King of Phoenix preps for memorable weekend

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.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Staff Report

Stewart-Haas Racing is moving to Fords starting in 2017, creating speculation on the future of some of the team’s drivers.

Kevin Harvick, who has driven a Chevrolet since his first premier series start in 2001, addressed that head-on last Friday morning at Phoenix International Raceway.

“I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t happen,” Harvick said when asked if he would drive a Ford for SHR in 2017. “For me I’m in the best position that I’ve been in with my team. I feel like I have the best crew chief in the garage. It would be pretty tough to turn around and walk out on everybody who has been a part of building everything that we have built so far.”

Harvick, the 2014 series champion, made his 500th consecutive start Sunday. The 40-year-old went on to win the race at Phoenix in a thrilling finish, holding off Carl Edwards for his eighth win at the 1-mile track.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Matt Crossman

Before President Ronald Reagan gave the command at Daytona in 1984, he had a fan in Bobby Allison. The feeling was mutual. The NASCAR Hall of Famer professed his respect for the president in 1982 and was later invited to the White House for a state dinner with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, who died earlier this week at age 94. The story below was told by Bobby Allison to Matt Crossman.

When I won Daytona in ’82, Reagan was going through a political deal where guys were really hammering him about he wasn’t a good enough president about something. In Victory Lane at the 1982 Daytona 500, when they stuck the camera in my face and the microphone in my face, I said, “I love Ronald Reagan.”

It went out all over. Ronald Reagan happened to be watching that broadcast that day and he saw that. So then (my wife) Judy and I got invited to go to the White House for a state dinner, which was quite an affair.

We were up in New York for the ’83 championship banquet. Somebody under his command called and said, “The president would like to have you and Judy at the White House for a state dinner.” I had to go rent a tux — we didn’t wear tuxes yet at the awards banquet. I had a regular suit.

I went across the street there in New York City, got a tux, tried on the pants and shirt, bow tie, all that stuff. I told the guy I wear size 10 1/2 shoe. So he grabs a pair of shoes and sticks them in a shoe box and says, “OK, they’re in there.”

I go to Mike Curb’s apartment in Washington D.C. to get dressed. I get my tux all on and my bow tie and my studs. I put my left foot down into my left shoe. I put my right foot down — into another left shoe.

So here I am, with two left feet. Mike wasn’t there. His sister was there. She called him to see if he had a pair of patent leather shoes for a tux. He said, “Yeah, they’re right there. But you know I have little tiny feet.”

Mike Curb had size 7 1/2 shoes. So I put my size 10 1/2 feet into those 7 1/2 shoes. I was so in agony. Nancy Reagan asked me to dance, and I couldn’t dance. I could barely stand up. It hurt to sit down, even.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 11, 2016) — Days after Ford Motor Company celebrated its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season, the manufacturer will take home its third NASCAR “Driving Business Award.” Ford is the first three-time recipient of the annual award, which is bestowed upon the Official NASCAR Partner that demonstrates leadership and results through its participation in the NASCAR Fuel for Business (NFFB) Council.

The NFFB Council hosted its first meeting of the year last week in Las Vegas, bringing together an exclusive group of nearly 60 Official NASCAR Partners. Ford has been competing in NASCAR since 1949 and has been a proud member of the NFFB Council since 2007. Council members bring key personnel from across their organization to construct customized deals that help address specific business needs.

As a result of Ford’s participation in the Council in 2015, Ford aligned business goals with a number of Official NASCAR Partners, resulting in highly visible partnerships and a number of programs that were successful in “Driving Business.”

“As a proud member of the Council, winning the ‘Driving Business Award’ for the third time is proof, yet again, of how effective the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council platform is at generating a positive return on investment for partners,” said Tim Duerr, Ford Performance motorsports marketing manager. “At Ford, we’re constantly identifying new and innovative ways to add value to our partnerships, and this tool maximizes our B2B strategy in motorsports.”

As one of the most active participants of the NFFB Council in 2015, Ford identified procurement opportunities, optimized chances for NASCAR partners to purchase Ford vehicles for their fleets, offered participation in Ford’s “Partner Recognition Program” and created successful co-marketing programs. Highlights from Ford’s success in 2015 leveraging the NFFB Council include:

• Ford sold more than 3,500 vehicles through its “Partner Recognition Program”

• Co-marketing programs with MillerCoors, Goodyear and SiriusXM result in nearly 900 vehicles sold

• Ford executed multiple deals that eclipsed $5 million in value

• More than two-thirds of Council members participated in business-to-business deals with Ford

“Ford continues to be a preeminent member of the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council, setting the standard as an active and dedicated partner during our quarterly meetings,” said Steve Phelps, NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Committed to winning both on and off the track, Ford’s ability to execute business-to-business deals delivered results worthy of being a three-time recipient of the award.”

Since the NFFB’s 2004 inception, the Council has facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue and savings to its participating members.

Be sure to watch the next NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race — the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM.

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kasey Kahne looked to have a fast car in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway before smoke began unexpectedly pouring out of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the first of three rounds.

Kahne coasted toward the entrance of pit road off Turn 4. The car did not appear to have any flames coming from under the hood and, after a few minutes, it was towed to the garage.

“I got out of the car about when it started smoking but I shut the car off in Turn 1 after I took the lap and then in Turn 3 it started smoking a little,” Kahne said. “And then I could here it running so I shut everything off, batteries, everything in there. I got out and it was still running. It just kept running until I drove away in the ambulance and then it just shut off. I’m just really confused on what was going on. I really have no idea.”

