The 2011 Quaker State 400 was a
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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...
stock car race held on July 9, 2011 at
Kentucky Speedway in
Sparta, Kentucky
Sparta is a home rule-class city in Gallatin and Owen counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 231 at the 2010 census.
Sparta is home to Kentucky Speedway.
Geography
Sparta is located in southwestern Gallatin County at (38 ...
. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was 18th race of the
2011 Sprint Cup Series season, and the first Sprint Cup Series event at Kentucky Speedway. The race was won by
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
for the
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His ...
team.
David Reutimann
Emil David Reutimann (born March 2, 1970) is an American professional stock car racing crew chief and former driver. A native of Zephyrhills, Florida, he has competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Camping World ...
finished second, and
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
clinched third.
Report
Background
Kentucky Speedway is one of ten
intermediate tracks to hold
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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...
races.
The standard track at Kentucky Speedway is a four-turn
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. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instead rounded into s ...
track that is long.
The track's turns are
banked at 14
degrees
Degree may refer to:
As a unit of measurement
* Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement
** Degree of geographical latitude
** Degree of geographical longitude
* Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics
...
, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 8 degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, is at only 4 degrees.
The racetrack has seats for 107,000 spectators.
The track is also the most recent addition to the schedule since the
2001 season, when
Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval Oval track racing, speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has als ...
and
Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...
were added to the schedule.
Before the race,
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champi ...
led the
Drivers' Championship with 586 points, and
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...
stood in second with 581.
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
was third in the Drivers' Championship with 576 points, six ahead of
Kurt Busch
Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
and twelve ahead of
Matt Kenseth
Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX)
Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cham ...
in fourth and fifth.
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
with 564 was 30 ahead of
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
, as
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Moto ...
with 519 points, was 14 ahead of
Clint Bowyer
Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''.
He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight ye ...
, and 21 in front of
Ryan Newman.
In the
Manufacturers' Championship,
Chevrolet was leading with 112 points, 10 ahead of
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
.
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, with 90 points, was 20 points ahead of
Dodge
Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
in the battle for third.
Practice and qualifying

Four practice sessions were scheduled to be held before the Saturday race—two on both Thursday and Friday. The first session lasted 240 minutes, while the second session was 120 minutes long. The third session was scheduled to be 60 minutes, but was cancelled because of race,
while the fourth was 90 minutes.
Thursday's sessions was also used to test
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All com ...
, which the Sprint Cup Series will switch to for the
2012 season.
Johnson was quickest with a time of 30.703 seconds in the first session, five-hundredths of a second faster than
Paul Menard
John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing.
...
.
Travis Kvapil
Travis Wade Kvapil ( ; born March 1, 1976) is an American professional stock car driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for Beaver Motorsports.
He was the 2003 NASCA ...
was about one-tenth of a second slowing than Menard's pace, followed by Kyle Busch,
Greg Biffle
Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...
, and
David Ragan
David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox ...
. Gordon was seventh, still within a second of Johnson's time.
In the second practice session, Kyle Busch was fastest with a time of 30.193 seconds, only 0.155 of a second quicker than second-placed Kurt Busch.
Edwards took third place, ahead of Menard, Newman and Johnson.
Mark Martin
Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series st ...
only managed 7th place.
During both sessions, four drivers were added to the session for the
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All com ...
testing, one for each manufacturer. Of the four manufacturer and drivers,
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Richard Lynn Stenhouse Jr. (born October 2, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for JTG Daugherty Racing. Stenhouse was the 2010 Natio ...
was quickest in both sessions for
Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Politics
* Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana
*J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of:
** J. Edward Roush Lake, a res ...
and
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
.
The third practice session, the first practice only for the race and qualifying, was cancelled because of wet weather.
Kyle Busch was quickest during final practice with a time of 29.540 seconds.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver.
He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech ...
following in second, ahead of Kurt Busch,
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/ Procore Techno ...
, and Johnson.
Forty-eight cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three raced because of NASCAR's
qualifying procedure. However, after half of the cars qualified, wet weather soaked the track, therefore cancelling the session and making final practice times determine the qualifying
grid
Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to:
Common usage
* Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road
* Grid reference, used to define a location on a map
Arts, entertainment, and media
* News g ...
.
Kyle Busch, after finishing the final practice in first, won the
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
for
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His ...
He was joined on the front row of the grid by Montoya.
Kurt Busch was third, Kahne took fourth, and Johnson started fifth.
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...
, Edwards, Ragan,
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He i ...
, and Menard rounded out the first ten positions.
The five drivers who failed to qualify for the race were
David Stremme
David Andrew Stremme (born June 19, 1977) is an American professional stock car racing driver.
Early career
Stremme was born in South Bend, Indiana. His racing roots can be traced back to Midwestern short track racing, where he followed in the ...
,
Michael Waltrip
Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, and published author. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience. He is the younger brother ...
,
T. J. Bell
Timothy Peter "T. J." Bell Jr. (born August 25, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has primarily competed in NASCAR competition, driving in all three national touring series. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Ga ...
,
David Starr and
Robby Gordon
Robert Wesley Gordon (born January 2, 1969) is an American auto racing driver. He has raced in NASCAR, CART, the IndyCar Series, the Trans-Am Series, IMSA, IROC and the Dakar Rally. He is active in top-tier off road motorsports such as BITD ...
