| Race details [1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 22 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 The short course at Watkins Glen International | |||
| Date | August 10, 2009 | ||
| Location | Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 3.942 km (2.45 miles) | ||
| Distance | 90 laps, 220.5 mi (354.86 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures up to 90 °F (32 °C); wind speeds up to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 90.297 miles per hour (145.319 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 85,000 [2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 71.340 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Laps | 34 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett | ||
The 2009 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event held on August 10, 2009, at Watkins Glen International.
Contents
The race was rained out on the original scheduled day of August 9. The race was won by points leader Tony Stewart, his third win of the year. Stewart scored his fifth win at Watkins Glen. With that win, he passed Jeff Gordon as the all time NASCAR winner at the Glen. As of 2019, that record still stands. Also with his win in that race, Tony Stewart would score his seventh career road course win, breaking him out a four-way tie for second in all time road course wins with Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace, and Ricky Rudd. Stewart would win an additional road course race at Sonoma in 2016, the year he retired. As of 2019, Tony Stewart is currently in second place with eight road course wins, as Jeff Gordon currently holds the all-time record with nine wins.
During the race, a hard crash involving Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton, left the drivers shaken but alright. Kasey Kahne got loose under Hornish and Hornish slid hard into the tire barrier. Then Hornish spun back onto the track and Gordon had no way to avoid him and they made hard contact sending Gordon head on into the Armco barrier and Hornish into Jeff Burton, which nearly sent Hornish on his side. Gordon's hit into Hornish ended up destroying the whole rear of Hornish's car including ripping out the fuel cell. [2]
In the late stages of the race, fuel mileage was an issue but no one had any problems. Stewart held off a strong Marcos Ambrose for the win. Drivers from five different countries were in the race including the United States of America, Australia, Colombia, Italy and Canada. An incredible crowd of 85,000 live spectators were enthralled by this 146-minute racing event where the average green flag run was almost 13 laps long. Owing to the high number of accidents and resulting amount of debris, more than 14% of the event was raced under a caution flag. [2]
