2009 Dickies 500: Kurt Busch Wins as Kyle Busch Runs Out of Fuel

Kurt Busch won the 2009 Dickies 500 on 8 November 2009 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, starting from third on the grid. The 334-lap race was the thirty-fourth of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and the eighth event of the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. The win came after Kyle Busch, who had led six times for 232 laps, ran out of fuel in turn three with a lead he had held for much of the afternoon.

What kind of track is Texas Motor Speedway?

Texas Motor Speedway is a 2.4 km (1.5 mi) quad-oval in Fort Worth, Texas. Its turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, where the finish line sits, and the back stretch are banked at five degrees. The venue is an intermediate track that hosts NASCAR races, and it was built to the standard quad-oval layout.

The race drew a crowd of 167,000, although the track president, Eddie Gossage, had expected between 175,000 and 185,000 people to attend. The start came at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and ABC carried the broadcast, with Jerry Punch on play-by-play and Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree in the analysis seats.

The pre-race ceremonies included an invocation from Dr. Roger Marsh and the national anthem from the Texas Christian University Marching Band. ZZ Top then gave the command for drivers to start their engines, and the afternoon was cloudy as the field rolled out.

Kyle Busch led 232 laps and ran dry in turn three, handing Kurt Busch the Dickies 500.

What was the championship picture before the race?

Johnson was top of the Drivers' Championship on 6,248 points before the start. Mark Martin was 184 points behind in second, and Jeff Gordon was eight points further back in third. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth and Tony Stewart fifth, with Busch, Biffle, Newman, Kahne, Edwards, Hamlin and Vickers completing the Chase top twelve.

In the Manufacturers' Championship Chevrolet had 244 points, sixty-two points ahead of Toyota, while Ford had 145 points and was nine ahead of Dodge. Edwards was the defending race winner at Texas.

With three rounds of the season left, Johnson said the team was showing up to win races rather than protect its lead, and he warned that a tenth-place finish was harder than it looked. Martin, who had crashed at Talladega in the previous race, said he wanted a fresh outlook. Gordon said his team had to take another step forward, because a setup from April would have only run 15th.

How did the entry list change for the final stretch?

Penske Championship Racing made a driver change for the final three races of 2009. David Stremme was replaced by Brad Keselowski, the winner of the Aaron's 499, so that Keselowski could gain experience before driving full-time for the team the following season.

Richard Petty Motorsports switched A. J. Allmendinger from a Dodge to a Ford in its No. 44 entry, as the team prepared to field three Ford Fusions the following year. Forty-seven drivers entered qualifying, and Derrike Cope withdrew before the session began.

How did practice and qualifying go?

Practice ran in three sessions: one on Friday and two on Saturday, lasting 90, 45 and 60 minutes. Clint Bowyer was fastest in the first session at 28.514 seconds. Max Papis damaged the right side of his car against the turn two wall, and Mike Bliss needed a backup car after similar damage. John Andretti changed engines after his first session failed, and Burton also switched cars after hitting the outside wall in turn two.

Gordon took his first pole of 2009 with a time of 28.255 seconds. It was his 68th career pole and set a record for the Car of Tomorrow specification at the circuit. The result also extended his run of starting from pole in the Cup Series to seventeen successive seasons.

Kahne started second and Kurt Busch third, with Stewart fourth and Kyle Busch fifth. Edwards slid sideways leaving the final turn and qualified sixth, and Martin was seventh. Biffle, Earnhardt and Bowyer took eighth to tenth. Tony Raines, Dave Blaney, Papis and Bliss failed to qualify.

On Saturday morning, David Reutimann was fastest in the second session at 28.906 seconds, and Johnson was fastest in the final session at 28.928 seconds. Harvick hit the turn two wall during practice, but the damage was minor and his team repaired the car.

What happened in the opening laps?

Kasey Kahne briefly passed Gordon at the start, but Gordon held the lead into the first corner. On lap three Reutimann made contact with Hornish on the inside of turn two, and Hornish was sent up the track into the left side of Johnson's car. Johnson hit the outside wall and damaged several components, and the first caution came out.

None of the leaders pitted under that yellow. Johnson went to his garage to have parts replaced, and when the race resumed on the lap-nine restart Gordon kept the lead. Kurt Busch passed him on the inside three laps later. Robby Gordon had started twenty-ninth and climbed thirteen positions to 16th by lap 34, and Johnson's car received a new driveshaft one lap after that.

Earnhardt had moved into fourth by lap 38, closing on Gordon. Kurt Busch soon led by more than three seconds from Kyle Busch. Reutimann, who had started 13th, was third by the 48th lap, showing that the front runners were not the only drivers making progress.

How did the pit stops shape the race?

Green-flag stops for tyres, fuel and adjustments began on lap 52, when Elliott Sadler was the first driver to pit. Stewart took the lead after Kurt Busch came onto pit road, and he pitted on lap 56, which handed the lead to Michael Waltrip. Kyle Busch then took over on lap 58, and six laps later his lead over Kurt Busch was 2.5 seconds.

Jeff Gordon fell to 11th on lap 70 because of a slow pit stop. Marcos Ambrose had started 35th and climbed twenty-nine places to sixth in the same period, which made him one of the bigger movers of the race. The second caution came after Hornish hit the wall and suffered three flat tyres, and most leaders used the yellow to pit.

Kyle Busch kept the lead through the pit cycle and held it at the lap-92 restart. Stewart passed Reutimann for third, and Gordon moved back up to ninth. Sunlight later came off the surface and cooled the track, which led crew chiefs to remind their drivers to take care through the turns.