.
Traffic issues
To a large extent, the race was overshadowed by major traffic issues in the vicinity of the track. Owner
Speedway Motorsports
Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, IndyCar Series, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has i ...
had more than doubled track capacity to 107,000, but did not make any other significant upgrades to the infrastructure in and around the track in order to accommodate the sheer number of fans attending the race. According to ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...
'' NASCAR writer Brant James,
Backups on
Interstate 71
Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-64 and I-65 (the Kennedy Interchange) in Louisvill ...
began more than eight hours before the start of the race. By 3:30 pm, I-71 was backed up for more than to the north of the speedway.
At 6:00 pm, the
Kentucky State Police
The Kentucky State Police (KSP) is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, and the official State Police force of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, responsible for statewide law enforcement. The department was founded in 1 ...
(KSP) reported backups of more than in both directions on I-71, and backups of on side roads in the area. The KSP added that traffic was still backed up for miles at about 8:55 pm, halfway through the race. Some fans were reported to have parked their cars on the highway and leave them to catch a glimpse at the race. Others would try back roads, with some taking
Kentucky Route 35
Kentucky Route 35 (KY 35) is a 12.833-mile-long state highway in Kentucky that runs from US 127 in Owen County south of Sparta and heads north and goes through Sparta and meets KY 467 before meeting Interstate 71. KY 35 then passes by the Kent ...
, with more successful results at getting into the track. At 9:30 pm, traffic patterns were switched to outbound, and many fans who were still trying to get to the track were turned away.
Several fans who managed to make it to the race were turned away because there wasn't enough available parking. Those who made it to the race were only reported having to wait half an hour or more to use the restroom due to a shortage of
port-a-john
A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...
s. Others reported shortages at the concession stands.
Bruton Smith
Ollen Bruton Smith (March 3, 1927 – June 22, 2022) was a promoter and owner/CEO of NASCAR track owner Speedway Motorsports, Inc. He was inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007. He was bil ...
, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, had joked on the day before the race that "we expect everyone to be home by Tuesday."
[ Smith was in a much less cheerful mood during the race, telling reporters:
One of the thousands who never made it to the track was ]Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout Kentucky, the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators. ...
President and gubernatorial candidate David L. Williams, who left the state capital of Frankfort, away, at 2:00 pm. Also stuck in the jam was Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He co-owns and oper ...
, who live-tweeted
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, an ...
updates on his status while waiting to enter the track. Hamlin would, however, make the prerace drivers' meeting and start the race.[
'']ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc.
History
Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...
'' NASCAR writer Terry Blount commented after the race,
On the Monday after the race, the track announced that unscanned tickets for the Quaker State 400 would be valid for any of the remaining six 2011 Sprint Cup races to be held at tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports, or for the 2012 Kentucky Sprint Cup race. In addition to the ticket exchange, fans with unscanned tickets would also receive an equal number of tickets to either of the two remaining major events at the track in 2011—the Kentucky 225
The Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 presented by Click It or Ticket was a annual race NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Kentucky received a second date beginning in 2011 as part of NASCAR's ...
in the Camping World Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of ...
on October 1, or the Kentucky Indy 300
The Kentucky Indy 300 was an IndyCar Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky.
The IRL IndyCar Series debuted the race in 2000. In the 2002 race, Sarah Fisher won the pole position, the first such by a female driver in major ...
in the IndyCar Series
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...
on October 2.
Race
The race, the 18th in the season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
, began at 7:30 pm EDT and was televised live in the United States on TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reage ...
. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature at . Raceway Ministries pastor John Roberts began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation
An invocation (from the Latin verb ''invocare'' "to call on, invoke, to give") may take the form of:
*Supplication, prayer or spell.
*A form of possession.
* Command or conjuration.
* Self-identification with certain spirits.
These forms a ...
. Next, Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott Lachey ( ; born November 9, 1973) is an American singer, actor, television personality, and host. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling boyband 98 Degrees, and later starred in the reality series '' New ...
performed the national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europe ...
, and Steve Beshear
Steven Lynn Beshear (born September 21, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th atto ...
, Kentucky's Governor, gave the command for drivers to start their engines. Two drivers had to start at the end of the grid because of changes that were not approved during practice; they were Hamlin and Dave Blaney
David Louis Blaney (born October 24, 1962) is a semi-retired American professional stock car racing driver. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR, competing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Seri ...
.
Results
Qualifying
Race results
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Manufacturers' Championship standings
*Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.
References
{{2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup , state=collapsed
Quaker State 400
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, commonly known as simply the Quaker State 400, was a annual NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The inaugural event was held on July 9, 2011 and was won by Kyle Busc ...
Quaker State 400
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, commonly known as simply the Quaker State 400, was a annual NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The inaugural event was held on July 9, 2011 and was won by Kyle Busc ...
2011 Quaker State 400
The 2011 Quaker State 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 9, 2011 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was 18th race of the 2011 NASCAR Spr ...
Quaker State 400
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, commonly known as simply the Quaker State 400, was a annual NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. The inaugural event was held on July 9, 2011 and was won by Kyle Busc ...
NASCAR controversies