2010 Emory Healthcare 500

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2010 Emory Healthcare 500
Race details[1][2][3][4]
Race 25 of 36 in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2010 Emory Healthcare 500 program cover, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Artwork by Sam Bass.
The 2010 Emory Healthcare 500 program cover, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Artwork by Sam Bass.
Date September 5, 2010 (2010-09-05)
Location Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance 325 laps, 500.5 mi (805.5 km)
Weather Partly cloudy with a high around 84; wind out of the NE at 4 mph. Chance of precipitation: 0%.
Average speed 129.039 miles per hour (207.668 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Joe Gibbs Racing
Time 29.587
Most laps led
Driver Tony Stewart
Stewart Haas Racing
Laps 175
Winner
No. 14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing
Television in the United States
Network
ESPN
Announcers Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree

The 2010 Emory Healthcare 500 was a

Stewart Haas Racing team. Carl Edwards finished second, and Jimmie Johnson
, who started seventh, clinched third.

Pole position driver Denny Hamlin maintained his lead on the first lap to begin the race, as Ryan Newman, who started in the second position remained behind him. Afterward, Newman became the leader. On lap 128, Hamlin had an engine failure, finishing forty-third. Later in the race, Tony Stewart led a race-high of seventy-five laps. Stewart retained the first position on a final restart to clinch his third win at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The race logo for the 2010 Emory Healthcare 500.

There were eight cautions and twenty-seven lead changes among nine different drivers throughout the course of the race. It was Tony Stewart's first win of the season and the thirty-eighth of his career. The result moved him up two spots to fourth in the Drivers' Championship, 283 points behind of leader Kevin Harvick and fourteen ahead of Carl Edwards. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, thirty-two ahead of Toyota and sixty-six ahead of Ford, with eleven races remaining in the season. A total of 93,200 people attended the race, while 5.516 million watched it on television.

Report

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[5] The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[6] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[6]

Before the race,

Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 173 points, twenty-seven points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 110 points, was eleven points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.[8] Kasey Kahne was the race's defending champion.[9]

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held on Saturday, prior to the race. The first session lasted 120 minutes, while the second session was 45 minutes.[10] During the first practice session, Kasey Kahne was quickest, ahead of Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer in second and third.[11] Jeff Burton was scored fourth quickest, while Denny Hamlin was fifth.[11] In the second and final practice session, Ryan Newman was scored quickest, as Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya followed in the second and third positions.[12] David Ragan was scored in the fourth position, while Bowyer followed in fifth.[12]

Denny Hamlin clinched his eighth career pole position, with a time of 29.587 seconds.

During qualifying, forty-seven cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to start because of NASCAR's

front row by Newman.[14] Kyle Busch qualified third, Edwards took fourth, and Tony Stewart started fifth.[14] The four drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Jason Leffler, Landon Cassill, Scott Riggs, and Todd Bodine.[14]

After winning the pole position, Hamlin stated, "I feel like the last 10 races have definitely been up and down for our team," he said. "We were on such a hot streak there. We kind of got spoiled. The regular season was kind of irrelevant at that point because we knew we were going to get in the Chase. We're going to treat these next two weeks as if we're Chase racing. We found ourselves going for wins so much, going all-out for wins, that it probably hurt us in the long run. These next two weeks, we're going back to points racing."[15]

Race

The race, the twenty-fifth in the

heart transplant recipient, gave the command for drivers to start their engines.[16]

car handling problems. On lap 13, Johnson, followed by Stewart, moved into the fourth and fifth positions, after passing Edwards.[16]

Two laps later, Newman passed Hamlin for the lead .

Michael McDowell and Joe Nemechek drove their cars to the garage, as Hamlin had a 1.9 second lead over Kyle Busch in second. Mike Bliss followed Nemechek and McDowell into the garage two laps later.[16]

On lap 44, green flag

drive-through penalty. Afterward, Stewart became the leader, as J. J. Yeley drove his car to the garage. On lap 55, Hamlin passed Stewart for the first position. Once green flag pit stops were completed, Hamlin was in first, followed by Stewart, Truex Jr., Kahne, and Newman to round out the top five positions. Kahne, who started tenth, moved Truex Jr. from the third position to fourth, after passing him on lap 62. Two laps later, Stewart passed Hamlin to move into the first position.[16]

