Posted on by

Crew chief Chris Rice offers a look at the strategy for the new qualifying format

Editor’s note: Chris Rice, crew chief for the No. 99 Rheem Toyota for RAB Racing and driver James Buescher in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, has joined NASCAR.com as a guest writer for the 2014 season. Here is his first-person analysis on the top storylines heading into the race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway:

Planning for the new qualifying format at Phoenix this weekend started for me on Monday. It’s great for the fans but for us crew chiefs, there’s a lot more strategy to play with.

At Phoenix, you’re going to have situations where your tires don’t start coming in until Lap 4 or 5, so you’re going to be out there running strong and then somebody’s going to pull up in front of you or come out of the pits to disrupt your momentum. You’re going to get down there to Turn 3 and you’re going to be running 170 mph, they’re going to be running 100 mph, and it messes your good lap up.

The Daytona qualifying that we went through, we didn’t know what to expect. You couldn’t really do too much homework on it or figure out how to work it. I probably made four or five mistakes personally in being prepared for that, but with the rain situation playing out like it did, we didn’t really get a full run-through. The good thing about this qualifying is, when I talked to NASCAR last weekend, they’re open to suggestions on how to make it better or make it different.

With it being a smaller track, we’ll only have two sessions to play with at Phoenix, and our qualifying will definitely be different than it’s ever been. You’ve got to get your speed down into the top 12, and fast. You’re going to have a lot of leader changes. You’re going to have a lot of changes on the top 12 — movement at the bubble is going to be in effect, so that’s going to be cool to watch.

The slower cars out there are going to affect the faster cars more in qualifying than they ever have, or that they ever have in practice. You don’t see it as much in practice because they don’t zoom in on it, but now you’ll see it. I’ll tell you right now, if Tony Stewart‘s out there going for a pole run and somebody slower pulls out in front of him, Smoke’s going to be mad and rightfully so. But that’s the thing you’re going to have in this qualifying format that you’re going to have to overcome. There are so many scenarios that can happen. 

Qualifying will now be just like a practice session, but you’ll see — especially with guys trying to get into the race — they’ll be running more laps. They’ll try to come in and make an adjustment in the first 25 minutes and make more laps. 

My goal is pretty simple — to make the top 12 immediately, then just sit and keep your tires cool and fresh for the following segment so you can have a chance to sit on the pole. That’s going to be the key — hope your car is fast enough to be in the top 12 early so you can just sit. The guy that’s ranked 13th or 14th, he’s going to go back out and try to make it into the top 12. He should, but he’s going to have more laps on his tires for the following session. So it’s going to be really cool to watch, tough for TV to keep up with and it’s going to be a challenge for us to work around. Once we all figure it out, it’s going to be really fun. 

You’re going to learn more now Saturday morning from your qualifying session for the race, whereas before you weren’t able to. We used to tape up, pump our tires up … you’re not going to be able to do a lot of that now. You might put a little bit of tape on, but you’re not going to make a full-blown qualifying effort. You’re going to better learn the race track and know what you’re car’s doing to move forward in the race, and if you’re on the bubble of 13th, it’s going to be fun to be able to go back out and try to make that little extra bit of speed up. 

We’re going to have to look into what’s the best scenario, what lap is the fastest on our new tires, where do our air pressures need to be in order to make that fastest lap in that amount of time, how much tape can we run for four or five laps and not get it too hot — we’ll take a good 40 minutes and try to figure that all out. Before you could do all that with a mock run in 10 minutes. It’s all going to start on Thursday. 

For race day, we’ve got a good notebook for Phoenix after the reconfiguration a few years back. We ran 11th place there with Alex Bowman last year, and we’re going back with pretty much the same setup. Thank goodness Goodyear is going to run the same tire going back; it just makes a heck of a difference. With Goodyear going to a green tire, I foresee us staying with the same tire at several tracks this year. It’s green, they can do whatever they do to discard it and it’s not hurting the earth. So it’s good from that aspect, but also that we get to go back with the same, consistent tire. 

It’s pretty cool how they’ve structured these races at the beginning of the year, because you’ve got Daytona, a speedway, you’ve got Phoenix, which is a mile short track, then Vegas, a mile-and-a-half, then we shoot to Bristol, which is a real short track and then we go to California for a two-mile track. 

