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Sprint Cup Race Recap: Harvick Dominates Phoenix as Championship Field is Set
by Justin Tucker
Kevin Harvick put on a virtuoso performance in Sunday's Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway and now will have the opportunity to claim his first Sprint Cup Series championship after scoring his fourth win of the year. Harvick was the class of the field all afternoon, leading a race-high 264 laps, including the final 187 circuits to hold off Jeff Gordon by 1.636 seconds. Matt Kenseth finished third, followed by Brad Keselowski. Denny Hamlin, who went a lap down early in the race, rounded out the top 5. Joey Logano, who came into the weekend leading the standings, finished sixth. Kurt Busch came home seventh, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Greg Biffle and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top 10.
"I guess that it's what it feels like to hit a walk off in extra innings," Harvick said after the race. "I could tell that we were probably have to win, because everybody was running up at the front of the pack that we were racing against. And that's really the goal every time we come to Phoenix for me personally, and this team."
Jeff Gordon saw his storybook run for a fifth championship come up just one point short after Ryan Newman bumped Kyle Larson into the wall to finish 11th and secure a spot in next week's championship race at Homestead.
''I'm disappointed. I thought if we came out of here second, even if it was to Kevin or Brad, I thought we'd still make it in,'' Gordon said. ''That's pretty disappointing to do all of that and it just makes last week that much more disappointing. I'm going to be thinking about that one for a while.''
Brad Keselowski was another championship favorite that saw on his quest for a second Cup Series championship come up empty after being set in a deep hole following Martinsville three weeks ago. This elimination serves as a devastating blow for the 2012 champion who had six wins and won a race in each of the Chase's first two rounds. However Keselowski remained realistic about his hopes coming into the race after the checkers fell.
''We gave it all we had, it was a strong run, it just wasn't enough to advance,'' Keselowski said. ''We did everything but win. We broke down in Martinsville and it was a huge hurdle to overcome and it was probably going to take a win. Fourth wasn't going to be enough, and we knew that coming in.''
A winless Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards were also eliminated from the championship battle after finishing third and 15th, respectively.
Denny Hamlin, who won the pole for Sunday's race and needed to finish 11th or better to guarantee a championship shot at Homestead, had tire issues early on and went a lap down with 240 laps to go. He looked all but finished, however Hamlin was able to rally back to finish fifth - thanks in part to several cautions in the late stages - to clinch his spot at Homestead. Hamlin says he likes his chances once the green drops at Homestead.
''I'm playing with house money now,'' Hamlin said. "We're going to be the underdogs going up against the 22 (Joey Logano) and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and the 31 (Ryan Newman), but I can tell you there is no give up. Today is a prime example - look at where we finished after just battling and battling back. This is redemption and hopefully we're able to capitalize next week."
Joey Logano rallied back from a pit road penalty to finish sixth and clinch his spot in next weekend's championship race. Logano, like Hamlin, had to battle back from a lap down to be in position to advance.
Ryan Newman will be the true underdog in next week's championship race but has managed to put himself in a position to win his first championship, thanks to a slightly controversial bump of Kyle Larson on the final lap. Newman said it was either do or die in regards to making that move.
"I just gave it my all," Newman said while standing on pit road. "I wasn't proud of it but did what I had to to get to this next round. That little boy has got a lot of things coming in this sport and he used me up like that in a truck at Eldora a couple years ago. From my standpoint, I call it even but I think if he was in my position, he'd have done the same thing."
A look at the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 by the numbers. There were eight lead changes among six different drivers and 12 cautions for 58 laps slowed the race pace to 99.991 mph.
Next week a champion will be crowned as the Sprint Cup Series heads to the Homestead Miami Speedway for the Ford EcoBoost 400. Green flag is scheduled for 3:16 p.m. ET.
Justin Tucker is a newsletter contributor at Frontstretch. To reach Justin, please contact newsletter manager Phil Allaway at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
Brad Keselowski muscled past a dominant Kyle Busch on the last lap after a green,white,checkered restart to win Saturday's DAV 200 Honoring America's Veterans on Saturday Afternoon at Phoenix International Raceway. The win marked Keselowski's fifth win of 2014 and the 32nd Nationwide Series win of his career.
The script that played out on Saturday was one that has been played out for much of the 2014 Nationwide Series season with Busch and Keselowski having the two best cars all day while leaving the field in their wake. Busch led a race-high 187 laps from the pole and Keselowski never ran outside the top three for much of the day.
