Posted on by Staff Report

A look at the drivers with the best 10-lap runs in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices at Phoenix Raceway.

PRACTICE 1 | Practice 1 results 

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 11 Denny Hamlin (P) 10 19 132.831

PRACTICE 2 | Practice 2 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 77 Erik Jones # 3 12 133.060
2 42 Kyle Larson 16 25 132.938
3 18 Kyle Busch (P) 5 14 132.871
4 48 Jimmie Johnson (P) 5 14 132.869
5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2 11 132.856
6 31 Ryan Newman 3 12 132.842
7 1 Jamie McMurray 2 11 132.800
8 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 132.729
9 27 Paul Menard 2 11 132.172
10 2 Brad Keselowski (P) 1 10 132.130
11 20 Matt Kenseth 20 29 131.989
12 19 Daniel Suarez # 1 10 131.605
13 3 Austin Dillon 33 42 131.308
14 43 Aric Almirola 20 29 131.049
15 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 10 19 130.820
16 37 Chris Buescher 27 36 130.709
17 24 Chase Elliott (P) 23 32 130.580
18 34 Landon Cassill 3 12 130.217
19 10 Danica Patrick 5 14 130.132
20 66 * David Starr(i) 4 13 127.905
21 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt 2 11 127.839
22 15 DJ Kennington 2 11 127.120

PRACTICE 3 | Practice 3 results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 48 Jimmie Johnson (P) 2 11 133.549
2 18 Kyle Busch (P) 1 10 133.548
3 11 Denny Hamlin (P) 2 11 133.344
4 78 Martin Truex Jr. (P) 2 11 133.322
5 1 Jamie McMurray 2 11 133.279
6 4 Kevin Harvick (P) 1 10 133.152
7 20 Matt Kenseth 2 11 133.105
8 5 Kasey Kahne 2 11 133.087
9 42 Kyle Larson 1 10 133.033
10 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1 10 133.020
11 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 132.971
12 21 Ryan Blaney (P) 1 10 132.898
13 2 Brad Keselowski (P) 1 10 132.869
14 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2 11 132.587
15 22 Joey Logano 2 11 132.577
16 41 Kurt Busch 1 10 132.462
17 3 Austin Dillon 1 10 132.287
18 24 Chase Elliott (P) 1 10 132.210
19 6 Trevor Bayne 2 11 131.879
20 38 David Ragan 2 11 131.695
21 43 Aric Almirola 3 12 131.608
22 34 Landon Cassill 2 11 131.544
23 19 Daniel Suarez # 3 12 131.535
24 31 Ryan Newman 7 16 131.369
25 77 Erik Jones # 2 11 131.331
26 10 Danica Patrick 3 12 131.232
27 47 AJ Allmendinger 8 17 130.915
28 27 Paul Menard 30 39 130.882
29 13 Ty Dillon # 26 35 130.412
30 95 Michael McDowell 7 16 130.319
31 23 Corey LaJoie # 1 10 129.692
32 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt 11 20 126.136
33 51 * Kyle Weatherman 21 30 123.026

 

Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
*Required to qualify on time
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series.
(P) Driver is running in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Clinch scenarios for Phoenix | Full schedule for Phoenix

JR Motorsports found itself in a pickle ahead of Saturday’s XFINITY Series Round of 8 cutoff race.

You see, their pit crews were stuck in Arkansas with a flight issue as of Saturday morning … and the race was at Phoenix Raceway, in Arizona.

This could’ve proved to be particularly challenging, considering three of their four drivers were still in the running for a championship in Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier and William Byron.

JRM co-owner, vice president and business manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller confirmed roughly an hour and a half before the race that substitute crews were on hand to take the place of the starters, and had faith that they’d rise to the occasion.

As for the drivers, Allgaier was confident the team would be just fine and advance into the Championship 4 despite this hurdle.

“No concern,” JRM driver Justin Allgaier told NBC Sports. “At the end of the day, we have the best pit crew on pit road normally, so that’s a little disappointing that those guys aren’t here because I really feel confident with those guys. But one thing that I know is everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, that we use their pit crews, and everybody here at JR Motorsports, they rally behind adversity and I know that the guys they’re going to assemble are going to be just as good. I’m looking forward to that challenge, to be honest with you.”

