The 2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was the 17th stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on June 28, 2009, in Loudon, New Hampshire, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. 101,000 people attended the race. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Joey Logano won the rain-shortened 273-lap race starting from the 24th position in his first career win. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports was second, with Penske Racing's Kurt Busch third.
Tony Stewart was awarded the pole position after qualifying was rained out and the starting order was determined by owners' points. He was immediately passed by Gordon at the start of the race. Busch took the first position on lap seven, before Gordon retook it on the 20th lap. Gordon lost the lead to Busch twelve laps later. Jimmie Johnson assumed the lead on lap 50, and maintained it for the following 73 laps. He led another 20 laps for a total of 93 laps, more than any other driver. His teammate Gordon re-assumed the lead following a caution period on the 159th lap and maintained it until Stewart passed him on lap 196. Bobby Labonte led laps 238 to 247 before Ryan Newman became the leader on lap 247. Logano took over first place sixteen laps later when Newman made a pit stop for fuel. The race ended early on the 273rd lap due to earlier rain and Logano was declared the winner. There were 11 cautions and 21 lead changes amongst 14 drivers during the event.
It was Logano's first victory in the Cup Series; at the age of 19 years, 1 month and 4 days, he became the youngest driver in series history to win a race. After the race, Gordon lowered Stewart's advantage in the Drivers' Championship from 84 to 69 points. Johnson, Busch and Edwards rounded out the top five. Chevrolet maintained the Manufacturers' Championship lead with 126 points, 32 ahead of Toyota, 46 in front of Ford, and 52 ahead of Dodge with 19 races to go in the season. The race attracted 5.555 million television viewers.
Background
The 2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was the 17th of 36 scheduled stock car races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on June 28, 2009, in Loudon, New Hampshire, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, an intermediate track that holds NASCAR races. The New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track. Its turns are banked at two to seven degrees; both the front stretch (the finish line) and the back stretch are banked at one degree.
Before the race, Tony Stewart led the Drivers' Championship with 2,364 points, followed by Jeff Gordon with 2,280 points. Jimmie Johnson was third with 2,207 points, Kurt Busch was fourth with 2,084 points, and Carl Edwards fifth with 2,051 points. Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the top twelve drivers. Chevrolet led the Manufacturers' Championship with 120 points, 35 points ahead of Toyota in second place. Third-placed Ford had 77 points, and was seven points in front of Dodge in the fourth position. Kurt Busch was the race's defending champion.
Ahead of the event, the organizers expanded the track's infield section to make more than 400 percent usable land available. Safety changes increased the track's catch fences near the grandstands to more than high with the installation of wheel fence arch posts. Six strands of , high-strength cable supported its lower section, and sixteen strands of cable composed the upper section.
Ted Christopher, a driver who had last started a Cup Series race in the 2006 season, would attempt to qualify for Kirk Shelmerdine Racing. It would be his first time driving the Car of Tomorrow; he had previously competed for the team in three previous races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Christopher said he was looking forward to compete in the event and was asked by team owner Kirk Shelmerdine to undergo a seat fitting, "I went over to see him last weekend when I was [in North Carolina]. He said come over and try the seat in the car. It fit good and he called me on Monday and said they he [sic] had got a sponsor and wanted me to run his car. I'm looking forward to it. I think I've made the race for him every time we've tried to qualify at New Hampshire."
Practice and qualifying Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and two on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes, the second 50 minutes, and the third 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Kurt Busch was fastest with a 29.149 seconds lap, ahead of David Reutimann in second and Montoya third. Johnson, Reed Sorenson, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano filled positions three to ten. During the session, Stewart lost control of his car, and crashed into the wall at turn two, causing heavy damage to the rear of his car. He used a back-up car for the rest of the session; his team prepared to take the primary car's engine into the back-up vehicle before the race. Martin made contact with a barrier between turns three and four and spun; he sustained no major vehicular damage.
A total of 46 drivers entered qualifying on Friday afternoon; due to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, 43 could race. Each driver ran two laps, with pole position to 42nd determined by the competitor's fastest speeds. 43rd position was awarded to the most recent series champion or the next fastest qualifier. Heavy rain caused NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying and used owner points to determine the starting order. Stewart had his second pole position at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He was joined on the grid's front row by Gordon. Johnson, Kurt Busch, Edwards, Ryan Newman, Hamlin, Biffle, Kyle Busch and Kenseth were in positions three to ten. The three drivers who did not qualify were Dexter Bean, Christopher and Mike Wallace; Regan Smith qualified 43rd after Wallace's team withdrew from the event.
On Saturday morning, Sorenson was quickest in the second practice session with a time of 29.647 seconds. Positions two to ten were occupied by Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Truex, Reutimann, Johnson, Montoya, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. Later that day, Truex led the third practice session with a 29.713 seconds lap. Johnson, Biffle, Sorenson, Martin, Harvick. Montoya, Kurt Busch, Reutimann and Bobby Labonte were in positions two to ten.
