A pit-road penalty handed Carl Edwards the lead and a 1.246-second win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The 2011 Kobalt Tools 400 took place as a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, held on 6 March 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards won it for Roush Fenway Racing, with Tony Stewart second and Juan Pablo Montoya third. It was the third race of the season, and the win moved Edwards into third in the championship.
Carl Edwards won the third round of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 6 March 2011. He took the chequered flag for Roush Fenway Racing after a pit-road speeding penalty sent Tony Stewart to the back of the field. Stewart had been leading for much of the 267-lap event.
Where and when was the 2011 Kobalt Tools 400 held?
The race was held on 6 March 2011 at the speedway in Clark County, Nevada. It covered 267 laps and was the third event of the 2011 season. The start was at 3:00 p.m. EST, with live coverage on Fox in the United States.
Conditions were dry at the start, with an air temperature of 16 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit). Chaplain Joe Freiburger gave the invocation, and Kristen Hertzenberg performed the national anthem before the cars were started. Denny Hamlin had to drop to the back of the grid after changing his engine during the pace laps.
A pit-road penalty handed the lead to Carl Edwards, and he held it to the flag.
What made the Las Vegas track distinctive?
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a four-turn, D-shaped oval 2.4 km (1.5 miles) long. The corners carry 20 degrees of banking, while the front straight, where the finish line sits, and the back straight are banked at 9 degrees. The venue has seats for 142,000 spectators.
Las Vegas ranks among ten intermediate tracks that have held NASCAR races. The race was scheduled on the standard track, and 267 laps around that oval produced 22 lead changes.
Who led the championship before the race?
Kyle Busch led the Drivers' Championship with 80 points before the race, and Kurt Busch was second on 77. Tony Stewart and A. J. Allmendinger were tied on 69 points in third and fourth. Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet led the manufacturers' standings on 12 points, four ahead of Dodge.
Jimmie Johnson had won the event in 2010, so he arrived as the defending winner. Stewart and Allmendinger were four points clear of Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, who shared fifth.
How did qualifying and practice go?
Matt Kenseth took pole with a time of 28.589 seconds, the fifth pole of his career. Marcos Ambrose joined him on the front row, while Carl Edwards qualified third and Greg Biffle fourth. Of the forty-four cars entered, forty-three qualified, and Brian Keselowski was the one who missed out.
Practice ran in two sessions, lasting 90 minutes on Friday and 75 minutes on Saturday. Kenseth was quickest in the first session at 28.939 seconds, just 0.047 seconds ahead of David Ragan. He led the final session too, at 29.330 seconds, with Kyle Busch second and Greg Biffle fifth quickest on 29.393 seconds.
How did the race unfold?
Early on, Greg Biffle moved past polesitter Matt Kenseth, and seven cautions broke up the 267-lap race. Tony Stewart led for long stretches and held the advantage after the second caution. Penalties and an engine failure changed the order, and Carl Edwards was in front after the lap 156 restart.
Biffle had taken the lead in the opening laps, and the first caution came on lap 8 after Robby Gordon spun sideways. Most leaders pitted under that yellow, but Jeff Gordon stayed out and led the lap 12 restart. Kenseth pitted on the same lap with a flat tire.
Stewart passed Jeff Gordon for the lead on the next lap and was still in front when Andy Lally spun and brought out the second caution on the fourteenth lap. At the lap 18 restart he led Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya. He was 1.7 seconds clear by lap 24 and 3.6 seconds clear by the forty-fifth lap, while Jimmie Johnson had fallen to 23rd.
Green-flag pit stops ran from lap 49 to lap 62, and once they finished Stewart was back in front ahead of Kyle Busch. He had stretched his advantage to 6.5 seconds by lap 95. The third caution followed, when Kyle Busch struck the wall after a flat tire.
More cautions followed. Kurt Busch and Kahne spun after the lap 101 restart, and Kyle Busch's engine failed on lap 107, bringing out the fifth caution. Biffle had passed Edwards for second that lap, and Stewart led Biffle on the lap 115 restart before Edwards passed Biffle for second on lap 121.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed seventh on lap 138. The sixth caution came, when Gilliland struck the wall after a flat, and Stewart and Harvick were both penalised for speeding on pit road during the stops. Edwards led from the lap 156 restart, and Stewart had fallen back to 18th.
Stewart fought back. A seventh caution came after Gordon struck the wall on a flat, and Stewart reclaimed the lead at the lap 202 restart. By lap 220 he was 3 seconds clear, while Edwards had moved past Truex into third.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 234, and Edwards emerged as leader, 1.1 seconds ahead of Montoya. He was 1.6 seconds clear near the finish. With four laps to go, Stewart got past Montoya into second, but Edwards held on to win.
Which drivers made the biggest moves?
Reutimann, who started 25th, had gained 18 positions by lap 20. Trevor Bayne climbed from 16th to 11th by lap 5, and Jimmie Johnson slid to 23rd by the forty-fifth lap. Johnson later recovered to ninth, passing Jeff Gordon.
Bayne's climb came in the opening laps, while Reutimann's gains built through the early stint. Newman, who started eighth, clinched fifth at the finish. Marcos Ambrose, who had started on the front row beside Kenseth, came home fourth.
Results at a glance
| Finish | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing; first victory of 2011, 20th of his career |
| 2 | Tony Stewart | Led for long stretches; speeding penalty on pit road during the sixth caution |
| 3 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 1.1 seconds behind Edwards after the green-flag pit stops |
| 4 | Marcos Ambrose | Started on the front row |
| 5 | Newman | Started eighth |
Why did the result matter for the championship?
Edwards climbed to third in the Drivers' Championship, seven points off Stewart's total and level with Montoya. Stewart took first place with 113 points, level with Kurt Busch in second. Ford kept its manufacturers' lead with 21 points, three ahead of Chevrolet.
The title race later turned on a tiebreaker. Edwards lost the 2011 championship to Stewart on that count. Stewart had entered the Chase without a win, then took five Chase races out of ten, the finale among them. The Chase format had been introduced after Kenseth's 2003 title.
In the manufacturers' standings, Chevrolet had 18 points, Toyota 16 and Dodge 11. Ford was five points clear of Toyota, and 33 races were still to be run.
Reactions after the race
Edwards said the win meant a lot coming off the race at Phoenix the week before, when he had gone home unsure how things would turn out. He added that a car like his did not come along often.
Stewart said the loss hurt, particularly at a track his team had not yet won. He pointed to a miscue on the pit stop and the penalty that sent him to the back. Crew chief Darian Grubb's decision to regain track position was sound, but rivals could see the same move, and his team could not stretch a set of left-side tyres far enough.
Kyle Busch said his engine broke on the lap 107 restart, just as he had planned to wait for traffic to clear before working back through the field.
Doug Yates, engine builder for Roush Fenway Racing, said the team had run strongly all week and thanked Ford for its support of the FR9 engine.