The veteran driver was right, as all three drivers made the cut, and will race next weekend for the XFINITY Series title. Byron even won the race, for good measure, with Allgaier pulling in 10th and Sadler 18th.

When news broke, team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. also took to Twitter to call for any and all help.

 


… and received an offer to pitch in from an unexpected source.

 

Stenhouse does have experience working with race cars — Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush used to make the driver work on cars he crashed to teach him a lesson back in the day — so if you see a familiar face on pit road Saturday afternoon, you know why.

RELATED: Stenhouse Jr. helps to fix his own car 

He may need approval from the “Cat in the Hat,” himself, but at the very least, Roush Fenway Racing’s Twitter account approves of the move.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full results | Best 10-lap times | Full schedule for Phoenix

A best lap of 134.973 mph in final practice allowed Kevin Harvick to sweep both Saturday Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series sessions at Phoenix Raceway. Harvick is an eight-time winner at the desert track and will start sixth in Sunday’s race.

Kyle Busch was second-fastest, his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota notching a top speed of 134.333 mph.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne ranked third on the speed charts in his No. 5 Chevrolet (134.328 mph), while Martin Truex Jr.’s No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota came up fourth (134.313 mph). Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five with a fast lap of 134.263 mph in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

Chase Elliott was the slowest of the NASCAR Playoff drivers, ranking 17th in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in final prep for Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).

Seven teams served practice holds in the final 50-minute session. Joey Logano (No. 22), Chase Elliott (No. 24) and Chris Buescher (No. 37) all served 15-minute holds for failing race inspection at Texas twice. Ty Dillon (No. 13), Corey LaJoie (No. 23) and Matt DiBenedetto (No. 32) also served 15-minute holds for failing qualifying inspection at Phoenix twice. Erik Jones (No. 77) was held for 30 minutes due to failing qualifying inspection three times.

PRACTICE 2 RECAP | RELATED: Full results | Best 10-lap times 

Eight-time Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick was fastest in Saturday’s opening practice at Phoenix Raceway, wheeling his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to a best lap of 134.328 mph.

Friday practice leader Chase Elliott came up second-quickest in Saturday’s first session, his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet clocking a fast lap of 134.163 mph. Elliott’s HMS teammate Kasey Kahne posted the third-fastest speed (134.083 mph) in his No. 5 Chevrolet. He was the only non-Playoff driver in the top five this session.

Martin Truex Jr. (134.058 mph) and outside pole-sitter Denny Hamlin (133.934 mph) completed the top five, respectively.

Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney (20th) and Brad Keselowski (21st) were the slowest of the eight Playoff drivers.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun early in practice, but received no damage to his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, according to the team’s Twitter account. He ended practice 15th-fastest.

XFINITY Series regular Daniel Hemric spent a portion of the 55-minute session driving the No. 13 Chevrolet of Ty Dillon, who is on baby watch for his wife, Haley. Dillon climbed back into the car for the last part of the session.

Several drivers served 15-minute practice holds during Saturday’s opening practice; The No. 23 of Corey LaJoie, the No. 32 of Matt DiBenedetto and and the No. 34 of Landon Cassill.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Championship 4 field set | Detailed breakdown

 

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Three red flags told the story of Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway.

The third of the three gave defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Sauter the chance he needed to win the race that set the field for next Friday’s championship event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

When Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Christopher Bell and Noah Gragson wrecked during an intense side-by-side duel with seven laps left, Sauter inherited the lead for a restart on Lap 149 of 150, and held off John Hunter Nemechek by .668 seconds for his second straight victory, his first at Phoenix, his fourth of the season and the 17th of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career.

“We didn’t have the best truck,” Sauter said. “We had a great truck on long runs. He (Nemechek) had fresher tires, but I knew if I could have a good Turn 1 (on the restart) and get a good launch off that corner, we’d be OK.”

By the time Sauter pulled away over the final two laps, Bell, the series leader, had clinched a spot in the Championship 4 race. So had two-time series champion Matt Crafton, who finished third in each of the first two stages to wrap up his place in the finale on points.

The second red flag followed a wild crash on the backstretch that started with trucks racing five-wide through the dogleg and wrecking when they ran out of room near the entry to Turn 3.

The first red flag was for agony and ecstasy—agony for Ben Rhodes, who was knocked out of the final four, and ecstasy for Austin Cindric, who advanced in the Playoffs to the Championship 4 and will race for the title in Miami.