If you look at it, we’ve covered all our types of tracks in the first five races. It gives you a good notebook to move forward the whole rest of the season. We get another piece to that puzzle this weekend at Phoenix.

RELATED: FAQ on group qualifying

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by

Harvick is a four-time winner at the one-mile track

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

With the Daytona 500 and all its pageantry now complete, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and teams can now turn its focus toward the rest of the schedule, which starts with a trip west to Phoenix for Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500 presented by Small Business Fueling America (3 p.m. ET on FOX).  

Phoenix will feature the first knock-out group qualifying session in NASCAR’s premier series. The new qualifying format was announced during the offseason and offers fans and drivers a more intense, exciting qualifying session.

When the drivers take to the 1-mile track, four-time Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick should be considered one of the favorites. Although he’s experienced success in Phoenix, he knows that reaching Victory Lane is a never-ending learning process.

"You really have to have an understanding of the track," Harvick said. "Every time we go back, I feel like we learn something different. The track is still racey enough where you can make up time if your car is good, but you need to stay focused on strategy."  

Harvick, currently 12th place and 17 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the standings, has finished third in the title hunt in three of the past four years. If he’s to make the jump to the championship stage at Homestead in November, he’ll need a strong performance at Phoenix — one of his best tracks. 

A win on Sunday would all but guarantee him a spot in the revamped Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. It also plays to his advantage that all three national series return to Phoenix for the penultimate race of the season.

In 22 NSCS races at the track, Harvick has compiled seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in addition to his four wins, which is tied for most at the track with Jimmie Johnson. In last November’s event, he finished first after leading a race-high 70 laps. In 2006, Harvick swept both races at Phoenix, and won again in fall 2012. 

His Driver Rating is 101.3 over the last 18 races, second only to Johnson. 

Harvick endured a number of changes during the offseason — moving from Richard Childress Racing to Stewart-Haas Racing and pairing with crew chief Rodney Childers. Those adjustments, however, don’t concern Harvick; he feels confident about where he and his team are in terms of communication and performance. 

"We’re starting the rest of the season this weekend at Phoenix, in a way," said Harvick, who placed 13th in the Daytona 500. "Rodney has always built fast short-track race cars and I’m really looking forward to building off what we’ve accomplished thus far."

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by

Following season-opening win at Daytona, Smith looks to build off of success

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live

After a win in the season-opening race at Daytona, Regan Smith carries a six-point standings advantage over Trevor Bayne into Saturday’s Blue Jeans Go Green 200 presented by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives (3:45 p.m. ET on ABC).
 
Smith, however, isn’t taking anything for granted.

"We left Daytona with the points lead, but it’s a long season," Smith said. "Something I’ve learned is to not pay attention to the points. I’m sure I’ll hear about it one way or another, but I’m not going to really look at it until we get to race 20 or 25."
 
With the NASCAR Nationwide Series in Phoenix, he’s looking to build upon last week’s success and improve upon his fourth-place finish in last fall’s race at the one-mile track, his best showing in six starts.
 
"Phoenix was a challenge for us last spring," Smith said. "We came back and did our homework, changed some things and left there with a top five last fall."
 
In last year’s spring event, the Cato, N.Y., driver finished a respectable 11th. In his four other NNS Phoenix starts, he has an eighth and three finishes 24th or lower. He has an 82.2 driver rating at the track. His best result in nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts was a 20th, coming in the second race of the 2012 season. In two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, he’s never finished higher than 30th.
 
If there is one team with a decided advantage over all others, it has to be Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR’s drivers have won the last three NNS races at Phoenix with Kyle Busch sweeping the events last season and Joey Logano winning in 2012. In the past 12 races, JGR drivers have won six. This weekend, Busch, Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth will all be piloting JGR-owned Toyotas.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by

See which of Junior’s wins count among the best

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

Countless pieces of multi-colored confetti still stuck to Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s race car as it rolled into the visitor’s center Monday morning at Daytona International Speedway, where tradition mandates it will sit on display for the next year. That routine bit of business was enough to bring the whole celebration flooding back once again, from the driver’s joyous screams over the radio and the owner’s ride on the window ledge to the raucous festivities that followed in Victory Lane.

