Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Updated Chase Grid
SHOP: Chase gear

Sunday is the finale of the Round of 8 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and it’s desperation time for a few drivers. Sixteen drivers came into this year’s Chase with high hopes for a championship, but we’re one race away from cutting the field to the Championship 4 today at Phoenix International Raceway.

One driver who won’t have to worry about his place in the Championship 4 is Carl Edwards, who came on strong to win at Texas and join Jimmie Johnson to occupy two of the four spots for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

 

The points battle entering Phoenix is the tightest we’ve seen at this point in the postseason. Two spots are available for six drivers, four of which are separated by two total points. That doesn’t even count Kevin Harvick, who is further behind but the all-time wins leader at the 1-mile track in the desert.

Who’s hot: Joey Logano dominated the first half of the race at Texas en route to leading 178 laps and finishing second. Logano, who won at Talladega, has four straight top-10 finishes in the Chase and is narrowly above the cutline.

Who’s not: Kurt Busch heads to Phoenix in last place among the Round of 8 drivers after a 20th-place finish at Texas where he was one lap down. While Busch has enjoyed four straight top-10 finishes at Phoenix, he hasn’t won there since 2005. He’ll probably need to win there this time in order to advance to the Championship 4.

Four in, four out: Here’s a look at the Chase bubble, with four drivers being eliminated after the penultimate race of the season, Nov. 13 at Phoenix International Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Chase Bubble Watch

Standing Driver Points Differential from Cut-off Starting spot at Phoenix
1. Jimmie Johnson *Locked in with Martinsville win 17th
2. Carl Edwards *Locked in with Texas win 11th
3. Joey Logano +1 4th
4. Kyle Busch +1 19th
———— CUT-OFF LINE ———— ———-
5. Matt Kenseth -1 10th
6. Denny Hamlin -2 5th
7. Kevin Harvick -18 6th
8. Kurt Busch -34 12th

Up next: Can-Am 500, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2:30 p.m. ET, Phoenix International Raceway (NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

 

Who it favors
Most wins: Kevin Harvick (8), Jimmie Johnson (4)
Best driver rating: Jimmie Johnson (112.0), Kevin Harvick (111.2)
Best average finish: Jimmie Johnson (7.8), Kevin Harvick (10.3)

Who it hurts
Worst percentage of top 10s: Matt Kenseth (22.2), Joey Logano (53.3)
Worst driver rating: Matt Kenseth (88.1), Joey Logano (90.2)
Worst average finish: Matt Kenseth (16.3), Joey Logano (14.0)

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

SHOP: Logano gear | Chase gear
MORE: Buy tickets for Homestead-Miami Championship Weekend

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Joey Logano earned a return trip to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway after a year’s absence.

Kyle Busch will head to the South Florida track to try to defend his 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title as well.

And Kevin Harvick won’t be competing for the title for the first time since NASCAR debuted its elimination Chase format in 2014. Needing a victory to advance, as it turned out, Harvick finished fourth in Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

In a race that featured spectacular side-by-side racing and a substitute driver who dominated the first 250 laps of the event after starting from the pole, Logano beat Busch to the finish line by .587 seconds in the second of two overtimes.

Logano’s first victory at the 1-mile track couldn’t have been timelier. The win — his third of the season and the 17th of his career — gave Logano an automatic berth in the Championship 4 race, set for next Sunday.

“This feels so good,” said Logano, who took the lead from the fourth position when a wreck involving race leader Matt Kenseth, Busch and polestitter Alex Bowman ended the first attempt at overtime. “I’ve never felt this good about a win before. There was so much on the line and everyone brings their A-game when it comes to winning championships, and this team did it.

“Man, this feels so good. I had a good restart there at the end (in the second overtime) and holding off Kyle to try to get this thing into Miami. We’re racing for a championship now. We did exactly what we had to do. We’ve got to go to Homestead and do the same thing …

“I’m speechless right now. I feel like I just won the Daytona 500 again.”

