# 2011 GEICO 400

The 2011 GEICO 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was scheduled to be held on September 18, 2011 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. However, because of wet track conditions, the race was postponed until September 19, 2011. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.500-mile (2.414 km) asphalt oval, it was the 27th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the first race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ends the season. Tony Stewart of Stewart Haas Racing won the race, while Kevin Harvick finished second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinched third.
This was Stewart's first win in the 2011 season, and the 40th of his career. The result advanced Stewart to second in the Drivers' Championship, seven points behind Harvick and three ahead of Carl Edwards. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, thirty points ahead of Ford and thirty-eight ahead of Toyota, with nine races remaining in the season. A total of 95,000 people attended the race, while 3.68 million watched it on television.

## Report
### Background

Chicagoland Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. The standard track at Chicagoland Speedway is a four-turn tri-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. The track's turns are each banked at 18 degrees and have a turn width of 55 feet. The racetrack has a grandstand capacity of 75,000.
Before the race, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick each led the Drivers' Championship with 2,012 points, with Jeff Gordon in third place with 2,009. Matt Kenseth had a total of 2,006 points, while Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Ryan Newman were tied for fifth place with 2,003 points. Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the first 12 positions with 2,000 points each. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 171 points, 27 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 139 points, was 21 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third place. David Reutimann was the race's defending champion.

### Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held in preparation for the race; both on Friday. The first session lasted 90 minutes long, while the second was 60 minutes long. Reutimann was quickest with a time of 29.486 seconds in the first session, 28 milliseconds faster than Clint Bowyer. Mark Martin was just off Bowyer's pace, followed by Kyle Busch, Trevor Bayne, and Newman. Some Chase for the Sprint Cup participants were not scored high in the first practice, such as Johnson and Hamlin, who were 36th and 40th in the session.
In the second and final practice, Brian Vickers was quickest with a time of 29.304 seconds. Kasey Kahne followed in second, ahead of Kenseth and Paul Menard. Harvick was fifth quickest, with a time of 29.455 seconds. Gordon, Greg Biffle, Johnson, David Stremme, and Edwards rounded out the first ten positions. Kyle Busch, who was third in the first session, could only manage forty-fourth.
Forty-seven cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Kenseth clinched his sixth pole position in the Sprint Cup Series, with a time of 29.469 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Menard. Kurt Busch qualified third, Newman took fourth, and Edwards started fifth. Johnson, one of the drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified twelfth, while Harvick was scored thirtieth. The four drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Travis Kvapil, David Starr, Stephen Leicht and Mike Skinner (T. J. Bell was gonna enter the race but withdrew).
Once qualifying concluded Kenseth said, "I think starting up front is nice, having a good pit stall. Hopefully, you can get a good start and get a bonus point for leading a lap and try to keep up with the track a little better. We've been qualifying a lot better, if you throw Richmond out, but we've been slipping a little at the end of the race. I'm really happy to be on the pole, but it's just a starting position, and we've got to work really hard on the race, keeping up with our adjustments and that type of thing."

### Race

The race, the twenty-seventh of the season, was scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. EDT on September 18, but wet track conditions postponed the race to September 19, 2011 at 12:00 p.m. EDT. The race was televised live in the United States on ESPN. The first caution was the competition caution on lap 31. The next 2 cautions came out for debris on laps 72 and 146. The 4th caution came out on lap 165 when Jamie McMurray blew an engine. On lap 205, the 5th caution came out when J. J. Yeley crashed in turn 3. The final caution came out for debris on lap 214. Towards the end of the race, a majority of cars ran out of fuel. Tony Stewart was able to hold on for his first win of the season.

