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pir_nscs_vl_111316Nov. 13, 2016

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 a race that featured spectacular side-by-side racing and a substitute driver who dominated the first 250 laps of the event after starting from the pole, Logano beat Busch to the finish line by .587 seconds in the second of two overtimes.

Logano’s first victory at the one-mile track couldn’t have been timelier. The win – his third of the season and the 17th of his career – gave Logano an automatic berth in the Championship 4 race, set for next Sunday.

“This feels so good,” said Logano, who took the lead from the fourth position when a wreck involving race leader Matt Kenseth, Busch and polestitter Alex Bowman ended the first attempt at overtime. “I’ve never felt this good about a win before. There was so much on the line and everyone brings their A-game when it comes to winning championships, and this team did it.

“Man, this feels so good. I had a good restart there at the end (in the second overtime) and holding off Kyle to try to get this thing into Miami. We’re racing for a championship now. We did exactly what we had to do. We’ve got to go to Homestead and do the same thing…

“I’m speechless right now. I feel like I just won the Daytona 500 again.”

Busch earned the last available spot in the season finale with his runner-up finish, but it came at the expense of Kenseth, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Kenseth led the field to the first overtime restart on Lap 317, with Bowman beside him.

From the third spot, Busch had a strong run and dived to the inside of Bowman, who went low to block. Busch shoved Bowman forward, and when Kenseth turned down from the outside lane in Turn 1, thinking he was clear, contact from Bowman’s Chevrolet sent Kenseth’s Toyota spinning in an accident that knocked the 2003 series champion out of the Championship 4.

For Busch, the incident made advancing to the finale bittersweet.

“Well, right now it feels pretty (lousy), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better,” Busch said. “I’m not sure, depends on what Matt’s interpretation is, and whether or not he can forgive. You know, I just feel really bad about what happened there on that last restart. It just wasn’t what I anticipated having happen, and I just feel bad. The 20 (Kenseth) should have been the Gibbs car to go through, and I was just trying to make a position there on the 88, felt like I was to his inside and had the position…

“It translated into the 20 crashing. That’s not how at all I foresaw that going. I was hoping I could get the 88 underneath him and force him up and have him kind of block the 22 and check up the outside row and then I could have a position between me and the 22 and get myself and the 20 in. Math just didn’t quite work out that way today.”

In a race that went 12 laps beyond its scheduled distance of 312 laps, Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Harvick, Kurt Busch, Bowman and Denny Hamlin. Like Kenseth, who finished 21st after the late wreck, Harvick, Hamlin and Kurt Busch all were eliminated from the Chase.

Hamlin finished six points behind JGR teammate Kyle Busch in the race for the last Championship 4 berth.

Driving in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bowman led the first 92 laps and 194 overall in posting the best finish of his career. But his strong performance tinged with regret.

“We’re all here to win races and doing everything we can to win races,” said Bowman, who grew up in nearby Tucson. “I don’t think Kyle wrecked Matt. I don’t think I wrecked Matt. I think the situation, it just all, it all happened like that.

“It’s unfortunate. But I don’t think you can really place the blame on one person. It just sucks for Matt. I don’t know Matt. He’s probably really mad at me right now, I’d imagine, but hopefully we can move past it and race clean at Homestead.”

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pir_nscs_logano_031316Race Weekend Preview

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Race: Can-Am 500
Place: Phoenix International Raceway
Date and Time: Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2:30 p.m. ET
Tune-in: NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 312 miles (312 laps)
What to Watch For: Phoenix marks the penultimate race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and serves as the cutoff event to determine the Championship 4. The Chase Grid currently shakes out as follows: Jimmie Johnson (clinched Championship 4 berth with win at Martinsville), Carl Edwards (clinched Championship 4 berth with win at Texas), Joey Logano (one point ahead of Matt Kenseth on the cutoff line), Kyle Busch (+1), Kenseth (-1), Denny Hamlin (-2), Kevin Harvick (-18) and Kurt Busch (-34). … All six of the Chase drivers vying for one of the final two Championship 4 berths have won at Phoenix except Joey Logano. … Alex Bowman, from Tucson, Arizona, returns to his home state as a substitute in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. … Since the advent of electronic scoring (1993) the closest margin of victory in the NSCS at Phoenix was earlier this season (3/13/16) when Kevin Harvick beat Carl Edwards to the line by 0.010 seconds.

