The 2009 AMP Energy 500 was the 33rd race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season

2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season was the 61st season of professional stock car racing in the United States, which began at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, with the 2009 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, a race for the top six teams of the four brands in the 2008...

 and the seventh event of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. It was held on November 1, 2009 at Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...

 in Talladega, Alabama

Talladega, Alabama

Talladega is a city in Talladega County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 15,143. The city is the county seat of Talladega County. Talladega is approximately 50 miles east of Birmingham, Alabama....

, and is the only race in the Championship Chase to utilize restrictor plate

Restrictor plate

A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to limit top speed and thus increase safety, to provide equal level of...

s. This marks the first time the race was run in an early November spot, the slot formerly occupied by the Atlanta Motor Speedway

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Atlanta Motor Speedway is a track just outside Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta. It is a quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track...

 event. Jamie McMurray

Jamie McMurray

James Christopher "Jamie" McMurray is a professional American race car driver. McMurray is best known for winning the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 as a substitute driver in his second Winston Cup start, and is one of three drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year...

 won the race, his first since Daytona in 2007. Nationwide Series regular Robert Richardson Jr.

Robert Richardson (NASCAR)

Robert Richardson Jr. is an American stock car driver. He began driving at the Richard Petty Driving Experience and Team Texas Driving School at Texas Motor Speedway in 2002. He was runner-up in Rookie of the Year honors the following season in Romco Super Late Models. In 2004, he made his Auto...

 made his first cup start and finished 18th.

Qualifying

Because qualifying was rained out, the rules awarded points leader Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Kenneth Johnson is an American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver. He currently drives the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports....

 the pole position

Pole position

The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...

.

Single File Racing

NASCAR told the drivers,in the drivers meeting, that they could not bump draft in the corners.That followed by a controversial race where all of the drivers drove in a single file line all the way around the track for a small portion of the race. Many fans believed and still believe that that was a protest by the drivers to the new rule. Drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray all defended their actions.

Jimmy responded with saying that there was no truth to the rumor that the drivers were trying to pull a fast one. "No, there's not truth to that. When we hit single-file like that, we just know there's no need to race at that point," he said. "All that matters is from that last pit stop on." Instead of deciding to wreck and dwindle down the field on Sunday, Johnson said the drivers finally got smart about how to approach the race. Everyone seemed to realize that you can't win if you aren't around at the end.

Jammie McMurray stated "It wasn't like everybody was in their cars and we were like, 'Let's get single-file and prove a point' or 'Let's just follow each other,'" race-winner Jamie McMurray said. "You had to be in the outside groove because that's where all the momentum was."
This continued with Casey Mears leading the line for many laps until the first round of green flag pit stops started.

Race ends under caution

With five laps to go, Ryan Newman

Ryan Newman

Ryan Joseph Newman is a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He drives the #39 United States Army/Tornados/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for Stewart Haas Racing under crew chief Tony Gibson. Newman graduated from Purdue University in 2001 with a B.S. in vehicle structure engineering...

's car flipped, collecting Kevin Harvick

Kevin Harvick

Kevin Michael Harvick is an American stock car auto racing race car driver and car owner currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing, driving the No. 29 Budweiser/Jimmy John's/Rheem/Okuma/Realtree Outdoors/Bad Boy Buggies Chevrolet Impala...

, Marcos Ambrose

Marcos Ambrose

Marcos Ambrose is a championship winning Australian racing car driver. He currently drives the #9 Stanley Black & Decker Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series...

 and Elliott Sadler

Elliott Sadler

Elliott William Barnes Sadler is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet Impala for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Nationwide Series. He is one of only 23 drivers to have won in each of NASCAR's top three series...

 in the crash. The race was stopped; Newman was uninjured. After a restart, a big wreck happened with two laps to go, causing Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch

Kurt Thomas Busch is an American NASCAR and NHRA driver. He drives the No. 22 Shell Oil Company/Pennzoil Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and will race on an "opportunity permitting" basis in the Pro Stock division of NHRA...

