Harvick hurries atop final practice at Phoenix

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Staff Report

Final practice | Full results

Kevin Harvick posted the fastest lap in final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Harvick, who has logged seven of his 31 career premier series wins at the 1-mile Arizona oval, clocked a fast lap of 136.317 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet. He’ll start 18th in Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), the fourth of 36 races this year.

Kurt Busch, another former Phoenix winner and Harvick’s SHR teammate, was second-fastest at 136.173 mph but reported a vibration in the No. 41 Chevrolet. Busch will start fourth in Sunday’s main event. The two Stewart-Haas teammates also topped Saturday’s opening practice, but in reverse order.

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was third-fastest in the 50-minute session at 136.096 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. “Rowdy” will bring the field to green for the 312-mile race after earning the Coors Light Pole Award.

Rookie Chase Elliott (136.044 mph) and Austin Dillon (135.947) completed the top five on the single-lap speed chart.

Kasey Kahne , who posted the sixth-fastest single lap, was atop the 10-lap averages category in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was second-best in the 10-lap heading, followed by Martin Truex Jr. , Paul Menard and Kyle Busch in the top five.

Jimmie Johnson was 13th-fastest as he continued to sort out a reserve Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevy, turning the most laps (60) of any driver in final practice. Johnson wrecked in his primary car during Friday qualifying after his steering wheel came unattached, sending his No. 48 entry into the Turn 1 wall.

Practice 2 | Full results

Kurt Busch‘s No. 41 Chevrolet soared to the top of the leaderboard during Saturday’s opening practice session, clocking in at a best speed of 137.436 mph. The Stewart-Haas Racing wheelman qualified fourth during Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway.

Seven-time Phoenix winner — and Busch’s SHR teammate — Kevin Harvick was next, soaring around the 1-mile track at 136.685 mph in his No. 4 Chevrolet.

Third-quickest was the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Carl Edwards (136.493 mph) with the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. right behind him in fourth (136.389 mph).

Rookie Chase Elliott propelled his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the track at 136.379 mph, rounding out the top five.

Pole-sitter Kyle Busch was 19th-fastest during the session (135.486 mph) with his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin just ahead of him in the 18th spot (135.629 mph).

Michael Annett crashed in the first half of the 55-minute session, bringing out the red flag, and will resort to a backup car for Sunday’s Good Sam 500. Jimmie Johnson (11th, 135.834 mph), too, will race in an alternate car after crashing during Friday’s qualifying session.

MORE: Previewing Phoenix | Harvick: King of Phoenix

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Busch calls it a “knack.”

His rivals might refer to the continuing saga of Kyle Busch at Phoenix International Raceway as absolute dominance.

But the record books will show Saturday’s result in the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 as yet another NASCAR XFINITY Series victory for the Busch juggernaut.

Leading 175 of 200 laps at the 1-mile race track, Busch notched his ninth victory in 20 starts at PIR. That’s the highest total number of wins by a single driver at an active XFINITY Series venue. (Mark Martin holds the all-time single track record with 11 victories at Rockingham.)

In winning for the third straight time this season and the 79th time in his career — extending his own series record — Busch has now led 493 of a possible 563 laps in his three 2016 starts.

“It’s just a knack for this place, I guess,” Busch said. “We’ve been off a little bit on the (Sprint) Cup side for years, but this year we seem to be a lot better, and last year we improved a lot. But the XFINITY program has always been good.”

In fact, it was good for the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization, which started 1-2-3, with pole winner Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez leading Busch in qualifying, and finished 1-2-3, with Jones and Suárez trailing Busch to the finish line by 2.285 and 9.980 seconds, respectively.

Busch, Suárez and Jones also ran 1-2-3 in that order a week earlier at Las Vegas, a further indication of just how much JGR has gapped the competition.

Justin Allgaier was a distant fourth in Saturday’s race, more than 14 seconds behind the winner.

“I can’t say enough about (crew chief) Chris Gayle and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch said. “Obviously, (they) did a great job for me, giving me the car that I needed and prepared everything for today’s race.