On lap 70, Kyle Busch drove to pit road, because of a loose wheel. Six laps later, Ryan Newman fell two positions to eleventh, after being passed by Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick. Afterward on lap 80, Edwards passed Kahne to move into the third position. Five laps later, Menard moved to seventh on the grid, after passing Biffle. Afterwards, more green flag pit stops began. On lap 88, Stewart, who was the leader, was passed by Hamlin. Three laps later, Stewart reclaimed the lead. Stewart only led three laps until he returned the lead to Hamlin for one lap. Stewart pitted on lap 97, as pit stops continued. Afterward, Stewart remained first, ahead of Hamlin, Edwards, Truex, and Kahne.[16]

On lap 127, Hamlin reclaimed the lead, as debris in turn four prompted the caution out. Hamlin led on the restart, but three laps later, he fell to fifth, as Edwards claimed the lead. Hamlin, who started on the pole position, went to the garage, as his engine failed, which prompted the second caution. Stewart regained the lead after pit stops completed. Immediately after the restart, Biffle spun sideways, and collided with Elliott Sadler to bring out the third caution. Both obtained excessive damage, and went to the garage for repairs. Stewart remained the leader on the restart, but was overtaken by Johnson. Kyle Busch, who was a lap down after his drive-through penalty, had recovered to sixth. One lap later, Gordon moved into the sixth position, after passing Busch.[16]

On lap 170, Stewart passed Johnson to move into the first position. After struggling with

car handling during the first half of the race, Kurt Busch had moved from thirty-second to sixteenth by lap 171. Seven laps later, Jamie McMurray had a flat tire, and drove to pit road, which caused him to fall to the twenty-sixth position. By lap 182, Stewart had a 2.1 second lead over Johnson in second place. On lap 191, Kevin Harvick moved into the fourth position, as Stewart puts his teammate, Ryan Newman, a lap down. Eight laps later, the fourth caution came out as David Ragan spun sideways on the back stretch. Every driver in the lead lap pitted under the caution. Stewart retained the first position on the restart. On the restart, drivers were racing furiously, by going three wide (three cars side-by-side) around the track. On lap 207, Johnson claimed second away from Edwards, as Gordon fell to the eighth position.[16]

Montoya, who started eighth, passed Kyle Busch for fourth, three laps later. On lap 222, Montoya moved into the third position, as Johnson showed his displeasure from the previous race

front bumper of his race car.[16]

Tony Stewart won the race, and led a race high of 175 laps.

After Harvick drove through pit road the first time, it caused a scoring error, so he was held a lap to fix it. Edwards led on the restart, but within two laps Scott Speed had an engine failure to bring out the sixth caution. Kurt Busch stayed off pit road during the caution to become the leader. Five laps later, on lap 280, Kahne passed Kurt Busch for the first position. One lap later, Johnson passed Kyle Busch for the fourth position. On lap 283, Edwards, followed by Johnson, passed Kurt Busch for second and third. Nine laps later, Stewart passed Kyle Busch for the fifth position. Three laps later, Brad Keselowski collided with the outside wall hard enough to bring out the caution.[16]

Edwards became the leader after the pit stops, but one lap after the restart, Stewart reclaimed the lead, as Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne collided. On lap 302, the eighth caution was given because Kahne's tire deflated. The restart was on lap 307, with Stewart the leader. Three laps later, Kevin Harvick returned to pit road, as Jeff Burton passed Kurt Busch for fifth. On lap 314, Kyle passed his brother Kurt Busch for sixth. By lap 316, Stewart had a 1.2 second lead over Edwards. With three laps remaining, Kahne showed his anger with Newman, after the contact that sent him collided into Kurt Busch. Tony Stewart crossed the line to win the race, over a second ahead of second place Carl Edwards. Jimmie Johnson maintained third while Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch finished fourth and fifth.[16][19]

Post-race

"It was just a really good night overall for the entire Stewart Haas organization, just a lot of hard work we have put in over the last few months just trying to get back to where we feel like we could win a race. We had good Top 5, Top 10 cars but just we were not able to get to victory lane. Tonight we had all the pieces together. We unloaded fast this weekend and Tony did an incredible job qualifying, starting up front makes all the difference in the world and good pit stalls and being able to help the guys out, all things combined, it was a good effort."

