# 2016 Duck Commander 500

The 2016 Duck Commander 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on April 9, 2016, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the seventh race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, The race had 17 lead changes among different drivers and 7 cautions for 41 laps.

## Report
### Background

Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.

## Entry list

The entry list for the Duck Commander 500 was released on Monday, April 4 at 10:12 a.m. Eastern time. Forty cars were entered for the race.
| No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 7 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet |
| 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet |
| 14 | Brian Vickers | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 21 | Ryan Blaney (R) | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 23 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 24 | Chase Elliott (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 30 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet |
| 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) | Go FAS Racing | Ford |
| 34 | Chris Buescher (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 38 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 44 | Brian Scott (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota |
| 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 95 | Ty Dillon (i) | Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet |
| 98 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| Official entry list ||||

## First practice

Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.995 and a speed of 192.892 mph (310.430 km/h).
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 27.995 | 192.892 |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 28.101 | 192.164 |
| 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 28.104 | 192.143 |
| Official first practice results |||||||

## Qualifying

Carl Edwards scored the pole for the race with a time of 27.748 and a speed of 194.609 mph (313.193 km/h). He said after the session that he sure does "like it here, I really enjoy Texas. I have a lot of friends here. This is a fun place to race. The tire, I don’t know what the other guys feel, the tire and downforce package for me lets me feel like I can go into the corner and move around and feel the tire underneath me. Even in qualifying, there were times when I got a little sideways and it slid a little bit and I could recover and that’s really fun as a race car driver. Hopefully the race goes well. We have some practice later. I just cannot thank my guys on this Stanley Tools Camry enough, they are unbelievable.” After qualifying second, Joey Logano said that he was "really good in (Turns) 1 and 2. That's where we beating the 19. And then I went in there the last time, and it didn't turn like it was, and I was like, "Oh, no, that's our good area…’ We actually fixed 3 and 4, and we were pretty good down there. But we kind of flip-flopped, and we needed both... Just (with) another run on the tires, it's so hard to go faster at this track."

### Qualifying results

| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 27.700 | 27.662 | 27.748 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 27.658 | 27.733 | 27.935 |
| 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 27.736 | 27.920 | 27.935 |
| 4 | 24 | Chase Elliott (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.980 | 27.953 | 27.974 |
| 5 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 28.050 | 27.974 | 27.988 |
| 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.012 | 27.963 | 27.992 |
| 7 | 21 | Ryan Blaney (R) | Wood Brothers | Ford | 27.926 | 27.817 | 27.996 |
| 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 27.802 | 27.722 | 28.025 |
| 9 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.008 | 27.955 | 28.072 |
| 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 27.824 | 27.769 | 28.074 |
| 11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.973 | 27.985 | 28.197 |
| 12 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 28.050 | 27.992 | 28.336 |
| 13 | 14 | Brian Vickers | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 27.594 | 27.993 | — |
| 14 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 27.867 | 28.001 | — |
| 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 27.988 | 28.031 | — |
| 16 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.833 | 28.045 | — |
| 17 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.716 | 28.066 | — |
| 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurry | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 28.014 | 28.124 | — |
| 19 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 28.009 | 28.137 | — |
| 20 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 27.969 | 28.168 | — |
| 21 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 27.942 | 28.184 | — |
| 22 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.061 | 28.208 | — |
| 23 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 27.958 | 28.222 | — |
| 24 | 43 | Aric Amirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 27.883 | 28.222 | — |
| 25 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 28.064 | — | — |
| 26 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.108 | — | — |
| 27 | 44 | Brian Scott (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 28.127 | — | — |
| 28 | 7 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 28.158 | — | — |
| 29 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 28.158 | — | — |
| 30 | 95 | Ty Dillon (i) | Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 28.230 | — | — |
| 31 | 23 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | 28.235 | — | — |
| 32 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 28.337 | — | — |
| 33 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 28.387 | — | — |
| 34 | 34 | Chris Buescher (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 28.403 | — | — |
| 35 | 46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.516 | — | — |
| 36 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.553 | — | — |
| 37 | 98 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.694 | — | — |
| 38 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 29.107 | — | — |
| 39 | 30 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 29.195 | — | — |
| 40 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.737 | — | — |
| Official qualifying results ||||||||

## Final practice

Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.068 and a speed of 192.390 mph (309.622 km/h).
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
| 1 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 28.068 | 192.390 |
| 2 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.384 | 190.248 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.495 | 189.507 |
| Official final practice results |||||||

## Race
### First half
#### Start

Because of rain during the day, the race started under a green/yellow condition (the race started under caution, but the laps began counting) at 9:35 p.m. The race began under the first caution of the night. Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag on lap 6. Martin Truex Jr., who was running second after six laps, fell back to third after his grille was covered by a piece of debris. He tried to pull up to the rear of Joey Logano, but the debris remained. He then fell behind Denny Hamlin and managed to get the debris off. The second caution of the race flew on lap 29. This was a scheduled competition caution due to rain. On pit road, Jimmie Johnson slammed into the rear of Kyle Busch and partly caved in the nose of his car. David Ragan opted not to pit and assumed the race lead. He would eventually pit and hand the lead back to Edwards.
The race restarted on lap 34. Truex passed Edwards exiting turn 4 to take the lead on lap 60. A number of cars began pitting under green on lap 73. Truex gave up the lead to pit on lap 74 and handed the lead to Matt Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Chase Elliott, who was also making his pit stop. The lead cycled back to Truex.