Busch earned the last available spot in the season finale with his runner-up finish, but it came at the expense of Kenseth, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Kenseth led the field to the first overtime restart on Lap 317, with Bowman beside him.

From the third spot, Busch had a strong run and dived to the inside of Bowman, who went low to block. Busch shoved Bowman forward, and when Kenseth turned down from the outside lane in Turn 1, thinking he was clear, contact from Bowman’s Chevrolet sent Kenseth’s Toyota spinning in an accident that knocked the 2003 series champion out of the Championship 4.

For Busch, the incident made advancing to the finale bittersweet.

“Well, right now it feels pretty (lousy), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better,” Busch said. “I’m not sure, depends on what Matt’s interpretation is, and whether or not he can forgive. You know, I just feel really bad about what happened there on that last restart. It just wasn’t what I anticipated having happen, and I just feel bad. The 20 (Kenseth) should have been the Gibbs car to go through, and I was just trying to make a position there on the 88, felt like I was to his inside and had the position …

“It translated into the 20 crashing. That’s not how at all I foresaw that going. I was hoping I could get the 88 underneath him and force him up and have him kind of block the 22 and check up the outside row and then I could have a position between me and the 22 and get myself and the 20 in. Math just didn’t quite work out that way today.”

In a race that went 12 laps beyond its scheduled distance of 312 laps, Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Denny Hamlin. Like Kenseth, who finished 21st after the late wreck, Harvick, Hamlin and Kurt Busch all were eliminated from the Chase.

Hamlin finished six points behind JGR teammate Kyle Busch in the race for the last Championship 4 berth.

Driving in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bowman led the first 92 laps and 194 overall in posting the best finish of his career. But his strong performance tinged with regret.

“We’re all here to win races and doing everything we can to win races,” said Bowman, who grew up in nearby Tucson. “I don’t think Kyle wrecked Matt. I don’t think I wrecked Matt. I think the situation, it just all, it all happened like that.

“It’s unfortunate. But I don’t think you can really place the blame on one person. It just sucks for Matt. I don’t know Matt. He’s probably really mad at me right now, I’d imagine, but hopefully we can move past it and race clean at Homestead.”

Note: The No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch was found to have 19 of 20 lug nuts secure in post-race inspection, a violation that usually results in a fine from NASCAR later in the week.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Chase Grid

 

AVONDALE, Ariz. — It was just another routine Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway for Kyle Busch. But nothing else in the Ticket Galaxy 200 was at all ordinary.
 
All the drama unfolded behind Busch, as eight drivers scrambled for four positions in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase’s Championship 4 Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
 
Busch led 190 of 200 laps on the way to his 10th NASCAR XFINITY Series victory of the season, his 10th at the 1-mile track and the 86th of his career, extending his own series record.
 
Busch beat runner-up Austin Dillon to the finish line by 6.115 seconds. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third in his first XFINITY Series start since 2013.
 
“It means a lot,” said Busch, who won his 170th race across NASCAR’s top three touring series. “That’s what we set out to do tonight, and we’ve been really fast here at Phoenix. We’ve had some great race cars and Chris Gayle (crew chief) and all these guys do such a great job each and every week preparing these things — and it’s fun to win here.”
 
Justin Allgaier and Daniel Suarez secured spots in the Championship 4 with respective fourth and fifth-place finishes, as did Erik Jones, who recovered from a pit road mistake on Lap 93 to finish 10th.
 
But the real tension waited until after the race, when Elliott Sadler sat anxiously on pit road as NASCAR officials decided whether loose lug nuts would cost Sadler, the 13th-place finisher, the services of his crew chief, Kevin Meendering, in the season finale.
 
NASCAR found two loose lug nuts, and that means Meendering will serve a suspension next week. Sadler did not know who his crew chief will be at Homestead — though he was lobbying, somewhat facetiously, for team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take over the pit box.
 
“The emotions of the last 30 minutes have been tough,” Sadler said. “We knew one was loose, and one was in question. Kevin’s pretty much become my best friend, and Kevin’s made me a race car driver again this year.”
 
