2009 Dickies 500

Background

The Dickies 500 was the 34th scheduled stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, out of 36. it was held on November 8, 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas at Texas Motor Speedway, one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway. The standard track at Texas Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch have a five degree banking.

One team chose to replace their regular driver with a substitute. Penske Championship Racing driver David Stremme (who was unable to secure a top-ten finish) was replaced by the 2009 Aaron's 499 winner Brad Keselowski for the final three races of the 2009 season, so Keselowski would gain experience before driving full-time with the team the following season.

Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship, with 6,248 points, with Mark Martin in second and Jeff Gordon third. Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart were fourth and fifth, and Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers rounded out the top twelve drivers competing for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet were leading with 244 points, sixty-two points ahead of their rivals Toyota. Ford with 145 points, were nine points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Edwards was the race's defending champion.

Practice and qualifying

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The third and final session lasted 60 minutes. In the first practice session, Clint Bowyer was fastest, placing ahead of Biffle in second, and Johnson in third. Gordon was fourth fastest, and Edwards placed fifth. Kurt Busch, David Ragan, Jeff Burton, Keselowski and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session. Max Papis damaged the right-hand side of his car when he hit the turn two wall; Jamie McMurray, David Reutimann and Mike Bliss also hit the turn two wall. Bliss went to a back-up car because the right side of his car was heavily damaged. John Andretti's engine failed during the early phase of the session, and Andretti changed engines. Burton switched to a back-up car after he collided with the turn two outside wall.

Although forty-seven drivers were entered in the qualifier; according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure only forty-three could race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. Gordon clinched his second pole position of the season, with a time of 28.255. He was joined on the grid's front row by Kahne. Kurt Busch qualified third, Stewart took fourth, and Kyle Busch started fifth. Edwards qualified sixth, while Martin set the seventh fastest time. Biffle qualified eighth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ninth and Clint Bowyer tenth. The four drivers that failed to qualify were Tony Raines, Dave Blaney, Papis and Mike Bliss. Derrike Cope withdrew from the race prior to qualifying. After the qualifier Gordon said, "Our efforts here have improved because we've really focused on it, They started with qualifying, and luckily last time they showed up in the race. ... So we certainly hope we can take this qualifying effort and create those types of results as well."

On Saturday morning, David Reutimann was fastest in the second practice session, ahead of Stewart in second, and Montoya in third. Kyle Busch was fourth quickest, and Kurt Busch took fifth. Kahne managed sixth. Matt Kenseth, Hamlin, Martin and Johnson followed in the top ten. Of the other drivers in the Chase, Gordon set the eleventh fastest time, while Biffle was placed thirteenth. Later that day, Johnson paced the final practice session, with Edwards in second, and Hamlin in third. Biffle was fourth quickest, and Bill Elliott took fifth. Ragan managed sixth. Robby Gordon was seventh fastest, Earnhardt eighth, Reutimann ninth, and Martin Truex, Jr. tenth. Other Chase drivers included Montoya in fourteenth and Newman in sixteenth. Harvick collided with the turn two wall; he sustained minor damage, allowing his team to repair his car.

Race

The race began at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and was televised live in the United States on ABC. At the start of the race, weather conditions were cloudy. Dr. Roger Marsh began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. The Texas Christian University Marching Band performed the national anthem, and rock band ZZ Top gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, two drivers moved to the back of the grid due to unapproved changes: Bill Elliott because of an transmission change, and Andretti because he changed his engine.

Jeff Gordon retained his pole position lead into the first corner. Reutimann made contact with Johnson, forcing him to collide with the wall and damage his car's suspension on lap two. The first caution of the race was subsequently given. None of the leaders elected to make pit stops during the caution, and Johnson drove to his garage to change his front and rear suspension. Jeff Gordon maintained his lead on the lap eight restart. Kurt Busch passed Jeff Gordon on the low side of the track for the lead position four laps later. After starting twenty-ninth, Robby Gordon had moved up thirteen positions to sixteenth by lap 34. One lap later, Johnson's car was fitted with a new driveshaft.

Earnhardt had moved into fourth by lap 38 and was closing the gap to Gordon in third. Six laps later, Kurt Busch was leading by more than three seconds from Kyle Busch. By the 48th lap, Reutimann, who started thirteenth, had moved into the third position. Green flag pit stops for tires, fuel and car adjustments began on lap 52, when Elliott Sadler became the first driver to pit. Stewart became the new leader after Kurt Busch came onto pit road. Stewart made his pit stop on lap 56, handing the lead to Michael Waltrip. After the leaders made their pit stops, Kyle Busch claimed the lead on lap 58. Six laps later, Kyle Busch had a 2.5 second lead over Kurt Busch. On lap 70, Jeff Gordon fell to eleventh position due to a slow pit stop. Two laps later, Marcos Ambrose, who started thirty-fifth, had moved up twenty-nine positions to sixth.

By the 84th lap, Kyle Busch's lead was half a second from Kurt Busch. Two laps later, Sam Hornish, Jr. collided with the wall and suffered three flat tires, prompting the second caution. During the caution, most of the leaders made pit stops. Kyle Busch remained the leader after the pit stops and maintained it at the lap 91 restart. Montoya moved into ninth, as Stewart passed Reutimann for third on the same. Two laps later, Jeff Gordon had moved up into ninth. Sunlight came off the track surface by lap 99, causing track temperatures to cool and drivers were reminded by their crew chiefs to drive cautiously in the turns. Martin moved into the thirteenth position by lap 102. Ambrose had moved into third nine laps later. On lap 113, Johnson rejoined the track, albeit without his car's rear bumper. Kyle Busch had built up a one and a half second lead over Kurt Busch by lap 116. Johnson drove to pit road to resolve tire rubbing problems two laps later.

