| Race details[1][2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 36 in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
 Layout of Darlington Raceway | |||
| Date | May 9, 2009 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington County, South Carolina | ||
| Course | 1.366 mi (2.198 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Weather | Chilly with temperatures plummeting as low as 69.1 °F (20.6 °C); wind speeds up to 16.9 miles per hour (27.2 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 119.687 miles per hour (192.618 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 70,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Fenway Racing | ||
| Time | 27.394 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | |
| Laps | 117 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 5 | Mark Martin | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
The 2009 Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com, the 53rd running of the race which its lineage dates to the 1957 Rebel 300 and was the first year the Rebel was given the name of the then-suspended fall race , was the eleventh race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, was held on Saturday, May 9, 2009 at Darlington Speedway in Darlington, South Carolina.
The race was televised in the USA on Fox starting at 7 PM US EDT with radio being handled on MRN on terrestrial radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Seventy-two thousand fans were eyewitnesses to four hours and eleven minutes of racing action. There were 23 changes to the lead position recorded during the race and 17 cautions were taken for a duration of 73 laps. Almost 20% of the race was held under the caution flag due to debris and accidents while the average green flag run was slightly more than 16 laps.[1]
| Top Ten Finishers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Make | Team | ||||
| 1 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 3 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Stewart-Haas Racing | ||||
| 4 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Stewart-Haas Racing | ||||
| 5 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 6 | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Chevrolet | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | ||||
| 7 | 25 | Brad Keselowski | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 8 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | ||||
| 9 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||||
| 10 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | ||||
- Failed to Qualify: Jeremy Mayfield (#41), Scott Speed (#82)
- Note: Scott Speed's team paid Joe Nemechek to let Speed drive his car in this race.