2010 Pepsi Max 400

The 2010 Pepsi Max 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on October 10, 2010 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Contested over 200 laps, it was the thirtieth, and the fourth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup during the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The race was won by Tony Stewart, for the Stewart Haas Racing team. Clint Bowyer finished second, and Jimmie Johnson, who started eighth, clinched third.

Pole position driver Jamie McMurray maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race, as Elliott Sadler, who started in the second position on the grid, remained behind him. Eighteen laps later Johnson became the leader of the race. Some of the Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, such as, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle were not able to finish in the top-ten after part failures. After the final pit stops, Tony Stewart remained the leader of the race, ahead of Johnson and Bowyer, but with less than two laps remaining, Bowyer passed Johnson. Stewart maintained the first position to win his second race of the season.

There were nine cautions and twenty-four lead changes among fourteen different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Stewart's second win in the 2010 season, and the thirty-ninth of his career. The result moved him up to fifth in the Drivers' Championship, 107 points behind Jimmie Johnson and fifty-one ahead of Kurt Busch. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, forty-one ahead of Toyota and seventy-nine ahead of Ford, with six races remaining in the season.

Report

Background

Auto Club Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[6] The standard track at Auto Club Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long.^[7] The track's turns are banked at fourteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eleven degrees. The back stretch has 3 degrees of banking.^[7] The racetrack has seats for 92,100 spectators.^[7]

Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 5,503 points, and Denny Hamlin stood in second with 5,495 points. Kevin Harvick was third in the Drivers' Championship with 5,473 points, twenty-three ahead of Carl Edwards and twenty-eight ahead of Jeff Gordon in fourth and fifth. Kurt Busch with 5,433 was ten points ahead of Kyle Busch, as Greg Biffle with 5,418 points, was sixteen ahead of Jeff Burton, and forty-two in front of Tony Stewart.^[8] Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer was eleventh and twelfth with 5,354 and 5,251 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 212 points, thirty-seven points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 135 points, was nineteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.^[9] Jimmie Johnson was the race's defending champion.^[10]

Practice and qualifying

Jamie McMurray won the pole position, after having the fastest time of 38.859 seconds.

Three practice sessions was 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 will last 65 minutes.^[11] During the first practice session, Jamie McMurray, for the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, was quickest ahead of A. J. Allmendinger in second and Greg Biffle in the third position.^[12] Kyle Busch was scored fourth, and Mark Martin managed fifth.^[12] Juan Pablo Montoya, David Ragan, Martin Truex, Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.^[12]

Afterward, during qualifying, forty-five cars were entered, but only forty-three was able because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.^[13] Jamie McMurray clinched his second pole position during the 2010 season, with a time of 38.859.^[14] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Sadler.^[14] Matt Kenseth qualified third, Juan Pablo Montoya took fourth, and Kasey Kahne started fifth.^[14] Kevin Harvick, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twenty-first, while Denny Hamlin was scored thirty-fourth.^[14] The two drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Mike Bliss and Patrick Carpentier.^[14] Once qualifying concluded, McMurray stated, "I think the ECR engines have a lot of power, and you're able to show that on Friday more than even in the race, because you're really able to put the power down in qualifying. A little bit is cars, a little bit is engines, a little bit is the team putting maybe a little more focus – our guys work really hard, not necessarily on the qualifying setup, but everything that goes into qualifying, making the cars as light as you can and so many little tricks that you're able to do. Not all the teams do that to the fullest level."^[15]

On the next morning, Biffle was quickest in the second practice session, ahead of Kenseth and David Reutimann in second and third.^[16] McMurray was fourth quickest, and Jeff Gordon took fifth.^[16] Hamin, Allmendinger, Martin, Kahne, and Tony Stewart followed in the top-ten.^[16] Other drivers in the chase, such as Johnson, was twenty-third, and Kurt Busch, who was thirty-second.^[16] During the third, and final practice session, Johnson, with a fastest time of 40.092, was quickest.^[17] Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray followed in second and third with times of 40.098 and 40.114 seconds.^[17] Biffle managed to be fourth fastest, ahead of Kevin Harvick and Klye Busch.^[17] Mark Martin was scored seventh, Kasey Kahne took eighth, Denny Hamlin was ninth, and Kenseth took tenth.^[17]