NASCAR XFINITY Series
Race: Ticket Galaxy 200
Place: Phoenix International Raceway
Date and Time: Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Tune-in: NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 200 miles (200 laps)
What to Watch For: All four berths remain up for grabs in the Championship 4 heading into the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix. Daniel Suarez (17 points above Justin Allgaier on the cutoff line) sits atop the Chase Grid, followed by Elliott Sadler (+16), Erik Jones (+7), Blake Koch (+1), Allgaier (-1), Ryan Reed (-5), Darrell Wallace Jr. (-20) and Brendan Gaughan (-33). … Two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. returns to the series for the first time in three years in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: Lucas Oil 150
Place: Phoenix International Raceway
Date and time: Friday, Nov. 11 at 10 p.m. ET
Tune-In: FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 150 miles (150 laps)
What to Watch For: Johnny Sauter goes for his third consecutive win. He is the only driver who’s earned a berth in the Championship 4 going into Friday’s race at Phoenix. Sauter leads the Chase Grid, followed by William Byron (five points ahead of Timothy Peters on the cutoff line), Christopher Bell (+4), Matt Crafton (+1), Peters (one point behind Crafton on the cutoff line) and Ben Kennedy (-13). … Timothy Peters’ visit to Victory Lane at Phoenix last fall is the only win by a Chase driver at the one-mile track. … NASCAR Next member Noah Gragson is scheduled to make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

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tss_nxs_sadler_nxs_043016Elliott Sadler is one contest away from a single-race four-driver shootout for the NASCAR XFINITY Series title.

Before he can prepare for running in the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Sadler must transfer through the penultimate event of the season in the series where names are made – Saturday’s Ticket Galaxy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN).

Positioned 16 points ahead of his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier – the first driver out for a berth in the Championship 4, — the 41-year-old Virginia native has a strong Phoenix resume. In 15 starts at the one-mile track, he claims one win (spring 2012), four top fives, eight top 10s and a 12.1 average finish. He has finished 12th or better in his last seven Phoenix starts.

“I have won at Phoenix before and I ran well there in the spring, but I have had some races there that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Sadler said. “That is on my mind going into Phoenix, but this is a new year, new points system, and a new set of circumstances. I feel good right now and anytime that you are above the cut line, you’ve got to feel good in this deal.”

Sadler used a baseball analogy to further explain his points situation.

“We don’t have to hit a grand slam to make it to Homestead, we just need to hit a few singles, and it is a lot easier doing that,” he said. “We just need to do our job and continue doing what we have been doing and if we stay focused to ourselves, we’ll be fine.”

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nhms2_ncwts_byron_winnersticker_092416William Byron hopes his next race at Phoenix International Raceway goes better than his first one when he returns to the one-mile track for Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 (10 p.m. ET on FS1).

Last season, the 18-year-old Charlotte native made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Phoenix, finishing 31st after crashing on the sixth lap. He returns to the Sun Devil State in his 2016 campaign with a series-leading six wins, 10 top fives and 15 top 10s.

More importantly, Phoenix is the only obstacle separating Byron from a Championship 4 berth at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Heading into Friday’s race, he ranks second on the Chase Grid, five points above Timothy Peters on the cutoff line.

“It’s a little bit of pressure for everyone who is not locked in,” Byron said. “Hopefully we can capitalize on that and have the finish we need to get in order to get to Homestead. I think we’re going to have a really good shot at a win, so if we can do that it would be the easiest way to ensure we are in the Championship 4 next weekend.”

Although Byron had a hard-luck NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finish at Phoenix last year, he did finish runner-up there in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race.

“(My Phoenix experience) is definitely going to be beneficial,” Byron said. “Just having the track time from running the K&N Pro Series West race last year and getting seat time in the truck as well. I know what I’m going to need before I get there, so that will be a big help. I’m actually really excited that I’ve been there, even though my first truck start did not go as planned when we fell out of the race so early.”

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Daytona 500 - PracticeAlbertsons Companies announced today a decision to terminate their NASCAR program at the conclusion of 2016. The company is currently a partner with Richard Petty Motorsports, supporting Boise-native Brian Scott and the No. 44 team.

“Local sports sponsorships are an important part of our marketing strategy in communities across the country,” said Albertsons Companies Chief Marketing and Merchandising Officer Shane Sampson. “While we have decided to focus our investments elsewhere in 2017, we appreciate the work that Brian, Richard Petty Motorsports and the entire No. 44 team put forth for Albertsons Companies this year, and we wish them the very best in the future.”