second with 2,243 points.[7]Denny Hamlin followed in third with 2,230 points, five points ahead ofClint Bowyer and ten ahead ofKasey Kahne in fourth and fifth.[7]Martin Truex Jr. with 2,207 was four points ahead ofTony Stewart, asJeff Gordon with 2,199 points, was four points ahead ofMatt Kenseth and eight ahead ofKevin Harvick.[7]Greg Biffle andDale Earnhardt Jr. was eleventh and twelfth with 2,188 and 2,128 points, respectively.[7]
In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 213 points, twenty-two points ahead ofToyota.[8]Ford, with 160 points, was twenty points ahead ofDodge in the battle for third.[8] Stewart was the defending race winner after winning the event in2011.[9]
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Three practice sessions are scheduled to be held before the race; the first on Friday, which lasted 90 minutes. The second and third are both scheduled on Saturday afternoon for 55 minutes each.[10]Brian Vickers was quickest with a time of 19.386 seconds in the first session, 0.038 seconds faster than Earnhardt Jr.[11] Hamlin was just off Earnhardt, Jr's pace, followed by Gordon, Bowyer, andPaul Menard. Johnson was seventh, still within a tenth of a second of Vicker's time.[11]
Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR'squalifying procedure.[12] Johnson clinched the twenty-eighthpole position of his career and third of the season, with a time of 19.402 seconds.[3][13] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Vickers.[13]Kyle Busch qualified third,Jeff Burton took fourth, and Hamlin started fifth.[13] Kenseth, Stewart, Bowyer, Menard] andAric Almirola rounded out the top ten. Keselowski only managed thirty-second.[13] The two drivers that failed to qualify for the race wereMike Bliss, andJ. J. Yeley.[13]
Once the qualifying session was completed, Johnson commented, "After qualifying as poorly as I did in the spring, I focused on these two laps pretty heavily and wanted to make sure I did my job. We just hit it [Friday], from the car standpoint, from my standpoint of driving the race track. We got it right [Friday]. The tough position there is, once we get single-file and we're about 10 laps into the show, the leaders are [caught up] to the 43rd-place car. You've got to go, and everybody around you has that same mentality, too, so it can be pretty cutthroat back there."[3]
In the second practice session, Vickers remained fastest with a time of 19.732 seconds, less than two-hundredths of a second quicker than second-placed Gordon.[14]Juan Pablo Montoya took third place, ahead of Johnson, Kyle Busch and Bowyer.[14] Hamlin only managed eleventh place, while Keselowski was only quick enough for twenty-seventh position.[14] In the third and final practice, Vickers was quickest with a time of 19.751 seconds.[15] Earnhardt Jr. followed in second, ahead of Gordon and Kyle Busch.[15] Hamlin was fifth quickest, with a time of 19.830 seconds.[15] Johnson, Menard,Ryan Newman, Kenseth, and Bowyer rounded out the first ten positions.[15]
| Pos | Grid | Car | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 500 | 48 | |
| 2 | 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 500 | 42 | |
| 3 | 15 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 500 | 42 | |
| 4 | 10 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 500 | 40 | |
| 5 | 8 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 500 | 40 | |
| 6 | 32 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Penske Racing | Dodge | 500 | 39 | |
| 7 | 11 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 500 | 38 | |
| 8 | 2 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 500 | 37 | |
| 9 | 17 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | JTG Daugherty Racing | Toyota | 500 | 35 | |
| 10 | 30 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush-Fenway Racing | Ford | 500 | 34 | |
Only the first ten positions are listed.[16] | ||||||||
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| Previous race: 2012 Hollywood Casino 400 | Sprint Cup Series 2012 season | Next race: 2012 AAA Texas 500 |