 NASCAR XFINITY Series Managing Director Wayne Auton said there was never a possibility of Sadler losing his spot in the Championship 4.
 
“At the end of the race, we bring all the cars down to the entrance of pit road for inspection of the wheels and the lug nuts,” Auton said. “We observed that the No. 1 car had two lug nuts not secured to the wheel. With that being said, all the teams were very much aware at the start of the Chase of the violations that could come about.
 
“We’ve advised the team that they’re going to be looking for a crew chief for next week and a monetary fine of about $10,000. It’s clearly in the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series Rule Book.”
 
Blake Koch finished eighth and lost the final Championship 4 position to Sadler by four points. Joining Koch on the Chase sidelines were Ryan Reed, who finished sixth, and Brendan Gaughan and Darrell Wallace Jr., who were wrecked and eliminated before the race was 150 laps old.
 
Wallace’s grandmother passed away during the week before the race, and the No. 6 Ford carried her name, “Granny Jan,” above the driver’s door. On Lap 148, Koch ducked to the inside off Turn 4 and knocked Wallace’s Mustang into the inside frontstretch wall.
 
“My grandmother was giving me the ride of my life,” Wallace said, his voice breaking with emotion. “That was the most fun I have had all year. Just circumstances took us out. It’s just hard. Thanks, Granny, I love you. We will go on to Homestead and let her ride again.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Race results | Updated Chase Grid

AVONDALE, Ariz. — William Byron’s bitter disappointment proved a boon for two of his Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates in Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.


When the engine in Byron’s No. 9 Toyota expired on Lap 141 of 150 — ending the championship run for the series’ most prolific winner this year — Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez took over the race lead and went on to score the first NCWTS victory of his career.


Byron’s elimination from the inaugural Camping World Truck Series Chase also helped teammate Christopher Bell, who claimed one of the last berths in the Championship 4 with a seventh-place finish. Bell joins second-place finisher Johnny Sauter, third-place Matt Crafton and fifth-place Timothy Peters with a chance to win the title next Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1).


Suarez pulled ahead of Sauter after a restart with four laps left and led by .510 seconds when he crossed the finish line for the final time.


“He was running a perfect race and things like this happen,” Suarez said of the demise of his teammate, who had led 112 of the first 137 laps before his engine began to fail. “The first victory in any series is always the most difficult to get.


“I’m just very proud of this team for their effort. They’ve done a really good job all year. I’m very happy that we were able to get the win for KBM and Toyota.”


Byron’s engine issue was sudden and unexpected.


“We had been running hot a little bit the last run — kind of all night,” Byron said. “It stayed within 10 (degree) range, but it started to vibrate, maybe the lap before… but it didn’t seem like a big deal, then it sputtered and flames came out from underneath the truck.”


And now Bell will race for the championship instead of the 18-year-old Byron, who has posted a series-best six victories in his rookie season.


Seeking a sweep of the Round of 6 after victories at Martinsville and Texas, Sauter couldn’t catch Suarez in the four-lap run to the finish.


“We had a great truck, especially on the long runs,” said Sauter, whose No. 21 Silverado is the only Chevrolet in the Championship 4. “Unfortunately, I just could not get going in the short run. I was just extremely loose…


“I knew at the end there I needed to get a really, really good restart, and I didn’t get the restart I needed. I’ve got nobody to blame but myself for that. But I’m just proud of everybody’s effort. We just needed to keep pushing. Even though everybody says there’s no pressure, there’s always pressure — this is racing.”


Crafton and Peters were one point apart entering the race and battled in close quarters for most of the race. Until Byron’s engine blew, they were contesting the final position at Homestead until Bell fell back on a late restart.


“There wasn’t a lap that wasn’t tense,” Crafton said. “We just raced hard from the beginning to the end.”


Note: Toyota clinched its ninth manufacturer’s championship in 13 seasons since entering the Truck Series in 2004.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

RELATED: Chase Grid | Results | Kenseth reacts

MORE: Buy tickets for Homestead-Miami Championship Weekend

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Busch said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway that he would “absolutely” wreck a teammate to advance to the Championship 4 round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Doesn’t mean he has to feel good about it.

