Category: RC NASCAR Cup

The first practice for the Budweiser Duels got under way and it wasn’t without excitement as the session was highlighted by two big wrecks.

A.J. Allmendinger would top the charts with a lap of 45.096 seconds in his JTG Daugherty Racing car. Brian Vickers was second, followed by Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne and Michael Waltrip.

The first took place when rookie Cole Whitt (pictured) got into the wall due to a flat tire. Brian Vickers went to move slightly down to avoid Whitt, though got caught on Casey Mears’ bumper and made heavy contact with the turn three wall.

“We still got a lot of racing left to do and I hate it for these guys,” Vickers commented. “They put a lot into that car. The 26 – I don’t know if he just lost it or whatever….and then it got me into the 13. I can’t really say as I don’t know whether he had a flat tire or not. Unfortunately it ruined a good car for us.”

“Something went through the nose,” Whitt stated. “We actually have a hole right there through the front. I didn’t even know…didn’t even feel it till I got into three there. I hate it for the guys.”

A piece of Vickers’ hood flew off and would pierce itself in to the nose of Jeff Gordon’s car.

“The whole thing happened so quick,” Gordon commented. “I had only made half a lap. As the field went by, I asked Alan if we wanted to be in the middle of this. Somebody had gotten into the wall and looks like the 55 went to avoid him and came across the 13. I just tried to avoid them and this was stuck in my hood. We’ll go fix that damage.”

Vickers will go to a back-up while Whitt’s team and Gordon’s team will repair their cars.

A second wreck then took place in the second half of the session when Matt Kenseth would kick sideways after contact with Joey Logano, causing Logano to go sideways into Trevor Bayne, which caused Bayne to get into Parker Kligerman.

“It all started when everyone was merging,” Kenseth said. “It got tight as we went into three and we lost a lot of speed. We got off four and he came up to the back of me and I lost a little, saving it. He then got into me and that triggered it.”

“I thought the 20 was going to the bottom and we caught him there and we got hooked,” Logano commented. “It’s partially my fault. I was working too hard there. It is also one of those racing things – I thought he was going and he didn’t. It’s unfortunate that a lot of cars got torn up.”

Logano added that when it comes to making moves like this, “it’s all an educated guess on what’s going on around you. you try to figure out who has runs and who doesn’t and try to figure it out.”

Following the contact from Bayne, Kligerman would flip on his roof, riding against the front stretch catch fence and wall.

“I want to thank all our guys that build safe racecars,” Kligerman said afterwards. “They’ve worked hard at building a great, quick racecar and I was almost at that point where I’d put it away. It looks like the 22 is just being overly aggressively and it sucks because this is just practice, it’s not the last lap of the Daytona 500. It’s odd. These guys are supposed to good and they can’t run solidly while us guys can run three-wide in truck practice cleanly.”

In the aftermath, Ryan Truex, Paul Menard and Dave Blaney were also collected.

“We were actually running in the draft and running well,” Truex said. “I was pretty happy with it. I checked up when I saw the 22 move. I got hit from behind and that’s all I can do. We didn’t deserve that. The 30 was on top of me there; I had a good view of his rear tire for a while there. We have to race our way into the Daytona 500 so we’ll pull out the back-up and hope to get in.”

“I couldn’t see what started it,” Blaney commented. “Going into the tri-oval behind Ryan Truex, he checked up and then I checked up and cars were all over the place.”

Kligerman, Logano, Truex and Menard will be going to back-up cars. Bayne will repair his racecar while Kenseth didn’t sustain any damage.

Blaney, unfortunately, does not have a back-up car and his car sustained too much damage to repair.

“Going down the backstraightaway, I told myself that I don’t need to be out here right now. we don’t have a back-up,” Blaney commented. “At this point, we’re done.” 

Daytona International Speedway officials are working on repairs to the track fencing. There were some holes that were made in the fence in the wreck as a result of Kligerman’s car up against the fence.

Austin Dillon captured the 2014 Daytona 500 pole on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway with a lap of 196.019 mph.

