Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Elliott tops opening practice | Full schedule for Phoenix

Desperate times call for … well, you know the saying.

A fistful of drivers will find themselves debating if such desperate measures should be taken in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 cutoff race (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and two of them — who coincidentally were involved in such a scenario in the round opener at Martinsville — pondered the subject Friday at Phoenix Raceway.

Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, whose run-in two weeks ago sparked an ethics debate among NASCAR Nation, are two of the five drivers looking to secure the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend. With title hopes on the line, will drivers do whatever it takes at the 1-mile Phoenix track that tends to race like a short track?

RELATED: Tempers flare between Elliott, Hamlin | Hamlin apologizes

“Who knows how it’s going to turn out?” Hamlin said after placing third in opening practice. “Honestly, there’s five of us that probably feel like we need to, or there’s four of us that need to feel like we need to win to get in. … It definitely has the potential to be pretty crazy on restarts knowing that you have some agendas out there that will be a win or nothing.

“I mean, you do everything you can. I sensed how important it was in the first race of this round, much less the last race of this round. I mean, you try to do everything you can to win. There’s several different ways to do it. We’ve seen any way from guys just winning races to something like Ryan Newman did with one lap to go a few years ago. Drivers become desperate when you know that this could be your final lap contending for a championship.”

Hamlin is referring to Ryan Newman’s split-second decision to move the non-playoff-eligible No. 42 car of Kyle Larson out of the way in order to advance to Miami via points in the inaugural year (2014) of the “win-and-get-in” format.

It was arguably the first instance of a driver putting this “do-or-die” mentality to use under those rules, and Larson seemed to understand that Newman was racing for a championship, and he was not. There weren’t any major hurt feelings.

MORE: Larson: I understand Newman’s situation

That’s not, however, what we saw between Elliott and Hamlin at Martinsville, and if it comes down to moving a fellow playoff driver, sparks could fly.

“Well, I think it depends on who is where and what the situation is and what guys are racing for what spots. I mean we have seen that here before,” said Elliott, who enters the weekend seventh in points to Hamlin’s fifth. “I think if you are in a position that it is going to help you, I think you’ve got to be pretty aggressive. I think there is definitely a line as to how far you want to push it.

“Again, the flip side of that is if you are racing for 10th, I’m not going to put myself in a bad spot to run ninth. I think it just kind of all depends on where you are and what situation you are put in and what it means to you to have that extra spot.”

MORE: Full playoff standings

All drivers should be ready to move or get moved Sunday, because the clock’s ticking and glory is there for the taking — potentially for the most aggressive guy out there.

Then again, a win for one of these five drivers (with Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson rounding out the five) could make this all a moot point. If you can’t catch a driver, you can’t bump him.

“I think it’s tough to say what the right thing to do is,” Hamlin said. “But we’ll just, throughout the next two days, try to make our cars faster and faster.

“If we can do that, then it’ll take care of itself.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Kenseth through the years | Full schedule for Phoenix

Nearly two decades ago, a pair of fresh-faced drivers stared back at the many subscribers of “ESPN the Magazine” as they pulled the Spring 2000 issue out of their respective mailboxes.

“Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth are on your tail,” the tagline read.

Now, they’re on their way out.

After more than 600 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races together, Earnhardt and Kenseth find themselves with but a pair of foreseeable races remaining in their Cup-level racing careers in Sunday’s Round of 8 cutoff at Phoenix Raceway (2:30 p.m ET, NBC) and next weekend’s Championship 4 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

Neither of the accomplished drivers are among those racing for a title. Right now, it’s about race trophies – and memories, which the duo have shared throughout their careers despite never racing for the same team.

MORE: Drivers with 600 career starts

It kind of all started with that “First kid you meet in kindergarten becomes your best friend for life” principle, way back in the mid-1990s.

“(Our friendship has) really kind of stayed the same,” Earnhardt said Friday afternoon at Phoenix, of his perennial motor coach-lot neighbor and cycling pal. “Matt engaged me early in our careers in the XFINITY Series and I was really shy; didn’t have an understanding of how to interact with my peers and competitors that well. I was just trying to do well.

“I was really nervous coming up into the ranks, but Matt engaged me and we became friends through conversations with him really quickly. We were both sort of coming into the XFINITY Series at the same time and then we went into the Cup Series together. We did a lot of things together. We supported each other and enjoyed seeing each other have success.”

