The 2012 Federated Auto Parts 400 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

race held on September 8, 2012 at

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Contested over 400 laps, it was the twenty-sixth and final race leading into the

Chase for the Sprint Cup The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...

in the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season.

Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...

Michael Waltrip Racing Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership betwe ...

won the race, his second of the season.

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 ...

finished second to clinch the second wild card spot in the Chase, and

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series st ...

finished third.

Report

Background

Richmond International Raceway from stands

is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

Dover International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per yea ...

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in s ...

, and

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

. The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

that is long. The track's turns are banked at fourteen degrees. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eight degrees while the back stretch has two degrees of banking. The racetrack has seats for 94,063 spectators.

Practice and qualifying

Race

Start

=First half

= The race was set to start at 7:43 p.m. EDT but the start was delayed 90 minutes, and the cars were running under caution speed,

was leading when the race restarted on lap 8, The second caution came out on lap 48, this was a planned competition caution, The race restarted on lap 52, and the third caution then came out on lap 53 for a one-car spin in the back straightaway (

David Ragan David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox ...

), the race restarted on lap 57, and a couple of laps later, the fourth caution came out for rain on lap 139, by lap 153, the cars were brought down pit road the race was red flagged as rain returned again. After a delay of fifty-one minutes and 45 seconds, the cars started rolling again, and the race restarted on lap 156.

=Second half

= The fifth caution came out on lap 235 when

spun out in the back straightaway, the race restarted on lap 239, The race was under longer green flag runs until the end,

stretched his fuel mileage and despite a late charge from Jeff Gordon, the lead was too big to overcome for Gordon, and Bowyer would score his second win in Richmond, as well as the second win in the season. Gordon rallied back from going one lap down to finish 2nd, and knocked Kyle Busch out of the Chase by 3 points (Kyle finished 16th). Mark Martin clinched third.

Results

Qualifying

References

{{2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup , state=collapsed NASCAR races at Richmond Raceway

Federated Auto Parts 400 The Federated Auto Parts 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, being the second of two races at the track with the first one being the Toyota Owners 400 in the spring. As of 2020, ...