2013 Irwin Tools Night Race

Race details
Race 24 of 36 in the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
2013 Irwin Tools Night Race program cover created by Sam Bass, showing Tony Stewart throwing his helmet at Matt Kenseth's car from last year's race. The painting is called "Bristol Battles!"
Date	August 24, 2013 (2013-August-24)
Location	Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching as low as 63 °F (17 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)[1]
Average speed	90.279 mph (145.290 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	14.878 seconds
Most laps led
Driver	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	149
Winner
No. 20	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN on ABC
Announcers	Allen Bestwick, Dale Jarrett, and Andy Petree
Nielsen Ratings	3.9 (6.322 million viewers)

The 2013 Irwin Tools Night Race was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 24, 2013, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps, it was the twenty-fourth race of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, his fifth victory of the season, while Kasey Kahne finished second. Juan Pablo Montoya, Brian Vickers, and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Report

Denny Hamlin took the pole and led the first 22 laps. After being passed by Kurt Busch, Hamlin would fall back to mid-field. Busch would lead most of the laps until lap 81, when he came down pit road for a loose wheel and was given a pass-through for speeding. Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared the lead during the next two stints, before Clint Bowyer passed Earnhardt for the lead on lap 126. Bowyer led until getting spun on lap 176, causing the fourth caution. Edwards retook the lead, showing the way until being passed by Matt Kenseth on lap 236. After a lap 259 debris caution, Kenseth was caught speeding on pit road and relegated to the back, while Paul Menard stayed out to take the lead. Edwards once again claimed the lead on lap 322.

Kevin Harvick took the lead after the seventh caution on lap 335, but he was quickly passed by Edwards on lap 344. Edwards held the lead through two more cautions, but dropped a cylinder on lap 380 and blew his engine on lap 389. Kenseth held the lead through most of the final 120 laps and held off a final 10-lap charge by Kasey Kahne to score his fifth victory of the season. Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, and Brian Vickers and Joey Logano rounded out the top five. Eleven caution flags waved during the race, three of which were for debris. Drivers involved in seven, mostly minor, crashes included Ryan Truex, Josh Wise, Clint Bowyer, Tony Raines, Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann, Aric Almirola, and Jeff Burton. The eleventh caution on lap 448, as Hamlin blew a tire and ran into Ryan Newman, causing a large crash also involving Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Terry Labonte, David Stremme, Casey Mears, David Ragan and Kevin Harvick. After the crash, Harvick stopped for a few moments in Hamlin's pitbox preventing the #11 to access his box. Truex Jr. suffered a broken wrist after the accident.

Race results

Matt Kenseth won the race.

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Race Status	Led	Points
1	5	20	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running	149	48
2	7	5	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running	0	42
3	16	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	500	Running	0	41
4	4	55	Brian Vickers	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	500	Running	0	0[2]
5	6	22	Joey Logano	Penske Racing	Ford	500	Running	0	39
6	21	27	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	Running	64	39
7	32	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running	0	37
8	14	9	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	500	Running	0	36
9	29	16	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	500	Running	0	35
10	19	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running	32	35
11	43	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running	0	33
12	17	34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	500	Running	0	32
13	41	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	Running	0	31
14	24	15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	500	Running	50	31
15	10	43	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford	499	Running	0	29
16	39	93	Travis Kvapil	BK Racing	Toyota	499	Running	0	28
17	38	30	David Stremme	Swan Racing	Toyota	498	Running	0	27
18	27	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	497	Running	0	26
19	20	1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	497	Running	0	25
20	11	14	Mark Martin	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	497	Running	0	24
21	8	39	Ryan Newman	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	497	Running	0	23
22	36	7	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	497	Running	0	22
23	33	40	Landon Cassill	Circle Sport	Chevrolet	497	Running	0	0[2]
24	34	36	J. J. Yeley	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet	496	Running	0	20
25	25	38	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	495	Running	0	19
26	22	10	Danica Patrick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	493	Running	0	18
27	35	32	Ken Schrader	FAS Lane Racing	Ford	491	Running	0	17
28	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	487	Running	23	17
29	31	83	David Reutimann	BK Racing	Toyota	483	Running	0	15
30	12	2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Ford	478	Running	0	14
31	2	78	Kurt Busch	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet	476	Running	54	14
32	40	33	Tony Raines	Circle Sport	Chevrolet	475	Running	0	0[2]
33	30	13	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Ford	467	Running	0	11
34	15	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	449	Running	7	11
35	9	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	446	Crash	2	10
36	13	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	440	Running	0	8
37	28	35	Josh Wise	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	418	Running	0	0[2]
38	23	47	Bobby Labonte	JTG Daugherty Racing	Toyota	394	Running	0	6
39	3	99	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	387	Engine	119	6
40	42	95	Scott Speed	Leavine Family Racing	Ford	223	Brakes	0	4
41	26	98	Michael McDowell	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford	175	Engine	0	3
42	18	51	Ryan Truex	Phoenix Racing	Chevrolet	39	Crash	0	0[2]
43	37	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO-Jay Robinson Racing	Toyota	1	Engine	0	0[2]
Source:[3]

Lap leaders

Leader	First Lap	Last Lap	Number Of Laps
Denny Hamlin	1	22	22
Kurt Busch	23	76	54
Carl Edwards	77	92	16
Martin Truex Jr.	93	93	1
Dale Earnhardt Jr.	94	125	32
Clint Bowyer	126	175	50
Carl Edwards	176	178	3
Martin Truex Jr.	179	179	1
Carl Edwards	180	235	56
Matt Kenseth	236	258	23
Denny Hamlin	259	259	1
Paul Menard	260	322	63
Carl Edwards	323	335	13
Paul Menard	336	336	1
Kevin Harvick	337	343	7
Carl Edwards	344	374	31
Matt Kenseth	375	500	126
Source:[3]

Notes

1. ^1 Points include 3 Chase for the Sprint Cup points for winning, 1 point for leading a lap, and 1 point for most laps led.
2. ^{a b c d e f} Ineligible for driver's championship points.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jimmie Johnson 821 2 Clint Bowyer 803 (-18) 3 Carl Edwards 768 (-53) 4 Kevin Harvick 760 (-61) 5 Kyle Busch 739 (-82) 6 Matt Kenseth 736 (-85) 7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 714 (-107) 3 8 Kasey Kahne 701 (-120) 1 9 Greg Biffle 698 (-123) 3 10 Joey Logano 685 (-136)

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 168 2 Toyota 157 (-11) 3 Ford 124 (-44) Note: Only the first twelve positions are included for the driver standings.

References