How did Johnson recover from his crash?

Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, told him that the car was damaged beyond repair. Johnson still rejoined the race on the 115th lap, after 68 minutes of repairs, though the car was missing its rear bumper. He later pitted again on lap 134 to fix tyre rubbing, and the car came back out during the green-flag stops that followed.

Martin moved into the top ten by lap 122, and Gordon dropped to 14th four laps later. Hamlin led for a spell on lap 146. Kyle Busch reclaimed the lead after the pit stops, and by lap 116 he had built a one-and-a-half-second advantage over Kurt Busch.

What were the late caution periods?

Track conditions changed as cooler air came over the circuit. Jeff Gordon reported debris at turn one on the 167th lap, which brought out the third caution. Some leaders pitted while officials cleaned the surface. Kyle Busch held the lead at the restart on lap 173, with Kurt Busch and Earnhardt behind.

The fourth caution came on lap 175, when Montoya hit the wall between the first and second turns. Edwards was caught up in the same crash and sustained similar damage, while Keselowski was also involved and Jeff Gordon had to spin sideways to avoid trouble. The race restarted on lap 182 with Kurt Busch in the lead, ahead of Kyle Busch and Reutimann.

Kurt Busch built a 1.4-second lead four laps after the restart. The fifth and final caution came on the 206th lap, when Reed Sorenson suffered a right-front tyre failure and hit the wall in turn two. Most leaders pitted for fuel and adjustments, and Kyle Busch led the restart on the 213th lap.

Why did the fuel strategy decide the race?

Kurt Busch's crew chief, Pat Tryson, planned for two stints of 60 laps each, while other drivers needed fuel after stints of 58 laps. That gave Kurt Busch the chance to run longer between stops. Kahne moved into ninth and Earnhardt slipped to seventh, and Martin moved up to fifth eight laps later.

Martin passed Stewart for fourth on the 238th lap. Kyle Busch was 1.4 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch by the 249th lap, and drivers began to report that their cars were sliding through the corners as the tyres wore. Green-flag stops began on the 265th lap, and Kyle Busch stayed ahead of Reutimann and Kenseth after the cycle.

By the 290th lap, Kurt Busch's crew warned him that he was short of fuel for the rest of the race. Six laps later Kyle Busch began to slow in the corners to save fuel. Overall speeds dropped from the 302nd lap as drivers conserved fuel, and pit stops resumed on lap 311 when Truex took on fuel.

How did the race end?

Kyle Busch had a four-second lead over Reutimann by the 314th lap. On the 320th lap he and his crew chief, Dave Rogers, decided not to pit for more fuel and stayed out. Two laps later the team told him to slow down. On lap 332, Kyle Busch ran out of fuel in turn three and coasted to the pits, which handed the lead to Kurt Busch.

Had Kyle Busch won, he would have become the first driver to win all three of NASCAR's major touring series races at the same track in one weekend. The following lap Ambrose also ran out of fuel, and Kurt Busch held on to win his second race of 2009. It was also his 20th career win and his first at Texas.

Hamlin conserved enough fuel to finish second after an early collision with the barrier. Kenseth took third, Martin fourth and Harvick fifth. Stewart, Bowyer, Biffle, Burton and Allmendinger completed the top ten. Across the race there were thirteen lead changes among four drivers, and Kyle Busch's 232 laps led were the most of any driver.

What did the winner and the runner-up say?

Kurt Busch took a backwards victory lap with the flag in hand, and he needed help to steer his car into victory lane. He said he had known the fuel numbers and trusted his team's calculations, and that he had been playing cat-and-mouse with Kyle Busch on restarts in their first real head-to-head fight for a win like this.

Hamlin said the car had been good, but that the team had lost too many places on pit road and could not recover the track position. He said that he had collided with the wall while trying to make up ground, but that he could save fuel because nobody was pressing him from behind.

Kyle Busch skipped the post-race press session. Crew chief Dave Rogers said the driver had led all those laps and had been denied the chance to win all three races in a row, and that the Toyota had deserved to be in Victory Lane. He added that the team had been a little short on fuel.

What penalties and disputes followed the race?

Johnson initially blamed the third-lap accident, which had dropped him to 38th, on Hornish losing control. Hornish said Reutimann had made contact with his car and that he had no time to correct it. Johnson later changed his view after reviewing the race and speaking to Reutimann, and he came to believe that Hornish had been dealing with handling problems.

Two days after the race, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing was penalised over Truex's car. The penalties covered conduct detrimental to stock car racing, non-conforming race equipment and a ride height that was too low. Crew chief Kevin Manion was fined $50,000 and placed on probation until 31 December 2009, and the team lost 50 owner and driver points. Several cars were sent to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina for inspection, including the winner's car and Hamlin's car.

What were the race statistics?

Kurt Busch took home $440,575 in race winnings. The race took 3 hours, twenty-four minutes and eighteen seconds, and the winning margin was 25.686 seconds. The race attracted 5.82 million television viewers.

How did the result change the standings?

The race left Johnson at the top of the Drivers' Championship with 6,297 points. Martin was second, 73 points behind, and Gordon was thirty-nine points behind Martin. Kurt Busch moved up to fourth on 6,126 points, and Stewart was fifth.

Montoya, Biffle, Hamlin, Newman and Kahne completed the top ten in the standings, while Edwards and Vickers were the last two Chase positions. Chevrolet kept its manufacturers' lead with 247 points, Toyota was second on 192 and Ford third on 158.