While Busch and Keselowski were fighting for the win, Chase Elliott was making history. Elliott came into the weekend only needing to finish ahead of his JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith to claim his first Nationwide Series championship and become the youngest champion in NASCAR history. He did exactly that as he would finish fifth as his teammate Smith faded to tenth in the final laps.
Elliott Sadler finished third, Ty Dillon fourth, and Elliott rounded out the top five. Erik Jones finished sixth, Brian Scott seventh, Brendan Gaughan came home eighth, Trevor Bayne ninth and Smith rounded out the top ten.
The Good:
It hasn't been the year Elliott Sadler had hoped for in his final year at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) before moving to Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) next season, but Saturday's race at Phoenix was the high point of Sadler's season. Sadler kept his No. 11 One Main Financial Toyota near the front all day long, finishing third in his penultimate race with JGR. While it remains to be seen whether the move to RFR will pay off in the win column for Sadler its obvious that he is looking to close out 2014 with some momentum heading towards 2015.
Everybody knows that Jeremy Clements is one of many drivers that are outgunned equipment wise each week in the Nationwide Series. While good finishes come less often than not, Clements has shown at times that he can compete at a high level against the Nationwide Series best and Phoenix proved to be one of those times as Clements would drive his No. 51 car to a solid 11th-place lead lap finish on Saturday. The finish came despite Clements' car having severe braking issues
The Bad:
I know its hard to dismiss a tenth-place finish, but when it comes to Regan Smith, its very easy to do. Smith saw another potential championship fade away after being consistently outperformed by his rookie teammate over the course the season. Smith is too good and in too good of equipment to be running on average sixth to tenth each week. 2015 is going to prove to be a crucial year for Smith if he plans on returning to the Sprint Cup Series in 2016 and the only way its going to happen is by winning the championship next season.
Next Race:
The 2014 Nationwide Series season comes to a close next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford EcoBoost 300 next Saturday with the Green flag at 4:46 P.M. ET.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~by Justin Tucker
In one of the strangest Camping World Truck Series races since the series' inception, Erik Jones dominated the night on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, leading a race-high 114 of 126 laps to win the Lucas Oil 150 for his third win of the 2014 season as two power outages, one prior to race and one with about 25 laps to go, prevented the race from being run to full distance .
Matt Crafton finished second, Cole Custer third, Ryan Blaney came home fourth, and K&N Pro Series East champion Ben Rhodes rounded out the top-5. Darrell Wallace, Jr. finished sixth, John Hunter Nemechek seventh, Austin Dillon eighth, Johnny Sauter ninth, and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top ten finishers.
The Good:
You obviously have to start with Erik Jones right? Absolutely you do. While most drivers don't score three wins for their entire career, Jones has done that this year in only twelve starts. With Thursday's news of Jones running the Truck Series full-time in 2015, you almost have to consider him a championship favorite already. Jones' success hasn't been just limited to short tracks, he also won this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Don't be surprised to see Jones win in the XFINITY Series next year on top of what he does in the Truck Series. The sky and beyond is the limit for this 18-year old who is just getting started.
While Ben Rhodes isn't a household name quite yet. Don't worry he will be. The reigning K&N Pro Series East champion impressed in Phoenix this weekend. Rhodes recorded his first career top-5 finish in the Truck Series as well picked up his third top-10 in four starts this season. Rhodes says the plan is to run in the XFINITY Series next season but the selfish part of me wants to see him run a full truck campaign before making that jump.
The Bad:
Well Friday night's race qualifies as both bad and ugly. A ninety minute power outage delayed the start of the race and then the minute we go green flag racing, a wreck on lap one on the frontstretch brought out a caution that lasted around fifteen laps before we were set to go back green but the track was far from raceable due to the amount of speedy dry and oil on the track. I understand NASCAR has a tough job, but how difficult is it to red flag a race to ensure that there is indeed a safe race track to race on? It shouldn't be difficult at all. The race was already delayed ninety minutes at the start why not another thirty minutes to make sure everything is a go. Lots of torn up trucks was the result of that early caution.
The Championship Battle:
Matt Crafton is on the doorstep of history. With a 21st-place finish or better, he will become the first driver in history to win back-to-back Truck Series championships.
Next Race:
The season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead Miami Speedway next Friday at 8:18 P.M. ET.