“This is awesome. It is all for our guys, and this guy right here Danny Lawrence, (head engine builder at ECR), it is his birthday. So we got him a one-two start at Daytona! That is pretty awesome.” Dillon said.

This will be the first time the famous No.3 has been driven in NASCAR’s top series, the Sprint Cup Series (NSCS), since Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001 at this speedway.

“Everybody wants to see this number perform well. That’s what my goals are is to stay focused. I know this is just qualifying, but it is great for these guys. Like Gil said, you never know when you will be standing in this position again. So it is awesome. I just want to thank our family back at home at RCR.” Dillon said.

Dillon, the grandson of car owner Richard Childress has driven the No.3 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2009 and the past two seasons in the NASCAR Nationwide series and will make his 14th NSCS start next week in the 500.

“I couldn’t be more proud for Austin and Gil and all the guys that worked so hard this winter to come down here and run good. We wanted to put on a good show with the No. 3 and couldn’t be more proud of everybody and have another ECR engine with Furniture Row on the outside (No. 78 driven by Martin Truex Jr.). That makes us all proud.” Childress said.

Martin Truex Jr. qualified second in the Furniture Row Racing’s No. 78 Chevrolet with a lap of 195.852 mph.

“Yeah, front row, that is what we are here for today.  Obviously can’t say enough about this team.  What a great job I think we have got about seven miles on this car.” Truex Jr. said.

Greg Biffle qualified third, Carl Edwards fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

But only the top-2 two positions are guaranteed, the remaining 41 spots will be filled on Thursday evening in the Budweiser Duels.

Last years polesitter, Danica Patrick qualified 25^th and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Tony Stewart qualified 35^th.  Both drivers had blown engines in practice and will be starting at the rear for the qualifying races and the Daytona 500.

“I learned that lap was just for the guys and to condone them for putting it all back together, getting another engine in it, and we crashed a car last night. And just to say, this is your hard work over the winter and what you put our blood, sweat, and tears into to try to win the pole again for the Daytona 500.” Patrick said.

The 150-mile (60 laps) Budweiser Duels begin on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

After starting on pole, Denny Hamlin would lead the most laps and worked his way to the front at the end of the Sprint Unlimited to pick up the win. It marks the second time that Hamlin has won the event as he won it in his rookie year in 2006.

“Best car won – that’s for sure,” he commented. “Can’t thank this team enough. We’re two in a row now. We’re building on something. We had a good car the whole night. It was survival of the fittest for sure.”

On the final restart with three to go, Hamlin sat in the eighth position. Using the draft to his advantage, he made his way to third with two laps to go and down the backstretch, would make a three-wide move on Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski to the lead. The momentum allowed him to build up a considerable lead and escape the pack.

“With three to go, we were at the tail end of a small pack and it was hard to get runs but we were able to,” he said.

Brad Keselowski finished second followed by Kyle Busch, who came back for a solid finish after sliding sideways and through the grass off of turn four. Joey Logano finished fourth followed by Kevin Harvick.

Harvick was one of the nine drivers involved in the big wreck back on lap six of the second segment. Matt Kenseth went to move down in the tri-oval, though he caught Logano, resulting in a pile-up that collected many drivers.

“Replay tells a lot more than I saw,” he commented. “I honestly had no idea that anyone was inside of me. I was watching my teammate there and trying to move down to help my team there. I guess hindsight I should’ve stayed up there. I didn’t know Joey was there. I thought I had a good half a car length and by the time I looked, he must’ve got a run and got down there.”

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch all found themselves involved in the wreck with heavy damage as they got pinned up against the outside front stretch wall.

“That’s awfully expensive fun – but it is fun,” Edwards commented. “I did learn a bunch and that’s the key to this race even though we have a torn up car. Team worked hard and it sucks that we’re out. The night is about checkers or wreckers – and fortunately we’re on the other end of it.”

“The race started off calm and then all of a sudden business picked up,” Gordon mentioned. “I knew that they started stacking up and I was right there on Tony’s bumper. The closing rate with the higher spoiler is pretty severe. So maybe he didn’t know that Joey was there. That was a nasty wreck.”