Race

The race, the 30th out of a total of 36 in the season, began at 3:00 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ESPN.^[1] Prior to the race, weather conditions were sunny with the air temperature around 81 °F (27 °C).^[18] Jeff Hammond and Motor Racing Outreach began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, Mercury recording artist and soft rock singer Kenny Loggins performed the national anthem, and Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for Governor of California, gave the command for drivers to start their engines. On the pace laps, Denny Hamlin had to move the rear of the grid because of a transmission change.^[18]

Jamie McMurray accelerated faster than Elliott Sadler off the line, getting ahead of him down the front straightaway. Matt Kenseth took over 2nd, as Sadler fell to 5th. Juan Montoya passed Kenseth for 2nd on lap 2. Sadler continued to lose positions, while Jimmie Johnson passed Kasey Kahne for the 4th position, after starting 8th. Clint Bowyer gained five positions to 8th by lap 5. After starting from the rear of the grid, Hamlin had moved to 27th in six laps. On lap 7, the frontrunners included McMurray in first, ahead of Montoya, Kenseth, and Jonhson. Two laps later, Montoya collided with the wall, resulting him to fall to 4th. Bowyer moved to 10th, after passing Greg Biffle on lap 10. Hamlin continued to moved toward the front, passing both Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards for 25th. Kenseth took the lead ahead of McMurray, becoming the second leader of the race.^[18]

On lap 19, Johnson passed McMurray for the 2nd position. In less than twenty laps, Kyle Busch had moved to 10th, after starting 16th. Mark Martin took over 7th, ahead of Biffle, as David Reutimann passed Joey Logano. Regan Smith gained six positions to move into 13th by lap 22. By lap 24, Kenseth had a one-second lead over second placer Johnson. Bowyer overtook Sadler for 4th two laps later. On lap 27, Bowyer moved into 3rd, ahead of McMurray. On the following lap, Hamlin moved into 22nd, after beginning the race in 42nd. Jeff Gordon had been as high as 5th on the grid but after 29 laps, he fell to 7th. McMurray had fallen to that position by lap 31, after starting in the poles. On lap 33, Bobby Labonte drove to the garage for transmission repairs. Hamlin moved into 20th, ahead of Logano one lap later. On that same lap, Martin passed Sadler for 4th. On lap 35, Gordon took over the 5th position.^[18]

Kenseth made a pit stop on lap 37 gave the lead to Jimmie Johnson, who went to pit road on the following lap for four new tires. After the pit stops, Kenseth was the new leader, ahead of Bowyer and Johnson in 2nd and 3rd places. On lap 40, Kenseth's lead over Bowyer reduced to nothing, as the caution was given when Biffle's engine failed. During the caution, most of the front runners did not pit, but Hamlin, Busch, and Kevin Harvick made pit stops each for two tires. Kenseth fell to 3rd on the restart after Gordon and Johnson both passed him. On the following lap, Johnson took over the first position after passing Gordon. On lap 49, Hamlin moved to 4th, as Kyle Busch moved into 2nd. Brad Keselowski collided into the wall on lap 51. On the same lap, Martin moved into to 3rd.^[18]

The second caution came on lap 54, when Marcos Ambrose spun sideways in the second corner. The front runners made pit stops during the caution, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did not which resulting in him being the leader. On the restart, Earnhardt, Jr. led Johnson, Martin, and Busch, but Busch immediately passed them all to become the leader. Also on the restart, Edwards' car stalled, prompting the third caution of the race. During the caution, a safety vehicle pushed Edwards' car to the garage for repairs. Busch led Johnson on the restart but before the lap was over, Johnson reclaimed the lead. Three laps later, Gordon took over the 2nd position after passing Busch. By lap 68, Busch had fallen three positions to 5th. On the following lap, Martin passed Gordon for the 2nd position.^[18]

