2022 Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway
(⏰ 3:30 p.m. ET | 📺 FOX | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday’s first Next Gen race in Phoenix, the fourth regular-season NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2022 campaign.
Race-day info
Where: Phoenix Raceway, a 1-mile oval located in Avondale, Arizona
Approximate start time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: Sunny, with a high near 81 degrees, according to NOAA.gov
Race Distance: 312 laps | 312 miles
Stages: 60 | 185 | 312
Pit-road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 50 mph
Competition caution: Lap 25
The Purse: $7,039,168
Phoenix 101: Get the full lowdown
Starting lineup: Full lineup | Team: Larson to start from rear
Pit stalls: See Sunday’s assignments | Brake dust, slippery boxes at Phoenix
Key things to watch
Practice and qualifying: On a sunny day at Phoenix, it was Ryan Blaney who turned up the heat on the field, earning his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season. Denny Hamlin joins Blaney on the front row, looking for redemption after an unfortunate result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week. Austin Cindric set the pace in Saturday’s lone practice session but fell to eighth in qualifying. Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson are the only previous Phoenix winners starting inside the top 10. | Full lineup for Sunday | Nine drivers had pre-qualifying inspection failures
Big story line: Kyle Busch’s early-season frustration boiled over after a valiant, and nearly race-winning, effort last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch battled through a backup car and started at the rear to lead 49 laps before a late caution flag flew. After a fourth-place finish, the No. 18 camp aims to quickly regroup at a solid track for the team in the West Coast swing finale. Until the 2020 season, Phoenix Raceway had been in the running as Busch’s best track. The two-time Cup Series champion strung together a blazing hot stretch of 10 races from 2015-20 with a pair of wins and only one finish outside of the top six. However, his last three Arizona races have cooled him off a bit, leading to a 14.3 average finish. What should we expect at Phoenix? Anticipate Busch to bounce back and produce a more solid weekend front-to-back – and don’t count him out for the win.
Who’s hot? Who’s not?: After a decent start to the season, Kevin Harvick should be all smiles heading into Phoenix. The veteran Stewart-Haas Racing driver hasn’t finished outside the top 10 here since 2013 and has a series-high six wins during that span – bringing his career total at the track to nine. Though he hasn’t won here since spring 2018, Harvick’s consistency here is incredible, with 17 consecutive top-10 finishes at the track. And more impressively, if you look at the numbers, he usually starts toward the front and stays there. The No. 4 wheelman has scored stage points in 16 of the 20 stages he’s raced here.
On the other hand, Las Vegas winner Alex Bowman has been stone cold. Bowman has just one top 10 in 13 starts, eight-straight finishes of 13th or worse and a 23.8 average finish at the track. Will Kevin Harvick make his first statement of the Next Gen era? Will Bowman’s Vegas momentum carry over to Phoenix?
Driving under the radar: A model of consistency to start the season, Aric Almirola has been quietly fantastic. The No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing driver is on a five-race top-10 streak dating back to last season and is the only driver in the Cup Series this season with a top 10 in every regular-season race. Two sixth-place finishes and a fifth-place result in the opening race at Daytona International Speedway have Almirola in a prime contender position so far.
Race-day staples
Our biggest pieces of the week – get covered for race day from all angles.
– Power Rankings: Almirola a top-10 machine to open season | See where he ranks
– Paint Scheme Preview: Hot schemes for Phoenix | Pick a favorite
– Fantasy Fastlane: Time to turn to Truex at Phoenix? | Biggest plays, tips and sleepers
Catch the pack
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
– Shifting gears: Can Denny Hamlin turn it around at Phoenix? | Full analysis
– Analysis: Next Gen at Phoenix sees emphasis on brakes, sequential gearbox | Learn more
– Clash in Sin City: Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch talk after Las Vegas tension | Is it settled?
– ‘No underdog’: Ross Chastain speaks on Trackhouse’s early showing | See what he said
– Industry update: NASCAR’s O’Donnell, Kennedy earn new roles | More info
– Tech corner: Teams adjusting to find Next Gen comfort level early on | Read new insight
– Doubling down in the desert: Next Gen vs. championship notes | Detailed notes
– Parity party: Twenty-five different drivers have top 10s so far through three races this season | Read more
– Welcome to the show: Team Stange forms for eight-race schedule | More on No. 77
– Show goes on: Back-door wins? Alex Bowman has shown he can hack it | Full breakdown
Get in on the action
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
– Bet on it: Betting odds for Phoenix spring race | Full BetMGM odds
– Phoenix props: Must-see matchup for Sunday’s race | Make your picks
– The Action Network: Early bets for the Ruoff Mortgage 500 | Picks and predictions
– Locked in: Why Chase Elliott is a sure bet for Phoenix | Watch the breakdown
– Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
– Featured matchups: Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin headline Phoenix | More insight
– The Action Network: Christopher Bell over Alex Bowman at Phoenix? | Who should you pick?
– Going all the way: NASCAR betting: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Fired up in Phoenix
A lot of history has been made in this Arizona desert – take a look back at some highlights and key moments at Phoenix Raceway.
– Clean air: Top 10 lap leaders at Phoenix | Who’s first?
– One for the ages: Memorable moments at Phoenix | Relive the moments
– Winner, winner: All-time wins at Phoenix | See them all
– Last spring: Martin Truex Jr. takes the win | Race recap
Fast facts
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
– Toyota is winless in the last eight races, tying their longest drought since the 2014-15 season.
– 25 drivers have finished in the top 10 through three races, tying the most through three races since 1973.
– If Kevin Harvick finishes in the top 10 Sunday at Phoenix, he will tie the record for most at a single track with 18.
– Tyler Reddick and Ross Chastain rank first and second in laps led in 2022, both leading more laps this season than their entire career prior.
– No driver has led over 100 laps yet in a single race this season.
Say what?
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
– “He’s done a great job. He’s a tremendous asset. He’s done really well. It’s really unfortunate that we don’t have the results to show because last week at Vegas I felt like we had a top 10 car and we were able to drive into the top 10 in those first 30 laps. The same at California. We were running eighth or ninth with 10 laps to go and then had an electrical issue, so we don’t have the results to kind of show what we’ve been able to do, but we’ve had really good speed and really good potential on our cars, so we’re optimistic. That’s why we want to get this fixed and get everything cleaned up as quick as we can because we feel like we’ve left a couple top 10s on the table. We feel good with this Next Gen car. It seems to fit my driving style well.” — Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, on his connection with crew chief Blake Harris.
– “Everyone on the team is very confident. We know what we’re capable of and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota are doing a great job giving us cars capable of running up front. It’s just a matter of getting to the finish without anything crazy happening and unfortunately, that has been easier said than done so far. At the end of the day, we just have to go out and execute and we’ll be fine.” — Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, on the team’s confidence after early exit at Las Vegas.
– “You just have a little more knowledge of what to expect. I still think there is plenty to learn. A race situation is a lot different than a testing or practice situation, but we’re starting off in a different place than we were the last two weeks at Fontana and Las Vegas. There’s a little bit of a notebook, but we’re still so early in the schedule we’re going to keep adding to it every race.” — Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, on the comfort of heading back to a track he tested at.