In case you missed it, Brian France says there’s “some interest” among outside car makers to join NASCAR.
Yesterday, Dave Moody, host of SiriusXM Speedway, told the Chairman and CEO of NASCAR that he regularly gets calls from fans asking about any chance of Dodge returning to the sport or any other potential manufacturers joining Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
He didn’t name any specific manufacturers, but France said that there was “some interest” among other car makers.
“There is some interest by a couple of different manufacturers, and we would be open to that in the right conditions,” France said. “A lot of the car companies are understandably looking at the terrific job that Toyota has done by partnering with NASCAR and the success and all the things that come along with that.
“They’ve been an incredible success story for a car manufacturer looking to come into a sport that’s very difficult to come in, compete and win every weekend. But there’s interest and this is obviously the biggest opportunity in auto racing in North America and we would probably say the world, so it’s always on some attention span one way or the other.”
He also spoke about the Sprint Cup Series finish between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick last week at Phoenix International Raceway.
“Another thing that we’ve talked about this week is the finish at Phoenix and the contact in that, and you’ve heard me say many, many times; that’s classic NASCAR racing when that happens, but it’s interesting to note that not all the drivers — present or past — would’ve made the move that Carl Edwards tried to do to get around Harvick, and they both did a great job.
“But that’s classic NASCAR. We expect that. Sometimes that’s misunderstood when I say that, but it’s a great example of that part of NASCAR when you’re late in the race, a little faster, you’re going to have some contact to either scrub off speed or move somebody around a little bit. Carl’s one of the best at that, and it gave us a great finish.”
On the search for a new entitlement sponsor in the Cup Series, France said it was going “good.”
“It’s the most coveted position in sports because of the rights that are granted,” he said. “We’ve got a good group of companies that are on our short list and so hopefully in the coming weeks or months, we’ll get to the right place on that.”
Asked about where NASCAR stands on Cup drivers in the XFINITY Series, France said it’s “a real strong debate, depending on which side you’re on.”
“Mark Martin, back in the day, was known to dominate that series known as the Busch Series back then,” France continued. “We’ve always had some of that. Kyle has just got a mastery of that division. On the other hand, it makes the younger drivers better. They get to compete with one of the best of the business every weekend. Obviously, we have a new championship Chase format that will reward the eventual champion in the end; it’ll have to be somebody other than Kyle. I can get on either side of it, but right now that’s the rules.”
Austin Dillon will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s race in the Golden State.
The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet scored the pole for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway with a time of 38.200 and a speed of 188.482 mph. This is the second career Sprint Cup Series pole for the third-year driver out of Lewisville, North Carolina. His first came in the 2014 Daytona 500.
“A Daytona 500 pole sitter, now I got a pole somewhere else,” Dillon said. “To do it at a driver’s race track like this at Fontana, it means a lot to me. Just proud of this American Ethanol team. We’ve had fast cars all year long. I knew going into that third session if I didn’t make mistakes I would have a shot. I just stayed with it off of 4. I kept my locker locked as much as I could with the gas just keeping as much fuel to the car as I could. It worked out for us.”
Kevin Harvick will start second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 38.231 and a speed of 188.329 mph.
“Good effort by Rodney and the team getting the car ready,” Harvick said. “This track is a challenge with its bumps and rough surface and the lower downforce makes them harder to drive but we’ve got a good car and looking forward to Sunday. Our goal was to run the same lap time all three rounds. That is going to put you in a spot to have a chance. All in all, it’s been a good start to the weekend and really looking forward to the race on Sunday.”
Denny Hamlin, who broke the track record in the second round of qualifying, will start third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 38.372 and a speed of 187.637 mph. Ryan Newman will start fourth in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 38.446 and a speed of 187.276 mph. Carl Edwards will round out the top-five in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 38.457 and a speed of 187.222 mph.
Kyle Busch will start sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota followed by Trevor Bayne in seventh in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Chase Elliott will start eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Joey Logano will start ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford and Jamie McMurray will round out the top-10 in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
AJ Allmendinger will start 11th in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet while Kasey Kahne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.
1. Kyle Busch: Busch finished fourth at Phoenix to post his fourth top-five finish of the season. He is tied with Kevin Harvick for the lead in the Sprint Cup points standings.
“I’m surprised Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick both didn’t wreck each other before they reached the finish line,” Busch said. “I think it would have made for great controversy, although their cars would have been torn up. But I would have been more than happy to pick up the pieces.