“We didn’t sit on the pole, but our teammates did. They were obviously really fast, and they made me run hard all day long. I mean, there was nothing left in this car. It’s all used up. Instead of having to go back to the shop and freshen her up a little bit, they’re going to have to rebuild it.”

The race ran without caution for the final 99 laps, and on Lap 172, Jones caught Busch in traffic and pulled alongside. But Busch regained control of the top spot and led Jones to pit road for a two-tire green-flag stop on Lap 177.

That stop proved crucial, with Busch gaining more than three seconds in the exchange.

“I knew we were in a little bit of trouble when he rolled by, right when we were just trying to leave the box,” Jones said. “I didn’t know how much time that was going to equal to, but by the time we got up to speed, he was four or five seconds ahead. It was too much to run back down in that amount of time.”

Suárez expanded his series lead to eight points over Elliott Sadler, who finished eighth. Chase Elliott followed JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier in fifth, with the Dillon brothers, Ty and Austin, running sixth and seventh.

Brad Keselowski and Brennan Poole completed the top 10. With three victories to its credit, the No. 18 JGR Camry leads the owners’ standings by seven points over the No. 88 JR Motorsports all-star car driven by Elliott on Saturday.

In post-race inspection, Jones’ No. 20 was cited for rear toe outside of tolerance when measured by the laser inspection station. NASCAR will address possible sanctions at next week’s competition meeting.

The series heads to Auto Club Speedway for the NASCAR XFINITY Series 300 on Sat., March 19th at 4 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on March 12, 2016 by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Full results | Relive the day in photos

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Four races into his NASCAR XFINITY Series tenure at JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier sees the progress being made on his No. 7 Chevrolet team. But he’s hungry for more.  

 The 29-year-old driver scored his best finish of the young 2016 season with a fourth-place showing in the Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday. The top-five finish moves him up one spot in the standings to fourth, just 12 points behind standings leader Daniel Suarez.

“I feel like we should have been third,” Allgaier said on pit road after the race. “To bring the car with a solid top-five is a good day.” 

  After qualifying 10th, the Illinois native found himself in the top five by Lap 30 and as high as the top three by Lap 60. A call for two tires on a pit stop under the race’s third and final caution at the midpoint of the 200-lap event lifted him to second.

  Keeping — and improving on — Allgaier’s track position was the reason behind the call, crew chief Jason Burdett explained after the race.

“We have to maintain that track position as best we can,” Burdett told NASCAR.com. “We had a really good car today. The Brandt Chevrolet was fast for most of the day, but if you get back in traffic you are just bogged down. It’s just hard to get back going again and pass all those guys.

  ”Our opportunity there was to get two tires. Obviously, the Gibbs guys are really good right now — the class of the field.” 

 Allgaier was able to make the two-tire play hold up to run in the top five for much of the remainder of the race. The JRM driver was the highest finisher that does not wheel a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Suarez swept the top three spots.

With Busch rattling off three straight victories in the XFINITY Series and two straight top-three sweeps for JGR, the organization is hard to stop right now. Burdett is taking the long view on how to catch up to them.  

“We just got to keep working on it,” Burdett said. “[It] gives us an opportunity with the Chase format in the XFINITY Series. It will give us the chance to keep working, keep getting our cars a little bit better, little bit better and then by the time we get to Kentucky (site of the Chase opener in the XFINITY Series) we’ll be hopefully on par with those guys, and we can go and race them hard.”  

The importance of getting back to Victory Lane in this new format is not lost on Allgaier. He has three career wins in the series, with the last coming in 2012.

“Obviously, we’d love to get a win so you’re locked in and can try some different things,” Allgaier said. “At the same time, if we keep plugging along and doing the things that we’re doing, I think we’ve got a great shot of being in the Chase at the end of the year. If we can do that, I think we can keep building on the momentum that we’ve got already and be a threat to hopefully win the Chase.”

Posted on March 12, 2016 by RJ Kraft

AVONDALE, Ariz. — When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series comes to Phoenix International Raceway, Kevin Harvick is the presumptive favorite.