At the time of the incident, which brought out a red flag, Kahne had recorded the second-fastest lap at 137.190 mph in the opening round of the three-round group qualifying. By the time the round concluded, Kahne was credited with recording the third-fastest lap.

Because he was unable to make it out for the second round of qualifying, Kahne will be assigned the 24th starting spot for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The team is going to a backup engine. As a result, Kahne will start at the rear of the field when the field takes the green flag for Sunday’s race.

The 35-year-old enters the weekend 13th in the standings and coming off his first top 10 of the year (a 10th-place finish at Las Vegas). In 23 starts at Phoenix, Kahne has one win (in November of 2011) with five top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes. In this race last year, Kahne recorded a fourth-place finish.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview for Phoenix

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The relationship between crew chief and driver is always an interesting one. The crew chief can serve as coach, confidant, motivator, psychologist and in the case of Austin Dillon and Slugger Labbe, a “brother.”

“We are like two brothers a little bit. We are both very aggressive personalities,” Dillon said of his crew chief on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “He is not afraid to tell me when he thinks I’ve messed up and I’m not afraid to tell him when I think he has messed up.”

Dillon and Labbe’s fiery exchange last weekend during the Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway showcased the intensity of both sides during a tire call on a pit stop at the 1.5-mile track. Dillon went on to overcome a speeding penalty on pit road to record a fifth-place finish in the race, his first top five of the season and first at an intermediate track in his Sprint Cup career.

“It’s a part of being intense,” Dillon said. “I’ve been intense in all the different levels of racing I’ve come up through here. I felt like we lacked a little bit of that intensity that I’m used to when we got to the Cup Series. Slugger kind of brought that back to me.”

Dillon likened his communication with Labbe to that which he had with Danny Stockman Jr., who guided him to championships in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (in 2013) and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (in 2011). Stockman is now the crew chief for the No. 2 XFINITY Series team for which Dillon is one of the drivers.

“Slugger is really good at being blunt with things and I’ve learned to be able to take it, and he can take it, too. That is what I love about him. I can tell him right to his face, ‘Hey this is no good.’ He will go to work on it. Same with me, if he thinks I’m not driving right, I will go to work, too.

“We’ve got a pretty good understanding throughout our team that we are a family on and off the track. If we get into each other, it’s like the big brother/little brother rule — you can mess with him all you want, but no one else can. When it comes down to it, we’ve got each other’s backs. We want the best, we want to win.”

That intensity has served him well in his pairing with Labbe thus far as Dillon moves closer to getting to Victory Lane for the first time in the Sprint Cup Series. The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is enjoying the best stretch of his Cup career. The 25-year-old sits ninth in the point standings coming into Phoenix thanks to a top five, two top 10s and a near top 10. (A ninth-place at Daytona and a fifth-place at Las Vegas with an 11th-place finish at Atlanta in between.)

“If you look back to last year, we have kind of had this streak going to the end of last year,” Dillon said. “I really enjoy working with Slugger and my group of engineers that are with me. … The work is paying off we just have to keep plugging along and never stop working.”

Since Labbe was placed atop the pit box for the No. 3 team in late June of 2015, Dillon has six top 10s in 24 races with the veteran crew chief. To put that in perspective, Dillon recorded just five top 10s with Gil Martin on top of the pit box for 51 races before RCR made the crew chief change.

With those gains, Dillon’s growth as a driver has not gone unnoticed in the garage.

“I think Austin himself is a student of the sport and he’s paid attention to what he needs to do, how he needs to do things and he continuously gets better,” Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and a former driver at RCR, said on Friday.

“You can see that from the outside looking in that he wants to concentrate on his job and he wants to go out and get better each and every week. I think a lot of that really started to stem last year from the success that he had in the XFINITY car. As we went through the year, the more success he had, the better he got on Sunday. I think a lot of that just has to do with him getting better as a driver. He is in tune with what is happening on the race track and with the race car it seems just by looking in.”

MORE: Can Harvick win again at Phoenix? | Harvick talks future with SHR

Posted on March 11, 2016 by RJ Kraft

SHOP: Batman v. Superman NASCAR gear

AVONDALE, Ariz. — A hero faceoff will take place next weekend at Auto Club Speedway in the Auto Club 400 with teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. front and center.  

Johnson will sport a Superman paint scheme on his No. 48 Chevrolet, while Earnhardt will carry a Batman paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevrolet ahead of the March 25th release of the movie, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”   

At Phoenix International Raceway for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion issued a proclamation.  

“Superman’s going to kick Batman’s butt, bottom line,” Johnson said on Friday at Phoenix, the second of the three-race NASCAR Goes West swing.  

“I didn’t have a say, but I was very happy to end up with Superman,” Johnson said. “I think Mark Martin called me that years ago and some have used that reference and nickname from time to time. I feel it was much more fitting than Batman.”

  Martin, a teammate of Johnson’s at Hendrick Motorsports from 2009 to 2011, gave him that nickname following his win in 2009 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In that race, Johnson passed Martin with 24 laps to go and never relinquished the lead while Martin finished second.

  Earnhardt has a history sporting paint schemes with both superheroes in recent years. In 2012, with “The Dark Knight Rises” as part of his paint scheme at Michigan International Speedway, he won the June race at the two-mile track. As recently as 2014, he sported a Superman paint scheme at Charlotte Motor Speedway (in May) and Michigan (in June).  

Earlier this week, the fire suits for both drivers were revealed; the paint schemes were unveiled in January. 