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Logano, Newman earn top 10s at Phoenix

The AdvoCare 500 was the second to last race in the Sprint Cup Series season. And while no Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers scored top-five finishes, a pair of drivers earned top-10 finishes and two drivers moved up a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Here is the roundup for the Coca-Cola Racing Family at Phoenix International Raceway.

Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford

Recap: Logano spent a good portion of the race in the top 10 and held the lead two different times for a total of 33 laps. His day started out interesting with a near mishap with points leader Jimmie Johnson. Logano slipped to 26th on Lap 240 but rallied for his fourth career top-10 finish at Phoenix. The ninth-place finish was also Logano’s fourth top-10 finish in the Chase and helped him hold onto to ninth place in the point standings.
Quotable: "We didn’t really lose much in points, but, overall, it was a weird race because you don’t know where you’re at and you just pass the cars in front of you. I didn’t know what place I was in, I just kept running because it was too confusing for me."
His standing: Logano is 9th in the standings with 2,287 points.
Outlook: In Logano’s four opportunities at Homestead he has not claimed a win, a top-five finish or a top-10, but he did earn the pole position in 2012 and ultimately finished 14th, which is his best finishing position to date at the track.

Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Newman started 17th at a track where he had won the Coors Light Pole four times. From there, he hung in the middle of the field until Lap 164 when he surged to the lead. It was the first of three times Newman would lead the race. He held the lead for a total of 31 laps. Newman moved to the middle of the field for a bit before holding second place on Lap 270. He fell back bit to finish 10th. Newman’s solid run at Phoenix did see him move up a spot in the point standings.
Quotable: "Matt Borland and the guys worked hard to make the Quicken Loans Chevrolet better over the course of the weekend, and once we got in clean air the car was actually pretty good. But track position was everything. When we had it, the car was pretty good. When we didn’t, it was so hard to pass."
His standing: Newman is 11th in the standings with 2,259 points.
Outlook: In Newman’s 11 races at Homestead, he has yet to see Victory Lane, but he has earned one top-five and four top-10s there. When Newman visited Homestead last year he finished third behind Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer.

Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Recap: Biffle spent most of the race in the top 20 but there were some stretches were he made his way into the top 10. That included leading the race on Lap 275. Biffle finished 13th at Phoenix and remains winless at the one-mile track in his 20 career starts. Biffle did move up a spot in the point standings to seventh, though.
Quotable: Biffle was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Biffle is seventh in the standings with 2,301 points.
Outlook: Along with Biffle’s three previous wins at Homestead he also holds four top-five finishes, as well as five top-10s. With such a strong history at this track, perhaps a return to South Florida will bring out another memorable finish for Biffle.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Recap: The day started out promising for Hamlin as he started on the front row, next to polesitter Jimmie Johnson. He then went on to lead 18 laps, but it was all downhill from there. A spin in Turn 2 by Hamlin brought out a caution on Lap 51 and Hamlin never seemed to completely recover from that. On Lap 60, he was in 32nd place. He did eventually spend a little time back in the top 10, but at day’s end, Hamlin finished 28th and a lap behind the leaders.
Quotable: Hamlin was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Hamlin is 23rd in the standings with 706 points.
Outlook: For only having eight starts, Hamlin has a solid Sprint Cup Series background at Homestead. With one previous win that came in 2009 along with earning three top-fives and four top-10s at the track, Hamlin has just as good of a chance as any to find himself in Victory Lane at the South Florida season closer.

Danica Patrick (No. 10)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: It was a tough day for Patrick at Phoenix. Starting 32nd, she spent most of the day in the rear of the field. Patrick battled a loose-handling racecar and then was involved in a four-car accident that brought out a caution on Lap 146. Patrick ended the day with a 33rd-place finish, finished 10 laps behind the leaders and lost two spots in the standings.
Quotable: "It was a tough day all around. …Obviously, we wanted to put a better performance. …We’ll go to Homestead and see if we can have a good run to end the season."
Her standing: Patrick is 27th in the standings with 622 points.
Outlook: Patrick’s upcoming run at Homestead will be the first of her Sprint Cup Series career and a starting point for the rookie. Looking back to her brief time as a Nationwide Series driver, Patrick has been to Homestead three times. During that time she has lead eight laps, with an average start of 10.3, and average finish of 21.3. Patrick also experienced one DNF in 2011 for a crash. Even though those are her Nationwide statistics, it’s enough of a sample size for what her run could be like this time around.

