Allstate 400 Race Report
Richard Petty Motorsports results:
- 7th - Kasey Kahne - Budweiser Dodge - now 8th in points
- 13th - Reed Sorenson - Valvoline Dodge - now 26th in points.
- 20th - AJ Allmendinger - Hunt Brothers Pizza Dodge - now 27th in points
- 40th - Elliott Sadler - Best Buy Dodge - now 25th in points.
Notes:
- Jimmie Johnson became the first driver in the race's 16-year history to win consecutive Allstate 400s at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
- Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Brian Vickers rounded out top five.
- Juan Montoya led 116 laps and appeared the dominate car but a speeding penalty on pit lane dropped him out of contention with just 35 laps remaining.
- Race attendance was estimated at 180,000 fans.
- Unlike 2008, tires were not an issue in Sunday's race.
- The Sprint Cup Series will race next Sunday at Pocono International Raceway.
NOTES AND QUOTES
KASEY KAHNE - No. 9 BUDWEISER DODGE CHARGER
- Kahne started 8th and finished 7th.
- Kahne remained eighth in the championship point standings.
- Started the race tight and overcame debris on grill.
- Kahne raced in the top-10 the majority of the day making chassis adjustments throughout.
- Kahne has finished in the top-10 in six of the last nine races
KAHNE: "At times, I thought we were pretty quick today. We had speed on green flag runs. On the last run, the car was a little bit free, turned really well and we were fast. The yellow came out and we stayed out on tires. The front felt really hard there at the end and was tight. (Kevin) Harvick made a nice save or he would have taken both of us out."
"The tires performed well. We had no issues. I kind of like it if they fall off a little more so we can do different things with the back of the car. But the front is going to get tight. It's probably different for everybody. Overall, it was a good race."
"I was too tight to pass cars there at the end, so I just made sure I was saving fuel and not let the car behind me catch me. It was another good finish and a good points day."
REED SORENSON - No. 43 VALVOLINE DODGE CHARGER
- Sorenson started 9th and finished 13th
- Sorenson raced in the top-15 throughout the race climbing as high as tenth in the final laps.
- Overcame a tight handling car early before turning laps as fast as the leaders in the second half of the race.
- Sorenson moved from 28th to 26th in championship point standings.
SORENSON: "Our Valvoline Dodge was really good today. We had about a 10th-place car. We were better on long runs than we were on the short ones. I had some alternator issues that hurt us in the end of the race that didn't allow us to run like we wanted to. Overall it was a pretty good day for us."
"It's hard to pass here. Even with the old car passing here at Indy is tough, it's just even worse with the COT. Track position was critical. We knew that there were going to be limited chances to pass, it was mostly stay in line and try not to overdrive the corners."
AJ ALLMENDINGER - No. 44 HUNT BROTHERS PIZZA DODGE CHARGER
- Allmendinger started 33rd and finished 20th
- Allmendinger raced mid-pack throughout the race reporting a tight handling condition.
- The No. 44 team also endured debris on the grill during the race.
- The No. 44 team remained 27th in the championship point standings
ALLMENDINGER: "We were average today. We were about 20th to 25th. That's about where we finished. We had good pit stops and we tried to dial it in. We are looking forward to Pocono next week."
ELLIOTT SADLER - No. 19 BEST BUY DODGE CHARGER
- Sadler started 42nd and finished 40th.
- The No. 19 Dodge began leaking fluid on the pace lap and came to pit lane on lap two.
- It remained in the garage until lap 115, but gained three spots by returning.
- Extended his did-not-finish streak to 43 races which ties him for the most with Tony Stewart.
- Sadler falls two spots to 25th in championship point standings
SADLER: "That was a tough day for sure for the Best Buy Dodge. We're not sure what happened . It's disappointing because we run strong here in the past and just didn't have the opportunity to show our hand today. There's not much I can do as a driver other than just try and put this behind us and head to Pocono next weekend."
RICHARD PETTY (Co-Owner, Richard Petty Motorsports) - "We were expecting a little bit more. They (our drivers) got everything that was in them (the cars) out. We were just off a tick. Of course, everybody else was too, I guess. Circumstances worked good for us. We had good pit stops. Everything went good. We just didn't run fast enough. It was one of those days when you get outrun. Today, we got outrun."
MARK MCARDLE (Vice President of Competition, Richard Petty Motorsports) - "Obviously, we would have been happier with better results. We'll take a solid day in points for both the 9 and 43, a good day for the 44 as well. We continue to show strong performance with the current generation of cars and the R6 engine is running well. We have a lot of positives to build on. We just didn't have quite the car we needed today to contend for the win. We weren't too far off. We've been gaining a little bit each week. Once again, I think we had a car that was capable of contending for a top-five position. We had great pit stops all day. We just didn't quite get the result we wanted."
RACE RESULTS
FINISH-DRIVER
1-Jimmie Johnson
2-Mark Martin
3-Tony Stewart
4-Greg Biffle
5-Brian Vickers
6-Kevin Harvick
7-Kasey Kahne
8-David Reutimann
9-Jeff Gordon
10-Matt Kenseth
11-Juan Montoya
12-Joey Logano *
13-Reed Sorenson
14-Ryan Newman
15-Carl Edwards
16-David Stremme
17-Martin Truex Jr.
18-Clint Bowyer
19-Casey Mears
20-A.J. Allmendinger
21-Jamie McMurray
22-Marcos Ambrose
23-Bobby Labonte
24-David Ragan
25-Jeff Burton
26-Bill Elliott
27-Kurt Busch
28-Robby Gordon
29-Paul Menard
30-David Gilliland
31-Scott Speed *
32-John Andretti
33-Terry Labonte
34-Denny Hamlin
35-Michael Waltrip
36-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
37-Sam Hornish Jr.
38-Kyle Busch
39-Regan Smith
40-Elliott Sadler
41-Mike Skinner
42-Dave Blaney
43-Joe Nemechek
