2011 Aaron's 499
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 8 of 36 in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
| Date | April 17, 2011 | ||
| Official name | Aaron's 499 | ||
| Location | Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Alabama | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.66 mi (4.28 km) |
||
| Distance | 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 75 °F (24 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 53.723 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Clint Bowyer | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 38 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
The 2011 Aaron's 499 was the eighth race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season out of thirty six total races. The race was held on April 17 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. Jeff Gordon won his 70th pole position, leading a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top four starting positions (Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in row 1; Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in row 2). Nearly the entire race, in similar fashion to the 2011 Daytona 500, was marked by the prevalence of 2-car drafting. On the last lap, four 2-car drafting teams contended for the win (Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin; Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick; Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle), and all eight cars finished within about three car-lengths of each other. Johnson, pushed by Earnhardt, won the race by .002 seconds over Clint Bowyer, the 2010 fall race winner at the track.
The finish is tied for the closest in the Sprint Cup since NASCAR adopted electronic timing in 1993.
Talladega Superspeedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway. The standard track at the speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.66 miles (4.28 km) long. The track's turns are banked at thirty-three degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 16.5 degrees. The back stretch has a two-degree banking. Talladega Superspeedway can seat up to 143,231 people.
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