The 2014 champion has won five of the last seven races at the 1-mile track (two of those coming with Richard Childress Racing and three with Stewart-Haas Racing). In his four races with SHR here, Harvick has led an astounding 74 percent of the laps (855 of 1,155 laps run) with his lone non-win being a runner-up finish in a rain-shortened race last November.

The next closest in laps led during that stretch? Joey Logano at 123 laps.

Harvick’s run at Phoenix is not uncommon. Jimmie Johnson enjoyed a run of three straight wins at the track (November 2007 to November 2008) and added another win in November of 2009 for four wins in five races.

Harvick, himself, provided a little insight into what it’s like racing someone who has a hold on a track much as he does now and Johnson had a few years ago.

“I don’t ever think about beating one person ever because this garage is too tough to beat one person,” Harvick said. “When one person is going to win half the races then we might do that. Right now, there are just so many people that can win on a given week.”

Needless to say, Harvick has been dominant and shows no signs of slowing down in the desert. He will roll off 18th in Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but still will be a force to be reckoned with as evidenced by his win from starting 19th in November of 2012. So, how do drivers tame the No. 4 Chevrolet in their pursuit of a victory on what has been Harvick’s personal playground in recent years?

The answers vary, but also strike a similar tone.

Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Two wins at Phoenix):

“That is tough when someone figures a track out that well. … For anyone to be that dominant at a track, it really must have something special. But yeah, I think the whole field is chasing those guys and chasing Kevin (Harvick) and that 4 car at this race track. We’ll learn everything we can. We’d like to end that. I love winning here.”

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Four wins at Phoenix):

“It’s tough. There’s no way around it. I was probably one of the few that was screaming and yelling, ‘Don’t change this place, don’t repave it, don’t reconfigure it!’ I feel like we’ve had some good showings here. But coming to this track, I definitely put that No. 4 car as my No. 1 pick. I think we’re closing the gap some. The Penske cars usually shine here, so I expect those two to be pretty good. … You start thinking it through and you look at Kyle (Busch) and his success here, which then opens up the JGR cars. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I guess if I’m forced to, the No. 4 car is the one that we’ll all be paying close attention to.”

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (One win at Phoenix):

“He’s obviously been really, really good here over the years. I would not discount him (Harvick) being able to drive up from his starting position. I don’t think you can ever count out Harvick. They did unload (Friday) and they were off a bit from unload, so not sure what’s kind of going on there, but the 41 (Kurt Busch) is fast so I’m sure they can figure it out pretty quick, and they’ll be right there when it counts on Sunday.”

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford on paying attention to specific teams (No wins at Phoenix; has the third-best average finish (5.5) in the past four races at Phoenix):

“There is a balance between watching other teams and focusing on your own. A lot of people would tell you to just do your own thing the best you can and you will be all right but that is not really how sports work. You line up against other teams all the time. So I think you have to keep your focus on yourself and the other teams at the same time and I guess in one way it can make you kind of cross-eyed.”

MORE: Harvick addresses future with Stewart-Haas

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Nascar

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson was involved in a hard, single-car crash Friday at Phoenix International Raceway during qualifying for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnson, 40, was on his second qualifying lap during the third and final round of the session. He had posted the third fastest speed of the round before his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet shot up the track and into the wall in Turn 2. He later confirmed on Twitter that his steering wheel came off.

The area of his car’s impact was covered with the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier.

About qualifying, the steering wheel came off. I know my interview was vague, but wanted to tell the team first. I’m thankful for soft walls

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) March 12, 2016

“Don’t know for sure,” Johnson said initially after being evaluated and released from the infield medical center. “Certainly a lot of straight in an area of the track that I didn’t need to have straight. So we’ll have to get to the bottom of it and see what went on.

“Just a really hard impact to the outside wall. (I’m) thankful that we have SAFER Barriers and soft walls. We’re really disappointed because we had such a fast race car and the guys have been working so hard to get this thing tuned up.”

The team will have two practice sessions on Saturday to attempt to dial in the backup car. “But certainly not what we wanted right now,” he said.

“Until we can look at data and kind of understand what went on … certainly something happened and the car went straight; I just don’t know what caused it at this point.”