No doubt, this one was big. Earnhardt’s second Daytona 500 triumph, one decade after his first, so resonated with NASCAR’s most popular driver that he entered the media center whooping, and with arms held high. He can’t talk about it enough, as evidenced by his unabashed enthusiasm for a post-race promotional tour others have merely tolerated. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500, and he wants everyone to know it, which in and of itself should tell you something about what this means to the man at the center of it all.

And yet, this past Sunday night wasn’t the first time that Earnhardt has scored a landmark victory. For all the criticism the guy has taken in recent years for not winning enough — criticism he now has the opportunity to silence once and for all — he’s certainly had a knack for making those triumphs count. So with the scent of sprayed Victory Lane champagne still lingering in the air, there’s no better time to look back at the 10 biggest race victories of Earnhardt’s career — so far.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by Staff Report

Parlays NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series success into national series ride

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live

Ruben Garcia Jr., the 2012 NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series rookie of the year and a race winner last year on the circuit, will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

SR2 Motorsports will field the No. 24 Toyota to the 18-year-old second-generation driver from Naucalpan, Mexico.

His father, Ruben Garcia, made nine NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts from 1984 to 1988 at Riverside International Raceway. His best finish was 14th in the 1985 fall race. He also ran 44 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races from 1979 to 1988, winning two races at Mesa Marin Raceway.

Garcia Jr. isn’t a stranger to Phoenix. In 2013, he started 11th and finished third in the first NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series race at the track. It was one of three top-five finishes and 11 top-10 finishes on the season as he finished fourth in the series points standings.

"I can’t believe this is finally happening, it seems like it’s all a dream," stated Garcia Jr. "I know and fully understand that I must take everything in a calm and responsible manner during the race weekend. My biggest goal right now is to enter and finish the race and attain as much time behind the steering wheel as I can. I know that the results will come with time."

The NASCAR Nationwide Series Blue Jeans Go Green 200 Presented by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives will be Saturday at 3:45 p.m. ET on ABC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Garcia Jr. also will run the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series Toyota 120 on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on mun2.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race result
Posted on by Staff Report

Conley will run limited Nationwide Series schedule for Richard Childress

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live

Cale Conley will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut for Richard Childress Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.

Conley will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro for RCR with the intent of running a limited Nationwide schedule with the team.

He will work with crew chief Nick Harrison, who has 136 races of experience in NASCAR’s national series, including a Nationwide Series win with Kurt Busch at Daytona International Speedway in 2012.

"I am very grateful and anxious for the opportunity to race with Richard Childress Racing," Conley said in a team release. "My goal, at this point, is to get past these anxious feelings, do what I know best on the track and learn as much as possible from the team. Opportunities like this don’t come along often, so I am going to do my best and learn as much as possible."

In 2013, Conley raced full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and finished the season with four top-fives, five top-10s and a pole. In 2012, he won a K&N Pro Series East race at Columbus Motor Speedway.

"We look forward to getting Cale in our car and seeing him take the next step in his career," said Richard Childress, president and CEO of RCR. "He’s done a good job on the K&N Series level and we’re pairing him up with a solid race team. It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve, so that’s why the limited schedule works perfect for him and allows him to progress at a comfortable pace."

RCR fields full-time Nationwide Series cars for Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughan and Brian Scott.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by Staff Report

Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson are top contenders to win at Phoenix

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

With his victory in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first driver to all but clinch a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. The 11-time Most Popular Driver has two wins at Phoenix International Raceway, one of eight drivers to have more than one trip to Victory Lane there.

Two California drivers sit atop the winners’ list at PIR and should be the favorites to win their way into the Chase on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson are tied with four victories apiece at the Jewel in the Desert. Here are five drivers who could punch their ticket to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship playoff this weekend.

Kevin Harvick: With two wins in the last three races at the track, Harvick holds the second-best Driver Rating at the facility at 101.3 and is one of only two drivers to have a DR over 100. Half of Harvick’s 22 starts have ended in the top 10, and he has seven top-five finishes.

Jimmie Johnson: Tied with Harvick for the most wins at the facility, Johnson has the highest Driver Rating (116.7) of any driver at the track. Johnson has not won here since November of 2009 when he claimed his fourth victory in five races on the 1-mile oval. He leads all drivers with 14 top-five finishes in his 21 starts.