Darian Grubb, speaking after the race.[20]

Tony Stewart appeared in victory lane after his victory lap to start celebrating his first win of the season, and his third at Atlanta Motor Speedway, in front of a crowd of 93,200 people.[21][22] After breaking a thirty-one race losing streak, Stewart stated on the team's radio, "Ring the bell baby, woo! Good job, guys! You got it done, that's the only way we had a shot. You guys won this thing in the pits." He also added, "I've never been so happy to win in my life."[22]

Although,

press conference
, Stewart said, "It’s been a long time since we have been in victory lane. So it’s something we are not used to; luckily, we have had the good fortune to not normally go this long without a win. But we had an awesome race car tonight. This thing, it was balanced off the start of the race, and you know, I knew the first run when we were a little bit off, and the leaders were not getting away from us, I thought, we have probably got a shot at this thing tonight and a shot at a solid Top 5 or Top 3, but once we got a couple of runs in there, and it was Denny and I trading spots back and forth." He continued by saying:

"It was fun racing with him like that. We gave each other room. Whoever got caught in traffic, the other guy got the lead back. It was fun switching the lead. We struggled on restarts or I struggled on restarts, Darian wasn’t driving the car, so I can’t blame it on him. I struggled on restarts all night. Finally the last two, I hit it a lot closer and kept them from spinning quite as bad. The pit crew is who we have got to give all the credit to tonight. They had an awesome pit stop the last time we came in that got us that track position that I lost on the previous restart. So you know, without that, I don’t think we would have a shot to be here tonight."

Carl Edwards finished in the second position during the race.

Ryan Newman discussed his contact with Kahne by explaining, "Yeah, the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) hit me the same time I hit the No. 9 (Kahne) — it was within a millisecond. I was trying to push him to get ahead of the No. 2 car (Kurt Busch) and it didn’t work out. We’ve seen this several times this year, and it was me trying to help him out. It causes accidents once in a while. It hurt him but in the grand scheme of things he tried to hurt me and it didn’t hurt us as bad. So, we’ll just go on." Stewart also stated, "When you have a car that’s that good, it’s not good to lose those spots like that. ... We got caught back there one time and we struggled getting that track position back. But when you have a car that’s that fast, it’s nice. You don’t feel like you’re in too much trouble when you lose a couple of spots on a restart like that."[21]

The race result left Kevin Harvick leading the Driver's Championship with 3,585 points.[23] Jeff Gordon, who finished thirteenth, was second on 3,366, forty-one points ahead of Kyle Busch and sixty-four ahead of Stewart.[23] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained their lead with 182 points.[8] Toyota remained second with 150 points.[8] Ford followed with 116 points, fourteen points ahead of Dodge in fourth.[8] 5.516 million people watched the race on television.[24] The race took three hours, fifty-two minutes and forty-three seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 1.316 seconds.[19]

Results

Qualifying

No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed Grid
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.587 187.380 1
39 Ryan Newman
Stewart Haas Racing
Chevrolet 29.636 187.070 2
18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 29.637 187.064 3
99 Carl Edwards
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 29.666 186.881 4
14 Tony Stewart
Stewart Haas Racing
Chevrolet 29.666 186.881 5
56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.676 186.818 6
48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.693 186.711 7
42 Juan Pablo Montoya
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet 29.693 186.711 8
6 David Ragan
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 29.696 186.692 9
9 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.700 186.667 10
2 Kurt Busch
Penske Racing
Dodge 29.769 186.234 11
1 Jamie McMurray
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet 29.779 186.171 12
00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 29.786 186.128 13
33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29.800 186.040 14
16 Greg Biffle
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 29.810 185.978 15
43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.811 185.972 16
5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.929 185.238 17
24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 29.982 184.911 18
98 Paul Menard Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 29.985 184.892 19
82 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 30.007 184.757 20
77 Sam Hornish Jr.
Penske Racing
Dodge 30.012 184.726 21
19 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 30.021 184.671 22
46
Michael McDowell
Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet 30.032 184.603 23
71 Bobby Labonte
TRG Motorsports
Chevrolet 30.037 184.572 24
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 30.059 184.437 25
31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.060 184.431 26
78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 30.076 184.333 27
12 Brad Keselowski
Penske Racing
Dodge 30.083 184.290 28
29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30.086 184.272 29
17 Matt Kenseth
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 30.100 184.186 30
20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 30.107 184.143 31
47 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 30.121 184.058 32
83 Reed Sorenson Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 30.212 183.503 33
87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 30.279 183.097 34
26 Patrick Carpentier Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford 30.286 183.055 35
37 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 30.288 183.043 36
38 Dave Blaney Front Row Motorsports Ford 30.298 182.982 37
36 J. J. Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 30.311 182.904 38
55 Mike Bliss
Prism Motorsports
Toyota 30.315 182.880 39
21 Bill Elliott Wood Brothers Racing Ford 30.398 182.380 40
34 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 30.611 181.111 41
7
Kevin Conway
Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 31.221 177.573 42
13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 30.407 182.326 43
Failed to qualify
32 Jason Leffler
Braun Racing
Toyota 30.499 181.777
09 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 30.535 181.562
66 Scott Riggs
Prism Motorsports
Toyota 30.609 181.123
64 Todd Bodine
Gunselman Motorsports
Toyota 30.625 181.029
Source:[14]

