Kyle Busch led 218 laps at Charlotte, but Jamie McMurray took the lead for good on the final stretch and won the race.
Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch by two seconds to win the 2010 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte. The win was his third of the 2010 season and his sixth in his career, and it was the first Chase race won by a driver outside the Chase. Jimmie Johnson finished third.
Jamie McMurray won the 2010 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 16, 2010, after Kyle Busch had led most of the race. It was McMurray's third win of the 2010 season and the sixth of his career, and it made him the first driver outside the Chase to win a race during the Chase. Busch finished second, and Jimmie Johnson took third.
What was the 2010 Bank of America 500?
This Sprint Cup event took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It came late in the schedule as the fifth race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the playoff that decides the title. The race ran 334 laps.
The race was broadcast live on ABC in the United States, and the event drew a crowd of 103,000 people. Some 5.345 million viewers watched the race on television.
Johnson was the defending race winner, and he arrived at the track with a points lead that the race would test. His team had to deal with the pressure of a championship run while the rest of the Chase drivers were looking for a result of their own.
A driver outside the Chase took the lead late and held it, turning a race that Kyle Busch had controlled into a McMurray win.
What is Charlotte Motor Speedway like?
Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks that hold NASCAR races. It is a four-turn quad-oval of 2.4 km (1.5 miles), with turns banked at 24 degrees. The front stretch, where the finish line sits, is banked at five degrees, and the back stretch has the same five-degree banking.
The track has seats for 140,000 spectators.
Where did the championship stand before the race?
Johnson led the drivers' championship with 5,673 points before the race. Denny Hamlin was second with 5,637, and Kevin Harvick third with 5,619. Harvick was thirty-one points ahead of Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart sat fifty-one points behind Harvick in fifth.
Kurt Busch was sixth with 5,533 points, 22 ahead of Carl Edwards. Jeff Burton had 5,496 points and was thirteen ahead of Kyle Busch, while Greg Biffle, 41 points behind Burton, completed the top ten. Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer sat eleventh and twelfth.
In the manufacturers' standings Chevrolet led with 220 points, 41 points ahead of Toyota. Ford had 141 points, 22 ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.
How did practice and qualifying go?
Gordon took the pole with a time of 28.192 seconds, his 69th career pole, and he was joined on the front row by Carl Edwards. Forty-nine cars took part in qualifying, and forty-three of them made the field. Nemechek, Mears, Bliss, Leffler, Conway and Sauter all missed the field.
A. J. Allmendinger qualified third, Mark Martin fourth and Paul Menard fifth. Gordon said afterwards that the team had used to qualify well at Charlotte but had lost its way there, and that he had not expected a pole given how the session had gone.
Johnson, the defending race winner, was fifteenth in the second practice session, and Harvick was twentieth, which left the Chase drivers with plenty to work on.
Practice had shown mixed form across the field. Ryan Newman was fastest in the first session, Kasey Kahne quickest in the second, and Carl Edwards topped the final session at 29.031 seconds. Reed Sorenson and Kurt Busch were second and third in that final session, and Kahne was fourth.
How did the race start?
Joe Gibbs gave the invocation, and Danielle Peck sang the national anthem before the race. The start came at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time under sunny skies, with an air temperature around 22 C (71 F). Gordon got away quicker than Edwards and was in front down the straight.
On the next lap Newman lost control, spun sideways and hit the wall, which brought out the first caution. Gordon led the restart, but Edwards took the place back late in the eighth lap. Within a lap Busch and Gordon had both gone around him, and Newman headed to the garage for repairs.
Menard moved up to third on lap 11 and took second four laps later after passing Gordon. Johnson, who started tenth, had dropped to 15th by the nineteenth lap, and the second caution followed on lap 24 when Kurt Busch spun sideways. The front runners all pitted under that caution.
A third caution came on lap 33 when Johnson himself spun sideways. Kyle Busch led the restart ahead of Gordon and Joey Logano.
How did Kyle Busch build his lead?
Kyle Busch had a 1.9-second lead over Gordon by lap 48, and he kept the front through the first round of stops. Harvick had moved up to fifth after 55 laps. Kyle Busch and Gordon pitted two laps after the second round began on lap 75, and the lead went to Juan Pablo Montoya.