, Scott Speed

Scott Speed

Scott Andrew Speed is an American race car driver. Formerly a driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team, he made his Formula One race debut at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix; becoming the first American to race in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993...

, Mark Martin

Mark Martin

Mark Martin may refer to:* Mark Martin , American racecar driver* Mark Martin , American cartoonist* Mark Martin , American judge* Mark Martin , British murderer...

, Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon

Jeffery Michael "Jeff" Gordon is a professional NASCAR driver. He is the driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet Impala. He is a four-time Sprint Cup Series champion and a three-time Daytona 500 winner. He is third on the all-time wins list, with 85 career wins, and has the...

 and Robby Gordon

Robby Gordon

Robert W. "Robby" Gordon is an American racecar driver who currently competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as an owner-driver, driving the No. 7 Speed Energy Dodge Charger for Robby Gordon Motorsports, and also competes part-time in the Nationwide Series...

 to crash; Martin's car landed upside down. The race ended under the caution flag

Racing flags

Racing flags are traditionally used in auto racing and similar motorsports to indicate track condition and to communicate important messages to drivers. Typically, the starter, sometimes the grand marshal of a race, waves the flags atop a flag stand near the start/finish line...

.

Announcers reprimanded

Throughout the race the ESPN announcers gave their opinion on how unnecessary the no bump drafting rule was. Former NASCAR drivers Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace were among those who thought the rule was not needed and dumb. After the race the ESPN announcers were confronted by NASCAR about their actions during their broadcast and how much they used their own opinion. They were told to never have another race like this to happen again.

Issues with ABC affiliates

KXLY-TV

KXLY-TV

KXLY-TV, virtual channel 4, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Spokane, Washington, USA. KXLY-TV is owned by Spokane Television Group, a subsidiary of Morgan Murphy Media, it is one of five local Spokane TV stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider.-History:Although KHQ...

 in Spokane and WTAE-TV

WTAE-TV

WTAE-TV is the ABC affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh, broadcasting on UHF channel 51 and identifying via PSIP as channel 4 . It also serves as an ABC affiliate for the Wheeling/Steubenville and Clarksburg/Weston, West Virginia market areas...

 in Pittsburgh preempted NASCAR Countdown

NASCAR Countdown

NASCAR Countdown is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series prerace show that debuted on February 17, 2007. It is a live on-site pre-race show for all Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC...

 and instead aired the Emperor's New School

The Emperor's New School

The Emperor's New School is an American animated television series that airs on Disney Channel, ABC Kids, and Disney XD and is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The show is based on the characters from The Emperor's New Groove and its direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove...

 and The Replacements in order to fulfill an E/I

E/I

E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...

 commitment. It was also not seen on Philadelphia affiliate WPVI-TV

WPVI-TV

WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...

 because of a Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 World Series

World Series

The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...

 special not to mention affiliates KGTV-TV in San Diego, KABC-TV

KABC-TV

KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...

 in Los Angeles, KSAT-TV

KSAT-TV

KSAT-TV channel 12 is the local ABC affiliate television station in the greater San Antonio area. Its transmitter is located in Elmendorf, Texas. The station calls itself KSAT 12, pronounced as "K-Sat"....

 in San Antonio, and WDAY-TV

WDAY-TV

WDAY-TV, digital channel 21 , is the ABC affiliate television station for Fargo, North Dakota. The station serves the southern half of the Fargo-Grand Forks television market, with WDAZ-TV in Grand Forks serving the northern half. The two stations are counted as a single unit for Nielsen ratings...

 in Fargo.

NASCAR Countdown started at 12 Noon ET / 9 AM PT for the only time in 2009 instead of the 1 PM or 2:30 PM that has been used for the other day races in the Chase. West Coast affiliates' E/I

E/I

E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...

commitments are different than other time zones, as often an ESPN College Football game will start at 9 AM PT on Saturday. When a sporting event airs at 9 AM PT, the E/I commitment will take place on Sunday.