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2013 Auto Club 400
The 2013 Auto Club 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on March 24, 2013, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, United States. Contested over two hundred laps on the 2-mile (Three.Two km) asphalt D-shaped oval, it was the fifth race of the two thousand thirteen Sprint Cup Series championship. Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, his very first of the season, and the very first Sprint Cup win at Auto Club for Joe Gibbs, completing a weekend sweep, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 2nd. Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.
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Contents
Background Edit
Auto Club Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is two miles (Three.Two km) long. [Three] The track’s turns are banked from fourteen degrees, while the front open up, the location of the finish line, is banked at eleven degrees. Unlike the front spread, the backstraightaway is banked at three degrees. [Three] The track has a seating capacity of 92,100 people. [Trio] The race consists of two hundred laps, which is equivalent to a race distance of four hundred miles (640 km). [Trio]
Before the race, Brad Keselowski was leading the Drivers’ Championship with one hundred sixty six points, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. stood in 2nd with one hundred fifty seven points. Jimmie Johnson followed in the third position, twenty three points ahead of Clint Bowyer and twenty five points ahead of Greg Biffle in fourth and fifth. Denny Hamlin, with 125, was one point ahead of Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards, as Paul Menard was three points ahead of Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in tenth and eleventh. Joey Logano finished the very first twelve positions with one hundred four points. [Four] The defending winner of the race was Tony Stewart, who won the race in 2012. [Five]
Practice and qualifying Edit
Three practice sessions were held before the race. The very first session, held on March 22, 2013, was sixty minutes long. The 2nd and third were held on March 23, and were fifty five and fifty minutes long. [6] During the very first practice session, Bowyer was quickest with a time of 38.832, ahead of Hamlin and A. J. Allmendinger in 2nd and third. Kyle Busch followed in the fourth position, ahead of Logano in fifth. [7]
In the Saturday morning session, Biffle was quickest, ahead of Allmendinger and Busch in 2nd and third. Hamlin and Kurt Busch followed in the fourth and fifth positions. [8] Bowyer, Mark Martin, Earnhardt, Jr., Martin Truex, Jr., andLogano rounded out the very first ten positions. [8] In the final practice session for the race, Martin was quickest with a time of 39.269 seconds. [9] Bowyer followed in 2nd, ahead of Matt Kenseth and Johnson in third and fourth. [9] Keselowski, who was eighteenth quickest in 2nd practice, [8] managed fifth. [9]
During qualifying, forty-three cars were entered, meaning all of the cars were able to embark because of NASCAR’s qualifying procedure. [Ten] Hamlin clinched his twelfth career pole position, with a time of 38.410 seconds. [11] After his qualifying run, Hamlin commented,“Honestly, I think our car was truly swift. I knew, talking to a few people in my motor home. it’s cocky to say, but I said, ‘Man, I can almost ensure a pole, if we have a late draw.’ When they told me we were third, I was like, ‘OK. Well, just never mind. Leave behind that.” [12] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Biffle. [11] Keselowski qualified third, Kyle Busch took fourth, and Kenseth embarked fifth. [11] Logano, Truex, Jr., Tony Stewart, Martin, and Kurt Busch finished the very first ten positions on the grid. [11]
Race Edit
With seven laps to go, Joey Logano took the lead after a brief duel with former teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin and Logano had been involved in an incident the previous race at Bristol, with the sentiments carrying over to this race. [13] Hamlin chased Logano down and the two were side-by-side for most of the final lap, but Logano attempted to block Hamlin in the final turn and was sent up into the outside wall, while Hamlin came off the banking and smashed head-on into the inwards concrete retaining wall, permitting Busch to pass both cars on the high side and take the win. [14]
Albeit Hamlin climbed out of the car right after the crash, he instantly collapsed and lied on the track. He was airlifted to the hospital as a precaution. It was announced the next day that Hamlin had suffered a massive L1 compression fracture, or a collapsed vertebra, likely because the area where his car hit the wall was lacking a SAFER barrier. [14] [15] The resulting injuries compelled Hamlin to miss the next four races. Mark Martin packed in for Hamlin at Martinsville [16] while Brian Vickers packed in at Texas, Kansas, and Richmond. Hamlin did not begin another race until Talladega in May, albeit the team arranged for Vickers to take over at the very first caution flag pit stop. Hamlin did not come back full-time to his race car until the following week at Darlington.
In response to the accident, for 2014, Auto Club Speedway installed an extra 1,000 foot SAFER barrier along the wall where Hamlin’s car had impacted. [17]
Following the finish, Logano was also involved in an quarrel with Stewart after a blocking budge made by Logano on Stewart during the final restart. Stewart ended with a 22nd-place finish following the incident. Stewart went on to confront Logano in the pit lane and who had to be restrained by crews from Danica Patrick’s team after Logano threw a water bottle at Stewart.