Tony Stewart (No. 14)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Stewart missed his 14th consecutive race this past weekend and watched Mark Martin pilot the No. 14 Chevrolet to a 15th-place finish at Phoenix. Stewart is still recovering from a broken leg and won’t return in 2013.
His standing: Stewart is 29th in the standings with 594 points.

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Five-Time’s lead is large, but it’s not quite insurmountable

RELATED: Phoenix results | Standings | Clinching scenarios | Full Chase coverage

AVONDALE, Ariz. — So many times Jimmie Johnson has come to Phoenix International Raceway on the brink of a championship, and so many times he’s used a performance on the desert mile to essentially secure the crown. Four of his five titles at NASCAR’s premier level have been all but locked down at the foot of the Estrella Mountains, and Sunday he laid the groundwork for what would be title number six.

Phoenix has always loomed large for Johnson, a Southern California native who so focuses on the Arizona track that he even made a rare NASCAR Nationwide Series start here in the spring in an effort to learn a little more for the track’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event. It was mission accomplished — his third-place result Sunday increased his lead to 28 points over Matt Kenseth, and Johnson can move within a single title of knotting the King and the Intimidator with a finish of 23rd or better next week.

But even as the scene shifts from the desert to the Florida coastline for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Phoenix still looms large, and not just because of what Johnson did here Sunday in weathering a pair of early scrapes to place his boot heel on the neck of the competition. Winning won’t be enough for Kenseth or Kevin Harvick, the other two drivers still mathematically alive in this Chase. For anyone else to have a shot, they’re left to hope Johnson has another outing just like the one he did at Phoenix. 

Not Sunday — last fall, when he suffered the cut tire that cleared the path for Brad Keselowski to celebrate his first career Sprint Cup championship. 

"We saw the same thing last year — the 48 comes in here ahead and has a miscue, has a problem, and that’s just it," said Jason Ratcliff, Kenseth’s crew chief. "That’s why it’s so hard to win these championships, that’s why people work their guts out for them, and they’re very rewarding when you do win them. These guys have worked over the last eight weeks, nine weeks, as hard as they’ve ever worked trying to put great cars on the race track and minimize mistakes, and they’ve done a really good job in that. We came into this race just seven points back, and it’s been a greater season than we could ever imagine, and it’s not over yet."

Possible? Certainly. Likely? Well, that’s another matter altogether. Last season Johnson limped to the finish, his cut tire at Phoenix and busted rear gear at Homestead representing his first back-to-back failures in the Chase since the inaugural playoff a decade ago. Those episodes stand out precisely because they’re so rare for a team that more often has excelled when the pressure is on. But like Tiger Woods losing a major after leading into the final round, there were signs that the mighty No. 48 team is fallible after all. And right now, Kenseth’s team is clinging to them like a life raft. 

It might be able to look in the mirror, as well. Another, more recent example of a championship-contending team suffering though an uncharacteristically tough day in the thick of the Chase is what happened to Kenseth on Sunday, when the sport’s paragon of consistency was absolutely lost. There was no cut tire, no blown accident, no wreck that took him out. It was a more gradual and much more painful decline, small mistakes building on one another until the No. 20 car was two laps down and Johnson’s lead was growing as wide as the bright blue sky.

Talk about an outlier. If the team that leads the series in race victories and led the Chase for six of the first eight weeks can whiff that badly on a setup, can’t anyone? What made Sunday’s turn of events so shocking was that the No. 20 team has thrived off improving their cars as events have gone along, using adjustments to make the best of races in which their vehicles weren’t fastest off the truck. They did that at Dover, did that at Charlotte, did that at Texas, and everyone assumed they’d do the same thing at Phoenix. 

Except they didn’t. "The type of race we had today, I don’t wish anything on anybody, but it can happen to anybody, and it can happen next week (to Johnson)," Ratcliff said. "We just have to put our best foot forward and try to win that race." 