“You just have to protect your spot,” Stewart said. “I’ve always said I’m not a big fan of blocking but it’s unfortunate that’s what you have to do. It was easy to get stalled out so if you got track position, you wanted to protect it.”

Fans were worried that Stewart may have further injured his leg as he is coming back from a broken leg, but Stewart said it feels pretty good.

“I was a little nervous but it feels pretty good,” he added. “We’ll see how it is once the adrenaline wears off.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also was collected in the pile-up against the wall in the tri-oval, which caused the hood to fly up. Trying to see where he was going and avoid further trouble, Stenhouse would make heavy contact with his girlfriend Danica Patrick.

“I got to watch the replay but all I know is I hit someone real hard now; I couldn’t see. I found out after that it was her,” Stenhouse explained. “I tried to look over the hood and got into her. She probably would’ve fine without that. That’s not good. We should think about getting Nationwide Insurance on these cars because we tore up a lot tonight.”

Patrick thought that she had avoided the wreck as she went down low to avoid those who were wrecking, sliding sideways as her tires touched the grass. The contact from Stenhouse was a surprise.

“I’m sad that it got cut short,” she said. “I was learning a lot. Bummed for the team, bummed for Go Daddy. It was a great warm-up for me to learn about closing rates, saving it after contact, being in the draft. I saw them wrecking high so I went low and got hooked in the grass, came around. Thought I’d be fine and I got hit by my boyfriend. What a bummer, eh? Not the way I wanted it to go.”

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. also saw their nights cut short in seperate incidents.

Johnson would make heavy contact with the inside fronstretch wall at the end of the first segment when his car got loose trying to pass Hamlin.

“Racing hard trying to find way by Hamlin and the transition off of four there made the back of the car light and sent it into a lazy spin,” Johnson said.

Earnhardt’s night ended with 10 laps to go when he would made contact with the outside turn one wall after contact with Ambrose as they fought and blocked for positions.

“Hard racing. I hate it happened. I was upset with him but can’t say really it was his fault,” Earnhardt commented. “He was going to the outside and I didn’t know he was there. I thought he was staying with me because he had pushed me down the straightaway. A lot was happening there and I just got turned around.”

The night featured a lot of excitement as the pace car would catch fire under one of the late cautions.

With the exhibition race under their belts, drivers will now focus on qualifying for the Daytona 500 tomorrow.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars have hit the track for the first set of practices of the 2014 race season as teams prepare for the Sprint Unlimited. With practice complete, familiar faces rise to the top.

The Sprint Unlimited is an exhibition race that is held a week before the Daytona 500 that is open to last season’s pole winners and previous race winners who attempted to qualify for a race last season. 18 drivers are scheduled to start the event on Saturday night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the first practice with a lap of 45.358 seconds as he enters his last season with Steve LeTarte atop the pit box at Hendrick Motorsports. LeTarte will be moving to the broadcast booth in 2015. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was second with his brother Kurt Busch in third. The Sprint Unlimited marks Kurt’s first race with Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch’s teammate Kevin Harvick was fourth followed by Roush-Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Matt Kenseth was sixth followed by Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. Stewart is taking his first laps behind the wheel after sitting out the second half of last season due to a broken leg.

“It felt good,” Stewart said. “The great thing is there is zero percentage of pain in the car.  That was nice. We will see what it feels like at 9 o’clock tonight, but so far so good.  That is better than I was hoping for, honestly.  I thought we would have some kind of ache, pain of some kind that would bother us.  It was like putting on an old pair of shoes again.”

In the second and final practice before the Sprint Unlimited, Denny Hamlin topped the charts with a lap of 450.030 seconds. Hamlin won the event back in his rookie season in 2006.

“I remember on the starting grid just to be a part of the race I lucked up and got a pole in those last few races of the season I ran at the end for FedEx in 2005 and so it got me into there,” Hamlin recalled the win during Media Day. “The next thing you know I’m thinking let me just try to work on some friendships for next week in the 500 and next thing you know we find ourselves in a position to win it and Jimmie (Johnson) gave me a push down the backstretch, Tony (Stewart) gave me a push down the frontstretch and next thing you know we got to the line first.  They gave me the trophy, the money and the checkered flag so I guess I won.”