## Results
### Qualifying

| No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time (s) | Speed | Grid |
| 17 | Matt Kenseth | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.469 | 183.243 mph (294.901 km/h) | 1 |
| 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 29.488 | 183.125 mph (294.711 km/h) | 2 |
| 22 | Kurt Busch | Penske Racing | Dodge | 29.503 | 183.032 mph (294.561 km/h) | 3 |
| 39 | Ryan Newman | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 29.507 | 183.007 mph (294.521 km/h) | 4 |
| 99 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.522 | 182.914 mph (294.372 km/h) | 5 |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | Penske Racing | Dodge | 29.531 | 182.859 mph (294.283 km/h) | 6 |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.565 | 182.648 mph (293.943 km/h) | 7 |
| 83 | Brian Vickers | Red Bull Racing | Toyota | 29.575 | 182.587 mph (293.845 km/h) | 8 |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.615 | 182.309 mph (293.398 km/h) | 9 |
| 20 | Joey Logano | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.620 | 182.309 mph (293.398 km/h) | 10 |
| 47 | Bobby Labonte | JTG Daugherty Racing | Toyota | 29.634 | 182.223 mph (293.259 km/h) | 11 |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.667 | 182.020 mph (292.933 km/h) | 12 |
| 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 29.690 | 181.879 mph (292.706 km/h) | 13 |
| 1 | Jamie McMurray | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 29.696 | 181.843 mph (292.648 km/h) | 14 |
| 6 | David Ragan | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.729 | 181.641 mph (292.323 km/h) | 15 |
| 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 29.752 | 181.500 mph (292.096 km/h) | 16 |
| 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 29.752 | 181.500 mph (292.096 km/h) | 17 |
| 43 | A. J. Allmendinger | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 29.767 | 181.409 mph (291.949 km/h) | 18 |
| 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.784 | 181.305 mph (291.782 km/h) | 19 |
| 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 29.787 | 181.287 mph (291.753 km/h) | 20 |
| 33 | Clint Bowyer | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 29.790 | 181.269 mph (291.724 km/h) | 21 |
| 31 | Jeff Burton | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 29.790 | 181.269 mph (291.724 km/h) | 22 |
| 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.807 | 181.165 mph (291.557 km/h) | 23 |
| 4 | Kasey Kahne | Red Bull Racing | Toyota | 29.812 | 181.135 mph (291.509 km/h) | 24 |
| 5 | Mark Martin | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.822 | 181.074 mph (291.410 km/h) | 25 |
| 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 29.828 | 181.038 mph (291.352 km/h) | 26 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.879 | 180.729 mph (290.855 km/h) | 27 |
| 21 | Trevor Bayne | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 29.894 | 180.638 mph (290.709 km/h) | 28 |
| 00 | David Reutimann | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 29.900 | 180.602 mph (290.651 km/h) | 29 |
| 29 | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 29.913 | 180.524 mph (290.525 km/h) | 30 |
| 51 | Landon Cassill | Phoenix Racing | Chevrolet | 29.973 | 180.162 mph (289.943 km/h) | 31 |
| 38 | J. J. Yeley | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 29.980 | 180.120 mph (289.875 km/h) | 32 |
| 66 | Michael McDowell | HP Racing | Toyota | 29.990 | 180.060 mph (289.778 km/h) | 33 |
| 30 | David Stremme | Inception Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.991 | 180.054 mph (289.769 km/h) | 34 |
| 46 | Scott Speed | Whitney Motorsports | Ford | 30.000 | 180.000 mph (289.682 km/h) | 35 |
| 87 | Joe Nemechek | NEMCO Motorsports | Toyota | 30.016 | 179.904 mph (289.527 km/h) | 36 |
| 7 | Robby Gordon | Robby Gordon Motorsports | Dodge | 30.039 | 179.766 mph (289.305 km/h) | 37 |
| 34 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 30.196 | 178.832 mph (287.802 km/h) | 38 |
| 36 | Dave Blaney | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 30.228 | 178.642 mph (287.496 km/h) | 39 |
| 71 | Andy Lally (R) | TRG Motorsports | Ford | 30.238 | 178.583 mph (287.401 km/h) | 40 |
| 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Toyota | 30.262 | 178.442 mph (287.175 km/h) | 41 |
| 32 | Mike Bliss | FAS Lane Racing | Ford | 30.313 | 178.141 mph (286.690 km/h) | 42 |
| 37 | Josh Wise | Max Q Motorsports | Ford | 30.136 | 179.188 mph (288.375 km/h) | 43 |
| Failed to Qualify |||||||
| 55 | Travis Kvapil | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | | | |
| 95 | David Starr | Leavine Family Racing | Ford | | | |
| 35 | Stephen Leicht | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | | | |
| 60 | Mike Skinner | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | | | |
| Source: |||||||

### Race results

| Pos | Grid | Car | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps Run | Points |
| 1 | 26 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 47 |
| 2 | 30 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 42 |
| 3 | 19 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 41 |
| 4 | 5 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 267 | 41 |
| 5 | 6 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Penske Racing | Dodge | 267 | 40 |
| 6 | 3 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Penske Racing | Dodge | 267 | 40 |
| 7 | 21 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 37 |
| 8 | 4 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 37 |
| 9 | 25 | 5 | Mark Martin | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 35 |
| 10 | 12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 35 |
| 11 | 15 | 6 | David Ragan | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 267 | 33 |
| 12 | 24 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Red Bull Racing | Toyota | 267 | 32 |
| 13 | 8 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Red Bull Racing | Toyota | 267 | 31 |
| 14 | 16 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 30 |
| 15 | 22 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 29 |
| 16 | 10 | 20 | Joey Logano | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 28 |
| 17 | 13 | 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 27 |
| 18 | 20 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 267 | 27 |
| 19 | 17 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 267 | 25 |
| 20 | 2 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 24 |
| 21 | 1 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 266 | 24 |
| 22 | 9 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 266 | 23 |
| 23 | 28 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 266 | 0 |
| 24 | 23 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 265 | 20 |
| 25 | 42 | 32 | Mike Bliss | FAS Lane Racing | Ford | 265 | 0 |
| 26 | 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 265 | 18 |
| 27 | 18 | 43 | A. J. Allmendinger | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 265 | 17 |
| 28 | 40 | 71 | Andy Lally (R) | TRG Motorsports | Ford | 265 | 16 |
| 29 | 41 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Toyota | 265 | 15 |
| 30 | 31 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Phoenix Racing | Chevrolet | 264 | 0 |
| 31 | 27 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 264 | 13 |
| 32 | 29 | 00 | David Reutimann | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 263 | 12 |
| 33 | 39 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 263 | 11 |
| 34 | 32 | 38 | J. J. Yeley | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 263 | 11 |
| 35 | 35 | 46 | Scott Speed | Whitney Motorsports | Ford | 260 | 0 |
| 36 | 38 | 34 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 259 | 8 |
| 37 | 11 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | JTG Daughtery Racing | Toyota | 236 | 7 |
| 38 | 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 6 |
| 39 | 37 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Robby Gordon Motorsports | Dodge | 77 | 5 |
| 40 | 36 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | NEMCO Motorsports | Toyota | 45 | 0 |
| 41 | 34 | 30 | David Stremme | Inception Motorsports | Chevrolet | 44 | 3 |
| 42 | 43 | 37 | Josh Wise | Max Q Motorsports | Ford | 41 | 0 |
| 43 | 33 | 66 | Michael McDowell | HP Racing | Toyota | 25 | 1 |
| Source: ||||||||

## Standings after the race

| Pos | Driver | Points |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 2,054 |
| 2 | Tony Stewart | 2,047 |
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 2,044 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 2,043 |
| 5 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2,041 |
| 6 | Brad Keselowski | 2,040 |
| 7 | Ryan Newman | 2,040 |
| 8 | Jimmie Johnson | 2,038 |
| 9 | Kyle Busch | 2,035 |
| 10 | Matt Kenseth | 2,030 |
| 11 | Jeff Gordon | 2,029 |
| 12 | Denny Hamlin | 2,013 |
| Pos | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | Chevrolet | 180 |
| 2 | Ford | 150 |
| 3 | Toyota | 142 |
| 4 | Dodge | 122 |