The 2014 Aaron's 499 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race run on May 4, 2014, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Contested over 188 laps on the tri-oval, it was the tenth race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Denny Hamlin won the race, his first points paying win at a restrictor plate track, and joined a list of drivers to win in their 300th start, while Greg Biffle finished second and Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, and A. J. Allmendinger rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Kyle Larson (9th), Austin Dillon (15th), and Michael Annett (16th). This was the last race for the sponsor Aaron's
Report Entry list The entry list for the Aaron's 499 was released on Monday, April 28, 2014 at 1:11 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-seven drivers were entered for the race.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski (PC2) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Tony Stewart (PC3) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC5) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Trevor Bayne (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC6) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Terry Labonte (PC7) Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Brian Scott (i) Circle Sport Chevrolet 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 35 Eric McClure (i) Front Row Motorsports Ford 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 Landon Cassill (i) Circle Sport Chevrolet 41 Kurt Busch (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44 J. J. Yeley (i) Xxxtreme Motorsports Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC1) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 66 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 77 Dave Blaney Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 87 Joe Nemechek (i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing FordOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional
Practice First practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in first practice with a time of 47.708 and a speed of . Marcos Ambrose had to go to a backup car after an unusual incident.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 47.708 200.721 2 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47.721 200.666 3 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 47.737 200.599Official first practice results
Final practice Trevor Bayne was the fastest in final practice with a time of 48.117 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 21 Trevor Bayne (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 48.117 199.015 2 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.129 198.965 3 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.142 198.912Official final practice results
Qualifying
Three rounds of Knockout Qualifying took place, the first instance that the new qualifying format was used in the Sprint Cup Series on a super speedway. Brian Scott captured his first career pole with a time of 48.293 and a speed of . Paul Menard, A. J. Allmendinger, Casey Mears and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five. The drivers had a wide range of opinions on the new format. "I don't know if anybody can really quite capture how intense that is. I'm telling you, it's just nerve-racking. You're trying to make all the right decisions as well as not wreck. It wasn't too crazy, but it was crazy enough to be fun," said Jeff Gordon. "It's hard because everybody wants to lag and nobody wants to go because the speed is at the back and not the front," said Brad Keselowski. Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not like the new format at Talladega. "It just wasn't much fun. I'd like to do some heat races or something maybe. That would be a little funner than this." Kasey Kahne and Truex Jr. started at the rear of the field after failing post-qualifying inspection. Kahne's car was too light and Truex's car failed to meet height requirements. "Basically we had a malfunction with a ballast container," Kahne's crew chief Kenny Francis said in a manufacturer release. "The cap that holds the ballast in came out. It could be mechanical or human error we are not really sure what happened. At the end of the day 25 pounds of ballast came out and we were 25 pounds light at the scales. The time was disallowed and we will have to start at the back." Dave Blaney, Eric McClure, Joe Nemechek and J. J. Yeley failed to qualify for the race.