Kenseth briefly led after Montoya pitted, but he too pitted a lap later. Patrick Carpentier then took the lead, and Kyle Busch regained it after Carpentier stopped on lap 84. By lap 87 Busch had a 3.6-second lead.
On lap 95 Busch reported that his throttle was sticking, so he used the cut-off switch, mounted on the back of the steering wheel, to slow the car. The problem eased over the next few laps, and by lap 105 he reported that the throttle was improving.
Debris brought out the fourth caution on the following lap, and all of the front runners pitted. Johnson reported that he and Bowyer had collided on pit road. Once the stops were complete, Busch was back out front with Gordon, Montoya, Biffle and Logano behind him.
How did the middle of the race change hands?
Kahne spun and collided with Sam Hornish Jr., which brought out the fifth caution. Martin led the restart, with Truex, McMurray, Montoya and Johnson behind him. McMurray moved into second on the next lap, and Johnson and Kyle Busch both passed Montoya.
McMurray took the lead and had a 1.25-second advantage over Martin by lap 144. Johnson took third after the pit stops, while Hamlin moved into fifth. Johnson then took the lead on lap 189 after passing McMurray, and Gordon's car lost power later in the same run, forcing an unscheduled stop.
A sixth caution on lap 203 came when Marcos Ambrose spun near pit road. During the pit stops Kyle Busch passed Johnson on pit road to take the lead, and that gave him the front on the restart. Gordon reported alternator problems on lap 211, and Johnson was back in fifth a few laps later.
Kyle Busch's lead grew to 1.30 seconds over McMurray by lap 221. Hamlin moved into third, and a seventh caution came on lap 239 when Robby Gordon spun. Burton spun on lap 246 after contact with Bowyer, and he was the only driver who pitted during that caution.
How did the final stage decide the race?
Kyle Busch led Johnson on lap 250, and Kenseth moved into eighth as the race wore on. Speed passed Edwards for twelfth, and Busch extended his lead to 2.01 seconds by lap 278. McMurray took the second spot from Johnson six laps later.
Kahne became ill during the race, and his car was repaired before J. J. Yeley was put into it to finish for the team. The final round of pit stops began on lap 289, and Busch and Johnson stopped a lap earlier than McMurray. Montoya, Sorenson and Allmendinger briefly led during the cycle of stops.
Gordon received a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Busch then took the lead once the stops were complete, but his advantage shrank to 1.3 seconds three laps later. A debris caution on lap 308 came next. Busch led the restart, and McMurray took the front the following lap.
McMurray had built a 1.02-second lead over Busch by lap 320, while Busch and Johnson fought for second. McMurray crossed the line on lap 334 to take the win, two seconds ahead of Busch, who had led the most laps with 218.
What were the final results?
McMurray won, Busch was second and Johnson third. Hamlin finished fourth and Biffle fifth, with Kenseth and Logano following them. The top ten was completed by Harvick, David Reutimann and David Ragan. Attendance was 103,000 and the broadcast drew 5.345 million viewers.
| Finish | Driver | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Jamie McMurray | Third win of 2010 and sixth of his career; won $266,129 |
| Second | Kyle Busch | Led the most laps with 218 |
| Third | Jimmie Johnson | Started tenth and moved through the field |
| Fourth | Denny Hamlin | Remained optimistic about his title chances |
| Fifth | Greg Biffle | Fifth place finish |
| Tenth | David Ragan | Last car in the top ten |
What did the drivers say after the race?
McMurray said his car had performed best at the end of the race, and that Busch had been better at certain stages. Busch was disappointed with second. He said McMurray had a good restart and got past him cleanly, and that his own car had pushed up the race track when it counted.
Hamlin said he was minimising risk so that he would have a real shot at the title at Homestead, the season finale. He said Johnson had figured things out and had a strong team.
What did the result do to the standings?
Johnson led the drivers' championship with 5,843 points after the race. Hamlin was 41 points behind him, 36 points ahead of Harvick and 115 points ahead of Gordon. Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart were tied for fifth with 5,666 points.
McMurray rose to 13th in the points, 75 points ahead of Ryan Newman in 14th. Kenseth and Bowyer finished the day in 11th and 12th with 5,587 and 5,543 points.
In the manufacturers' table Chevrolet stayed on top with 230 points. Toyota was next on 185, a margin of forty over Ford and sixty-three over Dodge.
