2011 Irwin Tools Night Race

2011 Irwin Tools Night Race
Race details[1]
Race 24 of 36 in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

Date August 27, 2011 (2011-08-27)
Location Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance 500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Pole position
Driver Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Racing
Time 15.624
Most laps led
Driver Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 206
Winner
2
 Brad Keselowski
 Penske Racing
Television
Network ABC
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree

The 2011 Irwin Tools Night Race was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 27, 2011 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps on the half-mile oval, it was the 24th race of the 2011 season. The race was won by Brad Keselowski of Penske Racing. Martin Truex, Jr. finished second, and Jeff Gordon finished third.

Contents

Report

Background

The track, Bristol Motor Speedway, is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races, the others being Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway.[2] The standard track at Bristol Motor Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.533 miles (0.858 km) long.[3] The track's turns are banked from twenty-four to thirty degrees, 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.[3]

Before the race, Kyle Busch led the Drivers' Championship with 799 points, and Jimmie Johnson stood in second with 789 points. Kevin Harvick was third in the Drivers' Championship with 760 points, and Carl Edwards was fourth with 760 points. Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart rounded out the first ten positions. [4] Kyle Busch was the race's defending champion.[5]

Race

The race was televised by ABC in the United States. However, several affiliates including ABC owned-and-operated WABC in New York City, WPVI in Philadelphia and WTVD in Raleigh-Durham pre-empted the race in order to offer continuing coverage of Hurricane Irene.[6]

References

  1. ^ "2011 Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. http://espn.go.com/racing/schedule/_/year/2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011. 
  2. ^ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/. Retrieved August 25, 2011. 
  3. ^ a b "NASCAR Tracks—The Bristol Motor Speedway". Bristol Motor Speedway. http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/track_info/track_facts/. Retrieved August 25, 2011. 
  4. ^ "Driver's Championship Classification". NASCAR. http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2011/23/data/standings_official.html. Retrieved September 05, 2011. 
  5. ^ "2010 Irwin Tools Night Race". racing-reference.com. http://www.racing-reference.info/race/2010_Irwin_Tools_Night_Race/W. Retrieved September 05, 2011. 
  6. ^ "ABC11 TV Listings". WTVD. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/feature?section=resources/tv_listings&id=5755669. Retrieved August 27, 2011. 
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