Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400

Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Venue	Pocono Raceway
Location	Long Pond, Pennsylvania, United States
Corporate sponsor	Axalta
First race	1982
Distance	400 miles (640 km)
Laps	160
Previous names	Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 (1982–1985) Miller High Life 500 (1986–1989) Miller Genuine Draft 500 (1990) Champion Spark Plug 500 (1991–1993) UAW-GM Teamwork 500 (1994–1996) Pocono 500 (1997–2009) Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 (2010) 5-hour Energy 500 (2011) Pocono 400 Presented by #NASCAR (2012)[1] Party in the Poconos 400 Presented by Walmart (2013) Pocono 400 (2014)
Most wins (driver)	Jeff Gordon (4)
Most wins (team)	Hendrick Motorsports (11)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Chevrolet (17)
Circuit information
Surface	Asphalt
Length	2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Turns	3

The Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held annually at Pocono Raceway (14 of 36) in Long Pond, Pennsylvania; it is the first of two Sprint Cup races at Pocono Raceway, with the other being the Pennsylvania 400 on NBC. The 400-mile race at Pocono Raceway replaced a 400-mile race at Texas World Speedway on NASCAR's schedule beginning with the 1982 season. It was moved to the former USAC Marlboro Championship Trail date in June, displacing the Indy cars to August.

The race was a 500-mile event from its inception in 1982, through the 2011 race. Both Pocono races were shortened to 400 miles in 2012, and presently run at that length.^[2]

Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
					Laps	Miles (km)
1982	June 6	Bobby Allison	DiGard Motorsports	Buick	200	500 (804.672)	4:24:08	113.579	Report
1983	June 12	Bobby Allison	DiGard Motorsports	Buick	200	500 (804.672)	3:53:13	128.636	Report
1984	June 10	Cale Yarborough	Ranier-Lundy	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:37:08	138.164	Report
1985	June 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:35:48	138.974	Report
1986	June 8	Tim Richmond	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	4:24:50	113.279	Report
1987	June 14	Tim Richmond	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	4:05:57	122.166	Report
1988	June 19	Geoffrey Bodine	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:58:21	126.147	Report
1989	June 18	Terry Labonte	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:48:27	131.32	Report
1990	June 17	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Racing	Oldsmobile	200	500 (804.672)	4:08:25	120.6	Report
1991	June 16	Darrell Waltrip	DarWal, Inc.	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	4:04:34	122.666	Report
1992	June 14	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:28:18	144.023	Report
1993	June 13	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	200	500 (804.672)	3:37:23	138.005	Report
1994	June 12	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:52:55	128.801	Report
1995	June 11	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:37:50	137.72	Report
1996	June 16	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:35:40	139.104	Report
1997	June 8	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:34:33	139.828	Report
1998	June 21	Jeremy Mayfield	Penske Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	4:14:39	117.809	Report
1999	June 20	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	200	500 (804.672)	4:12:19	118.898	Report
2000	June 19*	Jeremy Mayfield	Penske Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:34:41	139.741	Report
2001	June 17	Ricky Rudd	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:43:14	134.389	Report
2002	June 9	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	200	500 (804.672)	3:29:10	143.426	Report
2003	June 8	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:42:24	134.892	Report
2004	June 13	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	4:27:33	112.129	Report
2005	June 12	Carl Edwards	Roush Racing	Ford	201*	502.5 (808.695)	3:53:24	129.177	Report
2006	June 11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:47:52	131.656	Report
2007	June 10	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	106*	265 (426.476)	1:57:15	135.608	Report
2008	June 8	Kasey Kahne	Gillett Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	200	500 (804.672)	3:59:36	125.209	Report
2009	June 7	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:36:35	138.515	Report
2010	June 6	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	204*	510 (820.765)	3:44:30	136.303	Report
2011	June 12	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	500 (804.672)	3:26:21	145.384	Report
2012*	June 10	Joey Logano	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	160	400 (643.737)	3:03:12	131.004	Report
2013	June 9	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	400 (643.737)	2:46:26	144.202	Report
2014	June 8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	160	400 (643.737)	2:52:07	139.44	Report
2015	June 7	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	160	400 (643.737)	2:58:45	134.266	Report

• 2000: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 2005 & 2010: Race extended due to a green–white–checker finish.
• 2007: Race shortened due to rain/darkness.
• 2012: Race distance changed from 500 to 400 miles in length. First ever 400-miler at Pocono.

