2009 Coke Zero 400

2009 Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola
Race details
Race 18 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

Daytona International Speedway
Date July 4, 2009 (2009-July-04)
Location Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Weather Temperatures between 75.2 °F (24.0 °C) and 81.7 °F (27.6 °C); wind speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h) reported near the speedway[1]
Pole position
Driver
Stewart-Haas Racing
Time No time trials
Most laps led
Driver Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps 86
Winner
No. 14 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing
Television in the United States
Network Turner Network Television
Announcers Ralph Sheheen, Wally Dallenbach, Jr. and Kyle Petty

The 2009 Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola was the eighteenth race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, marking the halfway point of the season, and the third of four restrictor plate races on the season slate. The 160 lap, 400 miles (640 km) event was held on Saturday night, July 4 (Independence Day in the USA) at the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was broadcast on TNT with pre-race activities beginning at 6:30 PM US EDT, and radio being handled by Sirius XM Radio (satellite) and MRN (over-the-air) starting at 7 PM US EDT. The green flag waved shortly after 8:15 PM US EDT in front of a live audience of 115,000 people with the checkered flag coming out sometime after 11:08 PM US EDT.[2]

Historic date

This marked the first time that the race was run on the 4th of July since 1992. The 1998 event, which was to have been run on Independence Day, was postponed due to the wildfires in Florida that year and was raced in October. The event also commemorated the 25th Anniversary to the date of Richard Petty's 200th - and final - victory in this race in 1984. Before 1988, the race had always been held on the morning of the birth date of the United States; since then, it has been held on the Saturday closest to the Fourth.

Background

Qualifying

Qualifying was rained out for the second straight weekend, so again, the NASCAR rulebook was used to set the order of the field, and Tony Stewart would be on the pole.

Max Papis and Mike Wallace were unable to qualify for this race, and both drivers used a Toyota vehicle.[2]

Race recap

The invocation and the national anthem were preempted in favor of the trailer for the movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, causing an outrage among NASCAR fans. The first big one happened in the second half of the race, when Kasey Kahne got into David Stremme, bouncing him off the wall and collecting at least a dozen cars. Tony Stewart led the most laps, with Denny Hamlin leading the second-most, combining to lead all but eleven of the 160 laps. Like the prior super speedway race at Talladega, a car was wrecked on the last lap. Kyle Busch ended up being the victim of this wreck. Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch made contact, sending Busch spinning hard into the outside wall. After hitting the wall, Busch was rammed hard from behind by Kasey Kahne, destroying Busch's in-car camera. He then was hit hard by his teammate, Joey Logano, on the drivers side. At least a dozen cars wrecked before and after the start/finish line as the race officially ended under caution, with Stewart picking up his second points race victory of the 2009 season, extending his points lead over Jeff Gordon by 180 points. Eight cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials for a duration of 30 laps; the average green flag run was approximately 14 laps.[2]

Instantly after stopping a stunned, dazed, irritated, impatient Kyle Busch climbed out of his car and tried to follow Tony to victory lane for confrontation but was led away by officials. In victory lane Tony Stewart was unexcited on his victory. He said with a disappointed tone "Well...I am not proud of what I did back there. I went where I had to go and he went where he had to go. I got into the back of him without thinking...I don't like winning 'em like that. I wish I could enjoy my win but it does not feel good when you have a good day and you wreck someone out of a good day, especially how Kyle helped me the whole race. You want him to have a good day too, and I couldn't just give the win to him so I tried to make my move, he went up to block us and I was already there. I am sorry. I may be too hard on myself but I do not feel like I am...I am sorry but I am thankful for my nice Stewart-Haas Racing team who brought me here today."

When Kyle Busch's friend/boss Joe Gibbs was asked about the finish he said "I think Kyle did good today. The fact that he gave it all he could and was willing to get us to victory lane shows a true winner in him." Kyle contended that his friend intentionally crashed him but changed his mind in 2010 after a talk with Tony and deciding it was best to put it behind them.

Results

Top Ten Finishers
Pos. Car # Driver Make Team
1 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Stewart Haas Racing
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports
3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing
4 99 Carl Edwards Ford Roush Fenway Racing
5 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Penske Racing
6 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota JTG Daugherty Racing
7 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull Racing Team
8 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Roush Fenway Racing
9 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Richard Petty Motorsports

References

  1. ↑ "2009 Coke Zero 400 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  2. 1 2 3 "2009 Coke Zero 400 racing information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
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