2012 Pure Michigan 400

February 2025 NAS Pure Michigan 400 https://www.espn.com/racing/schedule/_/year/2012 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Schedule ESPN August 17, 2012http://rotoworld.com/articles/nas/41141/229/the-pure-michigan-400 The Pure Michigan 400 NBC Sports RotoWorld.com August 15, 2012 August 17, 2012 Brown, Brian https://web.archive.org/web/20120816165036/http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nas/41141/229/the-pure-michigan-400 August 16, 2012 dead 2012 08 19 2012 23 36 2012_Pure_Michigan_400_program_cover_and_logo.png 2012 Pure Michigan 400 program cover Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan 2 3.219 201 402 646.956 200 400 643.738 Clear with temperatures around 76 F; wind out of the W at 6 mph on. 144.662 mi/h Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing 36.053 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing 54 16 Greg Biffle Roush-Fenway Racing ESPN Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree 3.8/5.2 million The 2012 Pure Michigan 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 19, 2012, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 201 laps, it was the twenty-third race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing won the race, Brad Keselowski was second and Kasey Kahne finished third. Report Background thumb|left|Michigan International Speedway, the race track where the race was held. Michigan International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.NASCAR Race Tracks http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/ August 17, 2012 NASCAR Turner Sports dead https://web.archive.org/web/20130101145548/http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/ January 1, 2013 The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 mi km long.NASCAR Track: Michigan International Speedway http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/track?trackId=7 August 17, 2012 Fox Sports https://web.archive.org/web/20130620170223/http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/track?trackId=7 June 20, 2013 dead mdy-all The track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking. Michigan International Speedway has a seating capacity of 137,243 people.http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/mis/ Michigan International Speedway Turner Sports NASCAR August 17, 2012 Before the race, Jimmie Johnson led the Drivers' Championship with 777 points, and Greg Biffle stood in second with 776. Matt Kenseth was third in the Drivers' Championship with 775 points, 15 ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 42 ahead of Brad Keselowski in fourth and fifth. Martin Truex Jr. with 728 was eleven points ahead of Clint Bowyer, as Tony Stewart with 716 points, was six ahead of Kevin Harvick, and 23 in front of Denny Hamlin.Driver's Championship Classification http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/22/data/standings_official.html Turner Sports NASCAR August 17, 2012 In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 157 points, 32 ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 109 points, was 16 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.Manufactures' Championship Classification http://www.jayski.com/stats/2012/manu2012.htm ESPN Jayski's Silly Season Site August 17, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121130202821/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2012/manu2012.htm November 30, 2012 dead Practice and qualifying thumb|200px|Mark Martin won the pole position Three practice sessions will be held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, August 17, and two on Saturday, August 18. The first session lasted 90 minutes, while the second and third are scheduled for 55 minutes.http://www.jayski.com/news/races/2012/story/_/page/23-Michigan-NASCAR-Race-Info#prac THE RACE: Pure Michigan 400 ESPN Jayski NASCAR Silly Season Site August 17, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120816232252/http://www.jayski.com/news/races/2012/story/_/page/23-Michigan-NASCAR-Race-Info#prac August 16, 2012 dead Johnson was quickest with a time of 36.465 seconds in the first session, less than two-tenths of a second faster than Kasey Kahne.http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/22/data/practice1_speeds.html Practice One Timing and Scoring Turner Sports NASCAR August 17, 2012 Mark Martin was just off Kahne's pace, followed by Harvick, Truex Jr., and Carl Edwards. Ryan Newman (who was battling the flu and wasn't sure he would be able to race; Stewart-Haas had David Reutimann on standbyNewman overcomes flu to stay in contention) was seventh, still within four-tenths of a second of Johnson's time. Forty-five cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/22/data/qual_order.html Qualifying Entry List Turner Sports NASCAR August 17, 2012 Martin clinched the 55th pole position of his career,https://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/story/2012-08-17/Mark-Martin-captures-Michigan-pole-fourth-of-season/57123374/1 Mark Martin captures fourth pole of his part-time season USA Today August 17, 2012 August 17, 2012 Ryan, Nate Brooklyn, Michigan with a time of 36.053 seconds.http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/22/data/lineup.html Race Official Lineup Turner Sports NASCAR July 13, 2012 He was joined on the front row of the grid by Edwards. Johnson qualified third, Kenseth took fourth, and Kahne started fifth. Trevor Bayne, Truex Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Landon Cassill and Paul Menard rounded out the top ten. The two drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Stephen Leicht