phoenix raceway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor An eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship will have to wait until 2018 for Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team. Entering the day in a must-win situation to be able to claim the final spot in the Championship 4 and advance on to Homestead, Johnson qualified 12th and was holding steady just outside the top-10 on lap 149 when he blew a tire entering Turn 3, sending his Chevrolet hard into the outside wall. The damage was enough to send him to theRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Four points were all that separated Cole Custer from a 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship bid. Custer fought hard throughout the Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix Raceway to move into the Championship Four. He was never far from his championship rival, Daniel Hemric. In the final run to the finish, Custer and Hemric fought tooth and nail, desperately fighting for every position. At one point, it looked as if Custer’s No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang had the upper hand, pulling away from Hemric. However,Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The final race before the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship race resembled a ‘no holds barred’ wrestling match. Austin Cindric emerged from the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway with the final spot in the Championship Four. However, it came because of a late-race incident. A restart with 20 laps to go put Cindric’s No. 19 Draw-Tite / Reese Brands Ford F-150 directly behind one of his championship rivals, Ben Rhodes. Cindric dove low, and Rhodes reacted to block. In a wreck that mirroredRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer 31 races into the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, only four of the NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars (Jeremy Clements, Ryan Reed, Justin Allgaier twice, and William Byron three times) have scored victories during the 2017 season. This weekend the NASCAR Xfinity Series travels to Phoenix Raceway for the Ticket Galaxy 200, the 32nd race of the season. After the events at Texas Motor Speedway, Elliott Sadler leads the points standings with his JR Motorsports teammate Byron five-points behind in second. The last time the Xfinity SeriesRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer 21 races into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season eight series regulars have scored a victory (Christopher Bell five times, Johnny Sauter three times, John Hunter Nemechek twice, Austin Cindric, Ben Rhodes, Noah Gragson, Matt Crafton, and Kaz Grala once). Bell has a three-point lead over Sauter heading into the 22nd race of the season. This weekend marks the third and final race for the Round of Six, and sixth race of the 2017 Playoffs for the Truck Series competitors. The last time 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 David Morgan, NASCAR Editor It takes a lot to get Jeff Gordon riled up, but when the Cup Series visited Phoenix in November 2012, the four-time series champion had decided he’d had enough. Gordon and Clint Bowyer had been embroiled in a feud stemming from contact at Martinsville earlier in the year and with the season winding to a close, contact between the two at Phoenix just sent the Hendrick Motorsports driver over the edge. As the two were battling for a spot in the top-five with less thanRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Athletes in their final events before moving from one team to another are often considered a ‘lame duck.’ Current Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola does not want that label. Almirola has just two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races left with the team before departing for Stewart Haas Racing next year. Almirola’s tenure at RPM started at the 2010 Martinsville Playoff race. Since then he has earned one victory (Daytona 2014), 11 top-fives, 30 top-10s, and one pole position for the team. Almirola’s bestRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer When Ricky Stenhouse Jr. takes to the track at Phoenix Raceway this weekend, he will be driving a very special car. The Roush Fenway Racing team will pay tribute to their longtime competitor, engine partner, and 2018 NASCAR Hall of Famer Robert Yates. The paint scheme echoes the one used by Davey Allison when he won at Phoenix in 1991 and 1992 while driving for Yates. Yates passed away in October after a lengthy battle with Liver Cancer. Earlier this year in May, he wasRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer  At the start of a typical race, a driver starts with four fresh tires. Saturday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway was anything but typical for NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Cole Custer. Early troubles left Custer scratching and clawing his way through the field to finish fifth. Race strategy by Custer’s Stewart Haas Racing crew chief Jeff Meendering helped Custer earn that top-five finish. At the end of Stage 1, the Meendering elected for his rookie driver to take the wave aroundRead More