 

RELATED: Rhodes, Cindric make costly contact | Rhodes’ crew chief: ‘They took the cheap shot’

After Bell and Crafton already had joined Johnny Sauter in the championship race at Homestead-Miami, the battle for the final spot took a dramatic turn when the No. 50 Chevrolet of Josh Reaume stalled on the track on Lap 122 of 150 to cause the third caution of the night.

Both Cindric and Rhodes came to pit road under the yellow, with Rhodes giving up the third position to make the stop. When the drivers lined up for a restart on Lap 130, Cindric was 11th, right behind Rhodes in ninth.

Cindric got a strong run across the start/finish line and dived to the bottom of the track. Rhodes moved down to block, and contact between the trucks sent Rhodes’ No. 27 Toyota spinning hard into the inside wall, then bouncing up the track into the No. 88 Toyota of Crafton, his ThorSport Racing teammate.

Cindric avoided damage and rolled home in ninth, earning a chance to run for the series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17 in the Ford EcoBoost 200 (on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET).

“Why would he block it?” an incredulous Cindric asked on his radio after the wreck. “Why would he block that?”

Rhodes felt the Cindric’s move was unwarranted.

“He put me in a bad place and trying to do everything I could to keep the spot, but once you file into Turn 1 we were all going to wreck, so I’m not sure that was the right move on his part,” Rhodes said. “I did everything I could to just make sure we were having a good day.

“We were in front of him all day long, and we were going to be into the final four… and I don’t know. It looked like a desperation move to me, because there’s so much racing left to do.”

RELATED: Rhodes disappointed not to advance | Nemechek comes up just short

The exit of the Toyotas of Rhodes, Bell and Gragson gave Nemechek one final chance to stay in the Playoff with a victory. Nemechek restarted second in the outside lane but couldn’t keep up with Sauter through the first two corners.

“Our truck wasn’t that great on the outside all night,” Nemechek said. “Once Johnny got to clean air, there was really nothing I could do.

“That will probably be the most disappointing second-place finish of my career. So close, yet so far.”

Bell and Gragson swapped the lead for the first 145 laps (Bell 90, Gragson 55) before Bell pitted with damage under the final caution and handed the lead to Sauter.

“Honestly, I could see it coming,” said Sauter, who was running third when Gragson lost control, slid into Bell’s Toyota and got T-boned by Justin Haley’s Chevrolet. “I got a good run into Turn 3, and then I saw them spinning.”

And with that spin of the wheel of fortune, Sauter was in Victory Lane, heading to Homestead-Miami with the same sort of momentum that carried him to the championship last year.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Playoff standings | Results | Cindric compares incident to Edwards-Logano contact

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 is set with Johnny Sauter, Christopher Bell, Matt Crafton and Austin Cindric. Those four drivers will do battle for the series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17 (8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Contact between Ben Rhodes and Austin Cindric on Friday at Phoenix Raceway shaped the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4.

The two drivers made contact on Lap 129, which led to heavy damage to the No. 27 truck of Rhodes and an exit for the ThorSport Racing driver. Rhodes had spent much of the night in the top 10 and came down pit road for tires following a Lap 121 caution in an effort to match Cindric’s fresh tires late in the race.

Rhodes and John Hunter Nemechek were both eliminated from the Truck Series Playoffs following the Round of 6 finale at Phoenix on Friday.

RELATED: Contact with Cindric, knocks Rhodes out of playoffs

The Championship 4 is made up of three of the four drivers that made it this far last year in Sauter, Bell and Crafton, with Cindric making his first appearance in the Championship 4.

Sauter, who locked into the Championship 4 with a win at Texas, is the defending series champion. The veteran driver for GMS Racing ended up with two wins in the Round of 6 as he was victorious in the Phoenix race as well to give him four for the season. Bell has five wins on the season and has held the points lead for about half the season. Crafton, a two-time champion, scored his lone win of 2017 at Eldora. The rookie Cindric scored his first national series victory at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in September.

The four advancing drivers will see their point totals bump up to 4,000. Drivers competing in the Championship 4 will not be awarded stage points at Homestead-Miami. The first driver to cross the finish line when the checkered flag is waved in the Ford EcoBoost 200 will be crowned the champion.