Race results

Pos. Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 5 14 Tony Stewart
Stewart Haas Racing
Chevrolet 325 1952
2 4 99 Carl Edwards
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 325 1751
3 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 1701
4 26 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 325 160
5 3 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 325 155
6 11 2 Kurt Busch
Penske Racing
Dodge 325 1551
7 14 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 325 146
8 2 39 Ryan Newman
Stewart Haas Racing
Chevrolet 325 1471
9 8 42 Juan Pablo Montoya
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet 325 138
10 32 47 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 325 134
11 30 17 Matt Kenseth
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 325 130
12 6 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 325 127
13 18 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 124
14 33 83 Reed Sorenson Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 325 121
15 12 1 Jamie McMurray
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Chevrolet 325 118
16 13 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 325 115
17 27 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 325 112
18 16 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 325 109
19 9 6 David Ragan
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 325 106
20 36 37 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 325 103
21 17 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 100
22 25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 325 97
23 40 21 Bill Elliott Wood Brothers Racing Ford 325 94
24 37 38 Dave Blaney Front Row Motorsports Ford 325 91
25 28 12 Brad Keselowski
Penske Racing
Dodge 324 88
26 43 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 324 85
27 31 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 324 82
28 35 26 Patrick Carpentier Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford 323 79
29 41 34 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 323 76
30 21 77 Sam Hornish Jr.
Penske Racing
Dodge 322 73
31 24 71 Bobby Labonte
TRG Motorsports
Chevrolet 320 70
32 10 9 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 310 721
33 29 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 309 64
34 20 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 264 61
35 19 98 Paul Menard Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 263 58
36 15 16 Greg Biffle
Roush Fenway Racing
Ford 245 55
37 42 7
Kevin Conway
Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 162 52
38 34 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 161 49
39 23 46
Michael McDowell
Whitney Motorsports Chevrolet 160 46
40 38 36 J. J. Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 152 43
41 22 19 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 150 40
42 39 55 Mike Bliss
Prism Motorsports
Toyota 145 37
43 1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 143 391
Source:[19][25]
1 Includes five bonus points for leading a lap
2 Includes ten bonus points for leading the most laps

Standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for driver's standings.
  • * – This driver clinched a position in the
    Chase for the Sprint Cup
    .
  •  – This driver is in the
    Chase for the Sprint Cup
    .

References

  1. ^ a b "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  2. ^ "Emory Healthcare 500". Rotoworld.com. NBC Sports. Archived from the original on September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
  3. ^ Pearce, Al (September 4, 2010). "NASCAR: Denny Hamlin wins pole for Cup race at Atlanta". Auto Week. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  4. ^ "Stewart wins at Atlanta for season's first victory". News & Observer. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  5. ^ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  6. ^ a b "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  7. ^ "Driver's Championship Classification". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Manufactures' Championship Classification". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on August 13, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  9. ^ "2009 Pep Boys Auto 500". Racing-reference.info. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  10. ^ "Event Schedule". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Practice 1 Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 7, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  12. ^ a b "Practice 2 Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 7, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  13. ^ "Qualifying Order". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 7, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Race Lineup: Atlanta". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 7, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  15. ^ "Denny Hamlin wins Atlanta pole". ESPN. September 4, 2010. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Race Summary". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 8, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
  17. ^ "Ernie Haase & Signature Sound to Perform National Anthem at Emory Healthcare 500". Catchfence. August 31, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  18. ^ Theodore, John (August 22, 2010). "Kyle Busch Dominates At Bristol To Complete Historic Weekend Sweep". Bleacher Report. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  19. ^ a b c "NASCAR Race Result". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  20. ^ "Tony Stewart Wins at Atlanta and Locks Spot in 2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup". Catchfence. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  21. ^ a b c Kenny, Bruce (September 5, 2010). "Tony Stewart snaps winless streak with victory at Atlanta". Scene Daily. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  22. ^ a b Ryan, Nate (September 6, 2010). "Tony Stewart grabs first Sprint Cup win of the year in Atlanta". USA Today. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  23. ^ a b c "Point Standings". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  24. ^ "2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup TV Ratings". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
  25. ^ "MRN Race Results". Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on September 9, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.


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