On lap 72, Edwards returned to the race, only fourteen laps down. One lap later, Martin became the leader ahead of Johnson. Kenseth moved to 6th on the seventy-fourth lap after falling to 10th earlier in the race. Tony Stewart took over the 8th position behind Ryan Newman on lap 78. Kenseth managed to pass Busch for 5th on the following lap. Harvick moved into the 8th position after he passed Newman on lap 82. Eight laps later, Earnhardt, Jr. drove to pit road for tires and fuel. Meanwhile, Stewart was able to pass Kenseth for 5th. Afterward, Busch fell two positions to 9th after Harvick and Newman passed him. Hamlin and Jeff Burton made a pit stop on the following lap, two laps ahead of Stewart and Bowyer. On lap 97, the rest of the frontrunners made pit stops, giving the lead to David Gilliland. One lap later, pit stops concluded, as Martin reclaimed the lead, ahead of Johnson, Gordon, Bowyer, and Stewart. Also during the pit stops, Harvick received a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road.^[18]

On lap 102, Martin Truex, Jr. passed Newman for the 9th position. Reutimann passed Kyle Busch for 7th two laps later. On the following lap, Gordon passed Johnson for 2nd, while Martin had a 5-second lead. Reutimann took 6th shortly after Gordon passed Johnson. Truex passed Busch for 8th on lap 110. Three laps later, Truex took over 7th, as Martin's lead of five seconds reduced to nothing, after debris caused the fourth caution. During pit stops, Gordon claimed the lead, as Martin fell to 6th. The restart happened on lap 119, with Gordon as the leader. After restarting 4th, Bowyer had passed Truex and Stewart to clinch 2nd. On lap 123, Martin had moved up three positions to 3rd, after the recent caution. Afterward, Bowyer moved to the 1st position, while Martin claimed 2nd. Stewart passed Gordon for 3rd on lap 131. Hamlin took over 5th four laps later.^[18]

On lap 137, the fifth caution was given because Ambrose spun for the second time during the race. All the front runners made pit stops under the caution. Bowyer led on the restart one lap after Travis Kvapil gave up the lead to pit. Four laps after the restart, debris prompted the sixth caution of the race. The front runners did not pit during the caution, which resulted in Bowyer maintaining the lead. On lap 1489, Stewart became the new leader. Five laps later, Newman took over 2nd, as the seven caution was given when Kyle Busch's engine failed. Travis Kvapil stayed out to lead a lap when the front runners made pit stops but on the restart, Montoya became the leader. On the restart, Stewart reclaimed the lead. On the following lap, Bowyer passed Montoya for the 2nd position two laps before Martin claimed 3rd. Montoya continued to fall backwards, as Newman passed him for 4th. On lap 168, Bowyer reclaimed the lead.^[18]

On the following two laps after the lead change, Hamlin dropped to the 9th position after Kahne and Montoya passed him. On lap 172, Johnson passed Newman for 4th and Martin claimed 2nd. By lap 178, Bowyer had a 1/2-second lead over 2nd place. Three laps later, Johnson took over 3rd after passing Stewart. On lap 183, debris prompted the eighth caution to be given. Paul Menard and Regan Smith were the two leaders on the restart. Smith was able to become the leader one lap later but after leading one lap, Stewart reclaimed the lead. On the following lap, Kahne moved to the 2nd position, as Bowyer clinched fourth. On lap 192, Johnson moved to second, while Smith fell to ninth after the restart. Two laps later, Kurt Busch and David Ragan collided, prompting the final caution to be given. With two laps remaining, Stewart led on the restart ahead of Johnson and Bowyer. Stewart crossed the finish line on lap 200 to take his second win of the season, less than a second ahead of Bowyer. Johnson was 3rd, ahead of Kahne, Newman, Mark Martin, Harvick, and Hamlin. Jeff Gordon, who struggled with a drive through penalty late in the race, took ninth on the line, ahead of Reutimann.^[18][19]

Results

Qualifying

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jimmie Johnson 5,673 2 Denny Hamlin 5,637 3 Kevin Harvick 5,619 4 Jeff Gordon 5,588 5 Tony Stewart 5,566 6 Kurt Busch 5,533 7 Carl Edwards 5,511 8 Jeff Burton 5,496 9 Kyle Busch 5,486 10 Greg Biffle 5,458 11 Matt Kenseth 5,432 12 Clint Bowyer 5,426

Jimmie Johnson remained the points leader, after finishing third in the race. Manufacturers' Championship standings[9] Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 220 2 Toyota 179 3 Ford 141 4 Dodge 119 Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the driver standings. These drivers qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

References

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