2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301

The 2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 15, 2012 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, United States. Contested over 301 laps, it was the nineteenth race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports took his second win of the season, while Denny Hamlin finished second and Clint Bowyer finished third.

2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301

Race details[1][2][3]
Race 19 of 36 in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date	July 15, 2012
Official name	Lenox Industrial Tools 301 The Extra Mile
Location	New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.703 km)
Distance	301 laps, 318.458 mi (512.508 km)
Weather	Overcast with a temperature around 87°F; wind out of the SW at 6 mph.
Average speed	116.226 miles per hour (187.048 km/h)[4]
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	28.548
Most laps led
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	152
Winner
No. 5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	TNT
Announcers	Adam Alexander, Wally Dallenbach, Jr. and Kyle Petty
Nielsen Ratings	4.775 million [5]

Report

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and Darlington Raceway as well as Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[6] The standard track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a four-turn oval track, 1.6 miles (2.6 km) long.[7] The track's turns are banked from two to seven degrees, while the front stretch, the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at one degree.[7]

Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 676 points, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. stood in second with 651. Greg Biffle was third in the Drivers' Championship with 632, fourteen points ahead of Jimmie Johnson and forty ahead of Tony Stewart in fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick, with 586, was two points ahead of Denny Hamlin, as Martin Truex, Jr. with 584 points, was eleven ahead of Brad Keselowski and twelve in front of Clint Bowyer.[8] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 126 points, twenty-two points ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 90 points, was fourteen points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.[9] Ryan Newman is the defending race winner after winning the event in 2011.[10]

Shortly before the 2012 Coke Zero 400, held one week earlier, NASCAR announced that A. J. Allmendinger failed a random drug test held on June 29, 2012, and that he was suspended temporarily, depending on the result of his second test.[11] Afterward, Penske Racing announced that Sam Hornish, Jr., who replaced him in the Coke Zero 400, would also replace him for a second consecutive week.[11]

Practice and qualifying

Kyle Busch (pictured in 2015), of the Joe Gibbs Racing team won the pole position.

Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, July 13, and two on Saturday, July 14. The first session lasted 90 minutes, and the second was 55 minutes. The third and final session was 60 minutes.[12] Kyle Busch was quickest with a time of 28.555 seconds in the first session, less than one tenth of a second faster than Biffle.[13] Kurt Busch was just off Biffle's pace, followed by Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, and Truex, Jr.. Brian Vickers was seventh, still within two tenths of a second of Kyle Busch's time.[13]

Forty-four cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure.[14] Kyle Busch clinched the ninth pole position of his career, with a time of 28.548 seconds.[15] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kahne.[15] Hamlin qualified third, Truex, Jr. took fourth, and Bowyer started fifth.[15] Newman, Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Earnhardt, Jr. and Stewart rounded out the top ten. The driver that failed to qualify for the race was Mike Bliss.[15] Once the qualifying session concluded, Kyle Busch expressed his happiness with qualifying: "Excellent lap, just tried to hit the same marks in practice. Haven't found the magic way to get around the Magic Mile but today we did."[3]

In the second practice session, Hamlin was quickest with a time of 28.969 seconds.[16] Gordon, with a time of 28.993, was second-quickest, ahead of Truex, Jr., Aric Almirola, and Bowyer.[16] Kahne, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Vickers, and Jeff Burton completed the first ten positions.[16] Hamlin continued to be quickest through the third practice session with a time of 28.990, 0.009 seconds faster than his fastest lap during the second session.[17] Kyle Busch was second-quickest in the session, while Keselowski was scored third.[17] Bowyer followed in the fourth position ahead of Johnson, Vickers and Truex, Jr.[17] Kahne, Logano and Carl Edwards rounded out the first ten positions in eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.[17]

Race

The race, the nineteenth in the season, began with Kyle Busch on the Pole and Kasey Kahne starting second, not much happened here but three cautions, two for debris and one for David Reutimann's blown engine, Kyle Busch, the races polesitter had a speeding penalty which would cause him to finish 16th, Kasey Kahne won the race on lap 301 of a scheduled 301.[1]