The four drivers advancing are:
Johnny Sauter, No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet
Christopher Bell, No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota
Matt Crafton, No. 88 ThorSport Racing Toyota
Austin Cindric, No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford

The two drivers eliminated are:
Ben Rhodes, No. 27 ThorSport Racing Toyota
John Hunter Nemechek, No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Cindric compares incident to Logano-Edwards Miami contact 

Austin Cindric got a good jump on the restart, he said, and moved his No. 19 Ford low as he held his line. Ben Rhodes saw him coming and scooted his No. 27 Toyota down the track to block Cindric from passing.

And on Lap 129 of the Lucas Oil 150, Cindric tagged the rear bumper of Rhodes’ Toyota, sending him spinning at Phoenix Raceway. Rhodes took out the No. 88 Toyota of Matt Crafton in the process – and ended Rhodes’ hopes of advancing to the Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 in Miami.

Rhodes and Cindric had been battling for the fourth and final available spot in the playoffs with just 21 laps remaining as Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter and Crafton all had already clinched spots in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Rhodes had just been one of a handful of trucks to pit following a caution on Lap 121 – along with Cindric – which resulted in him restarting just ahead of Cindric.

“He put me in a bad place and I’m trying to do everything I could to keep my spot,” Rhodes told FS1. “I’m not sure it was the right move on his part.”

RELATED: Rhodes’ crew chief calls it ‘cheap shot’

Rhodes’ crew chief, Eddie Troconis, and Crafton both had far harsher words for Cindric.

“I believe NASCAR should park them, they should penalize them,” Troconis told FS1. “They’re going to hurt someone one of these days. … It was a cheap shot from them. If they want to go like that, that’s fine.”

Said Crafton: “I told Ben, the 19 better not finish Homestead.”

WATCH: Crafton’s harsh words

Cleanup for the wreck brought the red flag for 17 minutes, 7 seconds.

Cindric compared the wreck to what happened in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finale at Miami last year when Carl Edwards went to pass Joey Logano, and crashed out of the race when Logano moved down the track to block him.

When Edwards exited his car after that wreck, he immediately went to Logano’s pit stall to ensure there were no hard feelings.

“Obviously it was nothing intentional,” Cindric told FS1. “I just held my ground. I can’t be pushed around because I know that was our chance to get by him. He was faster than us the whole night.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full starting lineup | See every car in the field

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney got what he needed in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session — but only by a thousandth of a second.

In the final round, Blaney covered the 1-mile distance at Phoenix Raceway in 26.098 seconds (137.942 mph) to edge Denny Hamlin (137.936 mph) by .001 for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Can-Am 500, the final race in the Playoff’s Round of 8 (on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET).

With the Playoff field set to be trimmed from eight drivers to four after the race at Phoenix, both Blaney and Hamlin are below the cut line. A victory for either driver would guarantee the final spot in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The same is true for Chase Elliott, whose only realistic shot at the final four is to win on Sunday. Elliott qualified fourth at 137.641 mph, one position behind Kyle Larson (137.926 mph), who fell .003 seconds short of matching the pole-winning speed.

“We got better each round, which is all you can ask for, really,” said Blaney, who won his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, the second of his career and his first at Phoenix. “I thought the last round was our best. We ran our fastest time, and it was enough. That says something strong about this team.

“I think we started second here in the spring, and to back that up and better it at a big weekend like this, where we have to perform well, that’s definitely encouraging, and it gets our weekend started off on a good foot. Hopefully, we can keep this momentum up and keep it going and see what we have for them on Sunday.”

RELATED: 1-on-1 with pole winner Ryan Blaney

Brad Keselowski, fourth in the standings and 19 points ahead of Hamlin in fifth, was the only playoff driver who failed to advance to the third round of time trials. Keselowski qualified 16th in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford, putting him in a disadvantaged position for accumulating points in the race’s first two stages.

“It’s a short race, and if there’s a track to qualify well, this is one of them,” Keselowski said. “It’s not where we want to start, but when the track gets hot and slick, we seem to run better here than when it cools off at night.

“I don’t know, maybe that’s my style. I’m not sure, but we’ll go race and see what we’ve got.”

Keselowski’s lackluster qualifying effort won’t change Hamlin’s approach to the race.