Their mutual success blossomed in the new millennium after starting as rookies in 2000 – as foretold by that ESPN cover – with 64 Monster Energy Series wins combined.

Earnhardt edged Kenseth for a pair of XFINITY Series titles in 1998 and 1999 (with the latter earning a runner-up finish in ’98 and a third-place result in ’99), but it was Kenseth who earned the only premier-series title between the two – and with equipment that may not have been top-of-the-line, no less.

“Matt won his championship in 2003. I bet he was probably down 40 horsepower to everybody else. Roush (Fenway Racing) probably wouldn’t admit it, wouldn’t like to hear that, but he was just an amazing driver,” said Earnhardt, who finished third in the standings that year – the closest he’d come to a title.

“We beat him in the championship in the XFINITY Series. We had a whole lot more race car than he did, and he ran us pretty hard. I felt like he did a lot in those two years with very little. … I had always been impressed with his talent and his ability. He was as good a driver as anybody that is in the series today.”

While that may be true – and Kenseth’s 14 wins over the past four years alone indicate it is – Joe Gibbs Racing has plans to move on from its current, 45-year-old driver of the No. 20 Toyota to usher in its future with 21-year-old Erik Jones, currently driving for Furniture Row Racing.

RELATED: Kenseth to step away

After announcing last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway that he’d be stepping away from driving in 2018 – without going so far as actually calling it a “retirement” – it’s evident that we could be seeing the last of a pair of superstars racing at the sport’s highest level.

And, given all the fanfare, gifts and recognition thrown at Earnhardt and the hushed, humbling nature of Kenseth’s announcement, they’re going out just the way they came in.

“One funny thing that we talk about; we were getting our picture made for the cover of ESPN magazine back when we were coming into the Cup series and everybody knew that Matt had so much potential, so they had me up front and then they kind of had him behind me,” Earnhardt said. “The image was to express that there is all this hoopla about me coming in and there is all this attention on me, but you better watch this guy Matt, that was sort of what the image was trying to express. This guy is one you need to keep your eye on and he is lurking over my shoulder.

“But, Matt was really frustrated because the photographer kept sliding Matt a little further and a little further behind me. He kept getting more and more angry and he is whispering in my ear how pissed off he was at this photographer because he was like ‘they can’t even freaking see me.’ And I’m like ‘Matt the story, really … the image is to sort of show you as the real threat,’ you know, and people are talking about me and they should be talking about you. But, we still talk about that today.”

MORE: Kenseth’s career highlights

It’s hard not to look at their relationship and see a brotherly bond, Kenseth being the older, wiser sibling and Junior, well, being the junior sibling that tends to get all the attention. It’s a friendship that has benefitted each tremendously, and one that will soldier on – even as one continues to soak up the spotlight in an NBC Sports commentator role and the other sinks heavily and happily into a deep family life, even if he’d still like to be racing.

Both have children on the way – Earnhardt’s first and Kenseth’s fifth – and plenty of photos will likely be exchanged, even if Kenseth was slightly miffed and gave Junior a hard time for finding out about wife Amy’s pregnancy via social media and not through a text.

That kind of humor is what Junior loves about his friend, and the overall ‘Matt Kenseth package’ is something he draws from.

“Matt, I love his sense of humor. I love the person he is and the person he has become, the father he is. And so, you know, he has always had an influence on me as far as how I race or the person I want to be or become,” Earnhardt said.

“All us drivers have terrible egos and we can hardly stand each other and being around each other sometimes, but I’ve never felt that way about Matt. Matt has never done anything where I have felt like he was inflating his ego. He has always just been Matt and was such a pleasure to race with and to know and be friends with. So, I hope that … and I know we will … he is more than likely going to be hard to find once he is out of the race car, but I hope we can spend time together and we will definitely remain friends.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Danica Patrick will become the first female in NASCAR history to make 250 combined starts in the three NASCAR national series when the green flag drops on Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver will log her 189th start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in Sunday’s Round of 8 finale (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Patrick also has 61 starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Patrick will not return to SHR next year; earlier this week, the team announced Aric Almirola would drive its No. 10 Ford in 2018. Patrick, who earned the Daytona 500 Coors Light Pole Award in 2013, has not announced her plans for 2018.

MORE: Patrick’s career in pictures

 DRIVER  COMBINED NATIONAL SERIES STARTS
 Danica Patrick 249
 Jennifer Jo Cobb 178
 Patty Moise 138
 Shawna Robinson 72
 Johanna Long 66
 Kelly Sutton 54
 Tammy Jo Kirk 47
 Erin Crocker 39
Deborah Renshaw 38
Janet Guthrie 33

 

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Full schedule for Phoenix

Chase Elliott landed atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard in Friday’s first practice at Phoenix Raceway.

