2012 Irwin Tools Night Race

The 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 25, 2012 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps, it was the twenty-fourth race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

2012 Irwin Tools Night Race
Race details
Race 24 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date August 25, 2012 (2012-August-25)
Location Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance 500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Weather Temperatures as low as 57.2 °F (14.0 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Germain Racing
Time 15.701 (P1)
Most laps led
Driver Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps 139
Winner
No. 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network ESPN on ABC
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree

Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, his first at Bristol and third of the 2012 season. Jimmie Johnson finished second and Jeff Gordon was third. Nearly 150,000 people attended this 189-minute racing event.[2]

This race was broadcast on ABC (through ESPN on ABC), but was not available in all areas. A handful of ABC affiliates aired NFL preseason football games, with most of the affected affiliates preempting the race altogether, although at least one joined the race in progress in its final hour. Because of this, WOTV in Battle Creek, Michigan was the only West Michigan ABC affiliate airing the race, as WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan was simulcasting WXYZ-TV in Southfield, Michigan's Detroit Lions coverage and, unlike WXYZ-TV, chose not to join the race in progress, choosing to air syndicated programming instead.

Qualifying

Sprint Cup qualifying was to begin on August 24 at 5:00pm EST after the Nationwide Series qualifying. Just before the Cup cars were to take their laps, rain poured on the track. As the Cup cars were unable to make time and with the Nationwide race to run on Friday night, NASCAR cancelled qualifying and set the field according to the following criteria: The field would consist of the Top 35 in owner's points and those with the most attempts. In the event that multiple teams have the same number of starts, preference is given to the team higher in owner's points. The field would be set by their lap times during the practice session.

As a result, Casey Mears, at a time of 15.701 seconds, won the pole, followed by Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano, and Aric Almirola. Four drivers would not race due to the number of attempts: Scott Speed, Kelly Bires, J. J. Yeley, and Reed Sorenson.[3][4]

Top ten finishers
Pos Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Laps led
1 811Denny HamlinToyota50070
2 3748Jimmie JohnsonChevrolet50052
3 1124Jeff GordonChevrolet5000
4 2255Brian VickersToyota5001
5 99Marcos AmbroseFord5001
6 1018Kyle BuschToyota5000
7 2315Clint BowyerToyota5000
8 420Joey LoganoToyota500139
9 125Kasey KahneChevrolet50042
10 727Paul MenardChevrolet5000

References
  1. 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race weather information
  2. 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race results at Racing Reference
  3. "2012 Irwin Tools Night Race Line-Up" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-07. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  4. "Jayski's Bristol information page". Archived from the original on 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
Previous race:
2012 Pure Michigan 400		 Sprint Cup Series
2012 season		 Next race:
2012 AdvoCare 500
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