| Race details [1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 24 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season | |||
| Date | August 22, 2009 | ||
| Official name | Sharpie 500 | ||
| Location | Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 0.857 km (0.533 miles) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures up to 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 80.24 miles per hour (129.13 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 15.414 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Mark Martin | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 240 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Dale Jarrett | ||
The 2009 Sharpie 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 22, 2009, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. [2]
The 500 lap race was the twenty-fourth in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch, of the Joe Gibbs Racing team, won the race, with Mark Martin finishing second, and Marcos Ambrose third. There were 11 cautions and 12 lead changes throughout the course of the race. [3]
It took three hours, eight minutes and thirty-one seconds to fully resolve the race. An incredibly packed racetrack of 160,000 people would see eleven cautions for a duration of 76 laps. Approximately 15% of the race was held under caution; with accidents being the predominant cause of the yellow flags. Four drivers failed to make the race: Mike Skinner, Max Papis, Mike Wallace and Aric Almirola. The average green flag run was 35 laps; with a ten-lap caution period for rain. [4]
Dave Blaney was the worst driver of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season coming out of this race with a last-place finish; leaving the race on lap 8 due to an accident. Mark Martin was the undisputed best driver in the 2009 Sprint Cup Series season after this event; even though he finished in second place behind Kyle Busch. [5]
Gambling pundits were marvelled over Kyle Busch's victory in the 2009 Spring Bristol race along with another previous win at the Spring 2007 Bristol race. The same critics would pan the inferior performance of Kevin Harvick at Bristol Motor Speedway; acquiring only an average finish of 11th place in the seventeen previous races at Bristol before this one. [6]
| Pos [4] | Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Laps led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 500 | 68 |
| 2 | 1 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 500 | 240 |
| 3 | 25 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Toyota | 500 | 0 |
| 4 | 2 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 500 | 76 |
| 5 | 41 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 500 | 0 |
| 6 | 9 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 500 | 0 |
| 7 | 13 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 500 | 0 |
| 8 | 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 500 | 107 |
| 9 | 27 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 500 | 0 |
| 10 | 5 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 500 | 0 |