The 2012 Crown Royal Presents the Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard powered by BigMachineRecords.com, the 19th running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on July 29, 2012 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Contested over 160 laps, was the twentieth race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson, of the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, won his third race of the season ahead of Kyle Busch in second. Greg Biffle finished in the third position.
Report
Background
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a four-turn rectangular-oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at 9 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, has no banking. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also has none. The racetrack has seats for 250,000 spectators.
Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 707 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 691. Greg Biffle was third in the Drivers' Championship with 667 points, eleven ahead of Jimmie Johnson and 39 ahead of Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick with 622 was four ahead of Tony Stewart, as Martin Truex Jr. with 617 points, was three ahead of Clint Bowyer, and four in front of Brad Keselowski. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 135 points, 25 ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 93 points, was thirteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Paul Menard is the defending winner of the race.
In 2011, Crown Royal announced that they would move their sponsorship from Richmond International Raceway to Indianapolis to rename the Brickyard 400 to Crown Royal "Your Hero's Name Goes Here" 400 at the Brickyard. Once the naming rights contest concluded, Curtiss Shaver, a firefighter from Troy, Alabama, was announced the winner, making the official race name for the 2012 race, the Crown Royal Curtiss Shaver 400 at the Brickyard.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway also made changes to the garages in 2012 as part of the new format of having both a first and second tier series race at the Speedway. For the first time, the top 35 Cup teams would no longer use the traditional Gasoline Alley garages. Instead, the top teams in points would be parked in the "new" garages located on pit road used first for Formula One and later for MotoGP. NASCAR Inspection would be held in the pitside garages, and lower teams and the Nationwide Series (racing for the first time at Indianapolis) will use Gasoline Alley.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held before the race on July 28, 2012. The first session was 60 minutes long, while the second was 110 minutes. Kasey Kahne was quickest with a time of 48.563 seconds in the first session, 0.478 faster than Mark Martin. Jeff Gordon was third quickest, followed by Johnson, Keselowski, and Menard. Earnhardt Jr. was seventh, still within a second of Kahne's time. In the second and final practice session, Biffle was quickest with a time of 49.587 seconds. Carl Edwards, with a time of 49.660, was second quickest, ahead of Joey Logano, Kahne, and Kenseth. Johnson, Regan Smith, Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Hamlin completed the first ten positions.
Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Hamlin clinched his first pole position at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with a time of 49.244 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Edwards. Logano qualified third, Aric Almirola took fourth, and Biffle started fifth. Johnson, Kyle Busch, Menard, Gordon and Kenseth rounded out the top ten. The drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Reed Sorenson, Joe Nemechek, Michael McDowell. McDowell's time was disallowed after his car failed inspection; Mike Bliss was awarded a spot in the field.Denny Hamlin captures pole
Once the qualifying session had concluded, Hamlin stated, "We knew this was the turning point of the season. From Indy until Richmond is when you start seeing who's going to fight for a championship. Everyone's got their Chase cars prepared, bringing them to the track, and that's when you want to start running good. Every year with six to seven races before the Chase, we start running all out to see where we stack up against the field. If this is any indication, we hope it's 2010 all over with except the ending."
Race
Results
Qualifying Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Time (s) Speed1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.244 2 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.455 3 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.517 4 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 49.538 5 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.578 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.626 7 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.711 8 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.720 9 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.737 10 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.819 11 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 49.831 12 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 49.857 13 51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 49.865 14 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 49.869 15 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.876 16 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 49.879 17 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 49.880 18 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 49.892 19 55 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 49.893 20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.932 21 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.951 22 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 49.959 23 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 49.980 24 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Dodge 50.020 25 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 50.134 26 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota 50.220 27 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 50.309 28 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 50.318 29 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 50.331 30 93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 50.408 31 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.418 32 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 50.424 33 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 50.443 34 95 Scott Speed Leavine Family Racing Ford 50.603 35 26 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.635 36 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.667 37 33 Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet 50.748 38 83 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 50.750 39 79 Mike Skinner Go Green Racing Ford 50.878 40 23 Scott Riggs R3 Motorsports Toyota 50.888 41 10 J. J. Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 50.985 42 32 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 51.497 43 19 Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota 51.084 Failed to Qualify 91 Reed Sorenson Humphrey Smith Racing Ford 51.250 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 51.387 98 Michael McDowellPhil Parsons Racing Ford 50.590 Source: McDowell's time was disallowed after his car failed inspection.
Race results
Pos Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points 148 Jimmie Johnson (W)Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 160 48 218 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 160 43 316 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 160 42 488 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 160 40 524 Jeff Gordon (W)Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 160 40 611 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 160 39 739 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 160 37 856 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 160 36 92 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 160 36 1014 Tony Stewart (W)Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 160 34 1155 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 160 33 125 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 160 32 1329 Kevin Harvick (W)Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 160 31 1427 Paul Menard (W)Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 160 30 1515 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 160 29 1622 Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Dodge 160 0 1721 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 160 0 1878 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 160 26 1943 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 160 25 209 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 160 24 2142 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 160 23 221 Jamie McMurray (W)Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 160 22 2336 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 160 21 2430 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota 160 20 2583 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 160 20 2647 Bobby Labonte (W)JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 160 19 2738 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 160 17 2834 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 160 16 2999 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 156 15 3032 Ken Schrader FAS Lane Racing Ford 156 14 3133 Stephen Leicht (R)Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet 154 13 3231 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 151 12 3320 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 144 11 3413 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 137 10 3517 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 132 10 3651 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 126 8 3793 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 40 7 3895 Scott Speed Leavine Family Racing Ford 23 6 3910 J. J. Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 20 5 4026 Josh Wise (R)Front Row Motorsports Ford 19 4 4123 Scott Riggs R3 Motorsports Toyota 14 3 4279 Mike Skinner Go Green Racing Ford 11 2 4319 Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Racing Toyota 5 0Source:
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 731 2 Matt Kenseth 717 3 Greg Biffle 709 4 Jimmie Johnson 704 5 Denny Hamlin 667 6 Kevin Harvick 653 7 Martin Truex Jr. 653 8 Tony Stewart 652 9 Brad Keselowski 649 10 Clint Bowyer 643
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 144 2 Toyota 116 3 Ford 97 4 Dodge 83
Note: Only the top ten positions are included for the driver standings.
References