Elliott notched a fast lap of 137.368 mph in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet on the 1-mile Arizona track. The 85-minute session was the opening tune-up for Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius), the final event before next weekend’s championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Martin Truex Jr. registered the second-fastest lap in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota, putting a 137.242 mph speed on the board. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney rounded out a clean sweep of the top five by postseason-eligible drivers.

Sunday’s 312-lap race is the final event in the Playoffs’ Round of 8. After Sunday’s contest, the title-eligible field will be trimmed from eight to the final four who will compete for the series crown.

MORE: Full bubble analysis

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Truex have already clinched three of the berths in the final; Busch and Harvick advanced with earlier Round of 8 wins, with Truex clinching on the basis of points. The five remaining drivers — Brad Keselowski, Hamlin, Blaney, Elliott and Jimmie Johnson — enter the Phoenix race vying for the final available spot.

Four teams had 15 minutes deducted from their practice time as a penalty for being late to technical inspection last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Those with time deductions:

• No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Trevor Bayne
• No. 33 Circle Sport-TMG Chevrolet of Jeffrey Earnhardt
• No. 37 JTG-Daugherty Racing Chevrolet of Chris Buescher
• No. 72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet of Cole Whitt

Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Monster Energy Series is scheduled at 6:45 p.m. ET (NBCSN).

Posted on by Staff Report

West Coast, best coast? When it comes to the culinary scene on the NASCAR circuit, the above video paints a pretty compelling case.

Kim Coon joins a host of Toyota drivers to discuss some West Coast favorites. Whether it’s burgers at In-N-Out (Animal Style, please), authentic tacos or homemade salsa, drivers on the road and fans at the track alike are all well-fed out in Phoenix.

Check out Kim’s full adventure above, in a NASCARnivore video that initially aired earlier this year on NASCAR’s West Coast swing.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team owner Barney Visser underwent successful bypass surgery Nov. 6 following a heart attack suffered two days earlier, according to a release from his Furniture Row Racing organization.

Visser will be unable to attend the final two races of the NASCAR Playoffs, Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR) at Phoenix Raceway and the Nov. 19 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

His No. 78 Toyota team, with driver Martin Truex Jr., already has earned one of the available Championship 4 positions. Truex will compete for the championship along with Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) and a fourth driver to be determined Sunday in Phoenix.

According to the team, Visser said he was not feeling well and experienced numbness before checking into a hospital Nov. 4.

“It’s a chance of a lifetime to be in position to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship,” Visser said. “I hope to be in touch with Martin and Cole (Pearn, crew chief) leading up to Homestead and participate without too much excitement.”

Visser is expected to be released from the hospital by the end of the week or early next week.

A former paratrooper, Visser served 11 months in the 173rd Airborne Brigade during the Vietnam War.

He became a NASCAR team owner in 2005 and fielded a team on a limited basis from 2005-07 before going full-time in 2008.

Regan Smith won Furniture Row’s first Monster Energy Cup Series race, at Darlington, in 2011. Truex, who became the team’s driver in 2014, has 12 wins, including seven this season.

MORE FRR: Truex Jr., Sherry Pollex through the years

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Playoff standings | Bubble Watch: Analyzing Phoenix | Full schedule for Phoenix 

Five drivers are fighting for one spot this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick already have their title race tickets in hand, leaving one more driver to complete the Championship 4. One former champion currently holds down the final spot. The defending champion is in a must-win situation. And the young guys are champing at the bit to jump back above the cutline. Take a look at how the bubble drivers fare at Phoenix heading into this weekend’s race.

Brad Keselowski is in best spot, but not a lock

How Denny Hamlin can deliver at Phoenix

Ryan Blaney needs to find a jewel in the desert

Chase Elliott can’t be counted out at Phoenix

Defending champ Jimmie Johnson is the best of the rest

Posted on by Staff Report

Currently fifth on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoff Grid – five points behind Austin Cindric for the final Championship 4 points berth – Ben Rhodes has some work to do to race for the series crown.

He’ll need to make up that ground in Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 Round of 6 cutoff race at Phoenix Raceway (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

In two career starts at the one-mile track, Rhodes has finished fifth (2014) and 14th (2015). He enters Friday’s race after posting Round of 6 finishes of ninth at Martinsville and 18th at Texas.

