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Using a bold, three-wide move, Chase Elliott snatched the lead less than 10 laps into Stage 2 in Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway and was ahead at Lap 150 to lead Stage 2.

Elliott earned 10 race points immediately toward the driver standings and one playoff point for the 10-race championship run, provided he qualifies for it in September. This marked the first time this season a Chevrolet had won a race stage.

Polesitter Joey Logano held off a fast-charging Kyle Larson to lead all but one of the 75 laps in the opening stage to win Stage 1. Like Elliott, he also earned 10 points in the driver standings and one playoff point. The top-10 drivers also earned points in both stages, as distributed in the tables below.


The race winner will receive 40 points and five playoff points.

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RELATED: Full race results | Updated standings | Detailed breakdown

Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford team could face penalties this week after his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride failed post-race inspection at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday night.

 

The No. 2 failed weights and measures after Keselowski piloted it to a fifth-place finish.

 

No other cars failed post-race tech inspection. Ryan Newman’s No. 31 race-winning Chevrolet, Kyle Larson’s runner-up No. 42 entry and Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford will all head back to NASCAR’s R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further routine inspection.

 

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AVONDALE, Ariz. — When the winner of Sunday’s Camping World 500 was announced, officials might have thought for a moment that they got the wrong envelope, a la Warren Beatty at the Oscars.

 

But, no, there was no mistake. Ryan Newman was the unexpected winner of the fourth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season after a late caution gave his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team the chance to break a drought dating to 2013.

 

Staying out on old tires for a two-lap overtime run at Phoenix Raceway, Newman pulled away when eventual fourth-place finisher Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (who stayed out during the final caution) and runner-up Kyle Larson (who pitted for two tires) got together in the first corner after the final restart on Lap 313.

 

Newman’s 18th career victory was his second at Phoenix but his first since he won the Brickyard 400 on July 28, 2013, driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. The win was RCR’s first since Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag on Nov. 10, 2013 at Phoenix before departing for Stewart-Haas the following year.


RELATED: See all of Newman’s wins


"I’ve lost count — that’s how long it’s been," Newman said of a winless streak that had reached 127 races. "What a gutsy call by (crew chief) Luke (Lambert). I called for two tires, and he called for none.

 

"I’ve won more races with no tires than I have with four. I’m just proud of these guys. We had a good car all day. We kept it out of trouble and collected in the end."

 

Lambert entered the media center for his post-race interview with the words, "I’m a relieved individual," a sentiment Newman clearly shared.

 

"It’s sweet for so many reasons,” Newman said. "This is the longest drought I’ve ever had. A hard-fought battle, a hard-fought race, a hard-fought four years."

 

Newman led a trio who stayed on the track after polesitter Joey Logano’s blown right front tire sent his No. 22 Ford into the Turn 1 wall to cause the eighth and final restart of the afternoon. Stenhouse and Martin Truex Jr. restarted on old tires in second and third, respectively, with Larson in fourth place in the outside lane with fresh rubber on the right side of his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

 

Larson liked his position — until he and Stenhouse collided in Turn 1.

 

"I knew we were in the best spot," said Larson, who finished second for the third straight race and for the fourth time in five events, dating back to last year’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "Just, yeah, turned across Ricky’s nose and got sideways, killed both of our runs off of (Turn) 2, and allowed Newman to get out on us. …

 

"Hindsight is always 20/20, but I should have went a lane up in (Turns) 1 and 2. I should have known to just stay close to Newman. That’s what I wish I would have done."

RELATED: Larson holds points lead post-Phoenix

Larson, who took over the series lead, crossed the finish line .312 seconds behind Newman. Kyle Busch ran third, followed by Stenhouse, Brad Keselowski, and Harvick. Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones came home seventh and eighth, respectively, each scoring a career-first top 10 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

 

The caution for Logano’s blown tire, the result of a melted bead, stopped Busch’s march to Victory Lane. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota had a lead of nearly three seconds over Larson when Logano hit the wall.

 

"Right on time," Busch said sarcastically, after the yellow flag was displayed with five laps left.

 

Told it was for Logano — with whom Busch came to blows last week after a last-lap wreck at Las Vegas — Busch said, "Trust me — I know."

RELATED: Busch scores first top-five finish of 2017

 

Busch restarted fifth (from the inside lane) for the final two-lap run and got bottled up behind Larson and Stenhouse.

 

"We really needed the outside like Larson had," Busch said after the race. "Overall, we should be proud of our run today and we will move on."

 

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove | Newman takes Phoenix


After Ryan Newman held off a hard-charging Kyle Larson at Phoenix Raceway to snap a 127-race winless drought on Sunday, a photo of the two began circulating on Twitter after the race — a photo that is nearly two decades old.

 

 

When we saw this, our faces matched that of (a really, especially) young Larson, who was a mere 7 years old when the photo was snapped in October 1999. 

 

At least Newman was of legal drinking age at just shy of 22, but Larson, man. We can’t get over the fact that the skinny kid on the right, missing his two front teeth, was battling the guy on the left for a win in 2017 — the third consecutive week he’s finished second. 

 

While Larson finished runner-up for the third consecutive race, we all came away winners after this photo popped up in our timelines.

 

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RELATED: Phoenix race results | Series standings 
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AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson figured he was in the best possible position, sitting in fourth place with two fresh tires and facing a two-lap shootout on a hot, slick Phoenix Raceway track.

