2012 Pure Michigan 400

2012 Pure Michigan 400

Race details[1][2]
Race 23 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
2012 Pure Michigan 400 program cover
Date	August 19, 2012 (2012-08-19)
Location	Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	2 miles (3.22 km)
Distance	201 laps, 402 mi (640 km)
Scheduled distance	200 laps, 400 mi (640 km)
Weather	Clear with temperatures around 76 °F (24 °C); wind out of the W at 6 mph (9.7 km/h).
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Michael Waltrip Racing
Time	36.053
Most laps led
Driver	Mark Martin	Michael Waltrip Racing
Laps	54
Winner
No. 16	Greg Biffle	Network	ESPN
Announcers	Nielsen ratings			3.8/5.2 million

The 2012 Pure Michigan 400 was a

Three practice sessions will be held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, August 17, and two on Saturday, August 18. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second and third are scheduled for 55 minutes.^[8] Johnson was quickest with a time of 36.465 seconds in the first session, less than two-tenths of a second faster than Kasey Kahne.^[9] Mark Martin was just off Kahne's pace, followed by Harvick, Truex Jr., and Carl Edwards. Ryan Newman (who was battling the flu and wasn't sure he would be able to race; Stewart-Haas had David Reutimann on standby^[10]) was seventh, still within four-tenths of a second of Johnson's time.^[9]

Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's

After the drop of the green flag, Martin would jump out to an early lead. However, an early spin from David Gilliland through the grass on Lap 6 would bunch the field back up again. After restarting on Lap 10, Martin would once again easily retain the lead and build another substantial gap to the second place car. The first round of green flag pit stops would begin on Lap 35. Mixed strategies would see some teams taking two tires and others four. A number of drivers, notably Keselowski and Johnson, would stay out for a few laps longer than the rest of the field while stretching fuel mileage before the lead would cycle back to Martin on Lap 46.

Following a long green-flag run, Martin would continue to lead while having to deal with an ever-increasing amount of lapped traffic. On Lap 64, however, disaster would strike for Martin while coming up on the lapped cars of Bobby Labonte and Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya would make contact with Labonte, turning him coming out of Turn 4. Martin, reacting to this, would spin out while attempting to avoid the two and begin to careen down pit road. After glancing off the inner pit wall, Martin's car would slam side-first into an exposed retaining wall at the garage opening midway down pit road. The exposed wall segment would penetrate deep into the car's side, puncturing the fuel tank, and causing fuel to spill around the car. The force of the impact would also cause several tires and other debris stationed on the wall to go flying back into the garage area. Luckily, track and safety officials were quick on the scene to extinguish any flames and no one, including Martin, suffered any injuries.

The race would restart on Lap 74 with Clint Bowyer taking a short-lived lead before another caution would fly after a crash from Regan Smith due to contact from Marcos Ambrose. Varying pit strategies and the timing of cautions would continue to mix the field up from its starting order. A fourth caution would come out after Joey Logano hit the wall after a tire failure from contact with Montoya. On the restart, Biffle would find himself near the front before soon fighting for the lead. He would take his first lead of the day on Lap 101 after passing Truex Jr. Biffle would hold the lead for 10 laps before pitting. Attrition and the long runs would also begin to take their toll as both Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon would exit the race with engine failures. These engine failures, both being from in-house Hendrick Motorsports-built engines, would cause other teams running them to begin to worry about their own cars including Johnson.

The final fifty laps would be run mostly under green and would see a flurry of ten lead changes with only one driver, Johnson, leading more than ten consecutive laps during the final quarter of the race distance. Lap 182 would see the #21 car of Trevor Bayne sustain a tire failure and hit the wall in Turn 1, bringing out another caution and setting up a just over ten-lap sprint to the finish. The race would restart on lap 187 with Keselowski leading. He would hold the lead until being passed by Johnson with just under ten laps to go. Biffle would also get around Keselowski to move up into second.

Johnson, cruising to a seemingly assured win, would then suffer an engine failure (much like those of Stewart and Gordon) with only five laps to go. Oil spilling from Johnson's car would bring out the final caution and set-up a green-white-checkered finish. The final restart would lead to a final shootout between Biffle and Keselowski with Biffle edging out Keselowski to earn his third win at Michigan and his second of the season.

• Jimmie Johnson will start from the rear of the field for changing an engine.
• Ryan Newman will start from the rear of the field for having a back-up driver.
• Sam Hornish Jr. will start from the rear of the field for having a back-up driver qualify the car.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the rear of the field for switching to a back-up car.