“To beat everyone else sounds simple, but it’s going to be quite the challenge,” Rhodes said. “ThorSport Racing has given me some unbelievably fast Toyotas in the past, so I know I can count on that same speed Friday night. 

“It will come down to keeping (my truck) clean, having great pit stops, and running up front – especially ahead of the 19 (Austin Cindric) – all night. I know we are more than capable of getting a win, and I’ll do what it takes to make that happen.” 

Posted on by DraftKings

Rankings below are based on a mixture of expected output and DraftKings’ NASCAR salaries for that day. The ordering is not based on highest projected fantasy totals, but rather by the value of each driver.

(FPPK = average fantasy points per $1,000 of salary.)

1. Brad Keselowski ($9,500) – He can point his way to the finals, but if another contender (not already locked in) wins this weekend, then he’s out. Keselowski has to approach Phoenix as a must-win race. The Penske cars have been competitive at the short, flat tracks. A win is within the realm of reason. (4.5 FPPK)

2. Jimmie Johnson ($9,800) – It’s win-or-go-home time, but no other driver is better equipped to handle this situation. In last year’s championship race, Johnson started in the back and won. It’s been years since Johnson has won at Phoenix, but that interruption was due to Kevin Harvick’s excellence. No one will be surprised to see Johnson in victory lane on Sunday. (3.7 FPPK)

3. Chase Elliott ($9,300) – There are a handful of drivers battling for the last playoff spot. Elliot needs to win to advance to the championship race. Among the final contenders, Elliot was the fastest at Phoenix in the spring race. (4.3 FPPK)

4. Ryan Newman ($7,100) – If you go back through the last seven Phoenix races and recreate an optimal fantasy lineup for each race, Newman is in six of those lineups. In those six races, he averaged 42 fantasy points and his worst finish was 12th. (4.2 FPPK)

5. Martin Truex, Jr. ($11,300) – All season long, Truex has made it a mission to earn playoff stage points by winning stages. It paid off last week, and he advanced to the championship. This week means nothing. Why worry about running up front at Phoenix? This team needs to focus on Homestead. (6.5 FPPK)

6. Kyle Busch ($11,100) – Minutes before the Texas race, Busch said he was already looking ahead to Homestead and that he wasn’t even thinking about the Texas race. He proceeded to wreck on the first lap. Busch had the best car at Phoenix in the spring, but is his head in this race? (5.6 FPPK)

7. Kyle Larson ($10,200) – After his third DNF in a row, the dejected young star said he could not wait for the season to be over. He has talent. He has the car. He does not have confidence. It will be hard to click his name this weekend. (5.1 FPPK)

8. Aric Almirola ($6,100) – No driver with a salary less than $8,000 can match Ryan Newman’s fantasy point consistency. The next closest driver is Almirola. In the last five Phoenix races, Almirola has earned a top-15 fantasy score four times. (4.6 FPPK)

9. Kevin Harvick ($10,000) – Rodney Childress (Harvick’s crew chief) admits that his team no longer has an edge at Phoenix. Whether it’s due to a new tire does not really matter. The numbers are clear; this is no longer Harvick’s track. It’s a meaningless race because Harvick already has advanced to the championship. (4.5 FPPK)

10. Joey Logano ($9,100) – He wasn’t the fastest in the spring Phoenix practice, but he started the race on the pole. He led 82 laps before a penalty sent him deep into the field. From there, he was unable to battle forward and blew a tire in traffic. (3.4 FPPK)

11. AJ Allmendinger ($6,400) – Phoenix is not Allmendinger’s best short, flat track, but it’s still a short, flat track. He has a top-20 finish in 12 of his 16 trips to the desert. A top-20 finish is exactly what fantasy NASCAR players need from a driver in the $6,000 tier. (3.6 FPPK)

12. Ryan Blaney ($8,200) – He’s a longshot to make it to the championship race, but he’s made it this far. Blaney has been a top-10 driver at the short tracks all year, but he can’t consistently put together a full race. (3.1 FPPK)

13. Denny Hamlin ($8,900) – He’s known as a short-track racer, and he’s racing for a win. The concern is that top-10 drivers can’t hide from other top-10 drivers. They find each other. Hamlin can’t race fearing Chase Elliott’s revenge, but fantasy NASCAR players can fear payback. (4.2 FPPK)