Carl Edwards: A two-time Phoenix winner, each of Edwards’s victories — in the fall of 2010 and the spring of 2013 — snapped a 70-race winless drought. It’s only been 11 races since his last win at Richmond last fall, but after a strong Daytona 500 that saw him lead late, he’ll be one to watch this weekend at a track where he’s third on the Driver Rating list at an even 100.0.

Jeff Gordon: Another two-time winner at Phoenix, Gordon has a record 20 top-10 finishes in 30 starts at the track. Gordon won from the Coors Light Pole in 2007, and his second victory in 2010 came from the 20th starting position so keep any eye on him even if he starts mid-pack. He’s fourth on the Driver Rating list at 99.4.

Tony Stewart: Although Stewart hasn’t won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix since his rookie-of-the-year campaign in 1999, he’s fifth in Driver Rating (99.2) and has added inspiration this weekend. His racing hero and the reason for the No. 14 on his car, A.J. Foyt, will be in attendance as part of the Phoenix International Raceway’s 50th anniversary celebration. If you’re headed to the race, the two legends will appear together on Saturday at 11 a.m. Phoenix time at the track’s Roll Bar.

Go deeper: Check out NASCAR’s Phoenix Statistical Analysis for more stats and notes for Sunday’s The Profit on CNBC 500, Presented by Small Business Fueling America.

Heading into the second race of NASCAR’s regular season, here is how the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings look:

Pos. Driver Chase berth
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Winner: Daytona
2. Denny Hamlin 2nd in points
3. Brad Keselowski 3rd in points
4. Jeff Gordon 4th in points
5. Jimmie Johnson 5th in points
6. Matt Kenseth 6th in points
7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 7th in points
8. Greg Biffle 8th in points
9. Austin Dillon 9th in points
10. Casey Mears 10th in points
11. Joey Logano 11th in points
12. Kevin Harvick 12th in points
13. Jamie McMurray 13th in points
14. Bobby Labonte 14th in points
15. Reed Sorenson 15th in points
16. Carl Edwards 16th in points

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by Nascar

Bruce: New Chase format makes it easier to move on

RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. flits about the country, stopping here and there to once more describe his actions of this past Sunday evening, work goes on elsewhere.

The 2014 Daytona 500 Victory Tour pulled into Phoenix today, the last stop on a weeklong trip that’s part media tour and part celebration.

Earnhardt Jr., 39, has had plenty to talk about. His victory in the season-opening race resurrected a career that less than two seasons ago bordered on irrelevance.

For almost any driver, a win in the biggest race of the year will do that.

For anyone named Earnhardt, a win in the biggest race of the year will certainly do that.

His team and his cars had gotten better — last year’s fifth-place points finish was proof enough of that. But there were no wins, and if you’re not winning, well, what’s the point?

For everyone that didn’t win last week’s Daytona 500, the task is simply to regroup.

Drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon, who came oh-so-close only to be denied in that last 5-mile rush of adrenaline and horsepower.

Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr., who saw their chances cruelly erased due to car problems.

The wrecked, the nearly wrecked and everyone in between.

Regroup. Reset. Move on.

Daytona dreams were dashed, but the circuit doesn’t stop.

Now it’s on to Phoenix. Then Las Vegas, Bristol and California. Martinsville, Texas and Darlington. Eight consecutive weeks to open the 2014 season and hopefully build a firm foundation that will carry them and their teams into the summer months.

The wins will come. This week or the next. Somewhere down the line. Good teams don’t go to seed overnight.

The hill isn’t as steep today, thanks to the newest version of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup format.

The "win and you’re in" format isn’t a guarantee, but it’s as close to foolproof as officials could make it when they were hammering out the details. For now, wins equal Chase berths, and until more than 16 different drivers squeeze out a win in the first 26 races, that will remain the case.

A season-opening setback isn’t a season-ending setback. It’s far too early for that. Starting the year 0-for-1 isn’t a concern. It’s when the needle begins to creep toward the 0-for-20 mark that the pressure will begin to build.

For drivers such as Hamlin, Keselowski, Gordon, Stewart, Bowyer, Truex Jr. and all those in between, another opportunity is just around the corner.

Kevin Harvick, involved in last week’s last-lap crash, is no slouch on the 1-mile layout at Phoenix International Raceway, having won two of the past three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races there.

