2012 Goody's Fast Relief 500

2012 Goody's Fast Relief 500

Race details[1][2]
Race 6 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date	April 1, 2012 (2012-04-01)
Location	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway, Virginia
Course	Permanent racing facility .526 mi (.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423 km)
Weather	Mostly sunny with a high temperature around 76; wind out of the NNW at 4 mph.
Average speed	78.823 miles per hour (126.853 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	19.496
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	329
Winner
No. 39	Ryan Newman	Stewart Haas Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds

The 2012 Goody's Fast Relief 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on April 1, 2012 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps, it was the sixth race of the 2012 season. Ryan Newman of Stewart-Haas Racing took his first win of the season, A. J. Allmendinger finished second and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished third.

Report

Background

Martinsville Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Martinsville Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races.^[3] The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long.^[4] The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.^[4] The racetrack has seats for 63,000 spectators.^[4]

Before the race, Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship with 195 points, and Kevin Harvick stood in second with 188. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. followed in third with 178 points, one ahead of Tony Stewart and three ahead of Martin Truex, Jr. in fourth and fifth. Matt Kenseth, with 173, was two points ahead of Denny Hamlin in seventh. Clint Bowyer, with 157 points, was one point ahead of Jimmie Johnson and two ahead of Ryan Newman in ninth and tenth.^[5] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 33 points, four points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 27 points, was six points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.^[6] Harvick is the race's defending race winner after winning it in 2011.^[7]

Practice and qualifying

Kasey Kahne won the pole for race.

Two practice sessions were held before the race on Friday, both lasting 90 minutes each.^[8] Jeff Gordon was quickest with a time of 19.512 seconds in the first session, less than two-hundredths of a second faster than Kyle Busch.^[9] Hamlin was just off Burton's pace, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Newman, and Martin Truex, Jr. Stewart was seventh, still within two-tenths of a second of Gordon's time.^[9] In the second and final practice session, Gordon was quickest with a time of 19.516 seconds.^[10][11] Kurt Busch followed in the second position, ahead of Brad Keselowski, Newman, and David Stremme.^[10] Landon Cassill was sixth after posting a time of 19.844 seconds, while Josh Wise and Juan Pablo Montoya followed in seventh and eighth.^[10] Scott Riggs and Aric Almirola rounded out the first ten positions.^[10]

Forty-six cars are entered for qualifying, but only forty-three raced because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.^[12]

Results

Qualifying

• ^1 Yeley was awarded the start after Raines failed post-qualifying inspection.

Race results

Standings after the race

References