The 2009 Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 was the thirty-fifth and penultimate stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the ninth in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. It was held on November 15, 2009, at Phoenix International Raceway, in Avondale, Arizona before a crowd of 90,000. The 312-lap race was won by Jimmie Johnson of the Hendrick Motorsports team after starting from third position. Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton finished second and Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing placed third.
Entering the race, only Hendrick Motorsports teammates Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon remained in contention for the Drivers' Championship, with Johnson holding a 73-point margin over Martin in second. Martin Truex Jr. started from pole position by setting the fastest lap in the qualifying session, although he was passed by Kurt Busch by the end of the first lap. Fifty-six laps later, Johnson became the leader of the race. Many Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, including Gordon and Martin ran in the top ten for most of the race. Johnson maintained the first position to lead the most laps of 238, and to win his seventh race of the season. There were four cautions and nine lead changes among four different drivers during the course of the race.
The event saw Johnson claim his seventh race victory of the 2009 season, and the forty-seventh of his career. The result kept Johnson in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, one-hundred and eight points ahead of Martin and one-hundred and sixty nine in front of Gordon. Chevrolet maintained their lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, fifty-eight ahead of Toyota, ninety-five in front of Ford and one-hundred and eight ahead of Dodge. The race attracted 5.17 million television viewers.
Background
The 2009 Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 was the thirty-fifth of thirty-six scheduled stock car races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the ninth in the ten race season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. It took place on November 15, 2009, in Avondale, Arizona, at Phoenix International Raceway, a short track that holds NASCAR races. The standard track at Phoenix International Raceway is a four-turn short track oval that is long. The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was banked at three degrees. The back stretch, which has a dogleg shape instead of a straight, has nine degrees of banking.
Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 6,297 points, and Mark Martin stood in second with 6,224 points. Jeff Gordon followed in third with 6,185 points, fifty-nine ahead of Kurt Busch, and ninety-eight in front of Tony Stewart in fourth and fifth. Juan Pablo Montoya with 6,061 was eleven points ahead of Greg Biffle, as Denny Hamlin with 5,975 points, was two ahead of Ryan Newman, and seventy-seven in front of Kasey Kahne. Carl Edwards and Brian Vickers in eleventh and twelfth with 5,857 and 5,777 points rounded out the contenders for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Johnson had to attain 122 more points than Martin to be leading the championship standings by 195 points and become the Drivers' Champion at Phoenix. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet were leading with 247 points, fifty-five ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 158 points, were seven points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Johnson was the race's defending champion.
At the previous race at Texas Motor Speedway, the Dickies 500, the gap between Johnson and his teammate Martin was reduced by 111 points to 73 points. Johnson came 38th after becoming involved in a three-car accident three laps into the event while Martin finished fourth. For his part, Johnson remained confident about his chances of winning the title, "We still have a nice lead and we'll take it from here... We're still in a great position and we'll go to Phoenix and race." He deemed his 73-point advantage to be "very, very healthy" and noted that Martin could be affected by problems at Phoenix. Martin said he would not change his strategy of attempting to secure victory in his bid to win his first championship, adding, "We aren't in control of anything else that happens. I've said all along that you can't make predictions, and I still say that it's not over." He added that he concentrated on the race at Phoenix and not on scoring points.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—both on Saturday. A practice session scheduled for Friday morning was cancelled because of rain. The first session lasted 45 minutes, and the second and final session lasted 60 minutes.
Forty-six drivers were entered in the qualifier on Friday evening; according to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, forty-three were allowed to race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. A majority of drivers recorded their fastest laps during their second timed lap. Martin Truex Jr. clinched his third pole position of the season and the fourth of his career at his first attempt to set a time, with a lap of 26.643 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Kurt Busch. Johnson qualified third, Kahne took fourth after he had held pole position earlier in the session, and Hamlin started fifth. Biffle, Kyle Busch, Stewart, Casey Mears and Martin completed the top ten positions. The three drivers that failed to qualify were Regan Smith, Kevin Conway and Brandon Ash. After the qualifier Truex said, "(Today) we were pretty good in practice. This is a weird track where you go out in practice, then expect to pick up a half-second somehow (in qualifying). We did. It's strange, but it felt good."
