Background

Bristol Motor Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway.^[4] The standard track at Bristol Motor Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.533 miles (0.858 km) long.^[5] The track's turns are banked from twenty-four to thirty degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked from six to ten degrees. The back stretch also has banking from six to ten degrees.^[5]

Before the race, Kyle Busch led the Drivers' Championship with 799 points, and Jimmie Johnson stood in second with 789 points. Kevin Harvick was third in the Drivers' Championship with 760 points, and Carl Edwards was fourth with 760 points. Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart rounded out the first ten positions.^[6] Kyle Busch was the race's defending champion.^[7]

On August 23, 2011, Toyota debuted the 2012 Toyota Camry at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, prompting the Toyota teams to change their headlights, taillights, fog lights, and rear decals.

Race

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The race was televised by ABC in the United States. However, several affiliates including ABC owned-and-operated WABC in New York City, WPVI in Philadelphia and WTVD in Raleigh-Durham pre-empted the race in order to offer continuing coverage of Hurricane Irene,^[8] while other ABC affiliates pre-empted this race to air NFL preseason games.

Race