#### Second quarter

Truex continued to pull away from the field as he pulled to a five-second lead by lap 100. A number of cars began pitting under green on lap 111. Truex ducked onto pit road on lap 112 and handed the lead to Busch. Brian Vickers, in what ended up being his last ever NASCAR start, spun out trying to enter pit road. He continued on and the race remained green. Unfortunately, he and Josh Wise were tagged for a commitment line violation and were forced to serve a pass-through penalty. Busch pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Truex.
Paul Menard was black-flagged for the corner panel being pulled out and was forced to pit to fix it on lap 128. Brad Keselowski made an unscheduled stop the next lap for a loose wheel. Debris in turn 4 brought out the third caution of the race on lap 134. Edwards exited pit road with the race lead.
The race restarted on lap 142. Truex ducked onto pit road on lap 177 and handed the lead to Busch. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Elliott. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Edwards.

### Second half
#### Halfway

Truex drove under Edwards to retake the lead on lap 208. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 210 for a single-car wreck in turn 4. Rounding turn 3, Wise suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. He would go on to finish 40th. Kenseth opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the lead. Kevin Harvick was tagged for speeding and an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.
The race restarted on lap 222. Edwards, who restarted second, made an unscheduled stop the next lap for a loose wheel. He rejoined the race in 19th one lap down. Truex passed Kenseth going into turn 3 to retake the lead on lap 236. A number of cars began hitting pit road with 78 laps to go. Truex pitted with 76 laps to go and handed the lead to Trevor Bayne. He tried to extend his fuel run, but was chased down and passed by Truex for the lead.

#### Fourth quarter

Debris on the front stretch brought out the fifth caution of the race with 58 laps to go.
The race restarted with 50 laps to go. The sixth caution of the race flew with 47 laps to go for a single-car wreck in turn 2. Rounding turn 1, Kasey Kahne tapped the left-rear corner of Greg Biffle, got him loose and sent him into the wall.
The race restarted with 42 laps to go. The seventh caution of the race flew with 41 laps to go for a multi-car wreck on the backstretch. Exiting turn 2, Johnson made contact with the rear-end of Austin Dillon and sent him sliding into the wall. Dillon overcorrected and hit the outside wall with the right-front of his car. His car turned down the track, was clipped by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., slid down and tapped the inside wall. With a number of cars trying to avoid the spinning No. 3 car, an accordion-effect led to more cars being caught up in the melee. A total of 13 cars sustained damage in the wreck. Dillon said afterwards that being on older tires, he "was trying to get all I could there. It’s part of trying to win a race. We put ourselves in a position to be out front, thinking that two laps wouldn’t mean much, but it did. That’s part of it. The good Lord kept me safe tonight and gave me a good race car. You have to be gracious in defeat. We’ll come back next week with another fast car and hopefully we can do the same thing we did today, and that’s run up front."
The race restarted with 33 laps to go. Busch drove by him on the backstretch to take the lead with 32 laps to go and drove on to score the victory.

### Post-race
#### Driver comments

Busch said after the race that life is "pretty darn good, I’ll tell you that. I’ve got a great wife, a great son and I’m having a blast, living the dream with Adam Stevens (crew chief) and these guys, and Joe (Gibbs, JGR owner) and JD (Gibbs, JGR co-chairman), thinking about you guys back at home and of course Coy (Gibbs, JGR COO) is here with us. Everybody back at the shop has been building great race cars, they’ve been doing a great job for us. The crew chiefs here have been really working together, gelling together and putting everything together. It’s just fun, right now it’s all clicking and going together.”
After a runner-up finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that "we need a win. We'd love to get a win. I know our fans want a win real bad. Trust me, man, we're all working real hard. We're running great every week. So at least that's hopefully fun to watch for you guys. I had a blast inside the car, lot of sliding around, sideways -- good, hard racing. We'll go to the next one, I guess, and try again."
After finishing third, Logano said he was "proud of what my race team did. This Shell/Pennzoil team executed perfectly today. We may not have had the fastest car, we obviously didn’t have the fastest car, but we executed into a top-three finish, and I’m very proud of my team for that. We had great pit stops and great calls, so everything worked out well. Everyone did their job. That’s kind of been our weak point this year is that we haven’t had the speed, but we haven’t been executing perfectly. Now it seemed like we executed right and we’ve got to work on our speed now.”
Not satisfied with a career best fifth-place finish, Elliott said that running in "fifth isn't a contender. You've got to be running higher. We'll keep working on it."
After leading 142 of the 334 laps, Truex described finishing sixth as "frustrating." He also added that the way it turned out "hurts a little bit and move on and we'll take the positives out of tonight."

