The 2012 STP 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on April 22, 2012 at Kansas Speedway in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, Kansas. Contested over 267 laps, it was the eighth race of the 2012 season. Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing took his second win of the season, while Martin Truex Jr. finished second and Jimmie Johnson finished third.

Report

Background

Kansas Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Kansas Speedway is a four-turn D-shaped oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at fifteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 10.4 degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, is at only five degrees. The racetrack has seats for 82,000 spectators. Before the race,

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 ...

led the Drivers' Championship with 273 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 254. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third in the Drivers' Championship also with 254 points, one ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and five ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth and fifth. Denny Hamlin with 242 was eight ahead of Tony Stewart, as Jimmie Johnson with 233 points, was eight ahead of Ryan Newman, and fourteen in front of Clint Bowyer. In the Manufacturers' Championship,

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

was leading with 48 points, six ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 34 points, was 30 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. Brad Keselowski was the race's defending race winner after winning it in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Practice and qualifying

Two practice sessions were held before the race on Friday. The first session lasted 80 minutes long, while the second was 90 minutes long. Kyle Busch was quickest with a time of 31.083 seconds in the first session, over one-tenth of a second faster than Carl Edwards. Kasey Kahne was third, followed by Landon Cassill, Earnhardt Jr., and Newman. Stewart was seventh, still within a second of Kyle Busch's time. In the second practice session, Johnson was fastest with a time of 30.865 seconds, only 0.113 seconds quicker than second-placed Mark Martin. Biffle took third place, ahead of Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Edwards. Jeff Burton managed to be seventh quickest. Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three can race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. A. J. Allmendinger clinched his second

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 rac ...

during his career, with a time of 30.683 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Harvick. Joey Logano qualified third, Hamlin took fourth, and Martin started fifth. Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr., Bowyer, Kahne, and Hornish Jr. rounded out the first ten positions. The three drivers who failed to qualify for the race were

Tim Andrews Timothy Andrews (born January 15, 1983) is an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and crew chief. He is the son of championship-winning NASCAR crew chief Paul Andrews. Racing career Driving career Andrews began his NASCAR ...

, Jeff Green and Tony Raines, who had times of 31.820 and 31.846 seconds.

Race

The race, the eighth in the season, started at 1:16 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race and overcast skies are expected. Cole Cochran, of Kansas City Alliance Raceway Ministries, began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, Jeremy Vitt performed the national anthem, and Victory Junction Gang Camp ambassadors gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Logano had to move to the rear of the grid because of changing his engine.

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

{{2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup , state=collapsed NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway

STP 400 The AdventHealth 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas received a second date beginning in 2011 part of a NASCAR schedule realignment; with the other one being the Hollywood Casino 400, the thirty ...