“As for being co-leader in the points, there’s only thing I care to share with Harvick, and that’s mutual hatred.”
2. Kevin Harvick: Harvick battled Carl Edwards door to door over the final lap at Phoenix and held on to win the Good Sam 500 by .01 seconds.
“I was surprised I was able to hold off Edwards,” Harvick said. “He may have had fresh tires, but I had a flag that said, ‘Don’t tread on me.’”
3. Carl Edwards: Despite having fresh right-side tires for the final restart at Phoenix, Edwards was unable to complete the pass on Kevin Harvick, instead losing by .01 seconds.
“Harvick and I traded a lot of paint,” Edwards said. “We were racing so close, I felt like I could have reached over and grabbed him by the throat. The only thing that’s clashed harder than our cars is our personalities.”
4. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished 11th at Phoenix after starting in a backup car, due to a wreck in Friday’s qualifying.
“My steering wheel literally came loose in my hands,” Johnson said. “I guess that would be the most severe case of ‘losing your handling.’ And what an impact. I haven’t ‘hit a wall’ like that since right after winning my sixth championship.”
5. Kurt Busch: Busch finished sixth in the Good Sam 500, recording his fourth top 10 of the year. He is fourth in the points standings, 17 out of first.
“That’s a top 10 in each race this year,” Busch said. “That’s called consistency, which is a word that is not used very often to describe me, particularly the history of my mental state.”
6. Joey Logano: Logano finished 18th at Phoenix after his crew failed to fill his fuel tank on what should have been his final pit stop. Logano was forced to pit for a splash of gas, which likely cost him a top 10.
“I thought for sure we got all the fuel in,” Logano said. “Even Matt Kenseth would vouch for that fact—he said I ‘was full of it.’”
7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started third at Phoenix, part of a 1-2-3 Joe Gibbs Racing sweep in qualifying, and finished third, posting his first top-five since winning the Daytona 500.
“What a finish between Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards,” Hamlin said. “I think many people are surprised that Edwards didn’t send Harvick into the wall to get past him, as NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt would have done. But let’s be serious. Only one person considers Edwards the ‘Intimidator,’ and that’s Matt Kenseth.”
8. Austin Dillon: Dillon took ninth in the Good Sam 500, posting his third top-10 result of the year.
“It was an otherwise lousy day for Richard Childress Racing,” Dillon said. “My teammates Ryan Newman and Paul Menard finished last and next-to-last. Both suffered right-front tire failures. Some will ask: ‘Who blows more? The tires, or the drivers?’ In any case, Ryan and Paul will always have a job with RCR, probably as the guys who scuff the surface of new tires, because they’re scrubs.”
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt came home fifth at Phoenix, the top finisher among Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
“It’s too bad it didn’t end with tempers flaring,” Earnhardt said. “That would have made for a perfect ‘March Mad-ness’ tie-in.”
10. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski suffered a blown right-rear tire on lap 226 at Phoenix, and the resulting damage left the No. 2 Penske Ford with a 29th-place finish.
“What an entertaining finish,” Keselowski said. “Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick put on quite a show. Rest assured, when those two are battling for something, it’s definitely not a popularity contest. I really would have loved to have been part of an Edwards-Harvick duel, preferably as the guy that says, ‘Take 10 paces, turn, and fire.’”
It’s time to put a nice little bow on the events in the Valley of the Harvick.
It took until past halfway for Kevin Harvick to take the lead for the first time in the Good Sam 500. This is surprising given that when he’s won at Phoenix in the past, it’s been in dominant fashion. That’s not to say yesterday’s drive wasn’t, as he did lead 134 laps.
In the end, however, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet had to beat, bang and out drag race Carl Edwards to the finish line coming out of Turn 4 to score his eighth career win at Phoenix International Raceway.
The final margin of victory was one one-hundredths of a second (0.010 seconds). It was the closest finish in Phoenix history, tied for the eighth-closest finish in NASCAR history and closest finish for a non-restrictor plate race since Rockingham 2004.
With that being said, the race itself overall for me was a B-, and that got a boost with the finish. While it was a good race overall, I can’t help but wonder what we’ll see at similar lower banked tracks like Loudon and Richmond (the latter of which really needs something to make the racing great again (channeling Donald Trump there).
Five cars dealt with tire blowouts during the race, four of them were right-front blowouts. All were related to melted beads (where the edge of the tire meets the wheel). Some want to pin it on Goodyear, but that would only work had this affected at least half the field. With it being five cars, it was more likely a case of teams not inflating the tires to the psi that Goodyear recommended.
