The 2002 Protection One 400 was the 29th stock car race of the

2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:RyanNewmanBristolAugust2007.jpg, Ryan Newman (racing driver), Ryan Newman, driving the No. 12 car, won NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the year. The 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 54th season of Sprint Cup Series, profession ...

and the second iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 29, 2002, before a crowd of 78,000 in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City (commonly known as KCK) is the third-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As ...

, at Kansas Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent D-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 267 laps to complete. At race's end,

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

, driving for

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

, would pull away on the final restart with three laps to go to win his 61st career

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

win and his third and final win of the season. To fill out the podium, Ryan Newman and

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

, both driving for Penske Racing, would finish second and third, respectively. Sterling Marlin suffered a neck injury from a crash during the race, which resulted in him missing the rest of the season.

Background

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km)

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

race track in

. It was built in 2001 and hosts two annual

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

race weekends. The NTT IndyCar Series also raced there until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Friday, September 27, at 11:20 AM CST, and would last for 2 hours.

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. Johnson has won seven Cup ch ...

would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.430 and an average speed of .

Second practice

The second practice session was held on Saturday, September 28, at 9:30 AM CST, and would last for 45 minutes. Ryan Newman of Penske Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.898 and an average speed of .

Third and final practice

The third and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, September 28, at 11:15 AM CST, and would last for 45 minutes.

Steve Park Stephen Brian Park (born August 23, 1967) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He won races in NASCAR's two top Northeast touring series ( Modified and K&N East) and all three national divisions (Truck, Busch, Cup Series ...

of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 31.554 and an average speed of . During the opening minutes of the session,

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

driver

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes part-time in the SMART Modified Tour, driving the No. 18L for Hermie Sa ...

would crash in turn two, forcing the team to go to a backup car.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, September 27, at 3:05 PM CST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 1-36 would be decided on time, while positions 37-43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. would win the pole, setting a time of 30.350 and an average speed of . Three drivers would fail to qualify: Brett Bodine, Kirk Shelmerdine, and Carl Long.

Full qualifying results

Race results

References

{{2002 Winston Cup 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway September 2002 sports events in the United States 2002 in sports in Kansas