On the first restart of overtime in Sunday’s Can-Am 500 Round of 8 finale, Busch initiated contact with the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman, moving the polesitter into the No. 20 Toyota of race leader Matt Kenseth, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, and sent it careening into the outside wall.

RELATED: Busch, Hamlin would wreck teammate to advance

At the time Busch, who finished second to race winner Joey Logano, was below the cutoff line. He wound up advancing.

Kenseth, who topped the leaderboard for 55 circuits, landed 21st after the checkered flag fell, and was one of the four drivers eliminated. Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch join him on that list.

“Essentially, I guess I wrecked a teammate,” Busch said after the race. “I feel horrible about it … Right now, it feels really (expletive), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better. … The 20 should have been the Gibbs car to (advance).”

Although Busch won’t be racing against Kenseth for the title a week from now at Homestead-Miami Speedway in next Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 Chase finale (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he will be vying for his second straight title against teammate Carl Edwards, who advanced after winning at Texas last week along with Logano and Jimmie Johnson.

It adds a unique dynamic to the Championship 4 that the four-time 2016 winner didn’t have to deal with last year, so he went to the best for advice — a certain six-time champion.

“It sucks,” Johnson told Busch during their joint post-race press conference. “You’re going to have a miserable time down there.”

Johnson battled with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon en route to his fourth Sprint Cup Series title in 2009.

Despite saying he knows “it does (suck),” Busch maintained that the open lines of communication and data sharing between his No. 18 team and Edwards’ No. 19 crew will remain as such, and they’ll work together to ensure one of them walks away a champion.

“All of us have worked really, really well together and that’s what made the strength of the Gibbs team for the last few years. That we’ve gotten so much better is all of us being able to work together and share what we share,” Busch said. “We do the same thing, going into next week, and just try to out-race them. If we run the same exact setup and car and everything else, then there’s just going to have to be a way that I get the job done better than Carl or vice versa if it comes down to the end where one of us has a better shot at it than the other does.”

Busch, who joked with Johnson that his “results from last year show that (he’s) the favorite,” now has a shot to become the first driver to win back-to-back titles under the revamped Chase format that debuted in 2014.

“Rowdy” won last year’s finale and with it the title outright, but right now all four drivers stand on even ground, regardless of their Miami history.

“You know, it’s all reset to zero. There’s four of us that go for winner-take-all at Homestead. It means a lot to have that opportunity. It’s what your whole season comes down to,” Busch said.

“Look forward to seeing what all transpires next week.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Full race results | Updated Chase Grid

 

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A tearful Darrell Wallace Jr. left the infield care center at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday night, disappointed after a crash took him out of Chase contention and distraught over the loss of a cherished grandmother only days earlier.

The Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR XFINITY Series driver had honored his grandmother by placing “Granny Jan” above the door of his No. 6 Ford.

One of eight drivers vying for a berth in next week’s Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and seventh in points, Wallace needed a victory to secure a spot in the final. He was running inside the top 10 when contact from fellow Chase driver Blake Koch on Lap 149 of the 200-lap event sent his car hard into the wall, erasing any hopes of a victory.

“My grandmother was giving me the ride of my life,” an emotional Wallace said after exiting the care center. “That was the most fun I’ve had all year. Just circumstances took us out. … We will go to Homestead and let her ride again.”

Wallace, teammate Ryan Reed, Koch (Kaulig Racing) and Brendan Gaughan (Richard Childress Racing) failed to transfer into the final round.

Daniel Suarez and teammate Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) will make up half the field batting for the title as will JR Motorsports drivers Elliott Sadler and Justin Allgaier.

“That (contact) was totally unintentional,” said Koch, who missed transferring into the final by just four points. “The first thing I wanted to do tonight when I got out of the race car was to apologize to (Wallace). He was having a really good race; he had a rough week with his grandmother passing away.

“I went to cross over behind the 22 (of Brad Keselowski), had a good run and I had no idea the 6 was down there.”