It doesn’t change the fact, however, that Kasey Kahne’s run of abysmal performances continued on Sunday. He had been running great toward the end of the race and was poised to finally get a top-10 finish. Unfortunately, the cruel racing gods had other plans. The damage was minimized with it happening with six laps to go and he only lost a single lap on his way to finishing 22nd. So while his day ended in disappointment, it was because of bad luck and not lousy performance.
Matt Kenseth, on the other hand, ended his run of poor finishes and scored his first top-10 of the young season. He wasn’t much of a factor the whole race but was up toward the front of the field when it counted and secured a seventh-place finish.
After four races, Austin Dillon is showing he’s finally coming into his own with his third top-10 finish of the season. With finishes of 10th, 11th, fifth and ninth, the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has an 8.8 average finish through four races. If he continues racing this way, I truly believe he’ll be in victory lane before the season is over.
Harvick leaves Phoenix tied for the points lead with Kyle Busch. Jimmie Johnson trails by 14. Kurt Busch trails by 17. Edwards trails by 18.
That about sums up the events of this weekend. Next week, NASCAR concludes the West Coast Swing with a trip to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. for the Auto Club 400.
Kevin Harvick scored the victory in the Valley of the Sun, but just by the slimmest of margins.
It took until past halfway through the Good Sam 500 to take over the lead for the first time, but the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet survived a beating and banging drag race to the finish line coming out of Turn 4 with Carl Edwards to secure the victory. It’s his 32nd career win in the Sprint Cup Series, his eighth at Phoenix International Raceway and the closest margin of any win in the history of the track (0.010 of a second).
“Well, I knew he was better through (Turns) 3 and 4. That was not the car that I wanted to see behind me. I knew I could beat him down there and I tried to protect the bottom in 3 and 4 and I just missed the bottom with all the rubber build-up on the tires and everything. But, all in all, I knew I was going to be on defense down there. I got up too high and wasn’t able to stay on the bottom like I wanted to and then he got into me like he should have, and I needed to get a good run off the corner and I was going to have to get into his door and it worked out, just barely. I just want to thank Jimmy John’s, Busch, Chevrolet, Mobil 1 and everybody at Stewart-Haas for everything that they do.”
“I should’ve wrecked him,” Edwards jokingly said after the race. “No, those guys were doing a great job all day. They hung on with those tires but we were faster so I thought ‘Man, I’ll just move him out of the way and get by.’ I just didn’t move him far enough and then he got up the door and I thought I was trying to time — I thought ‘I think he’s going to beat me.’ So, I tried to sideswipe him before he got there but I needed to be in front of his front tire. Anyway, just a fun race. Man, I wish we could’ve won that thing. Dave Rogers (crew chief) did a great job. I’ve got to thank Stanley. They’re onboard here. Hopefully, everybody that damaged their stuff could use some Stanley Tools to fix it today. ARRIS, Toyota, TRD (Toyota Racing Development), Subway, Comcast, XFINITY, all of our sponsors. I wanted to win that thing but you win some and you lose some. It was a good race.”
Denny Hamlin overcame being penalized for an uncontrolled tire on his first stop to finish third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
He said there was “great effort for our whole FedEx Freight Toyota team. Just I thought we had a car that could win. We really did a good job back there – pit crew did a good job down the stretch there. So, overall I’m very proud of our program. We’ve really come a long way on this race track. Obviously, this is a very pivotal race track when it comes to getting to Homestead so we want to run good here and this is a good step.”
Pole-sitter Kyle Busch led 75 laps on his way to finishing fourth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 34 laps but opted to stay out when the rest of the field pitted and stumbled on the final restart on his way to rounding out the top-five in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. got to bet on the final restart and came home fifth. Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
“Yeah, I was surprised we finished as good as we did,” Earnhardt said. “I thought that was a good move to not pit. If a couple more guys don’t pit and we get another guy on the outside in the second row we was in good shape.”
Kurt Busch brought his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet home to a sixth-place finish.
“It was a good run, it wasn’t a great run,” Busch said. “Thanks to all my guys. We tried hard, we worked hard and it’s just a matter of getting that grip later in the day. Kevin Harvick is a master here at Phoenix, congrats to him. We were close. We will keep chipping away at it.”
After three races of bad runs, Matt Kenseth scores his first top-10 finish of the season after bringing his No. 20 JGR Toyota home to a seventh-place finish. Chase Elliott also bounced back from a lousy finish at Las Vegas with an eighth-place finish in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet.
