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Date April 7, 2013 (2013-04-07) Location Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia, U.S. Course Permanent racing facility
0.526 mi (0.847 km) Distance 500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km) Weather Overcast with a temperature around 71 °F (22 °C); wind out of the SSW at 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h). Average speed 72.066 mph (115.979 km/h) | ||
The 2013 STP Gas Booster 500 was NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on April 7, 2013, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.526-mile (0.847 km) oval, it was the sixth race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports won the race, his record eighth win at the track, and second win of the season, while Clint Bowyer finished second. Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
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Background
Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long. The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, has a zero degree banking. Like the front stretch, the backstraightaway also doesn't have a banked surface. The race consists of 500 laps, which is equivalent to a race distance of 263 miles (423 km).
Before the race, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was leading the Drivers' Championship with 199 points, while Brad Keselowski stood in second with 187 points. Jimmie Johnson followed in the third position, 19 points ahead of Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle in fourth and fifth. Kyle Busch, with 163, was four points ahead of Kasey Kahne and nine ahead of Paul Menard, as Joey Logano was one point ahead of Denny Hamlin and five ahead of Matt Kenseth in tenth and eleventh. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. completed the first twelve positions with 139 points. The defending winner of the race was Ryan Newman, who won the race in 2012.
Practice and qualifying
Three practice sessions were scheduled before the race. The first session, held on April 5, 2013, was 90 minutes long. The second and third were scheduled on April 6, and were 45 and 60 minutes long. During the first practice session, Johnson was quickest with a time of 19.214 seconds, ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Clint Bowyer in second and third. Jeff Gordon followed in the fourth position, ahead of Keselowski in fifth.
In the Saturday morning session, Bowyer was quickest, ahead of Kyle Busch and Gordon in second and third. Brian Vickers and Newman followed in the fourth and fifth positions. Jamie McMurray, Biffle, Jeff Burton, Martin Truex, Jr., and Kevin Harvick rounded out the first ten positions. In the final practice session for the race, Bowyer was quickest with a time of 19.518 seconds. Johnson followed in second, ahead of Edwards and Biffle in third and fourth. Burton, who was eighth quickest in second practice, managed fifth.
During qualifying, forty-four cars were entered, meaning only one car was not able to start because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Johnson clinched his thirtieth career pole position, with a time of 19.244 seconds. After his qualifying run, Johnson commented, "In the first run out, we were in (qualifying) trim and made two or three laps, and I knew right away that we had a great shot at it today. At that point, I just needed to do my job and not mess up." He was joined on the front row of the grid by Marcos Ambrose. Vickers qualified third, Logano took fourth, and Kahne started fifth. Gordon, Keselowski., Kenseth, Newman, and Edwards completed the first ten positions on the grid. The driver who failed to qualify for the race was Mike Bliss.
Start
The race was started at 1:13 p.m. EST., Marcos Ambrose led the field to the green flag, A couple of laps later, the first caution came out when Danica Patrick spun in the straightaway, The race restarted on lap 19, the race restarted on lap 22, Jimmie Johnson led on the first restart, the most laps, A couple of laps later, the second caution came out on lap 70 for debris on the track, Juan Pablo Montoya won the free pass under caution, the race restarted on lap 77, with Jimmie Johnson the race leader.
Second Half
A couple of laps later, the third caution came out for debris on the track, the race restarted on lap 180, the fourth caution came out for a multi-car wreck in the back straightaway, Jamie McMurray, Marcos Ambrose and others were involved, the race restarted on lap 197, A couple of laps later, the fifth caution came out for a crash again, on lap 246, the race restarted on lap 248, A couple of laps later, the sixth caution came out with 246 laps to go, Carl Edwards spun out in the back straightaway, the race restarted with 241 laps to go, Matt Kenseth led the most laps.
Third half
The seventh caution came out for debris on the track again, with 224 laps to go, the race restarted with 215 laps to go, The eighth caution came out for a spin for Kurt Busch with 208 laps to go, the race restarted with 202 laps to go. Kyle Busch led the most laps of the race, The ninth caution with Ryan Newman cutting a right front tire, the race restarted with 132 laps to go, A couple of laps later, the tenth caution came out with 52 laps to go when Brian Vickers spun out in the back straightaway, Paul Menard won the free pass under caution, the race restarted with 42 laps to go.
Fourth half
The eleventh caution came out with 35 laps to go when Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out in the back straightaway, the race restarted with 28 laps to go, With 14 laps to go, The twelfth caution came out when Kurt Busch caught fire in the back straightaway, the race was red flagged for more than six minutes with 13 laps to go, the race restarted with 8 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson won his race in Martinsville.