Wallace finished 32nd after qualifying fifth in the 40-car field. The incident involved five cars, and officials red-flagged the race for 10 minutes and 34 seconds to clear the track and attend to those involved.

“It was a long shot to get into the Chase but to have a good race and get a good finish — we need one,” Wallace said. “We have had the (worst) luck all year. It is so hard. I can’t thank my granny enough for giving me that ride. It was fun.”

Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet wasn’t on the track when the race ended either – a hard crash on Lap 138 ended his night and his hopes. A fuel mileage gamble failed to pay off.

“If (the race) stays green, it worked out like Shane (Wilson, crew chief) and I wanted,” said Gaughan, who finished 35th. “We had just enough fuel that if I saved a little — unfortunately we were the caution, so hey, we took a shot at it.

“We took a big swing … I can’t ask for anything more.”

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Full lineup for Sunday | Chase Grid | Photos from Friday

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Teammates offering differing opinions on last-lap contact, a feud fizzles and one of the season’s best teams couldn’t get out of inspection in time to post a qualifying lap.

It was that kind of day Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, drenched in sunshine and the site of Sunday’s Can-Am 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hiccup-y if there is such a word.

It’s the final race before NASCAR’s championship-determining event scheduled for the coral and seawater blue of Homestead-Miami Speedway, and maybe it’s fitting that it will play out here in the desert, 30 minutes or so from Phoenix proper.

PIR is surrounded by desert, hard-scrabble land that’s full of cactus and jackrabbits and roadrunners and the occasional warning that, yes, be mindful of the rattlesnakes.

Trouble lurks out there, and here too, on the 1-mile PIR layout. It’s a quirky little facility for the most part, and the track itself is unique and challenging. In other words, it’s perfect in so many little ways for the determination of those who still dream of being a champion.

Chase talk dominates the day, with one final opportunity for guys not named Jimmie Johnson or Carl Edwards to prove their worth. Johnson and Edwards are in, no matter what happens here on Sunday thanks to their Round of 8 wins. The other six? They know the deal. They know a win washes away all sin and everything else is just a numbers game. If they do this, then we’ve got to do that. It’s advancement by accounting.

Three of the six are teammates of Edwards. Joe Gibbs Racing won’t put all four of its drivers in the championship, but it could put three of four. Just don’t count on teammates going out of their way to help one another. The company line has become “I’ll help you but only as long as it doesn’t hurt me.”

And if it comes down to the last lap, all-on-the-line, “hey buddy-buddy?”

Denny Hamlin says he wouldn’t move a teammate, be it Matt Kenseth or Kyle Busch or Edwards. Then again, it’s only Friday. “That’s my answer today,” he admitted.

For Busch, it’s always race day. Move a teammate in order to advance? “Absolutely,” the defending series champion said.


RELATED: Hamlin, Busch talk moving drivers for advancement


There may be some ill feelings lingering between Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick after last week’s contact in Texas, but Dillon brushed aside any retaliation talk Friday, saying that “I’m here to race and win this race.”

His Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is “good,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to showcasing that here in a little bit and trying to get two poles in a row.”

That didn’t happen, but the youngster will start seventh on Sunday. Harvick, tasked with saving his season at a track he has dominated in the past, will start sixth.


MORE: Harvick left hanging by Dillon | Dillon fires off at Harvick


Martin Truex Jr. and his Furniture Row Racing team saw Friday come undone in practice after the driver brushed the wall and the No. 78 Toyota was deemed unfit for further competition. Unable to clear inspection and get on the track in time to post a qualifying lap with the backup car, Truex will start 40th. It will be the first time this season he has started outside the top 30.

The status of the backup won’t be known until Saturday, when two more practices are scheduled.


WATCH: Truex, No. 78 team miss qualifying


There’s hope for Truex, a four-time winner this season — Busch and his team rolled out a backup just this past weekend at Texas and finished fifth.

