Race details[1][2][3] | |||
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Race 7 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
Date | April 5, 2009 | ||
Official name | Samsung 500 | ||
Location | Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas | ||
Course | 1.5 mi (2.4 km) | ||
Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 79 °F (26 °C); wind speeds up to 25.1 miles per hour (40.4 km/h)[4] | ||
Average speed | 146.372 miles per hour (235.563 km/h) | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | Michael Waltrip Racing | ||
Time | 28.344 | ||
Most laps led | |||
Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
Laps | 105 | ||
Winner | |||
No. 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
Television in the United States | |||
Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
Nielsen Ratings |
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The 2009 Samsung 500 was the seventh stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on April 5, 2009, at Texas Motor Speedway, in Fort Worth, Texas before a crowd of 176,300 people. The 334-lap race was won by Jeff Gordon of the Hendrick Motorsports team after starting from second position. His teammate Jimmie Johnson finished second and Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle placed third.
Gordon was the Drivers' Championship leader with 959 points entering the event. David Reutimann won the pole position by recording the fastest lap time in the qualifying session, and maintained his lead going into the first corner to begin the race, but Gordon took over the lead before the first lap was over. Afterward, Reutimann took back the lead, holding it until Matt Kenseth passed him on lap 47. Gordon led after the final pit stops. In the final laps, Johnson was gaining on Gordon, but Gordon maintained the lead to achieve the race victory. There were six cautions and twenty-eight lead changes among thirteen different drivers during the race.
The race was Gordon's first win of the 2009 season, and the eighty-second of his career. The result kept Gordon in the lead of the Drivers' Championship, one-hundred and sixty-two ahead of Johnson, and one-hundred and eighty ahead of Kurt Busch. Chevrolet increased its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, ten points ahead of Ford, who bumped Toyota to third place, with twenty-nine races remaining in the season remaining. The race attracted 7.4 million television viewers.