Results

Qualifying

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time	Speed	Grid
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.548	133.417	1
5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.551	133.403	2
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.552	133.399	3
56	Martin Truex, Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	28.565	133.338	4
15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	28.569	133.319	5
39	Ryan Newman	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	28.578	133.277	6
48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.583	133.254	7
24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.595	133.198	8
88	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	28.628	133.045	9
14	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	28.651	132.938	10
16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.665	132.873	11
29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.666	132.868	12
27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.730	132.572	13
51	Kurt Busch	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	28.735	132.549	14
55	Brian Vickers	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	28.762	132.425	15
20	Joey Logano	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	28.762	132.425	16
78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	28.769	132.393	17
47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	28.782	132.333	18
34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	28.797	132.264	19
9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	28.811	132.200	20
99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	28.814	132.186	21
2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Dodge	28.836	132.085	22
43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	28.891	131.833	23
22	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Penske Racing	Dodge	28.952	131.556	24
31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	28.972	131.465	25
10	David Reutimann	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	29.016	131.266	26
17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	29.023	131.234	27
1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	29.023	131.234	28
83	Landon Cassill	BK Racing	Toyota	29.034	131.184	29
93	Travis Kvapil	BK Racing	Toyota	29.112	130.833	30
42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	29.150	130.662	31
26	Josh Wise	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	29.267	130.140	32
13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Ford	29.336	129.834	33
87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Toyota	29.342	129.807	34
36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	29.371	129.679	35
98	Michael McDowell	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	29.406	129.525	36
32	Ken Schrader	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	29.453	129.318	37
49	J. J. Yeley	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	Toyota	29.463	129.274	38
38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	29.490	129.156	39
30	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports	Toyota	29.504	129.094	40
23	Scott Riggs	R3 Motorsports	Toyota	29.557	128.863	41
79	Kelly Bires	Go Green Racing	Ford	29.637	128.515	42
33	Stephen Leicht	Circle Sport Racing	Chevrolet	29.714	128.182	43
Failed to Qualify
19	Mike Bliss	Humphrey Smith Racing	Toyota	29.740	128.070
Source:[15]

Race results

Kasey Kahne won the race.

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	2	5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	301	47
2	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	301	44
3	5	15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	301	42
4	9	88	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	301	40
5	22	2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Dodge	301	39
6	8	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	301	39
7	7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	301	38
8	12	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	301	36
9	11	16	Greg Biffle	Roush-Fenway Racing	Ford	301	35
10	6	39	Ryan Newman	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	301	34
11	4	56	Martin Truex, Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	301	33
12	10	14	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	301	32
13	27	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush-Fenway Racing	Ford	301	31
14	16	20	Joey Logano	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	301	30
15	15	55	Brian Vickers	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	301	0
16	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	301	29
17	13	27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	301	27
18	21	99	Carl Edwards	Roush-Fenway Racing	Ford	301	26
19	20	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	301	25
20	28	1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	301	24
21	25	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	301	23
22	24	22	Sam Hornish, Jr.	Penske Racing	Dodge	301	22
23	18	47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	301	21
24	14	51	Kurt Busch	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	299	21
25	31	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	299	19
26	17	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	298	18
27	39	38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	298	17
28	23	43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	298	16
29	29	83	Landon Cassill	BK Racing	Toyota	297	15
30	30	93	Travis Kvapil	BK Racing	Toyota	297	14
31	37	32	Ken Schrader	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	294	13
32	43	33	Stephen Leicht	Circle Sport Racing	Chevrolet	293	12
33	26	10	David Reutimann	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	229	11
34	19	34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	139	10
35	40	33	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports	Toyota	101	9
36	33	13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Toyota	91	8
37	32	26	Josh Wise	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	82	7
38	34	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports	Toyota	71	0
39	35	36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	68	5
40	36	98	Michael McDowell	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	63	4
41	41	23	Scott Riggs	R3 Motorsports	Chevrolet	32	3
42	42	79	Kelly Bires	Go Green Racing	Ford	19	2
43	38	49	J. J. Yeley	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	Toyota	4	1

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Matt Kenseth 707 2 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 691 3 Greg Biffle 667 4 Jimmie Johnson 656 5 Denny Hamlin 628

Manufacturers' Championship standings[9] Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 135 2 Toyota 110 3 Ford 93 4 Dodge 80 Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

References

1. "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
2. Brown, Brian (July 10, 2012). "The Lenox Industrial Tools 301". Rotoworld.com. NBC Sports. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
3. Ryan, Nate (July 13, 2012). "Kyle Busch zooms past Kasey Kahne for New Hampshire pole". Loudon, New Hampshire. USA Today. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
4. "2012 Lenox Industrial Tools 301". Racing-reference.info. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
6. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
7. "NASCAR Tracks—The New Hampshire Motor Speedway". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
8. "2012 Official Driver Standings: Coke Zero 400". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
9. "Manufactures' Championship Classification". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
10. "2011 Lenox Industrial Tools 301". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
11. "Hornish back in 22 as Allmendinger awaits results". NASCAR. Turner Sports. July 9, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
12. "THE RACE: Lenox Industrial Tools 301". Jayski NASCAR Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
13. "Practice One Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
14. "Qualifying Entry List". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
15. "Race Official Lineup". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
16. "Practice Two Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
17. "Practice Three Timing and Scoring". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved July 14, 2012.