Qualifying results Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Reason 114Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet1st in Owners' Points 224Jeff GordonHendrick Motorsports Chevrolet2nd in Owners' Points 3 48Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet3rd in Owners' Points 4 2Kurt BuschPenske RacingDodge4th in Owners' Points 5 99Carl EdwardsRoush Fenway RacingFord5th in Owners' Points 6 39Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet6th in Owners' Points 7 11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota7th in Owners' Points 8 16Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford8th in Owners' Points 9 18Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota9th in Owners' Points 10 17Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford10th in Owners' Points 11 5Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet11th in Owners' Points 12 42Juan Pablo MontoyaEarnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet12th in Owners' Points 13 9Kasey KahneRichard Petty Motorsports Dodge13th in Owners' Points 14 00David ReutimannMichael Waltrip Racing Toyota14th in Owners' Points 15 31Jeff BurtonRichard Childress Racing Chevrolet15th in Owners' Points 16 33Clint BowyerRichard Childress Racing Chevrolet16th in Owners' Points 1783Brian VickersRed Bull Racing Team Toyota17th in Owners' Points 18 47Marcos AmbroseJTG Daugherty Racing Toyota18th in Owners' Points 19 26Jamie McMurray Roush Fenway Racing Ford19th in Owners' Points 20 88Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet20th in Owners' Points 21 07Casey Mears Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet21st in Owners' Points 221Martin Truex Jr. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet22nd in Owners' Points 23 19Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge23rd in Owners' Points 2420Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota24th in Owners' Points 25 29Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet25th in Owners' Points 26 77Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Dodge26th in Owners' Points 27 43Reed Sorenson Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge27th in Owners' Points 28 96Bobby LabonteHall of Fame RacingFord28th in Owners' Points 2955Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota29th in Owners' Points 30 44A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge30th in Owners' Points 316David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford31st in Owners' Points 32 12David StremmePenske Racing Dodge32nd in Owners' Points 3398Paul MenardYates Racing Ford33rd in Owners' Points 347Robby GordonRobby Gordon Motorsports Toyota34th in Owners' Points 35 34John AndrettiFront Row Motorsports Chevrolet35th in Owners' Points 3609Brad KeselowskiPhoenix Racing ChevroletPast race winner in the 2009 season 3782Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota16 attempts, 36th in Owners' Points 38 71David GillilandTRG Motorsports Chevrolet16 attempts, 37th in Owners' Points 3987Joe NemechekNEMCO Motorsports Toyota16 attempts, 38th in Owners' Points 4066Dave BlaneyPrism Motorsports Toyota16 attempts, 41st in Owners' Points 4136Patrick CarpentierTommy Baldwin Racing Toyota16 attempts, 42nd in Owners' Points 42 37Tony RainesFront Row Motorsports Dodge9 attempts, 50th in Owners' Points 43 78Regan SmithFurniture Row Racing Chevrolet8 attempts, 40th in Owners' Points 4451Dexter Bean BlackJack Racing Dodge5 attempts, 51st in Owners' Points 4527Ted ChristopherKirk Shelmerdine Racing Toyota2 attempts, 57th in Owners' Points 4664Mike WallaceGunselman MotorsportsToyota11 attempts, 49th in Owners' Points
Race Live television coverage of the race began at 12:30 p.m. EDT in the United States on TNT. Around the start of the race, weather conditions were cloudy with the air temperature at and the track temperature at ; a chance of rain showers was forecast. Billy Mauldin, the president and CEO of Motor Racing Outreach began pre-race ceremonies by giving the invocation. The 2009 Miss New Hampshire Lindsey Graham performed the United States National Anthem with Denise Doucette singing the National Anthem of Canada. The winner of a sponsored sweepstakes competition Pete Dingeman commanded the drivers to start their engines. NASCAR announced that a competition caution would take place on lap 35 due to the forecasted rain, requiring drivers to undertake mandatory pit stops for tire wear analysis. No driver fell to the rear of the field for the beginning of the event.
The race began at 2:16 p.m. local time. Jeff Gordon passed Stewart on the outside at the exit of the second turn. Stewart lost two further places further on in the lap. On the second lap, Kurt Busch began challenging Jeff Gordon for the first position, as Stewart dropped to fifth. Edwards moved past Stewart for sixth at the end of lap three. Biffle took third from Newman at turn three on lap four, as Kurt Busch continued his attempts to pass Gordon on the same lap. Kyle Busch fell to tenth when Montoya passed him on lap six. Kurt Busch overtook Jeff Gordon at the first turn for the lead on lap seven. Biffle passed Jeff Gordon for second place one lap later. On lap 16, Patrick Carpentier hit the outside wall at turn four due to a broken brake line, causing the first caution. Some drivers made pit stops for tires under caution.