2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 36 in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
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| Date | May 15, 2016 | ||
| Location | Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km) |
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| Distance | 400 laps, 400 mi (640 km) | ||
| Weather | Partly cloudy with a temperature of 59 °F (15 °C); wind out of the west at 21 mph (34 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 109.348 mph (175.979 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Stewart-Haas Racing | ||
| Time | 21.799 / 165.145 mph (265.775 km/h) FP1 (rain) |
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| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Laps | 117 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Sports 1 | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 2.2 (Overnight) 3.9 million viewers |
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| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
| Booth Announcers | Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace | ||
| Turn Announcers | Mike Bagley (Backstretch) | ||
The 2016 AAA 400 Drive for Autism was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on May 15, 2016, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 12th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, The race had 19 lead changes among different drivers, and twelve cautions for 65 laps, The race was red-flagged for 11 minutes and 22 seconds.
Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.
Forty cars are entered for the race.
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.799 and a speed of 165.145 mph (265.775 km/h). Four minutes into the session, Danica Patrick's engine expired, dumped oil onto the track, spun and caught fire on the frontstretch.Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart were caught in the oil and slammed the wall. All three went to backup cars. Patrick said afterwards that "there was oil, a fire and the car spun and was caught by the wall. I'm not sure what happened, but this is obviously not something we normally see. You don't see a lot of failures like that. I'm sure they will figure out what it is. It sucks when it takes other people with you."
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Wikipedia