In the first practice session, Sam Hornish Jr. was fastest with a lap of 26.889 seconds, finishing ahead of Kahne in second, and Kyle Busch in third. Biffle was fourth fastest, and Hamlin placed fifth. Montoya, Johnson, Martin, Stewart and Gordon rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session. Of the other drivers in the chase, Vickers was fifteenth fastest, while Newman placed seventeenth. Later that day, Johnson was fastest in the second and final practice session with a time of 27.201 seconds, ahead of Martin in second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third. Truex was fourth quickest, and Kurt Busch took fifth. Jeff Burton managed sixth. Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Joey Logano and Kahne followed in the top ten. Other chase drivers included Montoya in seventeenth and Edwards in twenty-third. Kahne scraped the turn two wall and sustained minor damage to the right-hand quarter of his car.
Qualifying results Grid Driver Team Manufacturer 11 Martin Truex Jr.Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 26.643 135.120 22 Kurt Busch Penske Championship Racing Dodge 26.750 134.579 348 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.775 134.454 49 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 26.807 134.293 511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.820 134.228 616 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.821 134.223 718 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.831 134.173 814 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 26.850 134.078 907 Casey Mears Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.860 134.028 105 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.861 134.023 1155 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 26.876 133.949 1277 Sam Hornish Jr.Team Penske Dodge 26.881 133.924 1333 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.890 133.879 1424 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.891 133.874 1500 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 26.893 133.864 1644 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 26.914 133.759 1742 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 26.922 133.720 1888 Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.926 133.700 1983 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 26.930 133.680 2071 Bobby Labonte TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 26.952 133.571 2147 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 26.956 133.551 227 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 26.983 133.417 2313 Max Papis Germain Racing Toyota 26.986 133.402 2439 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.019 133.240 2599 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.024 133.215 2612 Brad Keselowski Penske Championship Racing Dodge 27.035 133.161 2720 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 27.037 133.151 2817 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.043 133.121 2909 David Gilliland Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 27.050 133.087 3026 Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.055 133.062 3129 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.082 132.930 3266 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 27.083 132.925 336 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.106 132.812 3487 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 27.112 132.783 3519 Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 27.116 132.763 3631 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 27.139 132.650 3782 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 27.204 132.333 3836 Michael McDowell Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota 27.216 132.276 3996 Erik Darnell Hall of Fame Racing Ford 27.236 132.178 4043 Reed Sorenson Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge 27.308 131.829 4198 Paul Menard Robert Yates Racing Ford 27.402 131.377 4234 John Andretti Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 27.532 130.757 4337 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 27.254 132.091 4478 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 27.260 132.062 4570 Kevin Conway TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 27.295 131.892 4602 Brandon Ash Ash Motorsports Dodge 27.552 130.662
Race The race began at 3:15 p.m. EST and was televised in the United States on ESPN. Commentary was provided by play-by-play caller Jerry Punch, and both Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree provided analysis. Approximately 90,000 spectators attended the event. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were sunny. Phoenix International Raceway chaplin Ken Bowers began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. Former J Records recording artist Tyrese Gibson performed the national anthem, and Senator John McCain commanded the drivers to start their engines. No driver had to move to rear of the grid at the start of the race.
Truex retained his pole position lead into the first lap. On the same lap, Kurt Busch passed Truex to become the new race leader. One lap later, Martin, who started tenth, fell to eleventh. On the 4th lap, Hornish had moved up to seventh position after passing Kyle Busch and Gordon. Two laps later, Montoya moved into the sixteenth position, as Martin passed Stewart for tenth on lap 7. By the 9th lap, Kurt Busch had a one-second lead over Truex One lap later, Kurt Busch increased his lead to 1.5 seconds. On lap 13, Martin passed Kyle Busch to claim ninth. Two laps later, Martin moved into eighth.
Gordon who began the race in fourteenth, had progressed eight positions to sixth by lap 22. Three laps later, Truex had reduced Kurt Busch's lead to one second, as Martin moved into seventh on lap 28. One lap later, Kurt Busch extended his lead over Truex to 1.6 seconds, as Gordon moved into fifth position. On lap 34, Johnson passed Truex for second and began closing up to Kurt Busch; Martin passed Gordon to claim fifth on lap 39. Four laps later, Johnson closed to half a second from Kurt Busch. Twelve laps later, Earnhardt dropped to twentieth position. On lap 54, Johnson passed Kurt Busch to claim the lead as slower traffic impeded Busch. Martin moved to fourth four laps later.