and J. J. Yeley. Once the qualifying session concluded, Martin said, "I've had a few years of practice. I don't need a whole bunch of practice. I need fast race cars. That's what Rodney Childers is giving me. All it is driving the car. I've been doing that since I was 15." Race After the drop of the green flag, Martin would jump out to an early lead. However, an early spin from David Gilliland through the grass on Lap 6 would bunch the field back up again. After restarting on Lap 10, Martin would once again easily retain the lead and build another substantial gap to the second place car. The first round of green flag pit stops would begin on Lap 35. Mixed strategies would see some teams taking two tires and others four. A number of drivers, notably Keselowski and Johnson, would stay out for a few laps longer than the rest of the field while stretching fuel mileage before the lead would cycle back to Martin on Lap 46. Following a long green-flag run, Martin would continue to lead while having to deal with an ever-increasing amount of lapped traffic. On Lap 64, however, disaster would strike for Martin while coming up on the lapped cars of Bobby Labonte and Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya would make contact with Labonte, turning him coming out of Turn 4. Martin, reacting to this, would spin out while attempting to avoid the two and begin to careen down pit road. After glancing off the inner pit wall, Martin's car would slam side-first into an exposed retaining wall at the garage opening midway down pit road. The exposed wall segment would penetrate deep into the car's side, puncturing the fuel tank, and causing fuel to spill around the car. The force of the impact would also cause several tires and other debris stationed on the wall to go flying back into the garage area. Luckily, track and safety officials were quick on the scene to extinguish any flames and no one, including Martin, suffered any injuries. The race would restart on Lap 74 with Clint Bowyer taking a short-lived lead before another caution would fly after a crash from Regan Smith due to contact from Marcos Ambrose. Varying pit strategies and the timing of cautions would continue to mix the field up from its starting order. A fourth caution would come out after Joey Logano hit the wall after a tire failure from contact with Montoya. On the restart, Biffle would find himself near the front before soon fighting for the lead. He would take his first lead of the day on Lap 101 after passing Truex Jr. Biffle would hold the lead for 10 laps before pitting. Attrition and the long runs would also begin to take their toll as both Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon would exit the race with engine failures. These engine failures, both being from in-house Hendrick Motorsports-built engines, would cause other teams running them to begin to worry about their own cars including Johnson. The final fifty laps would be run mostly under green and would see a flurry of ten lead changes with only one driver, Johnson, leading more than ten consecutive laps during the final quarter of the race distance. Lap 182 would see the #21 car of Trevor Bayne sustain a tire failure and hit the wall in Turn 1, bringing out another caution and setting up a just over ten-lap sprint to the finish. The race would restart on lap 187 with Keselowski leading. He would hold the lead until being passed by Johnson with just under ten laps to go. Biffle would also get around Keselowski to move up into second. Johnson, cruising to a seemingly assured win, would then suffer an engine failure (much like those of Stewart and Gordon) with only five laps to go. Oil spilling from Johnson's car would bring out the final caution and set-up a green-white-checkered finish. The final restart would lead to a final shootout between Biffle and Keselowski with Biffle edging out Keselowski to earn his third win at Michigan and his second of the season. Results Qualifying Grid No. Car number Driver Team Manufacturer Time (s) Speed (mph) need to convert to km/h April 20231 55 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 36.053 199.706 2 99 Carl Edwards Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 36.249 198.626 3* 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 36.283 198.440 4 17 Matt Kenseth Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 36.330 198.183 5 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 36.386 197.878 6 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 36.404 197.781 7 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 36.428 197.650 8 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 36.457 197.493 9 83 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 36.468 197.433 10 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 36.518 197.163 11 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 36.527 197.115 12 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 36.546 197.012 13 16 Greg Biffle Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 36.568 196.893 14 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 36.571 196.887 15* 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 36.598 196.732 16 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.641 196.501 17* 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Dodge 36.688 196.249 18 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 36.694 196.217 19 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 36.701 196.180 20 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 36.725 196.052 21 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.743 195.956 22* 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 