Multiple winners (drivers)

# Wins	Driver	Years Won
4	Jeff Gordon	1996, 1997, 2007, 2011
2	Bobby Allison	1982, 1983
	Tim Richmond	1986, 1987
	Terry Labonte	1989, 1995
	Jeremy Mayfield	1998, 2000
	Tony Stewart	2003, 2009
	Denny Hamlin	2006, 2010
	Jimmie Johnson	2004, 2013

Multiple winners (teams)

# Wins	Team	Years Won
11	Hendrick Motorsports	1986, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014
5	Joe Gibbs Racing	1999, 2003, 2006, 2010, 2012
3	Penske Racing	1994, 1998, 2000
2	DiGard Motorsports	1982, 1983
	Robert Yates Racing	2001, 2002

Manufacturer wins

# Wins	Manufacturer	Years Won
17	Chevrolet	1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
9	Ford	1985, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005
2	Buick	1982, 1983
	Pontiac	1993, 1999
	Toyota	2010, 2012
1	Oldsmobile	1990
	Dodge	2008

Notable races

• 1982: Dale Earnhardt flipped over Tim Richmond going into Turn 1, and suffered a neck injury that he hid until the end of the season. Because of a 1984 Busch Clash crash involving Ricky Rudd where he hid his injuries, NASCAR changed rules later that season mandating medical clearance from NASCAR officials before racing.
• 1988: Bobby Allison reported a flat tire before the race, he tried to complete 1 lap, but he did not. Driving into the Tunnel Turn, Allison blew the tire and slammed the Outside wall. To make things worse, Jocko Maggiacomo T-Bone'd Allison in the drivers side door, and Allison suffered career ending injuries.
• 2000: Jeremy Mayfield, had a run on Dale Earnhardt and he intimidated Dale out of the lead giving Mayfield the win. It was a popular win among the fans and Mayfield said in his Victory Lane interview that he wanted to "rattle his cage".
• 2006: Denny Hamlin becomes the first rookie to sweep at Pocono.
• 2009: Tony Stewart becomes the first owner-driver to win since Ricky Rudd at Martinsville in 1997. It was also the first race in NASCAR's history to introduce double file restarts.
• 2010: On the Long Pond Straightaway, Kasey Kahne spun across the track on the last lap and became airborne, collecting Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman and others. Denny Hamlin won the race, which had been delayed by several hours for rain.
• 2012: Twenty-two-year-old Joey Logano muscles his way past his mentor, 53-year-old Mark Martin to score his second Cup win (first in a race that was not truncated) on a freshly repaved Pocono Raceway, snapping a 104 race winless skid. Joey started on the pole with a new track record, led 49 of the 160 laps, and won by about a second to win the first scheduled 400 mile long race at Pocono. Mark Martin for the seventh time in his career, finished second at The Tricky Triangle.
• 2013: Qualifying was rained out, so points leader Jimmie Johnson started on the pole. Johnson dominated the race, leading 128 laps, and held off Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the last laps to snap a nine year winless Pocono streak. On a darker note, this marked the last NASCAR race for Jason Leffler before he was killed later that week in a sprint car accident at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey.
• 2014: Brad Keselowski dominated the race, leading 95 of 160 laps, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr. passed him with four laps to go to take the victory when Keselowski tried to use the lapped car of Danica Patrick to clean trash from his grille. Earnhardt, Jr. became the fourth straight different driver in the Hendrick Motorsports team to win at Pocono, after Jeff Gordon in August 2012, and Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne in the June and August 2013 races respectively.

Television broadcasters

Year	Network	Lap-by-lap	Color commentator(s)
1982	Mizlou	Dave Despain	Dick Brooks
1983		Ken Squier	Donnie Allison
1984	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber
1985
1986	SETN	Mike Joy	Jerry Punch
1987		Eli Gold
1988	FNN SCORE	Pat Patterson	Bob Latford
1989	Showtime PPV	Lyn St. James Gary Nelson	Dave Despain
1990
1991	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons Ned Jarrett
1992
1993
1994	TNN	Mike Joy	Buddy Baker Dick Berggren
1995
1996		Eli Gold
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001	Fox	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip Larry McReynolds
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007	TNT	Bill Weber	Wally Dallenbach Kyle Petty
2008
2009
2010		Adam Alexander
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015	FS1	Mike Joy	Darrell Waltrip Larry McReynolds
2016			Darrell Waltrip Jeff Gordon

References

1. "Renamed Pocono race reflects Twitter partnership". Track Release. NASCAR. June 4, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
2. "Pocono downshifting to 400 Miles in 2012". Staff Report. USA Today. August 10, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2012.

External links

• Ratings/Viewership For Pocono 500 Since 2000