Background , the race track where the race was held.
Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of ten
intermediate tracks to hold
NASCAR races. The standard track at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a four-turn
quad-oval track that is long. The track's turns are
banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is five degrees. The
back stretch also has a five degree banking.
Matt Kenseth and
Clint Bowyer were eleventh and twelfth with 5,432 and 5,426 respective points. In the
Manufacturers' Championship,
Chevrolet was leading with 220 points, forty-one points ahead of their rival
Toyota.
Ford, with 141 points, was twenty-two points ahead of
Dodge in the battle for third. Johnson was the race's defending champion.
Practice and qualifying won the
pole position, qualifying with a fastest time of 28.192. Three practice sessions were held before the Saturday race—one on Thursday, and two on Friday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second session lasted 45 minutes. The final session lasted 65 minutes. During the first practice session,
Stewart–Haas Racing's
Ryan Newman was fastest ahead of
Joey Logano and Kyle Busch in second and third respectively.
Mark Martin placed fourth, and
David Reutimann finished fifth. but only forty-three were allowed to race due to NASCAR's
qualifying procedure. Gordon clinched his 69th career
pole position with a time of 28.192 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the
grid by Edwards. Kurt Busch was fourth quickest, and
Martin Truex Jr. took fifth. Sorenson and Kurt Busch followed in second and third with times of 29.133 and 29.135 seconds. Car owner
Joe Gibbs began pre-race ceremonies by giving the
invocation. Next, Big Machine Records recording artist
Danielle Peck performed the
national anthem, and
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees gave the command for drivers to start their engines. On lap 289, the final pit stop set began. Busch and Johnson made pit stops on lap 294, one lap earlier than McMurray. During the pit stop cycle, Montoya, Sorenson, and Allmendinger briefly held the lead. While on pit road, Gordon received a pass-through penalty for speeding. On lap 299, Kyle Busch became the leader, as pit stops concluded. Three laps later, his lead shrunk to 1.3 seconds. On lap 308, the caution was given because of debris on the track. On the restart Busch led ahead of McMurray, Johnson, and Hamlin. On the following lap, McMurray became the leader. By lap 320, McMurray had a 1.02 second lead over Busch, as a battle for second place began between Busch and Johnson. McMurray crossed the finish line on lap 334 to take his third win of the season, two seconds ahead of Busch, who led the most laps (218). Johnson was third, ahead of Hamlin, Biffle, Kenseth, Logano, Harvick, Reutimann, and Ragan, who rounded out the top ten. McMurray also earned $266,129 in race winnings, After finishing fourth, Hamlin remained optimistic about his chances in his championship battle with Johnson: "He's a champion, and I'm not. ... He's figured this stuff out, and he's got a great team, as well as we do, but I haven't hit the 'go' button yet, and I feel like there's still more left with our team. I'm minimizing my risk right now, and I feel like, if I'm going to have a shot to win this thing when we get to Homestead [the season finale], I've got to minimize those risks." The race result left Johnson leading the Drivers' Championship with 5,843 points. He was followed by Hamlin, who remained 41 points behind Johnson, though 36 and 115 points ahead of Harvick and Jeff Gordon respectively. Kyle Busch and Stewart were tied for fifth with 5,666 points, followed by Edwards, Biffle, Kurt Busch, and Burton in seventh through tenth. Kenseth and Bowyer were scored 11th and 12th with 5,587 and 5,543 points respectively. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained the lead with 230 points. Toyota held second with 185 points, 40 ahead of Ford and 63 ahead of Dodge. 5.345 million people watched the race on television. == Results ==