36.768 195.822 23 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 37.248 193.299 24 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 37.254 193.268 25 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 37.279 193.138 26 51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 37.308 192.988 27 91 Reed Sorenson Humphrey Smith Racing Ford 37.362 192.709 28 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 37.384 192.596 29 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 37.391 192.560 30 93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 37.395 192.539 31 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota 37.430 192.359 32 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 37.445 192.282 33 19 Jason Leffler Humphrey Smith Racing Ford 37.460 192.205 34 26 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports Ford 37.465 192.179 35 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 37.477 192.118 36 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 37.541 191.790 37 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 37.554 191.724 38 23 Scott Riggs R3 Motorsports Chevrolet 37.906 189.943 39 10 David Reutimann Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38.088 189.036 40 32 T. J. Bell FAS Lane Racing Ford 38.894 185.118 41 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford — — 42 36 Dave Blaney Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet — — 43 98 Mike Skinner Phil Parsons Racing Ford 37.907 189.939 Failed to Qualify 33 Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Racing Chevrolet 38.006 189.444 37 J. J. Yeley Max Q Motorsports Chevrolet 38.266 188.157 Source:2012 Pure Michigan 400 qualifying results https://www.racing-reference.info/qual-results/2012-23/W 2025-09-15 www.racing-reference.info Jimmie Johnson will start from the rear of the field for changing an engine. Ryan Newman will start from the rear of the field for having a back-up driver. Sam Hornish Jr. will start from the rear of the field for having a back-up driver qualify the car. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the rear of the field for switching to a back-up car. Race results thumb|Greg Biffle won the race. Pos Car Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Run Points 1 16 Greg Biffle Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 201 47 2 2 Brad Keselowski Penske Racing Dodge 201 43 3 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 201 41 4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 201 41 5 9 Marcos Ambrose Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 201 39 6 99 Carl Edwards Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 201 39 7 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 201 38 8 39 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 201 36 9 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 201 36 10 56 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 201 35 11 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 201 34 12 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Racing Dodge 201 0 13 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 201 31 14 1 Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 201 30 15 93 Travis Kvapil BK Racing Toyota 201 29 16 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 201 28 17 17 Matt Kenseth Roush-Fenway Racing Ford 201 28 18 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 201 26 19 31 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 201 25 20 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 201 24 21 10 David Reutimann Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota 200 23 22 47 Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 199 22 23 34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 199 21 24 21 Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Racing Ford 199 0 25 83 Landon Cassill BK Racing Toyota 198 20 26 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 197 18 27 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 195 18 28 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 167 16 29 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 154 15 30 51 Kurt Busch Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 135 14 31 20 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 132 13 32 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 109 12 33 32 T. J. Bell FAS Lane Racing Ford 108 11 34 30 David Stremme Inception Motorsports Toyota 72 10 35 55 Mark Martin Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 64 11 36 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 38 0 37 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Ford 36 7 38 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 34 6 39 98 Mike Skinner Phil Parsons Racing Ford 25 5 40 26 Josh Wise Front Row Motorsports Ford 24 4 41 23 Scott Riggs R3 Motorsports Chevrolet 20 3 42 91 Reed Sorenson Humphrey Smith Racing Ford 15 0 43 19 Jason Leffler Humphrey Smith Racing Ford 14 0Source:2012 Pure Michigan 400 Race Results https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2012_Pure_Michigan_400/W 2025-09-15 www.racing-reference.info Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Greg Biffle823 2 Matt Kenseth803 3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.801 4 Jimmie Johnson795 5 Brad Keselowski776 Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet161 2 Toyota128 3 Ford118 4 Dodge99 Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings. References Sprint Cup Series 2012 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race collapsed Category:NASCAR races at Michigan International Speedway Pure Michigan 400 Pure Michigan 400 Pure Michigan 400