Johnson’s incident brought out the red flag, and only a brief amount of time remained in the session once it resumed.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin swept the top three starting spots. Johnson will officially be listed as starting fifth; however because he will go to a backup entry, he will start from the rear of the 39-car field.

It was a final surprisingly difficult turn of events for the four-team Hendrick organization on Friday. Teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. failed to advance out of the first round; Kasey Kahne managed to advance to Round No. 2, but brought out the red flag after his No. 5 Chevrolet developed a fatal engine issue, keeping him from making a second-round attempt. Kahne will be listed as 24th on the grid, but as with Johnson, he’ll drop to the rear for the start.

Rookie Chase Elliott advanced into the second round and will start 17th.

Johnson’s 76 career wins is tops among active drivers for NASCAR’s premier series, and four of those come from the Arizona-based track.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Nascar

RELATED: Friday at Phoenix, in photos

AVONDALE, Ariz. — There are no plans in place at this time for major changes to Phoenix International Raceway, but track president Bryan Sperber admits, “everybody loves a good rumor.”

“No decision has been made about what we’re going to do,” Sperber told NASCAR.com on Friday, the first day of track activity for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series races. “We’re evaluating a lot of different options. Once a decision has been made, then we’re going to scream it from the mountaintops. Everybody will know, believe me.”

During Friday’s opening Sprint Cup practice, NASCAR on FOX lead announcer Mike Joy said, “the rumor now is that ISC is going to take and flip-flop this track as has been done at Atlanta and Darlington.”

The change would be made, Joy said, because “these (frontstretch) seats face south which means you are sunbaked all day long. So there is a possibility of making this (backstretch) the frontstretch with new seats, new suites, a new control tower.”

Phoenix is one of 12 facilities owned by International Speedway Corp., and those tracks host 19 of the 36 points races on the current Sprint Cup Series schedule. Phoenix, a 1-mile layout, hosts two of those events.

The facility opened in 1964 but did not host a NASCAR premier series race until 1988. Grandstand seating capacity is listed at 50,000. The last major renovation at the facility came in 2011 when the racing surface was repaved and the layout reconfigured.

The process of requesting funding for facility upgrades begins with the determination of what those projects are “just to get a rough order of magnitude of what those costs would be, and then start to put a business case together around all of that,” said Sperber, who has been steering the ship at PIR since 2002.

“Then when we feel satisfied, when the team at ISC that we are working with also, collectively we feel satisfied that yes, this makes sense, this fits in with the parameters where the company could potentially feel comfortable green-lighting it, then we would take it to senior management and ultimately to the board for hopefully approval.”

At this time, he said, no such plan for upgrades had been submitted to ISC officials. “I hope he (Joy) is right, but we’re a long ways away from me making any kind of announcements about anything.”

Sperber acknowledged that his list of potential upgrades for the facility is a long one. Upgrading the fan experience and how fans interact with the venue is priority one.

“It’s no secret that we are in a market where there are a lot of new stadiums … newer venues,” he said. “Right on par with that, I think, would be to address the shortcomings of our ability to meet the needs of the industry and I would say that ranges from basically just about everything in the infield.”

While “serviceable” in its current form, he admitted “it is not by any means where it should be for a track in a big market like Phoenix, and at an important race track like Phoenix that has two Sprint Cup races, one of which is the semifinal race of the Chase.”

Daytona International Speedway just completed a $400 million upgrade, known as Daytona Rising, which saw the facility completely rebuilt into what officials there now describe as a motorsports stadium.

That money previously earmarked for Phoenix improvements was subsequently redirected to the Daytona project, Sperber said, is incorrect.

“To my knowledge there was never any money … approved for Phoenix and I think I would have known,” he said.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Nascar

AVONDALE, Ariz. — It’s set to be a memorable weekend for 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick here at Phoenix International Raceway.

Friday, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was reminded it was the 15-year anniversary of his first NASCAR premier series victory — the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, he will make his 500th consecutive series start, a feat accomplished only by 14 others throughout the history of NASCAR.

He will also be looking to score his eighth career win at the 1-mile track, joining such legendary figures as … well, actually no one.