14. Erik Jones ($8,300) – One of the six drivers in the optimal daily fantasy NASCAR lineup in the spring was Jones. He started eighth, his average position was eighth and he finished eighth. Every pick doesn’t have to be a home run. (3.8 FPPK)

15. Matt Kenseth ($9,200) – If you throw out the first short-track race of the season, Kenseth has the fifth-best average running position at the short tracks. The problem with that is Phoenix was the first short-track race of the season. What was the problem at Phoenix? He wrecked. (3.7 FPPK)

16. Jamie McMurray ($8,500) – Other than two bad races at Martinsville, McMurray has been his normal self at the short tracks. His average running position at the short tracks is 14th and that includes the two Martinsville races. (3.2 FPPK)

17. Clint Bowyer ($8,700) – Normally, the price tag on Bowyer doesn’t work. This isn’t a normal week. Truex, Harvick and Kyle Busch might treat this race as an exhibition. This opens the door for Bowyer. He has three straight top-10 finishes at short tracks. (3.2 FPPK)

18. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ($8,000) – Last fall, Alex Bowman scored the most fantasy points at Phoenix in the No. 88 car. Junior scored the second-most points in the spring 2016 race, and he won the fall 2015 race. Before you lock him in, though, remember his car was not very good in this year’s spring race. (2.9 FPPK)

19. Kurt Busch ($7,900) – It’s top-10 or bust for Busch this season. At the short tracks, Busch has four top-10 finishes and six finishes outside of the top-20. Before finishing 25th in the spring race, he had a streak of five straight top-10 finishes at Phoenix. (3.0 FPPK)

20. Daniel Suarez ($7,500) – Top-10s are top-10s, but Suarez was not a seventh-place car at Phoenix. His average running position was 20th. He skipped the final pit and snuck away with a top-10. In all fairness, that was just his fourth Monster Energy Series  race ever. He can earn a legit top-10 this weekend. (3.9 FPPK)

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LOS ANGELES — The Monster Energy Bellator MMA Fight Series closes its 2017 season with a fourth and final stop at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on Sunday, Nov. 19. Set to take place during Ford Championship Weekend, fighters will take to the cage Sunday morning ahead of the final race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs that will determine the next Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion.

Just hours prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, Nov. 19, the Monster Energy Bellator MMA Fight Series will feature MMA action throughout the morning beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET at the Monster Energy Fan Zone at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the display area on the north side of the track. Admission to the event is free and open to fans.

Additionally, on Saturday, Nov. 18 from 1-2 p.m. ET, fans will have the opportunity to meet former world champ and Monster Energy athlete Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, as well as former PRIDE and STRIKEFORCE titleholder Dan “Hendo” Henderson, at the Monster Energy Fan Zone at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the display area on the north side of the track. Admission to the event is free and open to fans.

“The Monster Energy Bellator MMA Fight Series has been a huge success this year and I’m looking forward to heading to Homestead-Miami Speedway during NASCAR’s championship weekend for another great event to end 2017,” said Bellator President Scott Coker. “This is a monumental weekend for Monster Energy, including Hans Molenkamp, Tom Norwood, Cody Dresser, Mitch Covington and their entire team, as they close out their first season with NASCAR, and I’m excited to once again make Bellator MMA a part of the fan experience.”

Through Bellator MMA, alongside longstanding partner Monster Energy, mixed martial arts will be included as a pre-race activation exclusively for fans in attendance. The lineup on Sunday will consist of four MMA bouts featuring some of the best regional up-and-coming talent, with the main event prospects in consideration to be signed to a multi-fight Bellator MMA contract.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway takes place Sunday, November 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Tickets to the race are available at www.Homestead-MiamiSpeedway.com or by calling 305-230-5255.

Updated Monster Energy Bellator MMA Fight Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway Fight Card:

Featherweight Main Event: Matt Wagy (10-4, Delray Beach, Fla.) vs. Kester Mark (5-4, Hollywood, Fla.)

Middleweight Bout: Johnny Eblen (2-0, Boca Raton, Fla.) vs. Emmanuel Verdier (3-1, Miami, Fla.)

Women’s Strawweight Amateur Bout: Thais Souza (0-1, Deerfield Beach, Fla.) vs. Ashley Samples (0-2, Athens, Ga.)

Featherweight Bout: Landon Stewart (Pro Debut, Miami, Fla.) vs. Rudial Mora (Pro Debut, Miami, Fla.)

Visit Bellator.com for details.

*Event schedule subject to change.