Still, all Johnson needs is 23rd — which is exactly where Kenseth wound up Sunday in Phoenix, as bad as it seemed. Johnson has never won at Homestead, and his last two outings there have resulted in finishes of 32nd or worse. That happens again next weekend, and suddenly we may very well have a three-man race. Or Johnson could unleash a performance like he did in crucial Chase finales in 2004 and 2010, both of them runner-up finishes, the latter resulting in his fifth championship. 

Another one of those, and we’ll be saying hello to Six-Time. 

"We’re going to go down there and race as hard as we can," Johnson said. "I think the safest place on the race track is up front, and if I look back to our Texas performance, we found a way to race smart, stay out of trouble and still get the race won. I would love to win the race and win the championship, but we’ll just have to see how things develop in the race and where we are relative to (Kenseth). The big prize at the end of the day is what we’re focused on. It’s not so much that individual win, but we need to go down there and be prepared and treat Friday and Saturday like we need to win the race." 

It’s fun to entertain the what-ifs, and indeed a blown engine or some other disaster would alter the picture decidedly. But given Johnson’s history, it’s probably more likely that the real battle at Homestead will be between Kenseth and Harvick for second place. They’re separated by just six points now after the latter’s victory on Sunday, and falling to third in the final standings would be a cruel blow indeed for a driver like Kenseth, who’s been the class of the entire season up until the past two weeks. 

Leave it to Harvick, never one to mince words, to keep it real. When it comes to beating Jimmie Johnson, he has one last-gasp emergency measure tucked up his fire suit sleeve. 

"We’re talking about locking him in a Porta-Potty," he joked, "so that should sum it up."

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
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Fuel miscalculation costs Edwards at Phoenix; Bowyer also slips a spot

Updated standings | Full Phoenix coverage

Two up

Two down

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

Pos.

Driver

Pts back

+/-

1.

Jimmie Johnson

—

—

2.

Matt Kenseth

-28

—

3.

Kevin Harvick

-34

—

4.

Kyle Busch

-57

—

5.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

-63

—

6.

Jeff Gordon

-80

—

7.

Greg Biffle

-83

+1

8.

Clint Bowyer

-87

-1

9.

Joey Logano

-97

—

10.

Kurt Busch

-99

—

11.

Ryan Newman

-125

+1

12.

Kasey Kahne

-132

+1

13.

Carl Edwards

-134

-2

IN THE GREEN

Greg Biffle (Change: 8th to 7th)
Biffle may not have left Phoenix with a win, but he did make an upward shift in the points standings to seventh, ultimately swapping spots with Clint Bowyer. Biffle was one of the 13 leaders in the AdvoCare 500, leading for just one lap. Finishing 13th after starting in the rear after a transmission change, his jump in the standings can be accredited to his ability to stay consistent and drive through the field. Although he is no longer competing for the title in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Biffle heads into the last race of the season one position higher than he was pre-Phoenix. 

Ryan Newman (Change: 12th to 11th)
Adding another top-10 finish to the eight Newman has previously earned at Phoenix, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver leaves the desert 11th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings, seven points in front of Kasey Kahne and nine points in front of Carl Edwards. Newman finished 10th in the AdvoCare 500 and led for a total of 31 laps, the sixth most in the race. Even though Newman had a strong showing at Phoenix, he was mathematically eliminated from title contention last week and is 125 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. 

IN THE RED

Clint Bowyer (Change: 7th to 8th)
After leading the final practice on Saturday and starting sixth in the field at Phoenix, Bowyer looked like a he had a good shot of seeing Victory Lane — or at least finishing in the top five like he’s done twice before at this track. Bowyer was in and out of the top 10 and at one point was in fourth place on Lap 255. However, he couldn’t hold that position. His drop back in the standings can be blamed on his 20th-place showing at a track where he earned a top-10 finish earlier in the season, as well as Greg Biffle’s performance that moved the Roush Fenway Racing driver up one spot in the standings.

