The 2011 Pure Michigan 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 21, 2011 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 200 laps on the 2 -mile D-shaped oval, it was the 23rd race of the 2011 season. The race was won by Kyle Busch for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Brad Keselowski clinched third.

Report

Background

Michigan International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking. Michigan International Speedway can seat up to 119,500 people.

Before the race, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were first and second in the Drivers' Championship with 752 points. Jimmie Johnson was third in the Drivers' Championship with 746 points, Kevin Harvick was fourth with 738 points, and Matt Kenseth was in fifth with 724 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 143 points, 15 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 118 points, was 23 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Kevin Harvick was the race's defending champion.

Practice and qualifying Two practice sessions are scheduled to be held in preparation for the race; one on August 19, 2011 and the other on the following day. The first session was 90 minutes long, while the second will be 110 minutes long. During the first practice session, Matt Kenseth, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Ryan Newman in second and Greg Biffle in the third position. Mark Martin was scored fourth and David Ragan managed fifth. Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.

Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Biffle clinched the sixth pole position of his career, with a time of 37.826 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kenseth. Newman qualified third, Denny Hamlin took fourth, and Martin started fifth. Keselowski, Ragan, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and McMurray rounded out the top ten. The drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Johnny Sauter, Erik Darnell and T. J. Bell. Following the qualifying session, Biffle commented, "We didn't know whether we were going to come here in race or qualifying trim. But we worked on a great qualifying set-up and obviously had good speed today. We'll work on things tomorrow on practice and hopefully have a great car on Sunday."

In the second and final practice, Martin was quickest with a time of 38.371 seconds. Kyle Busch followed in second, ahead of Johnson and Biffle. Gordon was fifth quickest, with a time of 38.452 seconds. Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Newman, Ragan, and Menard rounded out the first ten positions. Afterward, Martin discussed his feelings about the track, "I really, really like running at Michigan, not just because it's so fast, but it's so wide. We can race all over the track. I've been lucky at Michigan, and I've been just plain good. I've gotten a lot of wins there. Last time we raced there, we were pretty good. ... We've got to build on what we learned in that race and try to do even better this time around."

Results

Qualifying Driver Team Manufacturer Grid 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 37.826 190.345 1 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 37.853 190.210 2 39 Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 37.980 189.574 3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 38.036 189.294 4 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 38.057 189.190 5 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 38.094 189.006 6 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 38.149 188.734 7 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 38.162 188.669 8 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 38.176 188.600 9 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 38.204 188.462 10 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 38.221 188.378 11 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 38.226 188.354 12 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 38.251 188.230 13 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 38.275 188.112 14 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 38.280 188.088 15 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 38.286 188.058 16 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 38.297 188.004 17 14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 38.298 187.999 18 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 38.344 187.774 19 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 38.347 187.759 20 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 38.357 187.710 21 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 38.364 187.676 22 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 38.369 187.652 23 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 38.414 187.432 24 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 38.504 186.994 25 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 38.519 186.921 26 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.534 186.848 27 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 38.564 186.703 28 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 38.583 186.611 29 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 38.639 186.340 30 55 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.650 186.287 31 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 38.661 186.234 32 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 38.788 185.624 33 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38.814 185.500 34 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 38.834 185.404 35 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 38.851 185.323 36 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 38.864 185.261 37 71 Andy Lally TRG Motorsports Ford 38.889 185.14238 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.933 184.933 39 66 Todd Bodine HP Racing Toyota 38.953 184.838 40 37 Tony Raines Max Q Motorsports Ford 39.229 183.538 41 32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 39.294 183.234 42 60 Mike Skinner Germain Racing Toyota 39.298 183.215 43 Failed to Qualify 7 Johnny Sauter Robby Gordon Motorsports Dodge 39.384 182.815 46 Erik Darnell Whitney Motorsports Ford 39.547 182.062 50 T. J. Bell LTD Powersports Chevrolet 39.720 181.269

Race results Pos Grid Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points 117 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 203 47 219 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 43 36 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 203 41 45 5 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 41 53 39 Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 203 39 69 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 39 714 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 203 38 835 33 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 203 36 918 14 Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet 203 35 102 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 203 35 1129 43 A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 203 33 127 6 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 203 32 1330 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 203 31 148 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 30 1528 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 203 29 1626 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 203 28 1732 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 203 27 1812 00 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 203 26 1915 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 203 25 201 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 203 26 2123 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 203 23 2224 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 203 22 2310 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 203 21 2420 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 203 0 2525 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 203 19 2611 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 203 18 2716 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 203 17 2827 38 Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 202 0 2938 71 Andy Lally TRG Motorsports Ford 202 16 3042 32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 202 14 3133 51 Landon Cassill Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 201 0 3239 34 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 201 12 3334 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 198 11 3413 22 Kurt Busch Penske Racing Dodge 197 10 354 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 188 9 3622 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 174 8 3721 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Toyota 32 8 3841 37 Tony Raines Max Q Motorsports Ford 26 6 3940 66 Todd Bodine HP Racing Toyota 21 0 4036 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Chevrolet 20 4 4137 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 18 0 4243 60 Mike Skinner Germain Racing Toyota14 0 4331 55 J. J. Yeley Front Row Motorsports Ford 11 1

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kyle Busch 799 2 Jimmie Johnson 789 3 Kevin Harvick 760 4 Carl Edwards 760 5 Matt Kenseth 759

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 149 2 Ford 131 3 Toyota 127 4 Dodge 99

Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

References