2008 Food City 500

Race details
Race 5 of 36 in the2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
2008 Food City 500 program cover
Date	March 16, 2008 (2008-03-16)
Location	Bristol Motor Speedway,Bristol, Tennessee
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	0.533 miles (0.857 km)
Distance	506 laps, 269.698 mi (434.036 km)
Scheduled distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 53.6 °F (12.0 °C); wind speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)[1]
Average speed	89.775 miles per hour (144.479 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	2007 Owner's Points
Most laps led
Driver	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	267
Winner
No. 31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers	Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip andLarry McReynolds

The2008 Food City 500 was the fifth race of the2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and it was held on Sunday, March 16, 2008 atBristol Motor Speedway inBristol, Tennessee. This race aired onFox starting at 1:30 PMUS EDT with radio coverage handled byPerformance Racing Network andSirius Satellite Radio with programming starting at 1 PM US EDT. The race marked the last race utilizing the 2007 Top 35 owners points exemption. Starting with theGoody's Cool Orange 500 on March 30 each week's Top 35 teams will be exempt.

The race marked the 676th and final career points start forDale Jarrett, who made one final start in theSprint All-Star Race XXIV. Dale's father,Ned, himself a former series champion and television commentator, waved the green flag for his son's final race. Starting on March 30David Reutimann became the new driver of the #44 car, whileMichael McDowell made his debut in the #00 car.

The track,Bristol Motor Speedway, is a four-turn short trackoval that is 0.533 miles (0.858 km) long.^[2] The track's turns arebanked from twenty-four to thirtydegrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked from six to ten degrees. The back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees.^[2] The track has a seating capacity of 160,000 people.^[2] The race consisted of 500 laps, equivalent to a race distance of 266.5 miles (428.9 km).^[2] The 2007 winner wasKyle Busch.

Qualifying was canceled due to rain on March 14 so the field was set by the rulebook for the second (and final) time this year using the 2007 Owners' points. As a result,Jimmie Johnson was on the pole.

Jarrett started deep in the field and fell one lap down to the leader just before the first competition caution on lap 50. That caution was brought out because the track surface had been washed clean by a rain the previous night. He finished 37th.

Drivers that spun out includeKyle Busch (while in the lead) andRobby Gordon. The only car in the 43 car field that wasn't running at the end was driven byBrian Vickers.

With two laps left,Kevin Harvick bobbled entering a turn and pushed up into second placeTony Stewart. Stewart hit the wall, bringing out a caution, and finished as the last car on the lead lap in 14th.Denny Hamlin was leading at the time but he suddenly slowed after he had fuel pickup problems and quickly faded to finish eighth. The race went six laps past its scheduled length due to thegreen-white-checker finish rule, and was won byJeff Burton.Richard Childress Racing finished 1-2-3 for the first time in team history, with Harvick finishing second andClint Bowyer third.

Failed to make race due to cancellation of qualifying:Patrick Carpentier (#10),Jeff Green (#21),John Andretti (#34).

• 2008 in sports in Tennessee
• 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• March 2008 sports events in the United States

• Use mdy dates from February 2025
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata