2013 Food City 500 Explained

The 2013 Food City 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on March 17, 2013, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.533 mile (0.858 km) concrete oval, it was the fourth race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship. Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports won the race, while Kyle Busch finished second. Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five.

Report

Background

Bristol Motor Speedway, is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.533miles long.^[3] The track's turns are banked from twenty-four to thirty degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked from six to ten degrees. The back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees. The track has a seating capacity of 160,000 people. The race consists of 500 laps, which is equivalent to a race distance of .

Before the race, Jimmie Johnson was leading the Drivers' Championship with 129 points, while Brad Keselowski stood in second with 124 points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed in the third position, seventeen points ahead of Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards in fourth and fifth. Mark Martin, with 95, was two points ahead of Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, as Clint Bowyer was one point ahead of Aric Almirola in tenth, and two points ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Paul Menard completed the first twelve positions with 82 points.^[4] The defending winner of the race was Keselowski, who won the race in 2012.^[5]

Entry list

(R) - Denotes rookie driver.

(i) - Denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Sponsor
1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Cessna
2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Ford	Miller Lite
5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Great Clips
7	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	SANY
9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	DeWalt / Stanley Tools
10	Danica Patrick (R)	Stewart–Haas Racing	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	FedEx Freight
13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Ford	GEICO
14	Tony Stewart	Stewart–Haas Racing	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1
15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	NAPA Filters
16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	3M
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (R)	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	Best Buy
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	M&M's
19	Mike Bliss (i)	Humphrey Smith Racing	Toyota	Plinker Tactical
20	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	The Home Depot / Husky Tools
22	Joey Logano	Penske Racing	Ford	Shell / Pennzoil
24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger
27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Sylvania / Menards
29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Budweiser
30	David Stremme	Swan Racing	Toyota	Swan Energy
31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Cheerios
32	Terry Labonte	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	OXY Water
33	Landon Cassill (i)	Circle Sport	Chevrolet	Little Joe's Autos
34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	Dockside Logistics
35	Josh Wise (i)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	MDS Transport
36	J. J. Yeley	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	United Mining Equipment
38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	A&W All American Food
39	Ryan Newman	Stewart–Haas Racing	Chevrolet	Haas Automation
42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Target / Mountain Dew
43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	Smithfield
44	Scott Riggs	Xxxtreme Motorsports	Ford	No Label Watches
47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	Bush's Beans
48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools
51	A. J. Allmendinger	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	Guy Roofing
55	Brian Vickers (i)	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine
56	Martin Truex Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts
78	Kurt Busch	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Beautyrest
83	David Reutimann	BK Racing	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper
87	Joe Nemechek (i)	NEMCO-Jay Robinson Racing	Toyota	Maddie's Place
88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	National Guard
93	Travis Kvapil	BK Racing	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper
95	Scott Speed	Leavine Family Racing	Ford	Sin City Motorsports
98	Michael McDowell	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	Phil Parsons Racing
99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	Kellogg's / Frosted Flakes
Official entry list

Practice and qualifying

Three practice sessions were held before the race. The first session, held on March 15, 2013, was 90 minutes long. The second and third were held on March 16, and were both 60 minutes long.^[6] During the first practice session, Keselowski was quickest with a time of 14.869, ahead of Kenseth and Kyle Busch in second and third. Bowyer followed in the fourth position, ahead of Hamlin in fifth.^[7]

In the Saturday morning session, Busch was quickest, ahead of Kenseth and Hamlin in second and third. Jeff Burton and Kahne followed in the fourth and fifth positions.^[8] Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, and Johnson rounded out the first ten positions. Busch and Keselowski were quickest during ten consecutive laps with an average speed of and, respectively. In the final practice session for the race, Busch remained quickest with a time of 15.372 seconds.^[9] Kahne followed in second, ahead of David Gilliland and Kenseth in third and fourth. Hamlin, who was third quickest in second practice, only managed fifth.

During qualifying, forty-four cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to start because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.^[10] Busch clinched his eleventh career pole position, with a record-setting^[11] time of 14.813 seconds.^[12] After his qualifying run, Busch commented, “The car felt great during that lap. We’ve never really worried too much about qualifying runs. We unloaded with a really good race car and we just kept fine-tuning to make it a little bit better – and we were able to get it where it was pretty quick in practice.” He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kahne. Hamlin qualified third, Brian Vickers took fourth, and Paul Menard started fifth, after being scored fifteenth in the final practice session. McMurray, Keselowski, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr., and Joey Logano completed the first ten positions on the grid. The driver that failed to qualify was Scott Riggs.

Results

Qualifying

Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.813	129.535
2	5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	14.875	128.995
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	14.879	128.960
4	55	Brian Vickers	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	14.929	128.528
5	27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing		14.949	128.356
6	1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	14.957	128.288
7	2				14.966	128.211
8	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	14.990	128.005
9	56				14.997	127.946
10	22				15.005	127.877
11	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	15.006	127.869
12	20				15.008	127.852
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	15.010	127.835
14	38				15.015	127.792
15	13				15.039	127.588
16	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	15.048	127.512
17	42				15.053	127.470
18	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing		15.055	127.453
19	78				15.062	127.393
20	43				15.064	127.377
21	99				15.066	127.360
22	9				15.066	127.360
23	15				15.073	127.300
24	16	Greg Biffle			15.078	127.258
25	83				15.093	127.132
26	30				15.157	126.595
27	95				15.159	126.578
28	17				15.165	126.528
29	51				15.178	126.420
30	34				15.180	126.403
31	39				15.200	126.237
32	88				15.235	125.947
33	7				15.247	125.848
34	98				15.260	125.740
35	36				15.261	125.732
36	19				15.264	125.708
37	93				15.333	125.142
38	87				15.363	124.897
39	47				15.382	124.743
40	35				15.386	124.711
41	10				15.395	124.638
42	33				15.427	124.379
43	32				15.560	123.316
Failed to Qualify
	44	Scott Riggs			15.418	124.452

Race results

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	2	5				500	47
2	1	18				500	43
3	7	2				500	42
4	19	78				500	41
5	23	15				500	39
6	32	88				500	38
7	31	39				500	37
8	4	55				500	–
9	5	27				500	35
10	6	1				500	34
11	24	16				500	33
12	9	56				500	32
13	29	51				500	31
14	18	29				500	30
15	15	13				500	29
16	28	17				500	28
17	10	22				500	28
18	21	99				499	26
19	22	9				499	25
20	26	30				498	24
21	30	34				498	24
22	13	48				498	22
23	3	11				498	21
24	14	38				496	20
25	43	32				496	19
26	40	35				496	–
27	35	36				495	17
28	41	10				495	16
29	38	87				490	–
30	17	42				487	14
31	8	14				464	13
32	16	31				458	12
33	42	33				410	11
34	11	24				390	11
35	12	20				390	10
36	33	7				321	8
37	20	43				245	7
38	37	93				234	6
39	25	83				184	5
40	27	95				184	4
41	39	47				159	3
42	34	98				26	2
43	36	19				3	–

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Brad Keselowski	171
1	2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	157
2	3	Jimmie Johnson	151
5	4	Clint Bowyer	128
3	5	Greg Biffle	126
2	6	Denny Hamlin	125
7	7	Kasey Kahne	124
3	8	Carl Edwards	124
3	9	Paul Menard	118
7	10	Kyle Busch	115
	11	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	115
3	12	Joey Logano	104

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	29
	2	Toyota	25 (-4)
	3	Ford	22 (-7)

• Note: Only the first twelve positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sprint Cup Series Schedule. ESPN. March 13, 2013.
2. Web site: The Food City 500 . NBC Sports . Rotoworld.com . March 13, 2013 . March 15, 2013 . Brown, Brian . https://web.archive.org/web/20130315073457/http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nas/42758/229/the-food-city-500 . March 15, 2013 . dead .
3. Web site: Bristol Motor Speedway Track Facts. Bristol Motor Speedway. March 13, 2013. August 6, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140806151630/http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/news_media/track_facts/. dead.
4. Web site: Pre-race Drivers' Championship Standings . Fox Sports . SPEED . March 13, 2013 . March 15, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130315203445/http://nascar.speedtv.com/sprint-cup/standings/?cl_id=2&sc_id=5365 . dead .
5. Web site: 2012 Food City 500. Racing-reference.info. USA Today Sports Media Group. March 13, 2013.
6. Web site: Food City 500 Practice/Qualifying Times . ESPN . Jayski's Silly Season Site . March 13, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130314020906/http://www.jayski.com/news/races/2013/story/_/page/04-Bristol-2013-NASCAR-Race-Info#prac . March 14, 2013 . dead .
7. Web site: 2013 NSCS Food City 500 First Practice Session Speeds . Citizen Journalist Media Corps . Catchfence . March 15, 2013 . March 15, 2013.
8. Web site: Food City 500 2nd Practice Speeds . https://archive.today/20130411094728/http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Additional-Statistics/2013/03/Food-City-500-2nd-Practice-Speeds.aspx . dead . April 11, 2013 . Motor Racing Network . March 16, 2013 . March 16, 2013 .
9. Web site: Food City 500 Final Practice Speeds . https://archive.today/20130411100641/http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Additional-Statistics/2013/03/Food-City-500-Final-Practice-Speeds.aspx . dead . April 11, 2013 . Motor Racing Network . March 16, 2013 . March 16, 2013 .
10. Web site: Entry List: Food City 500 . ESPN . Jayski's Silly Season Site . March 15, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150907115926/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2013/pdfs/04bms2013entry.pdf . September 7, 2015 . dead .
11. Web site: Busch breaks Bristol qualifying record . NASCAR . March 15, 2013 . March 15, 2013 . Livingstone, Seth.
12. Web site: Food City 500 Starting Grid . https://archive.today/20130411101059/http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Season-Stats/Statistics.aspx?SubSeriesID=1&YearID=42&RaceID=6037&StatType=Qualifying . dead . April 11, 2013 . Motor Racing Network . March 15, 2013 .