Carl Edwards (Change: 11th to 13th)

Edwards went into Phoenix with the second-best Driver Rating (100.6) in the past eight years there, as well as a win at the track earlier this season. Edwards qualified 23rd at Phoenix but quickly displayed one of the strongest cars, leading for 36 laps. Everything was looking good for Edwards — he was leading with three laps to go and Victory Lane was in sight — until Edwards ran out of fuel just before the white flag flew, leaving Kevin Harvick to nab the lead for the win. This ultimately cost Edwards two positions in the standings and resulted in a 21st-place finish in the second to last race of the season.

MISSED CHANCES

Matt Kenseth (Change: No change)

The one-mile Phoenix track has never been one of Kenseth’s strongest, and his time at Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 didn’t go differently. Going into the race just seven points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth needed to make a drastic impact in the race to overcome Johnson’s lead. Unfortunately for Kenseth, he faced the worst finish he’s earned during the Chase — 23rd — after handling problems kept his car stuck in traffic. As the Sprint Cup drivers head to the last race of the season at Homestead, Kenseth now sits 28 points behind.

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
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Busch hopes to have Wallace Jr. full-time, Jones part-time in 2014

The Phoenix weekend hardly could have gone better for Kyle Busch, whose low point was a seventh-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
 
On Saturday, Busch won his sixth NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the one-mile track. A day earlier, 17-year-old Erik Jones notched his first victory in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in the No. 51 Toyota Tundra fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports.
 
That marked the second time in three weeks a driver other than Busch himself had won in a KBM truck. With his victory on Oct. 26 at Martinsville, NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate Darrell Wallace Jr. became the first African-American driver in nearly 50 years to win a race in one of NASCAR’s three national series.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

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Both Jones’ and Wallace’s victories were welcome news to KBM, which is working to solidify its program for 2014.
 
"It shows that our team is capable of running up front, capable of winning with younger drivers, younger talent, not just Cup guys like myself or Denny [Hamlin]," Busch said after his NASCAR Nationwide win. "I think it proves our capabilities and what KBM is all about. We’ve understood and now recognize that the trucks is a capable playground for us that we can be competitive at.
 
"We feel like we have a good handle on the trucks, and that’s where we’re going to put our focus. We’re really looking forward to bringing Darrell back next year. It’s not final yet, but we’re close and looking to have two of those trucks."
 
Busch expects to run Wallace full-time next season and to split time with Jones, who can’t be approved for tracks longer than one mile, with the exception of road courses, until he turns 18 on May 30.
 
"My idea in the grand scheme of things, in a perfect world, would be me run 10-12 races and then Erik Jones fill in the other 10-12, whatever those race tracks are that he can run, mile and under and however the schedule lays out. Then, see Darrell full-time in the 54 truck."

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
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Pastrana has four top-10s in his Nationwide career

RELATED ANALYSIS: Pastrana had speed but couldn’t harness it

Action sports star Travis Pastrana informed his fans Monday that he will not return to NASCAR racing in 2014.
 
In a thorough post on his Facebook fan page, Pastrana said he was grateful for the opportunity but cited a lack of sponsorship, subpar results and his wish to spend more time with his family as his reasons for leaving the sport. His announcement and shift in focus means Saturday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will likely be his final NASCAR Nationwide Series start.

"I hate to quit and I hate to fail, but sometimes things work out as they should," Pastrana said in his Facebook message. "I’ve never been able to figure out the finesse required in pavement racing and that is disappointing, but I’m looking forward to driving more rally and racing more off-road trucks and there will be some announcements on those fronts shortly."
 
Pastrana signed with team owner Jack Roush before the 2013 season, joining former Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne as a full-time teammate in his No. 60 Ford. Though known for his extreme two-wheeled acrobatics on motorcycles, Pastrana had climbed the ranks through the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East while driving for team owner Michael Waltrip.
 
Pastrana soldiered through much of this season without sponsorship and failed to finish six races because of crashes, managing just four top-10 finishes — his best, a ninth-place effort at Richmond International Raceway in April. His biggest highlight came one race later at Talladega Superspeedway, where he landed his only Coors Light Pole Award and led four laps before a wreck eventually ended his day.
 