Martin moved into the top ten positions by lap 122, as Gordon fell down to fourteenth four laps later. On lap 134, Johnson moved back on track, however he returned to pit road eight laps later as the green flag pit stop period began. Hamlin gained the lead on lap 146. After pit stops, Kyle Busch reclaimed the first position. Drivers reported track conditions were changing as cooler air came over the circuit by lap 148. Jeff Gordon reported seeing debris at turn one on the 165th lap, which triggered the third caution. Some of the leaders chose to make pit stops during the caution as race officials cleaned the debris. Kyle Busch maintained his lead at the restart, ahead of Kurt Busch and Earnhardt.

The fourth caution was given on lap 174 when Montoya collided with the wall, damaging his car. Edwards, who was hit by Montoya, had sustained a similar amount of damage to his car. Keselowski was caught up in the crash, and Jeff Gordon was forced to spin sideways. None of the leaders made pit stops during the caution. Officials cleared the surface at turn one and checked turn two for a brake motor. The race restarted on lap 181 with Kyle Busch leading, ahead of Kurt Busch, and Reutimann. Five laps later, Kyle Busch had built up a 1.4 second lead. On lap 206, Reed Sorenson damaged his car, after colliding with the wall, which caused the fifth and final caution. Most of the leaders made pit stops for fuel and car adjustments during the caution. Kyle Busch led on the restart on lap 212, followed by Kurt Busch and Reutimann. Seven laps later, Kahne moved into ninth position. On lap 221, Earnhardt. dropped two positions to seventh. Eight laps later, Martin moved into the fifth position. On lap 238, Martin passed Stewart to claim fourth.

Kyle Busch maintained a 1.4 second lead over Kurt Busch by the 249th lap. Three laps later, Keselowski drove out of his garage to rejoin the race. By lap 262, drivers reported their cars were sliding in the corners as their tires became worn. Green flag pit stops began on lap 265; Kyle Busch maintained the lead at the end of the cycle, ahead of Reutimann and Kenseth. On the 290th lap, Kurt Busch's crew reported to him that he was running two laps short of fuel. Six laps later, Kyle Busch started to slow in the corners to conserve fuel. On the 298th lap, Martin dropped one position to run fifth. By the 302nd lap, overall speeds had dropped due to drivers starting to conserve fuel. Green flag pit stops began on lap 311, as Truex made a stop for fuel. Kyle Busch elected not to make a pit stop and increased his lead to four seconds by lap 314. Eight laps later, Kyle Busch was told by his team to reduce his speed. On lap 330, Kyle Busch drove to pit road, having run out of fuel, handing the lead to Kurt Busch. One lap later, Ambrose ran out of fuel, as Kurt Busch held the lead to win his second race of the 2009 season. Hamlin finished second, ahead of Kenseth in third, Martin in fourth, and Harvick in fifth. Stewart, Bowyer, Biffle, Burton and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top ten finishers.

Post-race

Kurt Busch appeared in victory lane to celebrate his second win of the season, and his first at the Texas Motor Speedway, in front of 167,000 who attended the race. Busch also earned $440,575 in race winnings. Afterward, he said, "I knew what we had for fuel mileage -- I was confident in our guys' numbers. They gave me what I needed to win [Sunday]. We were fast, we were playing cat-and-mouse with Kyle on restarts -- you know, it's the first true time that Kyle and I have raced each other hard for a victory like this."

Hamlin, who finished second, said "Hats off to Mike (Ford, crew chief) and this whole FedEx Office Camry team. We have a really good car, we just had to learn to stay in the pits. We just lost too many spots on pit road that we couldn't overcome that track position. I was trying to make something happen and got in the wall which ended up killing our car. The good part about that is I was able to save fuel because there was no pressure from behind. I was able to save fuel and our Camry got the best fuel mileage it got all day." Kyle Busch's crew chief Dave Rogers said of his drivers' performance, "I think he handled it well -- it's tough. You lead all these laps and he could have gone for the clean sweep this weekend -- win all three in a row. He deserved to win all three in a row and to get beat -- it's tough.", he continued, "We're disappointed -- this Toyota deserved to be in Victory Lane. I thought we had one of the best cars throughout the entire race, but it just didn't work out that way. We were a little short on fuel."

Two days after the race, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing were given penalties for Martin Truex, Jr.'s car. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's penalty, for actions "detrimental to stock car racing", race equipment that did not conform to NASCAR rules, and for the ride height of Truex's car being too low, included a fine of $50,000 for crew chief Kevin Manion, and the loss of 50 owner and driver points for Teresa Earnhardt and Truex. Manion was also placed on probation until December 31, 2009.

The race result left Johnson leading the Drivers' Championship with 6,297 points. Martin stood in second, seventy-three points behind Johnson, and thirty-nine ahead of Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch who finished first, moved into fourth position with 6,126 points. Stewart was fifth, as Montoya, Biffle, Hamlin, Newman, and Kahne followed in the top ten positions. The final two positions available in the Chase for the Sprint Cup was occupied with Edwards in eleventh and Vickers in twelfth. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained their lead with 247 points. Toyota remained second with 192 points. Ford followed with 158 points, seven ahead of Dodge in fourth. 5.82 million people watched the race on television. The race took three hours, twenty-four minutes and eighteen seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 25.686 seconds.