### Race results

| Pos | Grid | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
| 1 | 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 334 | 44 |
| 2 | 16 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 334 | 39 |
| 3 | 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 334 | 38 |
| 4 | 11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 334 | 37 |
| 5 | 4 | 24 | Chase Elliott (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 334 | 37 |
| 6 | 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 334 | 37 |
| 7 | 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 334 | 35 |
| 8 | 17 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 334 | 33 |
| 9 | 21 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 334 | 32 |
| 10 | 22 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 334 | 32 |
| 11 | 9 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 334 | 31 |
| 12 | 6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 334 | 29 |
| 13 | 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 334 | 28 |
| 14 | 20 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 334 | 27 |
| 15 | 12 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 334 | 27 |
| 16 | 5 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 334 | 25 |
| 17 | 19 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 333 | 24 |
| 18 | 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 332 | 23 |
| 19 | 10 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 332 | 22 |
| 20 | 30 | 95 | Ty Dillon | Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 332 | 0 |
| 21 | 26 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 332 | 20 |
| 22 | 23 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 332 | 19 |
| 23 | 32 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 332 | 18 |
| 24 | 24 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 331 | 17 |
| 25 | 33 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 330 | 16 |
| 26 | 25 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 330 | 15 |
| 27 | 27 | 44 | Brian Scott (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 330 | 14 |
| 28 | 34 | 34 | Chris Buescher (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 330 | 13 |
| 29 | 7 | 21 | Ryan Blaney (R) | Wood Brothers | Ford | 330 | 12 |
| 30 | 37 | 98 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 329 | 11 |
| 31 | 28 | 7 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 329 | 10 |
| 32 | 35 | 46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 329 | 9 |
| 33 | 31 | 23 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | 328 | 9 |
| 34 | 29 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 327 | 7 |
| 35 | 38 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 323 | 6 |
| 36 | 40 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 315 | 5 |
| 37 | 13 | 14 | Brian Vickers | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 290 | 4 |
| 38 | 36 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 289 | 3 |
| 39 | 14 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 286 | 2 |
| 40 | 39 | 30 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 178 | 1 |
| Official race results ||||||||

### Race summary

* Lead changes: 17
* Cautions/Laps: 7 for 41
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 3 hours, 37 minutes and 16 seconds
* Average speed: 138.355 miles per hour (222.661 km/h)

## Media
### Television

Fox Sports covered their 16th race at the Texas Motor Speedway. Mike Joy, 2009 race winner Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side.
Fox Television :
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy Color-commentator: Jeff Gordon Color commentator: Darrell Waltrip | Jamie Little Vince Welch Matt Yocum |

### Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the Performance Racing Network and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race from the booth when the field raced down the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. On pit road, PRN was manned by Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards.
PRN :
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Doug Rice Announcer: Mark Garrow Announcer: Wendy Venturini | Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson | Brad Gillie Brett McMillan Jim Noble Steve Richards |

## Standings after the race

| | Pos | Driver | Points |
| 2 | 1 | Kyle Busch | 259 |
| | 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 253 (–6) |
| 2 | 3 | Kevin Harvick | 252 (–7) |
| | 4 | Carl Edwards | 241 (–18) |
| | 5 | Joey Logano | 234 (–25) |
| 4 | 6 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 211 (–48) |
| 1 | 7 | Kurt Busch | 208 (–51) |
| 1 | 8 | Denny Hamlin | 201 (–58) |
| 3 | 9 | Brad Keselowski | 201 (–58) |
| 3 | 10 | Austin Dillon | 198 (–61) |
| | 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | 187 (–71) |
| 2 | 12 | Matt Kenseth | 171 (–88) |
| | 13 | Jamie McMurray | 171 (–88) |
| 2 | 14 | Chase Elliott (R) | 168 (–91) |
| 3 | 15 | A. J. Allmendinger | 166 (–93) |
| | 16 | Kasey Kahne | 161 (–98) |
| Official driver's standings ||||
| | Pos | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Toyota | 290 |
| 1 | 2 | Chevrolet | 288 (–2) |
| | 3 | Ford | 254 (–36) |
| Official manufacturers' standings ||||

## Note

* ↑ Chase Elliott started from the rear of the field after changing transmissions.