“I felt like it was a solid day for us,” Elliott said. “I was just happy we finally put a day together and got a finish that these guys deserved. I feel like we had a good car. We made gains on it all day long. That last restart, obviously, was pretty wild. We tried our best. We gave up a couple of spots, but we will take it and move on to Fontana.”
Austin Dillon continues his run of strong performances this season with a ninth-place finish in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“Solid day we ran right there 10th all day,” Dillon said. “At the end Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made the call to stay out. It was a gutsy call. I think right there at the end the No. 88 kind of spun his tires and didn’t get going. The No. 18 put me three-wide, so glad to come out with ninth after that. We gained a spot overall. We probably could have had, maybe two more spots really, just a fun race. I’m looking forward to this year. That was enjoyable right there.”
Ryan Blaney brought home another top-10 finish in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.
“That wasn’t bad,” Blaney said. “We fought really hard all day. We got a lot better throughout the day. We didn’t start out that great and we just got better as we went along. The guys did a great job with two tires at the end and I thought about staying out but we wouldn’t have been on the first two rows, I don’t think, so we had to come in and get two and I think it picked us up one spot. It was a good day and a good job by everybody on this Motorcraft Quick Lane team and a top-10 car is all I could ask for.”
Joey Logano couldn’t make the fuel last to the end. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Joey Logano pitted from ninth with seven laps to go and finished in 18th one-lap down.
“We just didn’t quite get the luck on our side today,” Logano said. “We created our own luck as well. We need to clean it up a little bit. We need to clean up the mistakes we have had here at the beginning of the season on everybody’s front. We still have speed. We were close today. At times, it felt like we were a third-place car, and we were running up there around third. We just still have work to do to catch the 4 and 19, they were the class of the field.”
Kasey Kahne had a top-10 run going before suffering a right-front tire blowout and slamming the wall in Turn 3 with six laps remaining.
“We had a right front tire go down,” Kahne said. “It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine. Come to find out it wasn’t the engine and it was the tire. We’ll look at what we are doing since it happened a couple of times. We had a car capable of running in the top-15 and we were really good early. The longer the race went I felt like I got looser. I used a lot of brake during the entire the race, which I was surprised about. Yesterday in practice I didn’t have to use the brake hardly at all and today with different grips I used it so much.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who’s been showing that Roush Fenway Racing has started to turn the ship around the last three weeks, suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 1 halfway through the race.
“We were really tight and I was having to use too much break and I think we got the tires hot and once we did that the right front gave out from having to use too much brake,” Stenhouse said. “The cars were a handful. They were fun to drive. We just didn’t quite have the Fastenal Ford dialed in like we needed to today. We were really tight, therefore, we had to use too much brake.”
Paul Menard suffered a right-front tire blowout at the lap 105 mark and slammed the wall in Turn 3.
Asked what happened, he said he wasn’t “really sure. We were okay that last run. We fired off pretty decent and started getting really tight at the end. I don’t know if a left-front tire blew or what going into 3. I don’t know if something broke or if a tire blew. We are going to check it out. I’m curious about it.”
Ryan Newman also fell victim to a right-front tire blowout at the lap 53 mark and hit the wall in Turn 3.
“We just blew a right-front tire. It must have melted the bead or something. I don’t know if something failed in the cooling department or what the deal was. I didn’t do anything any different than I’ve ever done here before. Just definitely blew a right-front tire out and that was the end of our day with the Grainger Chevrolet.”
The race lasted two hours, 45 minutes and 53 seconds at an average speed of 113.212 mph. There were seven lead changes among four different drivers and five cautions for 30 laps. The final margin of victory was one one-hundredths of a second.
Kurt Busch topped the chart in the second Sprint Cup Series practice. The driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.194 and a speed of 137.436 mph.
Kevin Harvick was second in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 26.338 and a speed of 136.685 mph while Carl Edwards was third in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 26.375 and a speed of 136.493 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 26.395 and a speed of 136.389 mph as Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 26.397 and a speed of 136.379 mph.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet, teammate Kasey Kahne was seventh in his No. 5 Chevrolet and A. J. Allmendinger was eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano was ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who rounded out the top-10 in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.
Michael Annett’s No. 46 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet slammed the wall hard in Turn 2 during practice after suffering a front-end lockup.
“Definitely got down there and the car just didn’t want to turn,” Annett said. “I don’t know if we were on the splitter or if we cut down a right-front (tire). … I cranked on the wheel and it wouldn’t go straight.”
