| Race details[1][2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 36 in the2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | April 28, 2012 (2012-04-28) | ||
| Location | Richmond International Raceway,Richmond, Virginia | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 0.75 miles (1.20 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 300 mi (483 km) | ||
| Weather | Mostly cloudy; wind out of the E at 6 mph. | ||
| Average speed | 105.202 miles per hour (169.306 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Michael Waltrip Racing | ||
| Time | 21.040 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | |
| Laps | 211 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip andLarry McReynolds | ||
The2012 Capital City 400 presented by Virginia Is For Lovers was aNASCARSprint Cup Seriesstock car race held on April 28, 2012 atRichmond International Raceway inRichmond,Virginia. Contested over 400 laps, it was the ninth race of the2012 season.Kyle Busch ofJoe Gibbs Racing took his first win of the season, whileDale Earnhardt Jr. finished second andTony Stewart finished third.
Richmond International Raceway is one of fiveshort tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others areBristol Motor Speedway,Dover International Speedway,Martinsville Speedway, andPhoenix International Raceway.[3] The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short trackoval that is 0.75 miles (1.21 km) long.[4] The track's turns arebanked at fourteen degrees. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eight degrees while the back stretch has two degrees of banking.[4] The racetrack has seats for 97,912 spectators.[4]
Before the race,Greg Biffle led theDrivers' Championship with 312 points, andMartin Truex Jr. stood in second with 297.Matt Kenseth was third in the Drivers' Championship with 295 points, four ahead ofDale Earnhardt Jr. and six ahead ofDenny Hamlin in fourth and fifth.Kevin Harvick with 287 was twelve ahead ofJimmie Johnson, asTony Stewart with 265 points, was fourteen ahead ofCarl Edwards, and sixteen in front ofRyan Newman.[5] In theManufacturers' Championship,Chevrolet was leading with 54 points, eight ahead ofFord.Toyota, with 43 points, was ten points ahead ofDodge in the battle for third.[6]Kyle Busch was the race's defending race winner after winning it in2011.[7]
(R) - Denotes rookie driver.
(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Two practice sessions were held before the race on Friday. The first session lasted 120 minutes long, while the second was 45 minutes long.[8]Mark Martin was quickest with a time of 21.309 seconds in the first session, under nine-hundredths of a second faster than Biffle.[9]Paul Menard was third, followed byClint Bowyer,Joey Logano, and Johnson.A. J. Allmendinger was seventh, still within two-tenths of a second of Martin's time.[9] Also in the first session, Menard collided into the wall after his throttle stuck, causing a red-flag to clean the track.[10] In the second practice session, Earnhardt Jr. was fastest with a time of 21.800 seconds, only 0.026 seconds quicker than second-placed Edwards.[11]Landon Cassill took third place, ahead ofJeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Bowyer.Michael McDowell managed to be seventh quickest.[11]
Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three would race because of NASCAR'squalifying procedure.[12] Martin clinched his 53rdpole position during his career, with a time of 21.040 seconds.[13] He was joined on the front row of thegrid by Edwards.[13] Harvick qualified third, Allmendinger took fourth, and Kyle Busch started fifth.[13] Gordon, Hamlin, Truex Jr.,Kasey Kahne, and Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the first ten positions.[13] The two drivers who failed to qualify for the race wereScott Riggs andJ. J. Yeley, who had times of 21.807 and 22.030 seconds.[13]
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