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Outside of the cutoff, Kyle Busch ran well for much of the race, but got loose and spun on the lap 212. Busch just brushed the wall, but was clipped by Clint Bowyer. The contact ripped the front end sheetmetal off of his Toyota and put Busch in the pits for repairs. Despite the damage, Busch managed to finish four laps down in 34th. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top-10 after a relatively quiet run to an eighth-place finish.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via email at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Critic84.
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Never Fear, The Underdogs Are Here: Phoenix-II Edition
Are you a fan of a driver from a smaller team? Do you ever see one of these guys on the race results and wonder how he got there? NASCAR's small teams may not get much airtime during the race broadcast, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to talk about. Each week, Amy Henderson takes a peek into how the little guys fared in the race and picks three who stood out.
Underdog Selection No. 1: AJ Allmendinger for JTG-Daugherty Racing; started 24th, finished 16th
Another race, another top finish for this team among the other small teams. Allmendinger's 16th-place finish was easily the best among the small teams this week. He has an outside shot at finishing in the top 10 in driver points for 2014. He'll race in the All-Star Race in 2015, the only driver in this group to get a guaranteed pass. It's been a good year for a driver who was wondering what the future would hild not that long ago.
Underdog Selection No. 2: David Gilliland and David Ragan for Front Row Motorsports; started 34th & 35th; finished 24th & 25th.
Gilliland and Ragan had a solid if unspectacular day Sunday, but it seems as though this team has hit the limit on their resources—they're running as well as they can without a technical alliance or major sponsor signing. Both drivers have had some good finishes this season, but saw their average finish drop over 2013 numbers. It's not that they've taken a step backward, but they can't really take steps forward, either. They've done the best they can with what they have.
Underdog Selection No. 3: Michael Annett for Tommy Baldwin Racing; started 30th, finished 26th
Baldwin's team has taken a big step forward this year. They've taken home some top 25 finishes, though Annett just missed that mark this week. Like Front Row, they're limited in how far they can go by their budget, but they have made strides in 2014 and have some room to grow. They're not at the level of JTG-Daugherty or Germain Racing, but they've solidified themselves in the sport.
Underdog Pick of the Week-Homestead: AJ Allmendinger for JTG-Daugherty Racing
Allmendinger was my pick for Phoenix and delivered, and I'm going to stick with him for Homestead. His 15. 4 average finish is 11th among drivers with five or more starts at the track, and he's gotten more from his RCR equipment this year than either Martin Truex, Jr. or Casey Mears…look for a strong finish for the Dinger in what just might be his last race on the small team list—the No. 47 team has earned their way onto the next tier of teams.
Is your favorite driver among NASCAR's underdogs? Are you frustrated with the lack of coverage they receive during the race broadcasts? Amy has all the small teams covered each and every week in The Big Six. Be sure to check it out to see how your favorites fared!Letter of the Race: Sunday's Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500 was brought to you by the letter "S" for Spanking. That is what Kevin Harvick administered on the field during the race. Once Harvick snagged the lead, no one could touch the No. 4 under normal circumstances. - Phil Allaway
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Sidebar Stories: Phoenix
by Phil Allaway
"Wow, I guess that is what it feels like to hit a walk off in extra innings there. But just want to thank Sprint, all the fans, Budweiser, Jimmy John's, Outback, Chevrolet, Hunt Brothers, Ditech a new sponsor on board, just everybody who helps us, Mobil 1, everybody at Stewart-Haas. This thing both races here has just been bad to the bone. Everybody on our Budweiser team has done a great job and here we come Homestead.