The damage was so severe that he had to roll out his backup car. Because the change took place after qualifying, he’ll start from the rear of the field in tomorrow’s Good Sam 500.
The Sprint Cup Series cars will be back on track for final practice this afternoon at 1:00.
Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday in the Valley of the Sun.
The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Good Sam 500 with a time of 26.014 and a speed of 138.387 mph. This is the 18th career pole and third at Phoenix International Raceway for the reigning Sprint Cup Series champion.
“We just cooled everything back down to make sure we gave it everything we got,” Busch said. “We just made a couple of fine-tuning adjustments from what we ran before and it was a tick faster, not much, just a tick.”
Carl Edwards will start second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 26.179 and a speed of 137.515 mph. Denny Hamlin will join his two teammates in third in his No. 11 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 26.196 and a speed of 137.426 mph. Kurt Busch will start fourth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 26.202 and a speed of 137.394 mph.
Jimmie Johnson was to round out the top-five in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 26.244 and a speed of 137.174 mph, but he’ll start from the rear of the field on Sunday after his car slammed the wall in Turn 2 as he was making his second lap with two minutes remaining in the final round of qualifying.
“Certainly a lot of straight in an area of the track that I didn’t need to have straight. We’ll have to get to the bottom of it,” Johnson said. “Just a really hard impact to the outside wall. Thankful that we have SAFER barriers and soft walls. But very disappointed because we had such a fast race car.”
After qualifying, Johnson took to Twitter to explain what happened.
Matt Kenseth will start sixth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota followed by Kyle Larson in seventh in his
No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. will start eighth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota and Joey Logano starts ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will round out the top-10 in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.
Jamie McMurray will start 11th in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet while Ryan Blaney will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
Kevin Harvick, the odds-on favorite to win this weekend, will start 18th in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet.
Kasey Kahne posted the third-fastest time in the first round of qualifying, but he will start from the rear of the field on Sunday after changing engines. This is due to an issue with the EFI that caused his car to erupt in smoke. Kahne will join his teammate Johnson at the rear of the field Sunday.
Complete Starting Lineup: (As noted above, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne will start from the rear of the field in backup cars).
Pack a Kevin Harvick lawn chair, Busch beer, Kevin Harvick swag and head to Kevin Harvick hill…I mean rattlesnake hill because NASCAR is coming to the Valley of the Harvick…I mean Sun.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Kevin Harvick Raceway…I mean Phoenix International Raceway in Kevin Harvick, Arizona…I mean Avondale Arizona for the Kevin Harvick 500…I mean Good Sam 500. This 499.2 km (312 mi) feature on the 1.6 km (1 mi) oval is the fourth race of the 2016 season and second of the three-race West Coast Swing.
Opened in 1964, Phoenix has played host to mostly open-wheel racing. In 1988, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ran its first race at the one-mile oval. Alan Kulwicki scored his first career victory that day. Since then, the deed to the track has practically belonged to one Kevin Michael Harvick.
Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Let’s stop beating around the bush. We all know that the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet is the odds-on favorite to win Sunday at 6/1 (Vegas Insider).
He has seven wins, 11 top-fives and 15 top-10s in 26 starts.
In those seven wins, he led 10, 252, 15, 70, 224, 264 and 224 laps. That’s a mean average of just over 151 laps.
This means he doesn’t just win at Phoenix, he flat out dominates. Even in the rain-shortened race last November where he finished runner-up, he lead 143 of the 219 laps.
I expect more of the same this Sunday with Harvick taking the lead early and never letting go until he takes the checkered flag.
Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
If by some chance Harvick isn’t the driver to beat on Sunday and he is, the next driver to watch would be Jimmie Kenneth Johnson.
Now the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hasn’t been too shabby when it comes to Phoenix. In fact, his 7.7 average finish tops the 10.6 of Harvick. He’s also finished in the top-five and top-10 more than Harvick.
From late 2007 to the end of 2009, Johnson owned the deed to the track. Since the changeover from the COT to the Gen-6, his record at the track has been…marginal at best. In the last six races, he’s led just 46 laps total. He’s been rather consistent with an average finish of 11th.
So while I can expect a good run from Johnson, I doubt he’ll have anything to prevent Harvick from winning.
Photo Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
I would say the driver with the best chance to unseat Harvick as the ruler of Phoenix is one Joseph Thomas Logano.