Turns out that wasn’t the case. Contact on the restart with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. allowed Ryan Newman to slip away and leave the Chip Ganassi Racing driver second for the third time in four races this season and the fourth time since last year’s season-ending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Sunday’s Camping World 500 was the first of two stops at the 1-mile track this season for the series.

"This one stings because I felt like I was in the best spot out of anybody there to line up fourth on two tires," Larson said afterward. "I just turned across Ricky’s nose and got sideways, killed both of our runs off (Turn) 2 and allowed Newman to get out on us."

Larson also finished second at Atlanta, where he led seven laps, and Las Vegas, where he led none. On a hot day in the Arizona desert, he led three laps but ran in the top five for practically the entire day. Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray finished 15th but also ran higher for much of the day.

A crash by Team Penske’s Joey Logano on Lap 308 of the scheduled 312-lap race set the stage for the two-lap shootout and sent much of the field scurrying to pit road.

Newman, Stenhouse and Martin Truex Jr. opted to remain on the track, gambling on old tires and two miles of asphalt.

Larson, first off pit road, lined up on the outside behind Newman; Stenhouse was on the inside with Truex behind. But Newman was starting to pull away when Larson tried to squeeze his way low entering Turn 1, only to make contact with Stenhouse in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Both drivers were able to hang on — no harm, no foul — although Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) shot past Stenhouse on the final lap to grab third.


RELATED: This Kyle Larson-Ryan Newman photo is best of all time


The finish put Larson, 24, on top of the points standings — he leads Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) 184-178 after four races.

"It’s really, really cool to be the points leader right now," Larson said. "That was a goal of mine going into today. So thanks to everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing for all your hard work.

"We’ll hopefully continue to have this speed in our race cars and maybe close some of these races out."

Larson is the first driver since Carl Edwards in 2011 to finish second in three consecutive races. Edwards closed the season with runner-up finishes at Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.

Larson won his first (and to date, only) Monster Energy Series race last year, at Michigan. Sunday’s race at Phoenix was just his 115th career start in the series.

Second place isn’t winning, but he said he’s yet to grow tired of the result.

"We’ve never had that speed," Larson said. "It’s a lot of fun right now. I’m sure if I ran second for the next eight weeks, yeah, it’s probably going to grow old.

"But, yeah, it’s so cool to be one of the fastest cars every week. I feel like I’ve got a shot to win every week at a race track.

"It’s weird running all these seconds. It took me like three years to finish second in sprint cars. Now I finish second like every week, so (it’s) a little weird but maybe we’ll turn them into wins soon."

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AVONDALE, Ariz. — Erik Jones’ No. 77 Furniture Row Racing team did everything right in Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway — except for predicting how many cars would take two tires versus four on the final pit stop before overtime.



Jones was running fifth when a melted bead caused Joey Logano’s right front tire to explode and sent the No. 22 Ford of the polesitter into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 307 of a scheduled 312. Jones took four tires under the ensuing caution and restarted 14th.



He was able to regain six positions in the two-lap overtime that took the race to Lap 314, but for the third straight week, Jones finished lower than where he had run for much of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. The eighth-place finish nevertheless was the first top-10 of Jones’ fledgling Monster Energy Series career.



"When you feel like you have a fifth-place car, you want to run fifth, but it just didn’t work out at the end," Jones said. "We had a lot of guys take two (tires). A lot more than I thought would. A lot more, obviously, than (crew chief) Chris (Gayle) thought would.



"We had a great restart and were able to get back up to eighth. Not too much gain, not too much loss. A solid day for us. Definitely the best day overall for the 5-Hour Energy Camry. Just well put together. We got better all day, had good pit stops, good on pit road, executed well and did everything we needed to do to run in the top 10."



Jones was one of two Sunoco rookies to get a maiden top 10 on Sunday. Fellow Toyota driver Daniel Suarez finished seventh, gaining five positions after the final restart.


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MORE FROM PHOENIX: Race results | Standings | Detailed breakdown


Though Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t win Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix Raceway by staying out on old tires — as Ryan Newman did — the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford did hold onto fourth place during a two-lap overtime.



That Stenhouse was able to score his eighth career top five is emblematic of improved performance at Roush Fenway Racing, but Stenhouse says there’s still work to do.



"I have definitely seen a difference in the quality (of the RFR cars)," Stenhouse said. "We still have a long way to go, but we’ve made a big improvement from last year, especially the end of last year. In Atlanta, we had a really good car and got the right front fender tore off on the last restart. I thought we would finish fifth to 10th there. I thought we had a 15th place car in Vegas and had an issue with the axle at the end.



"Today, I thought we had a 10th-place car on the long run and took a gamble, and were able to get a better finish there at the end. I think our cars and the attitude at the shop is really good. (Teammate) Trevor (Bayne) has some solid finishes here in the first few races, and that’s something encouraging and something to build off of. I feel like we have had speed, just haven’t gotten the finishes for the speed we have. It’s better to have speed and have to figure out how to get the finishes."

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Now that he isn’t manning the wheel of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford — that duty now belongs to Clint Bowyer, currently 12th in points — three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champ Tony Stewart has a little more free time on his hands to get out in the community and do some fun stuff.

"Smoke" was on hand at the Liberty University baseball game on Friday, tossing out the first pitch before the Flames took down High Point, 11-1. 

So, how did the pitch go for the southpaw?

Whoa — 200 mph on the radar gun, eh? Seems a little generous, but you know how biased those home-field score keepers tend to be.