MORE: Harvick addresses future with Stewart-Haas, Ford

When it comes to PIR, Harvick has no current equals. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson once won three consecutive races and four out of five at PIR. Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won two in a row (2003-04), then returning to the winner’s circle here last fall.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time series champion now working the TV booth for FOX Sports’ NASCAR coverage, won twice. Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace won once.

“It’s obviously been a great race track for me, personally,” Harvick said Friday morning at PIR. “Really for the last two years at Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s be phenomenal; we’ve won three of the (last) four races, got beat by the rain in the last one.”

Only Johnson has a better driver rating (112.6 vs. 109.9) and average finish (7.7 to 9.3) at PIR.

Harvick, 40, has been successful in spite of a tremendous number of changes. He’s changed teams, the cars have evolved and the racing surface has been altered.

And still he has rolled into town as the driver to beat. Winning four in a row and five of the last seven will result in that sort of thing.

“I think there are still a lot of the same characteristics of the old track, especially on entry into Turn 1 and the way that you go through Turns 3 and 4 and how you use the brakes and apply the pressure to the pedal,” Harvick said. “If they ever move those cones going into the corner, I’m in deep crap — I won’t know where to let off.”

The similarities with tracks out west that he grew up racing — flatter, shorter layouts — plays into his success as well, he said, requiring little change in how he attacks each one.

This year, there’s change yet again, with NASCAR’s 2016 rules package stripping away downforce and sending crew chiefs and engineers scurrying to adapt.

“It’s definitely going to be different (at PIR),” Harvick said. “I think the temperature (90 degrees Friday, but in the 70s by Sunday’s race) is exactly what everybody would want to see with the rules package … the low downforce, the softer tire. Hot weather should make for some ill handling cars to drive. I think as drivers and as a sport, that is really what we are all looking for.”

Third in points through the season’s first three races, Harvick has finishes of fourth, sixth and seventh. He’s finished inside the top-10 in his last seven starts, dating back to last season, but says recent outings haven’t been as solid as they might have appeared.

“We have had a disastrous last two weeks in all honesty,” he said, recalling a bout with a stomach virus last week and the absence of a race engineer the week before.

“We have just had a lot of circumstances. We have got to get everybody healthy and get everybody in sync, but the cars have been plenty fast. We just hadn’t been able to get everything out of them just for one reason or another over the last two weeks.”

Sunday’s Good Sam 500 is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. ET start (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Running the fastest lap of the day when it counted most, Kyle Busch paced a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the top three starting spots for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Busch covered the one-mile distance in 26.014 seconds (138.387 mph) in Friday’s final round of knockout qualifying, a session interrupted by Jimmie Johnson’s hard wreck against the Turn 2 wall.

The Coors Light Pole Award was Busch’s first of the season (after an inspection failure cost him the top starting spot at Atlanta), his third at Phoenix and the 18th of his career.

“It was a good day,” Busch said. “Unloading off the truck, everything seemed to go real well. I wasn’t sure about our speed in race trim, but then hopped over to qualifying trim and, for as not as good of a feel that the car had, we had some good speed, so that was definitely a plus — being able to have some good laps there and being able to run a really good lap there in the last session.”

Carl Edwards (137.515 mph) was second fastest in the final round, followed by JGR teammate Denny Hamlin (137.426 mph). Kurt Busch (137.394 mph), trying for his third straight pole, will start fourth in Sunday’s race.

Johnson earned the fifth position on the grid with his first lap in the final round, but the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion went to a backup car after his wreck and will drop to the rear of the field for the start of the race.

Johnson initially said said he wasn’t sure what made his car drive straight into the Turn 2 wall, although he later confirmed his steering wheel came off.

“Certainly, a lot of ‘straight’ in an area of the track that I didn’t need to have straight,” he said. “So, we’ll have to get to the bottom of it and see what went on. But, just a really hard impact to the outside wall.

“I’m thankful that we have SAFER barriers and soft walls. I’m very disappointed, because we had a very fast race car, and the guys have been working so hard to get this thing tuned-up. Thankfully, we have tomorrow to work on the back-up car and try to get it up to speed and get it going, but this is certainly not what we wanted right now.”

