Key takeaways from Phoenix

Desert beauty

By Kenny Bruce

NASCAR Goes West's second stop, at Phoenix International Raceway for the Good Sam 500, turned out to be a beauty of a finish between Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Senior writer Kenny Bruce breaks down the key takeaways from the fourth of 36 Sprint Cup Series races this season.

Hail to the new (rules) package

Dale Earnhardt Jr. started the race 26th and was up to fifth after barely 50 laps. That type of driving up through the field would have never been possible before the rules changes, the Hendrick Motorsports driver said.

'This new aero package gives you the ability to pass ... I would have been stuck behind all them guys (with the previous package),' he said.

Earnhardt wasn't the only driver to make his way through traffic. Teammate Jimmie Johnson started at the back of the field and was able to make his way into the top 10; Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon also advanced.

It's his track

Kevin Harvick scored career win No. 8 at PIR, surviving a late, green, white, checkered run that pushed the race one lap beyond its scheduled 312-lap distance. No one else, active or otherwise, has won here more than four times.
 
Rule changes, track repaves, generation, whatever, it simply hasn't stymied the efforts of the 2014 series champion when it comes to getting around the quirky 1-mile track. Sunday's win was his fifth in his last six PIR starts. That's stout.
 
Regardless of what happens between now and November when the series returns for the final race before the championship-determining event at Homestead-Miami, Harvick will be the favorite. It's a role he's earned.

Don't tread on me

Ryan Newman and Paul Menard (Richard Childress Racing), and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Roush Fenway Racing) finished at the bottom of the field Sunday after crashes left their entries too damaged to return. The culprit? Reportedly it was melted beads, the area where the tire meets the wheel, that did in each driver.
 
High corner speeds increased the amount of time drivers were on the brakes, and temperatures inside the wheels shot up. Rodney Childers, winning crew chief, said the temperature of one wheel checked after a pit stop measured nearly 315 degrees.

'It's not Goodyear's fault for sure,” he said. “They brought a good tire. It's just the teams have got to learn more about that stuff and using more brake and all that. I thought it was good. You've just got to be smart and take care of your stuff.'

Dillon gets it done

The Richard Childress Racing driver finished ninth on Sunday, and hasn't finished worse than 11th in his four starts this season. It has been an impressive start for the 25-year-old.

'At the end, Slugger (Labbe, crew chief) made the call to stay out (under caution),' Dillon said. 'It was a gutsy call.'
 
The decision allowed Dillon to restart the race third, behind eventual race winner Harvick and Earnhardt Jr.

Oh-so-close

Fans have now seen two of the closest finishes in NASCAR history twice in the same season, and we're only four races into a 36-race schedule.

Harvick's .01-second winning margin over Carl Edwards was tied for seventh since the advent of electronic timing and scoring.

The lower downforce rules package certainly is a large part of the reason, but just as crucial has been Goodyear's continued development of softer, yet still durable, tires to match up with the package and the individual tracks.