2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen explained

The 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 12, 2012 at the Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. Contested over 90 laps, it was the twenty-second race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and the second of two road course competitions on the schedule. After the tragedy at the previous race, the track prepared in the event that thunderstorms pass through the track. The track had set up more than 30 police cars with loudspeakers, nine television screens, and the staff has text message availabilities, all intended on warning fans of any thunderstorms approaching.^[1] Marcos Ambrose, from the Richard Petty Motorsports racing team, won the race ahead of Brad Keselowski. Jimmie Johnson finished in the third position. The race was most notable for a "chaotic" finish.

Report

Background

Watkins Glen International is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Sonoma Raceway.^[2] The standard short road course at Watkins Glen International is a 7-turn course that is 2.45miles long;^[3] the track was modified in 1992, adding the Inner Loop, which lengthened the long course to 3.4miles and the short course to the current length of 2.45miles.^[4] Marcos Ambrose was the defending race winner after winning the race in 2011.^[5]

Results

Qualifying

	Time (s)	Speed (mph)	Grid
42	69.438	127.020	1
18	69.488	126.928	2
48	69.490	126.925	3
2	69.654	126.626	4
9	69.710	126.524	5
39	69.827	126.312	6
14	69.917	126.150	7
15	69.966	126.061	8
56	69.973	126.049	9
1	70.023	125.959	10
98	70.160	125.713	11
24	70.199	125.643	12
78	70.216	125.612	13
20	70.269	125.518	14
16	70.270	125.516	15
88	70.279	125.500	16
22	70.324	125.419	17
99	70.330	125.409	18
29	70.341	125.389	19
5	70.369	125.339	20
95	70.372	125.334	21
27	70.448	125.199	22
11	70.515	125.080	23
17	70.607	124.917	24
32	70.678	124.791	25
47	70.721	124.715	26
51	70.869	124.455	27
31	71.010	124.208	28
43	71.022	124.187	29
13	71.054	124.131	30
36	71.067	124.108	31
34	71.205	123.868	32
55	71.296	123.710	33
38	71.373	123.576	34
83	71.434	123.471	35
87	71.454	123.436	36
10	71.550	123.270	37
26	71.982	122.531	38
33	72.097	122.335	39
19	74.193	118.879	40
49	74.279	118.742	41
30	75.031	117.551	42
93	Provisional	Provisional	43

Final Lap

With three laps to go and Kyle Busch leading, Bobby Labonte's number 47 suffered a drawn-out engine failure, leaving oil all around the track. Brad Keselowski passed Marcos Ambrose to challenge Busch for the final lap. Busch was losing traction from the oil, and slid up the racetrack, followed by Ambrose. Keselowski attempted to pass on the inside, blocked by Busch with car-to-car contact causing Busch to spin, leaving Keselowski in the lead with a damaged front quarter. Keselowski and Ambrose battled hard for first place, both driving through the grass to avoid more oil in turn 8. Ambrose took the lead from Keselowski in turn 9 and was able to hold off a bump and run attempt from Keselowski in turn 10 and Ambrose took the flag, followed by Keselowski. Busch finished 7th.^[6]