Past Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray finished second, followed by Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. Harvick was sixth followed by Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Stewart and Kurt Busch.

The Sprint Unlimited is scheduled for 7pm EST and can be watched live on Fox tomorrow night.

In the battle for the championship, give round one to Matt Kenseth as he scored his third pole of the season on Friday afternoon at Ford EcoBoost 400. The 41-year-old lapped the Homestead-Miami Speedway track in 30.394 seconds to take the top spot.

Kenseth comes into the final race of the season sitting second in points behind Jimmie Johnson. Johnson can clinch the championship by finishing 23rd or better. However, if Johnson finishes 24th or worst, the door opens up for Kenseth to take the title. Johnson qualified seventh.

Kurt Busch posted the second quickest lap behind the wheel of his No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Chevrolet. This marks Busch’s final start with the Furniture Row Racing team as he moves to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski qualified third and fourth, respectively. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Kevin Harvick, who has a slim chance to win the championship should he win the race while Johnson finishes last and Kenseth struggles, qualified in the sixth positon. Johnson qualified seventh followed by Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler.

Jimmie Johnson has been tested throughout his NASCAR career, but the five-time champion survived one of his toughest test yet today at the Advocare 500.

Johnson started the race on pole for today’s race, but nearly wrecked on the first lap when the 22 of Joey Logano tapped Johnson going into Turn 3, causing Johnson to fall backwards. Johnson said that he had to use “some of his dirt racing skills out in the desert in Arizona”, to earn a third-place finish. Johnson made those comments reflecting on the fact that races at Phoenix International Raceway are considered to be short races. “This is in no way a short race,” Johnson said.

That was not the only close call for the 48 this afternoon. Johnson was on the outside of Carl Edwards when eventual race-winner Kevin Harvick took it three-wide into Turn 1 and did not touch Edwards, but Edwards subsequently got loose under the 48, nearly causing him to crash. “There was a point in the middle of saving it that the tail-end was pointing towards the fence and I thought I was going to hit. I’m very thankful.”

Matt Kenseth struggled all afternoon, finishing a lap down in 23rd. When asked if Johnson was surprised at how badly Kenseth struggled this afternoon Johnson said, “I was very surprised, but I went through the same thing last year.” Kenseth said on his day, “I can’t say I was overly confident about what we had.” Kenseth wasn’t dazzling in practice. However, an average practice position of 6th isn’t bad, but Kenseth was not even close to that mark during the race. At times Kenseth didn’t even know what to fix on the race car. “I don’t even know how to fix it,” Kenseth said.

The race was marred with eight cautions, including a late debris call on lap 183 to set up a final dash to the finish with interesting strategies put into play. Carl Edwards appeared to be on his way to sweep the races here at Phoenix International Raceway this season, but ran out of fuel coming to the white flag, giving the win to Kevin Harvick. Harvick celebrates his fourth win of 2013 and as a repeat winner of the fall event here in Phoenix.

Jimmie Johnson enters Homestead with a commanding 28 point lead over Matt Kenseth, but it doesn’t mean that it’s all over. Johnson looked like he could pull off the incredible last season to defeat Brad Keselowski, but suffered a broken rear gear. The same can happen to any of the drivers still with a mathematical shot at earning the Sprint Cup Series championship. With that being said, it’s going to be an amazing champions week at the Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend. For those fans that follow the old system, Jimmie Johnson would have clinched his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship today.

When Carl Edwards ran out of gas on the last lap, it was Kevin Harvick grabbing the win at Phoenix International Raceway for his second win of the 2013 Chase for the Championship.

Lap 1 Three-wide for the lead between Logano, Johnson and Hamlin for the lead. Hamlin grabs the lead as Logano nips the bumper but Johnson hangs on to it

Lap 4 Hamlin leads Gordon KuBusch Harvick Logano Johnson Kahne KyBusch Keselowski Earnhardt Jr.

