Monday, February 28, 2011
Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, who qualified 20th, won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2011 Subway Fresh Fit 500 held on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, United States. This became his first Sprint Cup win of the season. Throughout the course of the race there were eight cautions and 29 lead changes among twelve different drivers.
With ten laps remaining in the 312 lap race, Kyle Busch was first, but Gordon passed him one lap later. Gordon maintained the lead to win the race, while Busch finished in the second position. Jimmie Johnson took third, ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth. Ryan Newman managed the fifth position, after starting 14th on the grid. Kasey Kahne, from the Red Bull Racing Team, clinched the sixth position, after leading none of the laps during the race. Tony Stewart followed Kahne in seventh, while Kurt Busch could only manage eighth.
A. J. Allmedinger, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top ten finishers in the race. After doing his victory lap, Gordon shouted, “That’s why I love racing. Hell, yeah.” Following the race, Kyle Busch became Drivers’ Championship leader with 80 points. Next, Kurt Busch was second with 77, eight points ahead of Stewart and Allmendinger. Gordon and Mark Martin was placed fifth and sixth with 65 points. Bobby Labonte, Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya, and David Gilliland rounded out the top-ten point positions.
The 2011 season will continue on March 6, 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 2011 Kobalt Tools 400. The race will be televised in the US on Fox at 3:00 p.m. EST.