"I could tell that we were probably going to have to win because everybody was running up in the front of the pack that we were racing against. That was our goal coming in here and that's really the goal every time you come to Phoenix. This place has just been phenomenal for me personally and for this team this year. To do that in front of all your almost hometown fans and all these people who have been routing for me since the mid-'90's is pretty unbelievable. Man, I think this says a lot about our team. I think we have been through a lot this year. They put our backs against the wall; we put it in Victory Lane and get to go on." - Kevin Harvick, race winner
"It's disappointing. Kevin Harvick was in another zip code. I'm not going to wreck a guy that's racing me clean all year long just to make it into the Chase. That's not what it's all about for me. You're not going to go win the championship next week by doing that. So, it's just unfortunate. It's just unfortunate. We did everything so good this year. That one race, that one race is going to stick with me for a little while. I got over it this week, knowing that we could come here and compete like this. Now it makes it sting that much more. But, I couldn't be more proud of what this team did this year. What a great season and great race cars. That's what I'm most disappointed in. I don't think anybody deserves to be Homestead more than this No. 24 team because of the effort that they put in and the performances that we've had. But, you know what? You've got to score the points or win the races to get in there and we didn't do that. So now we'll go to Homestead and battle hard to try to win that race." - Jeff Gordon, finished second
"We were a little bit short. I'm obviously a little disappointed. I'm not disappointed with the effort, just disappointed it didn't work out. We just couldn't overcome the Martinsville hurdle. We had a decent day, but we needed a win to overcome the week we had at Martinsville where we broke the gear. We just weren't quite fast enough to pull that off the last two weeks and that's what it was going to take. It's been a good effort. It's been a great year. It's nothing to hang our head on. We controlled the things we could control for the most part and that's just how this deal works." - Brad Keselowski, finished fourth
"It was an unbelievable afternoon. We struggled. We had good track position and we had that issue on pit road and it put us back and we got a lap down twice — lucky dog twice and just battled. We did some different things and made our car better and passed some cars and just fought back for a fifth-place finish. This is just an unbelievable day and gives us a lot of confidence going into next week." - Denny Hamlin, finished fifth
"It feels so good to be in. This is a huge relief after a stressful day. We're glad it's over and we were able to make it in there. We had a really good test at Homestead and we won there last year. Feel like we have a lot of confidence going into there so we're going to go in and fight, fight, fight." - Darian Grubb, crew chief for Denny Hamlin
"I just gave it my all. They paved that down there I guess for a reason. They didn't make any rules that said we couldn't use it. A great team effort today, we did not have the race car. We had horrible restarts and didn't have track position with the CAT Mining Chevrolet when we needed to. But in the end we fought back hard, did what we had to as clean as I possibly could. I wasn't proud of it, but I will do what I got to, to make it to this next round. That little boy (Kyle Larson) has got a lot of things coming in this sport. He used me up like that at Eldora in a truck a couple of years ago. From my standpoint I call it even, but I think if he was in my position he would have probably done the same thing." - Ryan Newman, finished 11th
"I'm really proud of everybody. We had some runs that we shouldn't have had. We made it awfully far, so I'm very proud of everybody. We'll just go to Homestead and try to get another win. Hopefully, Joey can get the win and bring Ford a championship.
"We tried every trick that we could. We just didn't have a lot of speed all weekend. The car actually drove pretty decently at the end, so I thought Jimmy did a great job with it. We just didn't have enough speed, so that's how it goes." - Carl Edwards, finished 15th
"The root of our biggest problem was the fact that the alternator quit working and we had to keep changing batteries on pit road each caution. Then when I would go back out on the race track I would need to run with my fans off. I didn't have my brake fans on and was racing hard to try to get a decent finish and evidently just got things too hot and the brakes failed. I felt a rotor explode on the front straightaway. Luckily it did it there so I had time to throw it in third gear, slow it down some, stay wide into turn one and try not to have a bad angle of the impact of the wall because I was going to hit for sure. So, it was just bad day that kept getting worse. I hope to make it home safe and outside of that, we will see you in Homestead." - Jimmie Johnson, finished 39th (Crashed out)
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
Thinkin' Out Loud - Phoenix Chase Race 9 - And Then There Were Four
by Mike Neff
Pace Laps: The Caution Gift, Chase Elliott Makes History & Erik Jones Proves His Worth
by the Frontstretch Staff
The Big Six: Questions Answered After the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500
by Amy Henderson
The Top Underdog: Richard Childress Racing with Ryan Newman
by Joseph Wolkin
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In the first race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the now-Camping World Truck Series, Geoff Bodine started from the pole and led early. Despite a great truck, Bodine ended his race on the hook. What happened?
Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Friday's Answer:
Q: The 1999 MCI WorldCom 200 at Phoenix International Raceway marked the Indy Racing League's debut on FOX Sports Net. Yes, regional television. However, the race wasn't that bad. Eddie Cheever came from well outside of the top 10 to lead the race before running into problems. What happened?
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: Take the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to triviaanswers@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
Coming Tuesday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Greg Davis
-- Fan's View Commentary by S.D. Grady
-- Numbers Game: Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500k by Tom Bowles
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Who's Hot / Who's Not in Sprint Cup: Phoenix-Homestead Edition by Brad Morgan
We'll take a look at which drivers are looking good as the Sprint Cup Series team head to their final race of the season
Racing to the Point by Brett Poirier
Brett returns with another interesting commentary that'll make you think.
Jeff returns with his typical blend of sarcastic humor tilted towards one of NASCAR's controversial issues.
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