Can-Am 500 Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney got what he needed in Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session—but only by a thousandth of a second. In the final round, Blaney covered the one-mile distance at Phoenix Raceway in 26.098 seconds (137.942 mph) to edge Denny Hamlin (137.936 mph) by .001 for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Can-Am 500, the final race in the Playoff’s Round of 8 (on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET). With the Playoff field set to be trimmed fromRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson won his seventh Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship with a serendipitous victory in the Championship 4 race. This year, Johnson will need more than serendipity. He’ll need what amounts to a miracle just to earn a shot at a record eighth title. Johnson comes to Phoenix Raceway eighth in the series standings, last among the drivers trying to survive the Playoff’s Round of 8. With one berth available in the Championship 4, theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Round of Eight all comes down to this. After last week’s race at Texas, the stage is set for the final race of the round in Phoenix to determine which drivers will move onto Homestead and which drivers will see their championship hopes vanish in the Arizona desert. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely different than it did 29 years ago, having undergone a reconfiguration back in 2011. The reconfiguration added progressive banking to theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano earned a return trip to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway after a year’s absence. Kyle Busch will head to the South Florida track to try to defend his 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. And Kevin Harvick won’t be competing for the title for the first time since NASCAR debuted its elimination Chase format in 2014. Needing a victory to advance, as it turned out, Harvick finished fourth in Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. In aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Anytime the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway, one driver immediately comes to mind and that driver is Kevin Harvick. As the perennial favorite to win on the desert mile, Harvick was a big favorite to win Sunday’s Can-Am 500 and advance to the Championship Four. However, Harvick and his No. 4 team fell short of that goal and were eliminated from the Chase for the first time since the elimination format was implemented. A 20th place finish at Martinsville followed upRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After being thrust into the spotlight as the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the No. 88 car for Hendrick Motorsports, Alex Bowman has impressed in his nine starts for the team, but took it to a new level at Phoenix, scoring a sixth place finish. As a native of Tucson, Arizona, Phoenix serves as Bowman’s home track and in Bowman’s own words is a track that has “always been a place that’s been close to my heart,” so running well on the desertRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Saving his best effort for the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session at Phoenix International Raceway, substitute driver Alex Bowman won the pole for Sunday’s Can-Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC), the race that will determine the Championship 4 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Filling in behind the wheel of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bowman covered the one-mile distance in 25.619 seconds (140.521 mph) to win the first CoorsRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Though he’s last in the Chase standings, 34 points below the current cut line with one race left in the Round of 8, Kurt Busch already has had plenty of reason to celebrate this month. After all, his beloved Chicago Cubs rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series and break a 108-year championship drought. Likewise, Busch will have to rally from two lackluster races in the Chase’s Round of 8. Barring an extraordinary set of circumstances, he’ll haveRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Six drivers vying for two spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship 4 Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway just might be a recipe for bad blood – particularly since three of the six drive for the same organization. “There’s an opportunity for two or three of us to be disappointed – or one of us,” says Denny Hamlin, who is battling his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, along with Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and KurtRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The Round of 8 all comes down to this. After last week’s rain delayed race at Texas, the stage is set for the final race of the round to determine which drivers will move onto Homestead and which drivers will see their championship hopes vanish in the Valley of the Sun. Phoenix has resided on the Cup Series schedule since 1988, but the track looks completely different than it did 28 years ago, having undergone a reconfiguration back in 2011. The reconfiguration added progressive bankingRead More