In stepping away, Pastrana acknowledged the balance of family with a rigorous 33-race schedule on the Nationwide Series as another reason for his departure. Pastrana and his wife, Lyn-Z, welcomed an addition to the family with the birth of their first child, Addy, in September.
 
"My wife Lyn-Z has been more then supportive of my foray into NASCAR, often times being my biggest source of encouragement and support," Pastrana wrote. "But as my wife had to take a step back from being a professional skater to let me chase my goals in racing, I too need to take a step back and look at my situation as a father and husband."

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
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Fuel mileage miscalculation costs Edwards a Phoenix sweep

RELATED: Full Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup coverage

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Carl Edwards, a winner here at Phoenix International Raceway earlier this year, nearly pulled off the double. 

Then his fuel cell ran dry with the white flag in the air in the AdvoCare 500 and the Roush Fenway Racing driver was left to ponder what might have been. 

"We played the strategy very well," said Edwards, whose No. 99 Ford fell from first to 21st when the fuel mileage misjudgment took place. "We did a good job, but we just needed a little more fuel. We must have miscalculated. I thought we were a lap to the good." 

Instead, Edwards found himself circling the track slowly on the apron as car after car sped past. Kevin Harvick shot past for the lead — and eventually the victory. Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rocketed by the Roush Fenway Racing driver as well. And on and on.

"I was saving just a little bit of fuel, but obviously not enough," Edwards said. "I don’t know if I could have saved a lap and kept Kevin behind me in hindsight, but that’s a tough way to lose one there. We haven’t run out of fuel in a long time."

Now 13th in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, Edwards led twice for 36 laps in the 312-lap event. A winner here as well as Richmond in the fall, he said while it seemed many drivers had trouble passing on the 1-mile circuit, "this was a fun race, I had a really good time.

"It’s just going to take me a little while to get over this one." 

Edwards almost found himself in the middle of a Chase altering incident, making contact with points leader Jimmie Johnson just before a caution at Lap 164. 

"I definitely did not mean to hit him," Edwards said of the contact. "He did a heck of a job saving it and I’m just glad (he did). I did not want to be part of the championship in that manner."

It’s been a forgettable Chase for Edwards, who two years ago headed to Homestead in the midst of a heated battle with Tony Stewart for the title. This time around, he’s finished outside the top 15 four times. A sour engine only a week earlier left him 37th at Texas. It’s a difficult pill to swallow for the driver who led the points before the Chase got underway. 

"We … just didn’t calculate the fuel correctly and I’m as big a part of that as anyone," he said. "We’re all in this together, so we’ll just go to Homestead and win it."

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
Posted on by Staff Report

See who’s who in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 200

Click here for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry list for the season finale.

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
Posted on by Staff Report

See who’s who in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300

Click here for the NASCAR Nationwide Series entry list for the season finale.

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
Posted on by Staff Report

Sprint Cup Series heads to Homestead for finale

Click here to see the entry list

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call
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Joe Gibbs Racing driver can’t find his footing in the desert, trails Johnson by 28 points

RELATED: Race results | Standings | Championship scenarios | Full Chase coverage

AVONDALE, Ariz. — This is how bad it got Sunday for Matt Kenseth: As the final circuits wound down at Phoenix International Raceway, the best he could hope for was a free pass back onto the lead lap. And he was struggling to overtake Bobby Labonte and David Gilliland to put himself in position to receive that.

"I can’t believe I can’t even pass these two cars," Kenseth lamented over the radio.

It was that kind of afternoon, that kind of race for a Joe Gibbs Racing driver who came to the Valley of the Sun in a tight championship battle with Jimmie Johnson, and left needing a miracle next weekend in the season finale. From poor track position to an excruciatingly long pit stop to adjustments that simply didn’t work, the No. 20 team suffered through not only its worst performance of this Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but arguably also its worst of the season that didn’t involve a crash or mechanical failure.

The end result was painful for a program that set the bar this season in terms of both race victories and consistency. Kenseth finished 23rd Sunday while Johnson overcame a few early close shaves to place third, and now all the Hendrick Motorsports driver needs is a finish of 23rd or better at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch his sixth championship at NASCAR’s highest level.

