2009 Samsung 500

2009 Samsung 500
Race details[1][2][3]
Race 7 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
2009 Samsung 500 program cover, with cover artwork by Sam Bass.
2009 Samsung 500 program cover, with cover artwork by Sam Bass.
Date April 5, 2009 (2009-April-05)
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
  • 4.7/11 (Final)
  • 4.2/10 (Overnight)
  • (7.4 million)[5]

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.

  1. ^ "Samsung 500". Fox Sports. MSN. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  2. ^ "NASCAR: Reutimann captures pole for Sprint Cup race in Texas". Autoweek. Crain Communications, Inc. April 2, 2009. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  3. ^ "The Race: Samsung 500". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  4. ^ "2009 Samsung 500 weather information". Old Farmer's Almanac. Yankee Publishing. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  5. ^ "2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup TV Ratings". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2014.