Lap 5 Kenseth passes Bowyer for 11^th

Lap 9 Earnhardt Jr. by Keselowski for ninth

Lap 16 Hamlin leads Gordon KuBusch Harvick Logano Johnson Kahne Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski KyBusch Kenseth

Lap 19 Gordon passes Hamlin for the lead

Lap 26 Johnson by Logano for fifth

Lap 28 Gordon leads Harvick Johnson Hamlin KuBusch Logano Kahne Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski KyBusch Kenseth

Lap 36 Gordon leads Harvick Johnson KuBusch Logano Earnhardt Jr. Kahne Keselowski Kenseth Bowyer

Lap 44 Logano and Earnhardt Jr. both by KuBusch

Lap 47 Gordon leads Harvick Johnson Logano Earnhardt Kahne KuBusch Keselowski Kenseth Bowyer

Caution lap 49 Hamlin goes around. Leaders head down pit road. Gordon leads Harvick Johnson KuBusch Earnhardt Logano Keselowski Kahne Kenseth and Menard off pit road

Restart lap 56 Harvick and Gordon side-by-side for the lead. Harvick grabs the lead off of corner four

Lap 57 Harvick leads Gordon Johnson KuBusch Logano Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski

Lap 59 Harvick leads Johnson Gordon KuBush Logano Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski Kahne Menard Montoya Kenseth

Lap 64 Earnhardt Jr. makes an unscheduled pit stop – loose wheel.

Lap 66 Harvick leads Johnson Gordon KuBusch Logano Kahne Keselowski Menard Montoya Kenseth

Lap 83 Harvick leads Johnson Gordon KuBusch Logano Kahne Keselowski Menard Montoya Truex Edwards Kenseth

Lap 96 Johnson by Gordon for second. Edwards by Truex for 10^th

Lap 99 Logano by Kahne; Edwards by Montoya for ninth

Caution lap 100. Nemechek pancaked wall – or not; just scared the wall. Leaders head down pit road. Kahne leads Keselowski Edwards Menard Johnson Gordon off pit road.

Restart lap 106 Kahne and Keselowski side-by-side for the lead. Kahne clears Keselowski off of turn four.

Lap 109 Kahne leads Keselowski Edwards Menard Harvick Gordon Johnson Bowyer KuBusch Biffle

Lap 114 Harvick and Gordon by Menard. KuBusch, Biffle, Truex and Montoya round out the top 11

Lap 115 Johnson by Menard.

Caution lap 117 Timmy Hill into the wall. Hamlin gets the lucky dog. Back half of the field pits.

Restart lap 120 Keselowski grabs the lead

Lap 124 Keselowski leads Kahne Harvick Edwards KuBusch Johnson Truex KyBusch Menard

Lap 127 Harvick passes Kahne for second; Gordon and Montoya by Menard; Gordon by KyBusch

Lap 130 Keselowski leads Harvick Kahne Edwards Johnson KuBusch Truex Gordon KyBusch Montoya

Caution lap 131 Kvapil smoking as Blaney goes around. Earnhardt gets the lucky dog.

Restart lap 137. Keselowski to the point ahead of Harvick

Lap 140 Keselowski leads Harvick Edwards Johnson Kahne KuBusch Gordon Montoya Truex KyBusch

Lap 144 Gordon by KuBusch for sixth

Caution lap 145 Cole Witt wrecks in turn four along with Danica Patrick. Reuitmann got damage as well. Most of the leaders pit under the caution. Top 13 stayed out. Gordon leads McMurray and Newman.

Restart lap 158. McMurray and Gordon side-by-side for the lead

Lap 160 Gordon takes the lead.

Lap 162 Gordon leads McMurray Newman Logano Biffle Bowyer Gilliland Kenseth Hamlin Almirola…..Edwards with a slide into Johnson…..Johnson stays off the wall with a save. Yeley spins behind and the caution flies. Some people head down pit road.