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 33 Brian Scott Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.318 48.631 48.293 2 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.297 48.834 48.391 3 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48.335 48.670 48.436 4 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 48.323 48.695 48.518 5 3 Austin Dillon (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.341 48.714 48.520 6 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48.360 48.729 48.536 7 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.106 48.856 49.109 8 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.038 48.771 49.261 9 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.136 48.855 49.458 10 99 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.372 48.688 49.459 11 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.161 48.775 49.492 12 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.048 48.763 50.678 13 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 47.936 49.117 — 14 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 47.925 49.118 — 15 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 48.298 49.130 — 16 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 47.839 49.138 — 17 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 0.000 0.000 — 18 7 Michael Annett (R) Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 48.368 49.336 — 19 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 48.353 49.352 — 20 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 47.743 49.478 — 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 47.901 49.494 — 22 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 47.966 49.499 — 23 36 Reed Sorenson Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 48.383 50.165 — 24 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 48.286 50.248 — 25 83 Ryan Truex (R) BK Racing Toyota 48.385 — — 26 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.386 — — 27 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Childress Racing Ford 48.404 — — 28 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 48.411 — — 29 66 Michael Waltrip Identity Ventures Racing Toyota 48.411 — — 30 42 Kyle Larson (R) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48.420 — — 31 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.421 — — 32 26 Cole Whitt (R) BK Racing Toyota 48.432 — — 33 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48.500 — — 34 23 Alex Bowman (R) BK Racing Toyota 48.510 — — 35 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 48.516 — — 36 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 48.549 — — 37 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 48.602 — — 38 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 0.000 — — 39 32 Terry Labonte Go FAS Racing Ford 48.672 — — 40 51 Justin Allgaier (R) HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 48.800 — — 41 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 48.924 — — 42 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.138 — — 43 40 Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 49.262 — —Failed to qualify 44 77 Dave Blaney Randy Humphrey Racing Ford 48.967 — — 45 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 49.221 — — 46 35 Eric McClure Front Row Motorsports Ford 49.268 — — 47 44 J. J. Yeley Xxxtreme Motorsports Chevrolet 49.835 — —Official qualifying results
Race
Brian Scott led the field to the green flag at 1:20 p.m. Eastern time. He wouldn't lead a lap at all as his teammate Paul Menard took the lead with the stronger push coming from the inside line.
Leading the bottom line, Danica Patrick took the lead from Menard on lap six.
Jeff Gordon, who was pushing Patrick on the bottom, jumped to the middle line and assumed the lead on lap eight.
Danica took back the lead on lap nine.
Paul Menard found his way back to the front on lap 14.
Brad Keselowski jumped up to the middle in front of Gordon on lap 14, but as he tried to clear Danica, he got turned down into the paved runoff area going into turn 1. He saved it, but the car turned back up onto the track in turn 1 where he was about rammed in the rear by Trevor Bayne and Terry Labonte and cut down his right-front tire driving it through the grass. This would bring out the first caution of the race. “I’m not really sure what happened,’’ Keselowski said. “I made an aggressive move to take the lead and next thing I know I was spinning. Obviously, there was some kind of contact but I don’t know what happened.’’ “Danica made a mistake early,’’ Gordon said. “I don’t think that was an aggressive move. I think it was just a mistake that got (Keselowski) turned. She just misjudged him.’’ Landon Cassill stayed out to lead a lap before giving it back to Paul Menard.
The race restarted on lap 18.
Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 20 riding the push from the high line.
Joey Logano used the inside line to take the lead on lap 21.
Denny Hamlin in the middle line took the lead on lap 32.
Carl Edwards used a push from the inside line to take the lead on lap 35.
Joey Logano, riding the bottom, took back the lead on lap 38.
Jimmie Johnson got a push from the middle line to take the lead on lap 41.
Logano took back the lead on lap 42.
Debris in turn 1 brought out the second caution of the race on lap 50. David Gilliland opted to stay out to lead a lap before handing over to Kyle Busch.
The race restarted on lap 55. Joey Logano jumped to the bottom line in front of Kyle to take back the lead.
Greg Biffle rode the bottom to take the lead on lap 57.
Jimmie Johnson used the middle line to retake the lead on lap 59.
Biffle was pushed back to the lead on lap 60.
Greg hit pit road on lap 95 to make his scheduled stop and handed the lead to teammate Carl Edwards.
Edwards made his stop on lap 96. Michael McDowell took the lead exiting pit road. He was not up to speed when Greg Biffle zipped right by him on the backstretch to take back the lead on lap 97.
The third caution flew on lap 106 after the cover to one of the backstretch caution lights was blown off. David Ragan stayed out to lead a lap before handing the lead to both Casey Mears and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The race restarted on lap 111.
Trevor Bayne used a push from the top line to pull alongside Earnhardt Jr. before taking the lead on lap 113.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. eventually moved back to the head of the field on lap 119.