"Of course, I’m disappointed," said Kenseth, now 28 points behind Johnson. "We go there basically without a shot to win. Obviously disappointed, but on the other hand, I couldn’t be happier and more proud of my team. It’s been the best year of my racing career, really. It’s been an awesome season. You’re going to have days like this. Of course we wanted to finish off the last couple of weeks. But you can’t really just grab one race. There’s 10 races (in the Chase) and they all pay the same. We just do the best we can every week."

And yet, Kenseth had done very well in the previous eight Chase events, winning two of them, his only real bobble a 20th-place result at Talladega when he couldn’t find enough help to draft his way to the front. Two weeks ago, he and Johnson were tied atop the standings. After the No. 48 team won last Sunday at Texas, Kenseth was still only seven points back.

Phoenix, though, was another story altogether. Kenseth lagged behind Johnson in the first two practice sessions as well as qualifying, and very early in the race it was clear the No. 20 car wasn’t its usual self. Crew chief Jason Ratcliff tried different adjustments, but nothing took. The vehicle didn’t just fail to respond to the changes, it got worse, forcing Kenseth to sacrifice early track position so his team could attempt still more changes.

No dice. "It’s just so bad," Kenseth reported while running 23rd. "We’re just going to have to keep pitting out of sequence and see if we can get there. I don’t even know what to tell you."

After the race, Ratcliff was at a loss. On a late pit stop, the crew chief said he threw everything from spring rubber to packer to wedge to air pressure adjustments at the car all at the same time, hoping to see some signs of life. "Looking at the lap times, it didn’t look like it moved the needle at all, for whatever reason," he said.

"Everybody was fighting the same stuff today, so we should have been able to go out there and do a better job of executing and making our car better," he added. "So for whatever reason, we just really missed it today. It’s unfortunate — we were that close to possibly winning a championship. We’ve just got to go to Homestead next week and put our best foot forward like we always do."

Ratcliff kept trying to boost his driver’s spirits, believing the car’s performance might improve if it ever got in clean air. But it never really got the chance to get there, given that either the extra pit stops robbed Kenseth of track position, or his old tires were no match for the rest of the field when he stayed out. He kept moving in the same direction, backward, and his fate was effectively sealed when confusion over whether to take two or four tires led to a stop that was 25 seconds long.

Ratcliff took full responsibility for that glitch, just one of several the No. 20 team faced on an uncharacteristically difficult afternoon in the greater Phoenix area. "Just missed it pretty bad today," the crew chief said. "Missed it all weekend."

This from the team that led NASCAR’s premier series with seven race victories, and led the Chase for six of the first nine weeks. Now, Kenseth not only needs a miraculous turn of events to have a shot at the title, but he’s also suddenly trying to hold off Kevin Harvick — who is just six points behind him after Sunday’s victory — for second place.

"We haven’t had a day like this all year," Kenseth said. "I can’t say I was overly confident about what we had. We had some runs where we were OK in practice and all that. But man, Jason and that group is just awesome. They always put it together, and when we took off, our first run was reasonable today. It wasn’t great, but it was about where we were in practice. … Man, once we got off, we got off, and losing track position just compounded all our problems, and we could never overcome them."

Through it all, the 2003 series champion was his usual composed and professional self, even though the sting of Sunday’s finish was evident in his tightly clenched jaw. Now all he and his No. 20 team can do is try to win the finale at Homestead — where Kenseth has won once before, with Roush Fenway Racing in 2007 — and see what happens.

"You’ve got to look at this season as a whole," Ratcliff said. "And when you do that, it’s been a remarkable season. I think you can ask anybody in this garage — hey, would you take a bad day like today at Phoenix for the rest of the season? They’d jump all over it. I think we have to look at it that way."

Kenseth certainly does. "I’m a pretty lucky guy," he said. "… It’s been a great season. Still got a week to go. Hopefully (we’ll) go down there to Homestead and contend for a win."

MORE:

READ: Harvick rallies
for win at Phoenix

WATCH: Final Laps:
Harvick wins late

WATCH: Kenseth:
‘still one week left’

WATCH: Johnson’s
close call