Restart lap 166 Newman pulls ahead of Logano off of turn two

Lap 171 Newman leads Logano Biffle Bowyer Gilliland Ambrose Earnhardt Hamin Keselowski Harvick

Lap 175 Earnhardt by Ambrose; Harvick by Keselowski

Lap 176 Earnhardt by Gilliland

Lap 184 Newman leads Logano Biffle Bowyer Earnhardt Harvick Gilliland Ambrose KyBusch Hamlin

Lap 186 KyBusch by Ambrose for eighth; Montoya by Hamlin for 10^th

Caution lap 190 Reuitmann shortens the car. Leaders head down pit road. Newman and Earnhardt the first two off pit road. Logano leads Kahne and Keselowski

Restart lap 200 Logano clears Keselowski in the first turn

Lap 201 Kahne by Keselowski for second

Lap 202 Johnson alongside Keselowski for third

Lap 204 Johnson clears Keselowski for third

Lap 206 Logano leads Kahne Johnson Edwards Keselowski Gordon Truex Martin Stenhouse Harvick

Lap 210 Gordon by Keselowski for fifth

93 to go Logano leads Kahne Johnson Edwards Gordon Keselowski Truex Martin Harvick Stenhouse

88 to go Kahne by Logano for the lead

85 to go Johnson moves to second as Logano heads down pit road for fuel and tires

84 to go Kahne leads Johnson Edwards Gordon Keselowski Truex Harvick Martin Stenhouse and Earnhardt

76 to go Harvick by Truex while Earnhardt runs eighth followed by KyBusch

74 to go Keselowski pits out of fifth for tires and fuel

73 to go Kahne leads Johnson Edwards Gordon Harvick Truex Earnhardt KyBusch Menard Bowyer

70 to go Kenseth makes his green flag pit stop

69 to go Truex pits, giving up sixth

67 to go Gordon pits

66 to go Kahne pits, handing the lead to Johnson

65 to go Johnson pits, handing the lead to Edwards

64 to go Edwards pits, handing the lead to Harvick

52 to go Bowyer pits

49 to go Hamlin pits – speeding

45 to go Harvick pits as he is out of gas. Earnhardt Jr. to the pits.

42 to go KuBusch and KyBusch pit……Earnhardt pits. Newman leads.

36 to go Newman runs out of gas and pits. Edwards cycles back to the lead.

Caution 32 to go debris in turn three. Top five stay out as Keselowski is first to pit

Restart 26 to go Edwards pulls out ahead of Kahne

22 to go Edwards leads Kahne Harvick Johnson Earnhardt KuBusch Montoya KyBusch Truex Newman

18 to go Harvick passes Kahne for second

13 to go Logano by Newman for 10^th

2 to go Edwards runs out of gas on the last lap. Harvick takes the lead off of turn four.

Kevin Harvick wins. Kahne. Johnson. Earnhardt. KuBusch. Montoya. KyBusch. Truex. Logano. Newman.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson was clutch once again as he scored a crutial pole for Sunday’s Advocare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

It was Johnson’s third pole of 2013, the 32nd of his career, and his 2nd at Phoenix.

Today marked the 19th time that the Generation-6 car has set a new track record. Johnson said, “Track records are awesome, but we still have to come out here Saturday morning and work on our race car.”

There have been many fans counting Matt Kenseth out already as we come to Phoenix. Johnson was quick to drop the notion that Kenseth didn’t have a shot at the championship. “Matt isn’t known as a great qualifier, but he’s always there when the checkered falls. We’ve got to expect that to happen here.”

The rest of the top 10 is filled mostly with Chase drivers. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Joey Logano all broke the track record, before Johnson put the rest of the competition to rest. Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, and Kevin Harvick round out the rest of the top 10 qualifiers in the Chase field, with Martin Truex Jr. taking the 10th position.

Three of Johnson’s four victories have come in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Can he do it again on Sunday? Kenseth may need Johnson to have an off day to make any ground. According to Denny Hamlin, he’ll need Johnson to have an off day, but an off day for Johnson according to Hamlin is “around fifth.” Hamlin has had a rough 2013 season, but will be on the front row for the chance of scoring another Phoenix win. He said, “Passing will very very difficult. We need to figure out what will keep us up front on Sunday.”