Carl Edwards is the defending champion of this week’s race. At least a dozen in the field this weekend have at least one win at PIR, including last week’s winner.

Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500. But that’s only the start.

Forty-two others didn’t. But for many of them, their time is coming.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by Brad Norman

Can Junior win again?; Hamlin, Johnson the favorites

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Earnhardt Jr. leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with 48 points.
Past race: 1st at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 win, 1 top-five, 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Earnhardt Jr.’s average finish is 17.8 and his average running position is 17.0 over the past eight years. In 23 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, six top-fives and 10 top-10s.
Quick hit: Earnhardt Jr.’s last win at Phoenix came in 2004. Hey, the whole 10-year-anniversary thing worked wonderfully at Daytona last week, and Junior notched two top-fives at the 1-mile track last year. Don’t count him out in going back-to-back to open the season.

2. Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Hamlin is second in the standings with 43 points.
Past race: 2nd at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Hamlin’s average finish is 10.9 and his average running position is 11.7 over the past eight years. In 17 career starts at Phoenix, he has one win, eight top-fives, nine top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: Hamlin’s average finish at Phoenix is second in the Sprint Cup Series to only Jimmie Johnson, and Johnson is other-worldly in the desert. Hamlin should open the season with consecutive top-fives for just the second time in his full-time Cup career.

3. Brad Keselowski (No. 2)

Penske Racing, Ford 

Standing: Keselowski is third in the standings with 42 points.
Past race: 3rd at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Keselowski’s average finish is 17.1 and his average running position is 16.2 over the past eight years. In nine career starts at Phoenix, he has two top-fives and three top-10s.
Quick hit: Keselowski’s Phoenix success has come recently. With all of his career top-five and top-10 finishes coming over the past four races, there’s no reason to think the 2012 series champion won’t add on to either of those categories.

4. Jeff Gordon (No. 24)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet 

Standing: Gordon is fourth in the standings with 40 points.
Past race: 4th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Gordon’s average finish is 13.1 and his average running position is 10.5 over the past eight years. In 30 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, 10 top-fives, 20 top-10s and three poles.
Quick hit: Statistics alone suggest Gordon will record a top-10 Sunday. His outright desert dominance, though, is a thing of the past. The veteran once recorded five top-10s and 12 top-10s in a 13-race span. His past 10 races tell a different story — five top-10s, but three finishes of 25th or worse.

5. Jimmie Johnson (No. 48)

Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet

Standing: Johnson is fifth in the standings with 40 points.
Past race: 5th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-five, 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Johnson’s average finish is 6.1 and his average running position is 6.9 over the past eight years. In 21 career starts at Phoenix, he has four wins, 14 top-fives, 17 top-10s and two poles.
Quick hit: Six-Time is the best in the game at Phoenix. He’s the only driver to have a single-digit number in either his average finish or his average running position over the past eight years — and he has them in both categories. Anything less than a top-five would be surprising.

6. Matt Kenseth (No. 20)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Standing: Kenseth is sixth in the standings with 38 points.
Past race: 6th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Kenseth’s average finish is 17.3 and his average running position is 16.1 over the past eight years. In 23 career starts at Phoenix, he has one win, five top-fives, nine top-10s and one pole.
Quick hit: This 1-mile oval isn’t one of Kenseth’s best tracks, and his No. 20 team whiffed on the setup last year in a race that allowed Jimmie Johnson to claim a comfortable points margin heading into the series finale. The bad memories may linger, but at least the No. 20 team can tweak its approach.

7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (No. 17)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Stenhouse Jr. is seventh in the standings with 37 points.
Past race: 7th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Stenhouse Jr.’s average finish is 14.0 and his average running position is 19.0 over the past eight years. In two career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 12th in 2013.
Quick hit: As a Sprint Cup sophomore, Stenhouse Jr. doesn’t have a lot of premier-level experience on most tracks. His showings at Phoenix last year, 12th and 16th, were among his most consistent. A top-10 is in the picture.

8. Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford

Standing: Biffle is eighth in the standings with 37 points.
Past race: 8th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Biffle’s average finish is 13.8 and his average running position is 14.7 over the past eight years. In 20 career starts at Phoenix, he has five top-fives and seven top-10s.
Quick hit: Fords don’t have a great history at Phoenix, with two wins there in the past 17 races, but every one of the manufacturer’s wins at Phoenix since the turn of the century has come in a car owned by Jack Roush. Combine that with the No. 16 team’s desire to better its smaller-track program, and you’ve got a sleeper pick this weekend.

9. Austin Dillon (No. 3)

Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet  

Standing: Dillon is ninth in the standings with 36 points.
Past race: 9th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-10, 1 pole.
Track history: Dillon has not started a Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix.
Quick hit: We know Dillon is good on the big tracks. What we don’t know is if his Nationwide Series success on short ovals will carry over in his rookie year. If he handles Phoenix with aplomb, Dillon could develop into a contender to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

10. Casey Mears (No. 10)

Germain Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Mears is 10th in the standing with 34 points.
Past race: 10th at Daytona.
Season stats: 1 top-10.
Track history: At Phoenix, Mears’ average finish is 24.8 and his average running position is 24.5 over the past eight years. In 19 career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 11th in 2008.
Quick hit: Phoenix requires more technical precision than Daytona, and Mears hasn’t recorded a top-10 in the desert yet. His best finish here since driving for Germain Racing is 14th, with five of his seven starts for the team resulting in finishes of worse than 20th.

11. Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford 

Standing: Logano is 11th in the standings with 34 points.
Past race: 11th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 11th.
Track history: At Phoenix, Logano’s average finish is 17.1 and his average running position is 16.3 over the past eight years. In 10 career starts at Phoenix, he has one top-five and four top-10s.
Quick hit: Strangely, Logano has had issues at Phoenix. In 10 starts, he hasn’t finished twice, which is unusual at this type of track. When he doesn’t wreck or have engine issues, though, he has three top-10s — and an 11th — in his past five finishes.

12. Kevin Harvick (No. 4)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Standing: Harvick is 12th in the standings with 31 points.
Past race: 13th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 13th.
Track history: At Phoenix, Harvick’s average finish is 11.1 and his average running position is 10.7 over the past eight years. In 22 career starts at Phoenix, he has four wins, seven top-fives and 11 top-10s.
Quick hit: Harvick has two wins and a runner-up finish in the past four Phoenix races. Moving to a new team shouldn’t slow that run, especially given Harvick’s confidence in his new No. 4 team and its engines.

13. Jamie McMurray (No. 1)

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Chevrolet  

Standing: McMurray is 13th in the standings with 30 points.
Past race: 14th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 14th.
Track history: At Phoenix, McMurray’s average finish is 21.1 and his average running position is 19.8 over the past eight years. In 21 career starts at Phoenix, he has one top-five and two top-10s.
Quick hit: This may be McMurray’s worst track on the circuit, with nine of his past 10 races here ending with one top-10 and five finishes outside the top 20.

14. Bobby Labonte (No. 52)

HScott Motorsports, Toyota 

Standing: Labonte is 14th in the standings with 29 points.
Past race: 15th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 15th.
Track history: At Phoenix, Labonte’s average finish is 18.7 and his average running position is 21.9 over the past eight years. In 30 career starts at Phoenix, he has three top-fives and nine top-10s.
Quick hit: Labonte remains one of the sport’s most popular drivers, so fans should soak in his appearance here this week. The veteran is not racing at Phoenix, so he’ll certainly be out of the top 16 in the standings entering Las Vegas

15. Reed Sorenson (No. 36)

Tommy Baldwin Racing, Chevrolet

Standing: Sorenson is 15th in the standings with 28 points.
Past race: 16th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 16th.
Track history: At Phoenix, Sorenson’s average finish is 27.9 and his average running position is 27.9 over the past eight years. In nine career starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 12th in 2009.
Quick hit: Sorenson has nine starts at PIR, but only once since 2010 — that came last year, and was a 37th-place result. It’s not likely he can compete with the veterans who consistently tour the track twice a year.

16. Carl Edwards (No. 99)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Standing: Edwards is 16th in the standings with 28 points.
Past race: 17th at Daytona.
Season stats: Best finish of 17th.
Track history: At Phoenix, Edwards’ average finish is 10.9 and his average running position is 12.7 over the past eight years. In 19 career starts at Phoenix, he has two wins, seven top-fives, 11 top-10s and three poles.
Quick hit: When Edwards does well at Phoenix, he really does well. He won this event last year (and won the fall race in 2010), and 10 of his 19 career starts have resulted in finishes of seventh or better. He’s a good fantasy play, and a good bet to shoot up in the standings next week, too.

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results
Posted on by

In the iconic number’s Cup return, it’s only fitting Dale Jr. won the race

RELATED: Austin Dillon first-person blog | Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today 

Late Sunday night, after a rain-delayed marathon of a Daytona 500 had finally come to an end, Austin Dillon was standing next to his car on pit road answering questions about his ninth-place finish when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie abruptly stopped speaking in mid-sentence. He turned and looked at the sight of Rick Hendrick sitting on the window ledge of Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s race car, the two of them zipping down the frontstretch toward Victory Lane.

"Very cool for Dale Jr." Dillon said. "That’s awesome, man."

Indeed, it was. It was one thing for the No. 3 car to return to NASCAR’s top level for the first time in 13 seasons, driven by the grandson of Dale Earnhardt’s former car owner. It was another thing for Earnhardt Jr. to win the sport’s biggest race in an event that rain pushed into prime time. It was something else for both of those to happen together, on the same night, in a perfect confluence of past and present at Daytona International Speedway.

"I think that’s awesome to have the 3 back and the 88 win the race," Dillon said, referring to Earnhardt’s car number. "That’s very cool." The No. 3 led the first lap and the No. 88 led the final one, bringing full circle a race loaded with significance for two drivers whose personal relationship helped make the return of the elder Earnhardt’s former number a reality.

It was Earnhardt whom Dillon called to first ask for permission to bring the No. 3 back to the sport’s top level. It was Earnhardt, shaped by the loss of his father, who provided advice and mentorship to Dillon as the younger driver climbed the ladder through the sport’s national divisions. Together they helped engineer a near-seamless return for one of NASCAR’s most iconic car numbers, which Dillon drove to the Coors Light Pole last weekend and to a top-10 finish Sunday night.

And for all of it to be capped by Earnhardt Jr. winning his second Daytona 500 a decade after his first — there was something poetic about it, something unmistakable even amid the brightness of NASCAR’s most popular driver winning NASCAR’s biggest race.

"I’m really happy for Junior, because he’s really handled this whole bringing the 3 back with so much class and elegance," Gil Martin, Dillon’s crew chief, said in the garage after the race. "He’s supported the whole thing the whole time when other people haven’t. He’s been probably one of the No. 1 supporters of this whole thing, and that says a lot about him. And I think it says a lot that he knows so much about this sport and the history of it. So for him to win (Sunday night) — if we couldn’t win, I couldn’t think of a better candidate."

Dillon had been the talk of the first half of Speedweeks, and not just by bringing back the No. 3, but by being fast in it — the 23-year-old won the pole in the same car that had topped the board in testing a month earlier. He led the first lap, dropped back in the field, and weathered an adventurous night before surging to ninth at the end. Meanwhile, Earnhardt was at the front, engaged in a riveting duel with a handful of other contenders, the threat of looming inclement weather leading all of them to brawl lap after lap like it was the final circuit of the race. Third-place Brad Keselowski called it perhaps the hardest-fought Daytona 500 ever, and from the outside, it certainly looked like it.

At the end, though, Earnhardt simply was too much, at last snapping that spate of runner-up finishes at Daytona — three in the past four years — with a trip to Victory Lane to match the one he made in 2004. Parked on pit road, Dillon watched the ensuing celebration unfold, a smile on his face. The No. 3 had started it, the No. 88 had finished it, and given all the connections between the drivers involved, it all added up to perfect.

"I think there’s a lot of special things from (Sunday night)," said Richie Gilmore, chief operating officer at Earnhardt Childress Engines, and a former executive at Dale Earnhardt Inc. — the team founded by the elder Earnhardt, and where Dale Jr. started his career. "The 3 coming back was a big night. Junior getting the win, I think it very special for a lot of things."

Indeed, Earnhardt Jr. was key in helping to build public support for the return of the No. 3, his immediate blessing removing perhaps the biggest potential road block to its reappearance at the sport’s top level. To Dillon, the number had always been something of a family heirloom — Childress had used it in his driving days, and Austin had worn it on his baseball jersey before embarking upon championship campaigns on the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series. On qualifying day, Dillon embraced the idea of him and Earnhardt potentially sweeping the front row. That didn’t happen, so the two drivers bookended Speedweeks instead.

"That is pretty cool. That is really cool," added Mike Dillon, Austin’s father and RCR’s general manager. "Especially the way that Junior could have made or broken this deal. He’s really been supportive. I’m probably happier for him winning the race, because he really has supported this. Because he could have made a difference in how everybody else accepted this, and probably whether or not we brought it back. That is cool that he won the race."

The significance wasn’t lost on Earnhardt Jr., who said he thought about holding up three fingers as he rolled down the straightaway celebrating his victory. He decided not to, wanting the spotlight to remain on people like Hendrick and his crew chief, Steve Letarte. Even so, Earnhardt’s ease with his father’s old number being back on the race track was evident, particularly in the wake of his biggest race win in a decade.

"It felt so comfortable all week for that number to be back," Earnhardt said. "I’m happy with that situation. I’m happy for Austin. You guys (in the media) have gotten to know him over the last couple years. He’s got a great head on his shoulders. He appreciates the history of the number. He appreciates not only what it meant as an Earnhardt fan, but what it meant for his family. It means something entirely unique to him separate of my father. I appreciate that, and I’m happy for him and Richard. They’re really enjoying that experience together. That’s got to be something special, grandfather and grandson, to be able to do that together. I’m very comfortable. I had not thought about it once all week, because it just seems right."

It’s easy to see why. According to Gilmore, Earnhardt and Dillon have a solid rapport that stems not just from the rookie driver turning to a close family friend for advice, but also the veteran’s willingness to act as the kind of mentor he himself sorely needed following his father’s fatal crash at Daytona in 2001.

"I think he and Austin have a great relationship," Gilmore said. "…  Junior is going to be 40 this year, and it’s something for him to take that role and give him advice. Junior, he lost his dad at a time when Junior was looking for advice. He had just gotten into the sport, and we were here, and I remember Junior going out and talking about his dad, and telling him that his race car was pushing. (Earnhardt Sr.) told him, ‘It ain’t pushing. It’s air.’ Listening to their conversations, he didn’t have all that time, and I know he enjoys telling Austin those things and mentoring him, and the other young kids in this garage. I think he likes that senior role."

Mike Dillon, himself a former national-series driver who made one Cup start, can see it as well. "Austin communicates with (Earnhardt) a lot, about a lot of different things about the business," he said. "And I tell him to call those guys and ask them, because they’ve gone through it and made the mistakes, so why wouldn’t he use them? If you’ve got him there, and if they’re willing to talk to you and help you, why wouldn’t you use them?"

For all the goodwill that flowed through the garage area Sunday night, there was still some dissatisfaction in the RCR camp, which had consistently the fastest cars of Speedweeks yet did not win a race. In the Daytona 500, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman were caught up in crashes — the latter after some contact with Dillon — and Martin Truex Jr., whose Furniture Row Racing team is a Childress affiliate, lost an engine before a six-hour rain delay pushed the bulk of the event into the evening.

So in the end, Dillon was the team’s lone remaining hope. And yet, with Earnhardt spinning donuts and the crowd erupting in jubilance, it would have been difficult to imagine a more fitting conclusion Sunday night even if the draft had somehow swept that No. 3 car to victory.

"I almost think if the 3 would have won (Sunday night), it would have been like when Junior first got in it — too much pressure, too quick," Gilmore said. "I think what Austin’s talked about a lot is, ‘I’m a rookie this year, and if I finish top 15 in points, that’s my goal.’ He’s got realistic goals, and is a real smart kid, and I think that might have been too much pressure too quick."

Dillon certainly seemed content with it all. "It was a great finish. Dale Jr. and won, and (I got) a top 10. I’m really happy," he said. From start to finish, these Speedweeks at Daytona were all about two drivers and two organizations bound together by a single number, and the end result was a celebration in which both sides took immense satisfaction — even if only one of them could win.

"I don’t think," Gilmore said, "you could ask for a better night."

MORE:

READ: Earnhardt Jr. wins
wild Daytona 500

WATCH: Dale Jr.
in Victory Lane

WATCH: Danica, a dozen
others in Daytona pileup

READ: Official Daytona 500
race results