Johnson’s crash wasn’t the only calamity in what was a bizarre qualifying session for Hendrick Motorsports. Kasey Kahne’s engine caught fire after the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet posted the third fastest lap in the opening round.

Forced to change engines after smoke spewed from the air cleaner for several minutes. Kahne will join Johnson at the rear of the field for the start of Sunday’s race.

The team surmised later that the engine went into EFI (electronic fuel injection) protection mode and blew up. Kahne was mystified by the problem but said the engine had continued to run after he attempted to shut it off.

Kevin Harvick, who has won three of the last four NASCAR Sprint Cup races at PIR, will have to charge from mid-pack after qualifying 18th on Friday.

“We’ve just been off in qualifying every week so far,” Harvick said. “Just not hitting the balance from practice to qualifying.”

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

RELATED: Full practice results

Kurt Busch topped the speed charts during Friday’s first Sprint Cup practice at Phoenix International Raceway with a fast lap of 138.846 mph in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

Right behind him was 2015 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 138.467 mph as the top five changed multiple times in the final 10 minutes of the 85-minute session.

Rounding out the top five were Joey Logano in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota and Kevin Harvick in the No 4 SHR Chevrolet.

Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch was eighth on the leaderboard with a speed of 137.715 mph in the No. 18 JGR Toyota.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

Practice 3 | Results

Ty Dillon led the final XFINITY Series practice on Friday, closing out the sessions at Phoenix International Raceway.

The Richard Childress Racing driver had a fast lap of 133.087 mph on his final run out of a total of 36 laps.

Current XFINITY Series points leader Daniel Suarez came up short to the No. 3 driver with a speed of 132.787 mph.

Erik Jones, who had led the first two practice sessions at the 1.022-mile track, was third-fastest in the closing round at 132.719 mph.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch was fourth-fastest (132.504 mph) and JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier completed the top five with a speed of 132.382 mph.

Along with Busch, other previous race winners in the field are Brad Keselowski and Elliott Sadler, who were seventh (132.129 mph) and 16th-fastest (130.957 mph), respectively.

The XFINITY Series returns to the track Saturday for Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 11:45 a.m. ET (FS1). The Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 takes place at 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX).

Practice 2 | Results

Erik Jones found his way to the top of the leaderboard once again in the second XFINITY Series practice on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, after topping the first earlier in the day.

Jones ran the 1.022-mile desert track at a blistering clip of 134.053 mph to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and series points leader Daniel Suarez, who clocked in at 133.889 mph. Kyle Busch completed the JGR trio sweep with a best speed of 132.861 mph.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Ty Dillon (132.856 mph) and Brandon Jones (132.763 mph) rounded out the top five. Dillon made a whopping 67 circuits in the practice, the most of any driver.

The session included a lenghty red-flag period as track workers aimed to clean up debris caused by a wreck from the No. 07 driver Ray Black Jr., who broke an oil line and hit the wall.

“It just kind of came out of nowhere,” Black told FS1. “It’s not been a great start for us to the year.”

Practice 1 | Results

Erik Jones zipped to the top of the NASCAR XFINITY Series leaderboard in Friday’s opening practice at Phoenix International Raceway.

Jones drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota to a best lap of 134.128 mph on the 1-mile track. His speed was just .041 seconds quicker than second-fastest Ty Dillon, who pushed the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet to a lap of 133.924 mph in preparation for Saturday’s Axalta 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), the fourth race of the XFINITY season.

Ryan Sieg was third-fastest at 133.393 mph with Brad Keselowski and Blake Koch completing the top five.

Points leader Daniel Suarez was 12th-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch, an eight-time Phoenix winner in XFINITY competition and Suarez’s JGR teammate, did not turn a lap in opening practice in the No. 18 Toyota.

The hourlong session was extended five minutes past its scheduled time after it was interrupted by a crash just past the halfway point involving Brennan Poole, who spun at the exit of Turn 4. Poole’s Chip Ganassi Racing No. 48 Chevrolet crunching into the sand barrels protecting the pit wall abutment. The lengthy clean-up at pit entrance left plenty of teams scrambling to turn laps in the final five minutes of the session.