| Race details[1][2][3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 13 of 36 in the2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 The winner:Tony Stewart (#14) | |||
| Date | June 2, 2013 (2013-06-02) | ||
| Location | Dover International Speedway,Dover, Delaware,United States | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km) | ||
| Weather | Isolated storms with a high temperature of 84 °F (29 °C); wind out of the SSW at 16 miles per hour (26 km/h). | ||
| Average speed | 123.172 mph (198.226 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Time | 22.788 second | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Laps | 150 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart–Haas Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip,Larry McReynolds | ||
| Nielsen ratings | 3.8/9 (5.973 million viewers) | ||
The2013 FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks was aNASCARSprint Cup Series stock carrace held on June 2, 2013, atDover International Speedway inDover, Delaware,United States. Contested over 400 laps on the 1–mile (1.6 km) oval, it was the thirteenth race of the2013 Sprint Cup Series championship.Tony Stewart won the race, his first win of the season, snapping a 30–race winless streak, whileJuan Pablo Montoya finished second.Jeff Gordon,Kyle Busch, andBrad Keselowski rounded out the top five.
Dover International Speedway is a four-turn short trackoval that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long.[4] The track's turns arebanked at twenty-four degrees. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at nine degrees with the backstretch.[4] The racetrack has seats for 113,000 spectators.[4]Jimmie Johnson was the defending race winner after winning the event in the2012 race.[5]
Before the race, Johnson was leading theDrivers' Championship with 445 points, whileCarl Edwards stood in second with 413 points.Matt Kenseth followed in the third with 394, nine ahead ofClint Bowyer in fourth, and 24 ahead ofKasey Kahne in fifth.Dale Earnhardt Jr., with 364, was in sixth; two ahead ofKevin Harvick, who was scored seventh. Eighth-placedPaul Menard was eleven points ahead ofMartin Truex Jr. and twelve ahead ofBrad Keselowski in ninth and tenth.Kyle Busch was eleventh with 332, whileAric Almirola completed the first twelve positions with 328 points.[6] In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 83 points, five points ahead ofToyota.Ford was third after recording only 60 points before the race.[7]
(R) - Denotes rookie driver.
(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Three practice sessions were held before the race. The first session, held on May 31, 2013, was 90 minutes long. The second and third, held a day later on June 1, 2013, were 55 and 60 minutes long.[8] During the first practice session, Johnson was quickest with a time of 22.556, ahead of his team-mate Kahne and Kyle Busch in second and third. Kurt Busch followed in the fourth position, ahead ofJamie McMurray in fifth.[9]
During qualifying, forty-three cars were entered.[10]Denny Hamlin clinched his thirdpole position of the season, with a lap time of 22.788 seconds.[11] After his qualifying run, Hamlin commented, "When I ran the lap, I wasn't in love with it. Fundamentally, I knew I didn't do that great of a job. I'm still knocking off some rust. This is only my third race back."[12] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Truex Jr.[11] Kyle Busch qualified third, Kenseth took fourth, andRyan Newman started fifth.[11]Mark Martin, Harvick, Keselowski,Joey Logano, and McMurray completed the first ten positions on the grid.[11]
In the Saturday morning session, Kenseth was quickest, ahead of Kahne and Keselowski in second and third. Kyle and Kurt Busch followed in the fourth and fifth positions.[13] Hamlin, Edwards, Bowyer, Johnson, andJuan Pablo Montoya rounded out ten quickest drivers in the session.[13] In the final practice session for the race, Kurt Busch was quickest with a time of 23.495 seconds.[14] Kenseth followed in second, ahead of Montoya and Johnson in third and fourth.[14]Jeff Gordon, who was 27th quickest in second practice,[13] managed fifth.[14]
The green flag was waved at 1:15 pm ET, withDenny Hamlin leading the field.[15] Hamlin got the lead at the green flag over 2nd-placeMartin Truex Jr. By lap 12,Matt Kenseth was up to 2nd place and right behind Hamlin. As they battled for the lead,Kyle Busch caught up and took the lead on lap 24.[16][17] Shortly after lap 30,Danica Patrick was forced to make a green-flag pit stop after contact withDavid Stremme.[15] Busch continued to lead the race, lapping several cars. He nearly lapped 22nd-placeJimmie Johnson until a round of green-flag pit stops allowed Johnson to stay on the lead lap by pitting early.[16] On lap 81, the first caution of the race occurred for debris in turn 2.[17]Tony Stewart got the free pass on this caution. Following the restart, Busch maintained the lead.[16] On lap 128, there was another caution due to debris in turn 3.[17] On the restart following this caution, Kenseth gained the lead from Busch.[16] On lap 159, race leader Kenseth blew an engine.[15] As a result, Busch regained the lead and the third caution of the day would be brought out on lap 161.[16][17] Busch maintained the lead after a round of pit stops under the caution. On the restart, he led the race ahead of Truex Jr.[16]
At the halfway point of the race, cloud cover began to increase.[15] Busch's lead narrowed and Johnson caught up to him. Johnson eventually passed Busch for the lead on lap 206.[16][17] He maintained the lead after a round of green-flag pit stops.[16] On lap 279, Truex Jr. blew an engine, bringing out another caution on lap 280.[15][17] The leaders pitted during the caution, and Johnson won the battle off pit road. He would lead the race after the restart.[16] On lap 299, there was a wreck involvingRyan Newman andDavid Gilliland on the backstretch.[15][17] This wreck brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 301, in which Hamlin would lead at the restart following different pit strategies. Hamlin continued to maintain the lead until another caution was brought out on lap 318 from a spin byKasey Kahne in turn 2.[16][17] All the leaders came to pit road during this caution exceptKurt Busch andJeff Gordon.[16] Ku. Busch led the race following the restart, but Johnson caught up and regained it on lap 326. The seventh caution of the race was brought out on lap 378, when Hamlin got into the turn 1 wall.[16][17] The leaders pitted under this caution, withJuan Pablo Montoya getting the lead ahead of Johnson on pit road. On the restart following this caution, Johnson took the lead.[16] However, Johnson was black-flagged for jumping the restart on lap 381.[15][18] This driver was forced to come to pit road on lap 385 and Montoya led the race.[16][18] On lap 398, Stewart took the lead from Montoya.[17] Stewart went on to win the race, giving him his first win of the season.[15][16]
Following the race, Keselowski's car failed post-race inspection because the car's front end was too low to the ground, resulting in a six-point penalty for Keselowski and a$25,000 fine for his crew chiefPaul Wolfe, who had returned for the first time after a three-week suspension for infractions in the2013 NRA 500. Car owner,Roger Penske was also penalized six owner's points. An official fromPenske Racing said that the infraction was caused by a part failure, but the team is not expected to appeal the penalties.[19]
^1 Points include 3Chase for the Sprint Cup points for winning, 1 point for leading a lap, and 1 point for most laps led.
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