The 2009 Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola was the eighteenth race of the
2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, marking the halfway point of the season, and the third of four
restrictor plate
A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to li ...
races on the season slate. The 160 lap, event was held on Saturday night, July 4 (
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
in the USA) at the
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...
in
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...
. The race was broadcast on TNT with pre-race activities beginning at 6:30 PM
US EDT, and radio being handled by
Sirius XM Radio
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...
(satellite) and
MRN (over-the-air) starting at 7 PM US EDT. The green flag waved shortly after 8:15 PM US EDT in front of a live audience of 115,000 people with the checkered flag coming out sometime after 11:08 PM US EDT.
Historic date
This marked the first time that the race was run on
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
since
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
. The
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
event, which was to have been run on Independence Day, was postponed due to the wildfires in Florida that year and was raced in October. The event also commemorated the 25th Anniversary to the date of
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...
's 200th – and final – victory in this race in
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
. Before
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, the race had always been held on the morning of the birthdate of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
; since then, it has been held on the Saturday night closest to the Independence Day.
Background
* A Federal judge in Charlotte gave a restraining order to
Jeremy Mayfield
Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969) is an American stock car racing driver. He drove cars for the Sadler brothers, T.W. Taylor, Cale Yarborough, Michael Kranefuss, Roger Penske, Ray Evernham, Bill Davis, and Gene Haas. In 2009, he drove f ...
following his appeal of overturning his drug test suspension announced at Darlington before the
Southern 500
The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...
. However, he missed the inspection deadline; it was not clear if he would become a replacement driver in case of an emergency.
* The first 25 nominees for the Charter Class of the
NASCAR Hall of Fame
The NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, honors drivers who have shown expert skill at NASCAR driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, broadcasters and other major contributors to competition within the sanctioning ...
were announced. Among them are former Series champions
Bobby Allison
Robert Arthur Allison (born December 3, 1937) is a former American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant short track ...
and
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...
, who were the first two nominees announced two days before the formal announcement. A 49-member panel and the fans will select the five enshrinees from those 25 in October, and will be formally inducted during
All-Star Race XXVI weekend. Among the other 23 finalists are circuit founder
Bill France Sr. and
his son,
Dale Earnhardt
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...
and Richard Petty (who was also nominated along with his father,
Lee
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
), the only seven-time winners of the Sprint Cup Series, along with owner
Richard Childress
Richard Childress (born September 21, 1945 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. As the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), he became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. In 2004, he opene ...
, and
Benny Parsons
Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, and ...
and
Ned Jarrett
Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion.
Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of former drivers Glenn Jar ...
, who like Waltrip, both had successful broadcasting careers after retiring as a driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was rained out for the second straight weekend, so again, the NASCAR rulebook was used to set the order of the field, and
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...
would be on the pole.
Max Papis
Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...
and the
Germain Racing
Germain Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was owned by Bob Germain, whose family owns many car dealerships across the United States as Germain Motor Company. The team last fi ...
Toyota team and
Mike Wallace
Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
and the
Gunselman Motorsports
Max Q Motorsports (formerly Gunselman Motorsports) was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team owned by former driver Larry Gunselman. It fielded cars between 2009 and 2013.
Sprint Cup Series
Car No. 37 history
After the Daytona 500 in 2011, Max Q Motor ...
Toyota team would miss the show.
Race recap
The invocation and the national anthem were preempted in favor of the trailer for the movie ''
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'', causing an outrage among NASCAR fans. The first big one happened in the second half of the race, when Kasey Kahne got into David Stremme, bouncing him off the wall and collecting at least a dozen cars.
Tony Stewart led the most laps, with
Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He co-owns and oper ...
leading the second-most, combining to lead all but eleven of the 160 laps. Like the prior super speedway race at Talladega, a car was wrecked on the last lap.
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
ended up being the victim of this wreck. Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch made contact, sending Busch spinning hard into the outside wall. After hitting the wall, Busch was rammed hard from behind by
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/Procore, Procore ...
, destroying Busch's in-car camera. He then was hit hard by his teammate,
Joey Logano
Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...
, on the driver's side.
At least a dozen cars wrecked before and after the start/finish line as the race officially ended under caution, with Stewart picking up his second points race victory of the 2009 season, extending his points lead over
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
by 180 points. Eight cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials for a duration of 30 laps; the average green flag run was approximately 14 laps.
Instantly after stopping a stunned, dazed, irritated, impatient Kyle Busch climbed out of his car and tried to follow Tony to victory lane for confrontation but was led away by officials. In victory lane Tony Stewart was unexcited on his victory. He said with a disappointed tone, "Well... I am not proud of what I did back there. I went where I had to go and he went where he had to go. I got into the back of him without thinking... I don't like winning 'em like that. I wish I could enjoy my win but it does not feel good when you have a good day and you wreck someone out of a good day, especially how Kyle helped me the whole race. You want him to have a good day too, and I couldn't just give the win to him so I tried to make my move, he went up to block us and I was already there. I am sorry. I may be too hard on myself but I do not feel like I am... I am sorry but I am thankful for my nice Stewart-Haas Racing team who brought me here today."
When Kyle Busch's friend/boss Joe Gibbs was asked about the finish he said, "I think Kyle did good today. The fact that he gave it all he could and was willing to get us to victory lane shows a true winner in him." Kyle contended that his friend intentionally crashed him but changed his mind in 2010 after a talk with Tony and deciding it was best to put it behind them.
Results
Failed to Qualify
*13 -
Max Papis
Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...
*64 -
Mike Wallace
Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
(withdrew)
References
{{2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup , state=collapsed
Coke Zero 400
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series cir ...
Coke Zero 400
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series cir ...
NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway
July 2009 sports events in the United States