“It doesn’t alter it much,” said Hamlin, who cut the backstretch dogleg in the final round in an attempt to shorten the distance. “I didn’t think they were going to qualify that great, but they typically race pretty well here.

“I’m not going to count on anything – not until we get to the end of the first stage and I see where we’re at. I’m confident that starting right there, we should probably be up front all day.”

Elliott trails Keselowski by 49 points entering the final event in the Round of 8. Unlike Blaney and Hamlin, who could make the Championship 4 on points if Keselowski fades, Elliott is in a win-or-bust situation.

Getting the fourth pick of pit stalls should help.

“If we get our car driving good (in Saturday’s practice), it’s plenty good enough,” Elliott said of his qualifying run. “So we’ll see. It would have been nice to have that first pit box, but I think taking fourth, there are four good ones on pit road. We’ll take advantage of that and try to go get ‘em on Sunday.”

Twelfth-place qualifier Jimmie Johnson is in the same position as Elliott, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. If the seven-time champion hopes to preserve a shot at an eighth title this year, he’ll have to win on Sunday.

“We made it to the third round, and I just got really aggressive in that round trying to run a flat (26 seconds),” Johnson said. “Just got in the corner too hard on both ends and I kind of pushed up.

“So, could have been better, but I don’t know if we could have had the pole. I think we would have only been about fifth or sixth if I had got it right.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Phoenix practice results | Full Phoenix schedule

AVONDALE, Ariz. — With three berths in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race already spoken for, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have limited options if they hope to arrive at Homestead with a chance to win the series title.

In fact, they have only one realistic option if they hope to advance from the Round of 8: Win Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway (on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET).

That’s not the case in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, where 57 points separate first-place Elliott Sadler from eighth-place Ryan Reed. No XFINITY driver comes to Phoenix with a guaranteed spot in Championship 4 event.

RELATED: XFINITY Series playoff standings

Sadler, William Byron, Justin Allgaier and Brennan Poole currently are above the cut line, but Matt Tifft, Cole Custer and Daniel Hemric are five, 13 and 18 points, respectively, behind Poole in fourth — deficits that could be erased in the first two stages of Saturday’s Ticket Galaxy 200 (on NBC at 3:30 p.m. ET).

That makes the approach to the race a bit more complicated than the one facing the Cup drivers on Sunday.

“I don’t want to say take the race on the fly, but that’s kind of how you’ve got to approach it first,” said Hemric, who drives the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “When we get on the track here, how our speed is will translate into the approach and the plan for the rest of the weekend. Depending on where you are on that side of it, that determines how aggressive you can be with your strategies and your tires and how many tires and all that stuff.

“Knowing that there are four spots — at any second, a flat tire, somebody spins and gets into the fence, anything that can happen … the next thing you know, it can bring a little more life to somebody else’s day, and it’s like ‘Oh, gosh, we’ve got hope,’ and that hope brings intensity and brings aggression.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson won his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with a serendipitous victory in the Championship 4 race.

This year, Johnson will need more than serendipity. He’ll need what amounts to a miracle just to earn a shot at a record eighth title.

Johnson comes to Phoenix Raceway eighth in the series standings, last among the drivers trying to survive the playoff’s Round of 8. With one berth available in the Championship 4, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is 51 points behind fourth-place Brad Keselowski with no realistic chance to qualify for the finale on points.

Complicating Johnson’s problem are a year-long search for speed. During a season that has produced a career-low four top-five finishes, Johnson’s current winless streak has reached 21 races. That said, it’s hardly surprising that Johnson isn’t brimming with optimism about his chances at the one-mile flat track in the Sonoran Desert.

“We’re in a must-win-situation,” Johnson said on Friday morning before opening practice at Phoenix. “We wish we were in a better points scenario, but that’s not the case. This team thrives on pressure and adversity, and we’re certainly in the position right now. When we look at the last two or three races here, we’ve had very competitive cars. 

“The effort was made this week to make sure we brought the best bullet—second to none—and I’m really proud of my team and the way that all of Hendrick Motorsports is working together to make sure that the No. 24 car (of teammate Chase Elliott) and the No. 48 car have their best chances to win here and move on and stay alive for the championship. We’ll find out Sunday afternoon.”

Johnson has a formidable streak on the line in this year’s playoff. Since NASCAR adopted a postseason format in 2004, Johnson has won at least one race in the final 10 each year. He has two races left to keep the string going.