phoenix raceway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – From race winner Brandon Jones’ standpoint, it’s too bad there wasn’t a bounty on Kyle Busch in Saturday’s LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway. Buoyed by a strong run through Turns 3 and 4, Jones shot past Busch into the lead on the frontstretch on Lap 181 and pulled away to win by 3.556 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Harrison Burton, who passed Busch on Lap 190 for the runner-up position. Next weekend at Atlanta, there will be a $100,000Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Justin Allgaier came into Phoenix Raceway with high expectations after winning last November’s race, but a pit strategy knocked him out of contention during Saturday’s LS Tractor 200, finishing in 13th after leading 51 of 200 laps. “The definition of luck that I talk about all the time is when opportunity meets preparations,” Allgaier on his top-15 finish. “We were prepared, but we just didn’t get the opportunity. I hate it for the No. 7 guys and everybody JR Motorsports. They built a really fast raceRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kevin Harvick showed the way, and Chase Elliott proved the model student in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series time trials at Phoenix Raceway. After Harvick tested the traction compound at the top of the one-mile track and made it work—running a qualifying lap in 26.110 seconds (137.878 mph)—Elliott followed with a pole-winning effort of 26.065 seconds (138.116 mph). “Kevin kind of made the top work, and I think after everyone saw that, they moved up,” said Elliott, who earned his first BuschRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The first major piece of silly season for the much anticipated 2021 NASCAR Cup Series campaign was solved Friday as Ryan Blaney signed a multi-year extension with Team Penske. Blaney wasn’t hesitant to say in Friday’s press conference at Phoenix Raceway that he’s loyal to Roger Penske and never even thought of talking with any other teams as the extension was negotiated during the off-season. “I was really happy with where I was at. I love the people I am around and working with all theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The NASCAR Cup Series has been setting up shop on the West Coast for the past two weeks and this Sunday, the series will finish up its tour of the Southwestern United States with a trip to Phoenix Raceway and the FanShield 500. In a preview of November’s championship race, Sunday’s race on the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert, which made its debut on the Cup Series schedule in 1988, will be the first big test of the new short track/road course aero package thatRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor As the 2017 season was rolling toward its conclusion in November 2017, Matt Kenseth showed he’s still got it. In what was his final race at the one-mile Phoenix oval, Kenseth took it to the youngsters, showing them there’s still plenty in the tank when it comes to driving a race car. After announcing the week prior that he wouldn’t be returning to the cockpit in 2018, Kenseth came out at Phoenix with guns ablazing, ready to crash the party of the drivers battling it outRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The much maligned aerodynamic packages that were rolled out for the NASCAR Cup Series last year are getting a facelift heading into 2020 — at least on the short tracks and road courses. Last season, the aero packages were split between a 750 horsepower package that ran on oval tracks one-mile or shorter and road courses, along with a 550 horsepower package that ran the remainder of the schedule. The massive eight-inch spoiler and other aerodynamic devices had a negative effect on the racing atRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer ISM Raceway isn’t just Alex Bowman’s home track, but the site where his racing career positively changed after capturing his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole at Phoenix in November 2016. Bowman returned to the site of his career-defining weekend on Friday and looks to improve from his career-best sixth-place finish in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500. In his last Cup trip to the “Valley of the Sun,” Bowman was a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who sat out the final 18 races of theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Now that the 2017 NASCAR season is complete and the year is drawing to a close, we’ll take this opportunity to take a look back at the year that was. Up on the docket today, we finish off the 10 most memorable moments of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson Ties Cale Yarbrough Despite his late season struggles, Jimmie Johnson was on fire in the first half of the year, capturing three wins early on. His third win of the year cameRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. For Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, he found out just how lucky he can be as his rivals faltered. Now, Keselowski will advance into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Keselowski bounced from being inside the Championship Four to being outside throughout the Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway. His No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion never competed for the victory, but stayed the course as other Playoff drivers experiencedRead More