The 2011 Ford 400, the 13th running of the event, was a stock car race that was held on November 20, 2011, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The race, which lasted 267 laps, was the thirty-sixth of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the tenth and final race of the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. Tony Stewart of the Stewart–Haas Racing team won the race from the fifteenth starting position. Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards finished second, and Martin Truex Jr. came in third for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Before the race, Stewart trailed Edwards by three points in the Drivers' Championship. Edwards won the pole position by recording the fastest lap time of qualifying and dominated the race, leading more laps than anyone else (119). Meanwhile, Stewart started in 15th and was relegated to the back of the field several times because of grille damage and slow pit stops. However, this did not deter Stewart, as he was able to make up the positions he lost and took the lead for the first time on lap 123. During a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Edwards came in for two tires on lap 201, while Stewart remained on-track for ten more laps in order to avoid pitting for the remainder of the race; he gained four fresh tires. A caution flag for brief rainfall forced Edwards to pit once more to top off on fuel. Although Edwards made his way up to second on the final restart, he was unable to overtake Stewart, who won the race.
There were eight cautions and a track record-breaking 26 lead changes between 15 drivers. Stewart's victory was the fifth of the season and the 44th of his career. It additionally earned him his third (and final) Drivers' Championship and the first title for Stewart–Haas Racing because of a tiebreaker that was determined by a countback of wins in the season. Behind the two title contenders, Kevin Harvick maintained third place and Matt Kenseth displaced Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson for fourth place. The race attracted nearly seven million television viewers and is considered to be one of the best championship-deciding races in NASCAR history. Background
The 2011 Ford 400 was the 36th and final race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as well as the last of the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup. The race was held on Sunday, November 20, 2011, at Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida over a distance of 267 laps and . Homestead–Miami Speedway was one of 14 intermediate tracks that hosted NASCAR events in 2011; its standard layout is a asphalt oval track with variable banking of 18–20 degrees in each of its four turns. The front stretch (where the start/finish line is located) and back stretch also have three-degree banking. The Sprint Cup Series held one race at the track every year since 1999. Beginning in 2002, the track hosted the championship weekend for the top three divisions of NASCAR (the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series).
Heading into the season finale, Carl Edwards led the Drivers' Championship with 2,359 points, three more than Tony Stewart in second. It was the closest deficit between the top-two drivers in the standings since the Chase for the Sprint Cup was introduced in 2004. A maximum of 48 points were available for the final race, which meant that Edwards needed to finish ahead of Stewart to win the championship. In the event of a points tie, Stewart would clinch the title based on a countback of wins in the season. Behind Edwards and Stewart, Kevin Harvick stood third with 2,308 points, followed by fourth-place Brad Keselowski with 2,294 points and fifth-place Jimmie Johnson with 2,291 points. Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch rounded out the competitors of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Chevrolet had already won their 35th Manufacturers' Championship because of Johnson's win in the Hollywood Casino 400. They were 50 points ahead of their nearest rival, Ford, while Toyota was third on 183 points and Dodge was fourth on 159.
Throughout the season, Edwards had only achieved one victory – the Kobalt Tools 400 in March – but his consistent top-ten finishes kept him in title contention; he came in second in the past two races, the AAA Texas 500 and Kobalt Tools 500, and finished no worse than 11th in the nine Chase for the Sprint Cup races. Stewart greatly underperformed in the season's first 26 races, earning only 11 top-ten results, but four wins in the Chase helped propel him to second in the standings. Edwards, the defending race winner, spoke on his and Stewart's emotions before the race: "We both are competitors and have that same desire to win and same amount of pressure that comes with that to go out and perform. The bad thing and good thing for both of us at the same time is that we both seem to be able to perform under that pressure. I truly believe this could come down to who wins this race is going to win this championship.” Stewart believed that the experience of his two previous championships (2002 and 2005) gave him an advantage over Edwards, who had never won the series title. During a press conference, he joked to a reporter: "I'll wreck my mom to win a championship. I'll wreck your mom to win a championship."
Practice and qualifying Two 80-minute practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday; they were both scheduled to begin on Friday afternoon, but were moved to Saturday morning after Friday's schedule was washed out by rain. In addition, the first practice session was extended to 90 minutes, and the second session was shortened to 45 minutes. Earnhardt was fastest in the first practice session with a lap time of 31.179 seconds, outpacing Edwards, Kenseth, Newman, Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Landon Cassill, Gordon, Harvick, and Juan Pablo Montoya. The Chase drivers outside the top-ten were Hamlin (12th), Stewart (15th), Kyle Busch (18th), Keselowski (25th), and Kurt Busch (28th). The session was stopped twice for Mike Skinner suffering an engine failure and a brief rain shower.