Since making the jump to Team Penske, the driver of the No. 22 Ford has had an average finish of 9.3 which also bests Harvick’s average.
The key for Logano to win Sunday will be simply this; Keep Harvick Behind! The only chance he, and everyone else by extension, has of winning Sunday is if they keep the No. 4 as far away from the lead as possible. If he can, he’s the best non-Harvick choice for scoring the victory on Sunday.
Tune in this Sunday to see who takes home the trophy. Coverage of the Good Sam 500 begins Sunday at 3 p.m. on FOX. If you can’t watch, tune into the radio broadcast on MRN and/or SiriusXM (subscription required for the latter).
1. Kyle Busch: Busch led late at Las Vegas but was passed with five laps to go by Brad Keselowski, who went on to win the Kobalt 400. Busch leads the Sprint Cup points standings by six points over Jimmie Johnson.
“The No. 18 M&M’s car had a late wheel vibration that affected the handling,” Busch said. “If that type of vibration happens to the No. 48 car, you’d call it a ‘Shimmie Johnson.’”
2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson led a race-high 76 laps and finished third in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“It was a grueling race due to the weather,” Johnson said, “and that takes a physical toll on a driver. Take it from a guy who runs triathlons—even I was ‘winded’ afterwards.”
3. Kevin Harvick: Harvick took seventh at Las Vegas, piloting the No. 4 Jimmy Johns Chevy to its third top-10 finish of the year.
“NASCAR legend Mark Martin has endorsed Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President,” Harvick said. “Martin urged Trump to ‘build that wall.’ A lot of people have urged Trump to do that. Some have even encouraged him to build that wall out of Muslims. I don’t know how high a wall would be needed to prevent illegal aliens from crossing the border. I do know that a four-foot wall would prevent Mark from seeing over it.”
4. Joey Logano: Logano finished second to Brad Keselowski as Penske Racing swept the top two places at Las Vegas. Logano is fourth in the points standings, 12 behind Kyle Busch.
“That’s right,” Logano said, “Penske drivers went 1-2 at Vegas. I think we could make a habit of taking the top 2 positions at future races. Other drivers have already nicknamed us ‘The Old One-Two,’ but mostly because our faces are so punchable.”
5. Kurt Busch: Busch started on the pole for the second consecutive week and had a strong run waylaid when he was collected in a crash with Carl Edwards caused by Matt Kenseth’s spin. Busch salvaged a ninth-place finish and is fifth in the points standings.
“The wind was blowing something fierce,” Busch said. “There were gusts upwards of 50 miles per hour. In NASCAR, we call that ‘da breeze caution.’ In the NHRA, they call that ‘Gale Force.’ No relation to John.”
6. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski recovered from a pit road speeding penalty and passed Kyle Busch with five laps to go to win the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas. Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano took second.
“It wasn’t easy passing Kyle,” Keselowski said. “I really had to work for it, as Kyle doesn’t concede position easily. If you mention the words ‘push over,’ Kyle won’t respond. Now, if you mention the words ‘pull over,’ Kyle will respond, especially if you’re a state trooper.”
7. Carl Edwards: After a wreck in practice, Edwards resorted to a backup car and finished 18th at Las Vegas. He sits seventh in the Sprint Cup points standings, 20 out of first.
“Las Vegas is a favorite stop on the circuit for many drivers,” Edwards said. “We all head to the casinos with high hopes, and leave with lighter wallets. Of course, you can’t talk about ‘blow money’ without mentioning Tim Richmond. He would have loved the track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if given the chance to turn laps there, I bet he would have never left. Tim was always driven to excess.”
8. Martin Truex Jr.: Truex finished 11th in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas. He is ninth in the points standings, 26 out of first.
“I was docked 15 points for having a roof flap issue for the second-straight race,” Truex said. “We’ve been trying to fool NASCAR for a week. Interestingly enough, they just happened to choose Las Vegas to blow the roof off this scandal.”
9. Austin Dillon: Dillon posted his second consecutive top-five finish with a fifth in the Kobalt 400. He is ninth in the points standings, 26 out of first.
“It’s nice to make Richard Childress Racing important again,” Dillon said. “If I’m not mistaken, they made a movie about me called ‘The Relevant.’”
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Earnhardt finished eighth at Las Vegas, posting his second top 10 of the year.
“I was in attendance at UFC 196 in Las Vegas on Saturday night,” Earnhardt said. “Believe me, the only times I hear the words ‘tap out’ mentioned more are at a Junior Nation keg party.”
