Headline News Category

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz – Jimmie Johnson met with the media early this morning to clarify the accident he had in qualifying, which forced the team to go to a backup car for Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. The accident happened in Turn 2 during the final round of knockout qualifying. In an interview yesterday, Johnson could not confirm what happened, only saying “I don’t know for sure.” Johnson, 40, would later confirm through Twitter that the steering wheel came off. This morning the six-timeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz –  Qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday afternoon turned into one of the more odd sessions of the early season, and it became all the more interesting after Jimmie Johnson wrecked in Turn 2 during the final round. The six-time Sprint Cup Series champion put down a lap that ended fifth best on the timesheets, but following the hard crash Johnson will have to start the Good Sam 500 in a backup car at the rear of the field. Johnson, 40, spoke aboutRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service 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 (on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET). 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 inspectionRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor Will Power recovered from crashing out of the first practice session to click off the fastest lap of the day in the final seconds of a delayed practice session at the Streets of St. Petersburg. A portion of the racing surface in turn 3 came apart just nine minutes into the session. That brought out the red flag for nearly 45 minutes while the track was repaired. Once the action restarted, 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon led for much of theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz. – Heading into Phoenix International Raceway, perhaps no one in the XFINITY Series has more momentum than Daniel Suarez. The 2015 Rookie of the Year, Suarez has opened the first three races with three top 10’s, including a runner-up finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That finish enabled Suarez to take over the championship lead for the first time in his young NASCAR career. Suarez, 24, is no stranger to Phoenix International Raceway. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity graduate raced in NASCAR’sRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With one win under his belt in 2016 already, Jimmie Johnson heads into Sunday’s Good Sam 500 at Phoenix looking to break his winless streak at the desert mile since the track underwent a reconfiguration during the 2011 season. Johnson tops the board statistically among active drivers when looking at career wide numbers, but the six-time series champion has been absent from victory lane in Phoenix over the past six years. Overall, Johnson has four wins (2007, 2008 sweep, and 2009), as well as 15Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AVONDALE, Ariz. – With a race weekend at Phoenix International Raceway on the horizon, Kevin Harvick met with the media Friday morning ahead of this Sunday’s Good Sam 300. Harvick, 40, won last year’s event at Phoenix International Raceway. In fact, the California native has won four of the last five, dominating the 1-mile oval since the repave a few seasons ago. Harvick is in the midst of his third season with Stewart-Haas Racing, but recently the team announced that it is moving away from ChevroletRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter & NASCAR Contributor Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud led a rather uneventful first session for this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Frenchman set fastest lap of the session (1:01.7246s) with 10 minutes remaining in the session. “It’s the first practic eof the year, so it’s nice to start of nicely,” said Pagenaud. “There’s still a lot of work do.” Pagenaud’s lap was just .0624s quicker than the Honda of A.J. Foyt Racing’s Jack Hawsworth. Pagenaud’s teammate and three time St. Pete winner Helio Castroneves wasRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor To commemorate the team’s historic 50th anniversary, Penske is outfitting the chassis for their two top IndyCar aces, Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya in a slick silver livery for the 2016 season. The cars are a bright silver with red or black accents depending on the driver. Power’s car features the red accents and will run in the new colors for 16 races this season, whereas Montoya’s in the black accents will stick with the color scheme for 9 rounds. We will get a closeRead More

SHOW #401 – Guests: Cole Pearn (78 Crew Chief)/Greg Ives (88 Crew Chief) – We break down the Las Vegas weekend, Hendrick plane news, Goodyear Tire Test, Payton Manning is NASCAR news somehow, plus we preview Phoenix and do a video version for the first time, check us out on YouTube, keyword finallapradio. Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie. ( Roughly 48:00 mins) DOWNLOAD HERE SEE KERRY AND TOBY IN STUDIO RECORDING THIS EPISODE [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_oF5oRNA8Q] CREDITS: Hosts: Kerry Murphey & Toby Christie Executive Producer: Kerry Murphey Music: RussellRead More