ISM Raceway Tag

By INDYCAR AVONDALE, Arizona – Sebastien Bourdais continued his sizzling start to the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, setting the fastest speed in Verizon P1 Award qualifying today to earn the pole position for the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix. Following a victory in the season opener at St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 11, Bourdais averaged 188.539 mph for his two qualifying laps around ISM Raceway’s 1.022-mile oval in the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. Bourdais earned the 34th pole positionRead More

By INDYCAR AVONDALE, Arizona – INDYCAR announced that veteran racer Oriol Servia has been named a pace car driver for some Verizon IndyCar Series events this season, beginning with this weekend’s Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix at ISM Raceway. Servia will split duties with Sarah Fisher, who has been an INDYCAR pace car driver since 2016. “Sarah has done a great job for us but she was unavailable for all of the races,” said Jay Frye, INDYCAR president of competition and operations. “Oriol is a pro andRead More

The No. 98 machine of Andretti-Herta Autosport driver Marco Andretti will feature a special look for the upcoming Phoenix Grand Prix at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway. In honor of the of 25th Anniversary of Mario Andretti’s last career win, the third-generation driver will race the Oberto Beef Jerky Circle K / Curb Honda in the colors of his grandfather’s 1993 winning car. “We’re really excited to see Oberto back on the car this year. Andretti Autosport has built a strong relationship with them and we’re happy to continue to grow theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Several Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series teams were issued penalties by NASCAR Wednesday, notably impacting Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team. Elliott’s team received an L1-level penalty for a rear suspension violation following Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, where he finished a season-high third. The team was found to have violated Section 20.14.2, which deals with rear suspension and trailing arm angles/pinion angle shims. Elliott’s car didn’t meet the requirements as the Rule Book states it must be in completeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Rookie phenom William Byron hasn’t had the results fans, critics and the team would’ve hoped for after three races, but that all changed after scoring a career-best 12th in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway. More importantly than a top-15 effort, Byron led his first-ever laps in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race. The collegiate driver put his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on top of the scoring pylon for 15 laps. Byron’s road to the lead started on Lap 190, when theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After an early exit at Las Vegas last week, Kurt Busch had a competitive car in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, crossing the line in 10th for his second top-10 finish of the season after leading six of 312 laps. Busch consistently worked his way through the field in his No. 41 Mobil 1 Ford Fusion after starting 23rd, reaching up to 16th on Lap 23. His crew made no changes during early pit stops and ended stage one in eighth. Busch continued toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – As the old aphorism goes, there’s nothing certain except death and taxes. After Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway, you can add Kevin Harvick at Phoenix to that list. Harvick beat Kyle Busch to the finish line by .774 seconds to win his third straight Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series of the season, the first time a driver has strung three victories together since Busch accomplished the feat at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Indianapolis. The victory was a record ninth forRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor If there’s one constant four races into the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, it is that Chase Elliott has been the standard bearer for Hendrick Motorsports. On Sunday at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Elliott led the way for the organization once more, bringing home a third-place finish, the best of the season for both Elliott and HMS as a whole. “We had a good car,” said Elliott. “It was solid, you know? Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made a good call there at theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Neither a speeding penalty nor uncharacteristic rain in the Sonoran Desert could keep Brad Keselowski out of Victory Lane on Saturday at ISM Raceway. In winning the DC Solar 200 in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, Keselowski picked up his second victory at the one-mile track and the 37th of his career, fifth most all-time. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford beat Justin Allgaier to the finish line by .530 second in a battleRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Quiet, but solid performances is what the two NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars from the Richard Childress Racing camp brought to the table in the weather-plagued DC Solar 200 at ISM Raceway Saturday, won by Brad Keselowski. After finishing fifth last November, Daniel Hemric continued his success at Phoenix with a sixth-place finish. Hemric’s No. 21 South Point Chevrolet kept its nose inside the top-10, reaching as high as second when he took the green-checkered flag to wrap-up stage two, only trailing Kyle Busch. Before theRead More