Race results

Fin^[7] ^[8]	St		Driver	Make	Team	Sponsor	Laps	Led	Status	Pts	Winnings
1	5	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Richard Petty Motorsports	Stanley, DeWalt	90	8	running	47	$259,558
2	4	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Penske Racing	Miller Lite	90	37	running	43	$187,180
3	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevy	Hendrick Motorsports	Lowe's Cortez Silver	90	0	running	41	$166,821
4	8	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	5-hour Energy	90	0	running	40	$142,399
5	17	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Penske Racing	Shell, Pennzoil	90	0	running	0	$141,935
6	15	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	3M	90	0	running	38	$109,610
7	2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	M&M's	90	43	running	39	$140,968
8	24	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford EcoBoost	90	0	running	36	$127,771
9	13	78	Regan Smith	Chevy	Furniture Row Racing	Furniture Row, Denver Mattress	90	0	running	35	$107,568
10	9	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	NAPA Auto Parts	90	0	running	34	$108,424
11	6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevy	Stewart-Haas Racing	U.S. Army	90	0	running	33	$118,443
12	22	27	Paul Menard	Chevy	Richard Childress Racing	Menards, Rheem	90	0	running	32	$85,610
13	20	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevy	Hendrick Motorsports	Farmers Insurance	90	0	running	31	$83,935
14	18	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Roush Fenway Racing	Fastenal	90	1	running	31	$116,576
15	19	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevy	Richard Childress Racing	Budweiser Folds of Honor	90	0	running	29	$119,821
16	30	13	Casey Mears	Ford	Germain Racing	GEICO	90	0	running	28	$89,093
17	21	95	Scott Speed	Ford	Leavine Family Racing	Leavine Family Racing	90	0	running	27	$68,710
18	29	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Richard Petty Motorsports	Smithfield	90	0	running	26	$109,246
19	7	14	Tony Stewart	Chevy	Stewart-Haas Racing	Office Depot, Mobil 1	90	0	running	25	$121,260
20	34	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	ModSpace	90	0	running	24	$87,068
21	12	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevy	Hendrick Motorsports	Drive to End Hunger, AARP	90	0	running	23	$115,721
22	32	34	David Ragan	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Scorpion Coatings, Al's Liners	90	0	running	22	$82,793
23	35	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	BK Racing	Burger King, Dr. Pepper	90	0	running	21	$97,155
24	42	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	BK Racing	Burger King, Dr. Pepper	90	0	running	20	$93,082
25	25	32	Boris Said	Ford	FAS Lane Racing	Hendrickcars.com	90	0	running	19	$78,835
26	39	33	Stephen Leicht	Chevy	Circle Sport	Circle Sport	90	0	running	18	$79,560
27	26	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	JTG Daugherty Racing	Miller Welders, Freightliner	90	0	running	17	$77,735
28	16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevy	Hendrick Motorsports	National Guard, Diet Mountain Dew	89	0	running	16	$77,485
29	36	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	Genny Light, AMFM Energy	88	0	running	0	$66,310
30	28	31	Jeff Burton	Chevy	Richard Childress Racing	Caterpillar	84	0	running	14	$108,735
31	27	51	Kurt Busch	Chevy	Phoenix Racing	Phoenix Racing	81	0	running	13	$78,010
32	14	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	The Home Depot	71	0	running	12	$76,285
33	1	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chevy	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Target	63	1	crash	12	$101,526
34	23	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	FedEx Freight	57	0	engine	10	$110,501
35	41	49	Jason Leffler	Toyota	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	42	0	engine	0	$65,360
36	31	36	Dave Blaney	Chevy	Tommy Baldwin Racing	TMone	41	0	suspension	8	$65,185
37	11	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	Phil Parsons Racing	Traqm.com	30	0	rear gear	7	$65,055
38	38	26	Josh Wise	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Morristown Drivers Service	25	0	electrical	6	$64,853
39	10	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevy	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	McDonald's	24	0	crash	5	$93,008
40	37	10	J. J. Yeley	Chevy	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Tommy Baldwin Racing	15	0	brakes	4	$61,845
41	40	19	Chris Cook	Toyota	Humphrey Smith Racing	Humphrey Smith Racing	5	0	brakes	3	$61,680
42	43	30	Patrick Long	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	Inception Motorsports	2	0	brakes	2	$61,555
43	33	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Michael Waltrip Racing	MyClassicGarage.com, Aaron's	0	0	engine	1	$61,930

Notes and References

Web site: Watkins Glen, NASCAR ready for weather – Watkins Glen, NASCAR ready for weather : Auto-racing: . Idahostatejournal.com . 2012-08-03 . 2012-08-13 .
Web site: White. Rea. Road course races challenge the specialists. Fox Sports. August 8, 2012. 5 August 2010.
Web site: Watkins Glen. Turner Sports. NASCAR. August 8, 2012.
Web site: Watkins Glen History . Turner Sports . NASCAR . August 8, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110629050527/http://www.nascar.com/races/tracks/watkins.glen/index.html . June 29, 2011 .
Web site: 2011 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen . Racing-Reference . USA Today Sports Media Group . August 8, 2012.
Web site: Marcos Ambrose wins in a wild finish at Watkins Glen. 2012-08-13.
Web site: 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen - The Third Turn. 2021-07-01. www.thethirdturn.com. en.
Web site: 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen race results. live. Racing-Reference. https://web.archive.org/web/20210428002821/https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2012_Finger_Lakes_355_at_the_Glen/W/ . 2021-04-28 .