Friday was a day when the kids stepped up — Alex Bowman, 23, doesn’t have a ride for next year but he now has a Sprint Cup Series pole. Kyle Larson, 24, will start second, but the Chip Ganassi Racing driver admits he’s still trying to figure out the complexities of PIR. And Chase Elliott, 20, will start third. It’s the fourth top-five start in the last six races for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.

The rest of the top 12 is Chase heavy, with only Johnson and Busch qualifying outside the top 15 in 17th and 19th, respectively. 

The desert’s a spectacle, particularly when the sun begins to slowly slide below the horizon in a burst of orange and red and yellow.

Day one, at least for Sprint Cup teams and Chase hopefuls, is done.

It’s the calm before the storm.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Updated Chase Grid | Phoenix race results


Elliott Sadler‘s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet had 18 of 20 lug nuts safe and secure following Saturday night’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, a development that will have implications for next week’s championship race.


Because it is the team’s second lug nut infraction, crew chief Kevin Meendering will be suspended for the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller told NBCSN after the race.


“We bring all the cars down pit road, do our inspection of our wheels and lug nuts and we observed that the No. 1 car had two lug nuts not secure to the wheel,” XFINITY Series Managing Director Wayne Auton said in explaining the infraction. ” … We advised the (No. 1) team they’re probably going to be looking for a crew chief next week and a monetary fine of $10,000.”


Last week at Texas, Sadler’s No. 1 checked out with 19 of 20 lug nuts safe and secure following the event. Meendering was fined $5,000 as it was the team’s first-time offense.


Sadler finished 13th on Saturday at Phoenix, his result good enough to advance to the Championship 4 next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier complete the remainder of the four-driver championship field.


“We’re going to have to pull together as a team,” Sadler told NBCSN after learning of the decision. “It’s not a secret. Kevin Meendering has made me a hero this year. We have a lot of depth at JR Motorsports. Those guys will probably rally around us, I’m sure.”


Later in a post-race interview, Sadler confirmed his Homestead car has been built and is ready to roll. That talk came after an agonizing wait while NASCAR officials discussed the fate of Sadler and his team.


The veteran driver joked that team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. could be his replacement crew chief, then added it would probably be Meendering’s decision. Ryan Pemberton, the team’s competition director, is a likely candidate.


As for an appeal? That will be JR Motorsports officials’ call, but Sadler does not expect that to happen given that NASCAR officials showed the team proof in photos and in person.


“I’m probably speaking out of turn here, but I doubt we will appeal it,” Sadler said. “They showed Kevin the wheels and the pictures. I don’t think there’s any kind of appeal. Look, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t understand how all that works, so I don’t want to speak out of turn.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Chase Grid | Chase Bubble Watch

Practice 3 recap | Results | Best consecutive 10-lap average

Kyle Busch led final practice in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway. Busch turned a fast lap of 136.358 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the 1-mile track where Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will determine the final two drivers in the Championship 4 in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski (136.286 mph) and Joey Logano (136.204 mph) finished second and third, respectively. The No. 2 Ford will line up 14th on Sunday, while the No. 22 Ford of Chase driver Logano will start fourth.

Pole winner Alex Bowman, who ran 50 laps during the session, was fourth in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at 136.044 mph. Richard Childress Racing‘s Austin Dillon rounded out the top five at 135.977 mph.

Kyle Larson brought out the caution flag when his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet spun in Turn 2, but it appeared to avoid contact with the outside wall. Larson, a non-Chase driver, finished seventh in the session at 135.747 mph.

Other Chase drivers had the following finishes in final practice: Matt Kenseth (10th), Jimmie Johnson (11th), Kevin Harvick (14th), Carl Edwards (15th), Kurt Busch (20th) and Denny Hamlin (22nd).

Johnson (Martinsville) and Edwards (Texas) are locked into the Championship 4 by virtue of their wins earlier in the Round of 8.

Practice 2 recap | Results | Best consecutive 10-lap average

Martin Truex Jr. led Saturday’s first of two Sprint Cup Series practice sessions at Phoenix International Raceway ahead of Sunday’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Round of 8 elimination race.