The second practice session was led by Edwards, whose quickest lap time was 31.556 seconds. David Ragan was second, Cole Whitt third, A. J. Allmendinger fourth, and Cassill fifth, with Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Dave Blaney, and Keselowski completing the top-ten. Other Chase drivers include Gordon in 12th, Johnson in 14th, Kenseth in 15th, Kyle Busch in 16th, Harvick in 18th, Earnhardt in 23rd, Newman in 26th, Stewart in 28th, Kurt Busch in 29th, and Hamlin in 37th. Debris on the track halted the session in its opening minutes.
The qualifying session began on Saturday afternoon. There were 48 cars entered for the session, but due to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, only 43 were allowed to race. The order of the drivers was set by their times in the first practice session (with the slowest going on-track first and the fastest going last), and each driver was required to complete up to two timed laps, the quickest of which would determine their starting position. With a time of 30.775 seconds, Edwards claimed the third pole position of the season and the tenth of his career. Truex, who held the pole until Edwards' lap, started alongside him on the grid's front row with a lap time that was 0.116 seconds slower. Kahne took third, Kurt Busch fourth, and Keselowski fifth, followed by Kenseth, Gordon, Biffle, Johnson, and Hamlin. The five Chase drivers that did not start in the top ten were 11th-place Earnhardt, 14th-place Newman, 15th-place Stewart, 19th-place Kyle Busch, and 21st-place Harvick. Scott Speed, Reed Sorenson, Skinner, Scott Riggs, and Grant Enfinger failed to qualify for the race. After qualifying, Edwards acknowledged that the pole brought a "morale boost" to his team, but still believed that "we still have to go run this race, and anything can happen." Qualifying results Driver Team Manufacturer 1 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 30.775 175.467 2 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 30.891 174.808 3 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 30.931 174.582 4 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 30.942 174.520 5 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 30.947 174.492 6 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 30.950 174.475 7 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 30.957 174.436 8 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 31.015 174.109 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31.017 174.098 10 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 31.040 173.969 11 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31.051 173.907 12 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 31.082 173.734 13 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 31.092 173.678 14 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 31.147 173.371 15 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 31.154 173.333 16 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 31.156 173.321 17 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31.164 173.277 18 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 31.165 173.271 19 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 31.169 173.249 20 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 31.185 173.160 21 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31.186 173.155 22 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 31.197 173.094 23 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31.199 173.083 24 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 31.220 172.966 25 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31.234 172.889 26 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 31.268 172.701 27 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 31.276 172.656 28 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 31.318 172.425 29 84 Cole Whitt Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 31.324 172.392 30 55 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 31.397 171.991 31 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31.428 171.821 32 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 31.453 171.685 33 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing Toyota 31.568 171.059 34 35 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 31.574 171.027 35 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 31.601 170.881 36 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 31.601 170.881 37 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 31.657 170.578 38 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 31.738 170.143 39 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 31.778 169.929 40 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 31.919 169.178 41 32 T. J. Bell FAS Lane Racing Ford 32.199 167.707 42 36 Geoffrey Bodine Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 33.161 162.842 43 71 Mike Bliss TRG Motorsports Ford 31.776 169.940 Failed to qualify 44 46 Scott Speed Whitney Motorsports Ford 31.853 169.529 45 7 Reed Sorenson Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 31.885 169.359 46 37 Mike Skinner Max Q Motorsports Ford 32.031 168.587 47 92 Scott Riggs K-Automotive Motorsports Chevrolet 32.186 167.775 48 93 Grant Enfinger Sinica Motorsports Chevrolet 32.568 165.807Source:
Race
Laps 1–131 Weather conditions towards the beginning of the 267-lap race were windy, with air temperatures at around . In the United States, the race was broadcast live on ESPN, with commentary from Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett, and Andy Petree. Pre-race ceremonies began with an invocation from Pastor Scott Claunch of the Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale and a performance of the national anthem from American Idol finalist Pia Toscano. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, commanded the drivers to start their engines. Their presence was met with scattered boos from the spectators.