With a top speed of 135.476 mph, Truex Jr. topped the speed charts in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota in preparation for the Cam-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). After having pre-qualifying inspection trouble Friday that prevented him from making a qualifying run, Truex Jr. will line up 40th Sunday.

Truex was eliminated from the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in the Round of 12. Brad Keselowski, who suffered the same Chase fate, was second fastest at 135.410 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

With only Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards locked into berths for the season finale at Homestead-Miami, the top Round of 8 contender on the speed charts in this practice session was Joey Logano in fifth at 135.014 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Two more drivers eliminated in the Round of 16 filled out the top five, with Jamie McMurray third at 135.105 mph in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet and teammate Kyle Larson fourth after hitting 135.059 mph in the No. 42.

Kurt Busch, who almost certainly needs a win to advance to the Championship 4, was ninth fastest Saturday afternoon with a top speed of 134.786 mph in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. He will start 12th on Sunday. 

Posted on by Staff Report

PHOENIX, Ariz. — During a keynote presentation Friday at Transitions West 2016, a family business conference held in Phoenix, Arizona, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France shared stories of advice provided to him by his grandfather William H.G. France and father Bill France Jr. — and how he now is doing the same with his nephew Ben Kennedy, a driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
 
“I sat (Kennedy) down a while back and I told him, ‘You better figure out where is your value going to come in the business,’ ” said France. “He’s going to get an opportunity. He deserves an opportunity. He’s a great guy, a great student and he deserves every opportunity you’d want any other family member to get.
 
“But on the other hand, I want him to really think long and hard about coming into the business where he can add value. That’s harder and harder to do when businesses are more mature.”
 
Each generation of the France family passed down that specific piece of advice, Brian France said Friday, and NASCAR’s current leader said he took it to heart. France saw his value in ushering NASCAR into the 21st Century, making bold decisions while using the constantly growing technology space to help bring the sport closer to fans.

 

France created the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup which has led to the most dramatic racing in years; introduced the landmark Charter and track sanctioning agreements that created stability for NASCAR’s teams and race tracks; signed agreements with FOX and NBC worth a reported $8.2 billion deal to broadcast races for the next decade; secured more FORTUNE 500 partnerships than at any time in history; and spearheaded the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program.
 
France talked about the importance of learning the business from the ground up and how that led to his first signature achievement — when as senior vice president in 1999, he consolidated the sanctioning body’s television rights.
 
“People said it could never be done, you’re too independent, tracks would never go along with that. And we took revenues at the time from $90 million to now $900 million in that one area,” he said.
 
Under France’s leadership, NASCAR now has more FORTUNE 500 partnerships than at any time in history and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program is beginning to bear fruit which is critical to widening the fan base.
 
“I think communicating with your industry, your stakeholders, you can’t do that enough, you literally can’t do that enough,” he said.

 

RELATED: Suarez wins at Phoenix

 
NASCAR’s new emphasis on collaboration with its industry becomes even more important as fans change the way they consume sports — one of the biggest challenges France says the sanctioning body faces in the next five to 10 years.
 
“Millennial fans are consuming things way differently,” France said. “They’re getting their NASCAR not just solely from the TV, now it’s online, it’s video clips, it could be a number of things. They want to be entertained at a different level. They want to connect with their friends at the events.”
 
France believes that NASCAR’s emphasis on technology at the track and in its communication with fans provides it with an advantage over other sports in the changing consumption space. The sanctioning body has emphasized engaging with fans on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Year-to-date, the NASCAR Facebook and Twitter accounts have generated 3.8 billion impressions.
 
NASCAR’s variety of digital offerings include NASCAR Drive, which gives fans drivers’ views from the cockpit, the NASCAR mobile app and a plethora of video content on NASCAR.com. Across all its digital platforms, NASCAR Digital Media has registered 890 million page views and 296 million video views.
 
“In our case, we can be a great validator of technology because of all the telemetry and things that go on to make up an event,” he said. “We can be very interactive, we already are, but we can be a lot better for our fan base. We have to get all that stuff right.”