The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Nov. 13, 2015
What to Watch: Friday
by The Frontstretch Staff
Jimmie Johnson Fastest in Phoenix Sprint Cup Practice No. 1
Casey Mears Re-Signs with Germain Racing Through 2018
Germain Racing announced on Thursday that Casey Mears has signed a deal that will see him remain as driver of the No. 13 Chevrolet for the next three years. GEICO will continue to serve as the team's primary sponsor. Read more
Ernie Cope Named JTG Daugherty Racing Competition Director
Ross Chastain Back with JD Motorsports in 2016
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Records and facts
Last year, Kevin Harvick had his back to the wall, needing to win in order to advance to the Championship Round. He responded by leading all but 48 laps to win what was then his third Phoenix race in a row (it's now four). Jeff Gordon finished second, followed by Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.
Harvick is the all-time winningest driver at Phoenix International Raceway with seven career wins on the tri-oval. Jimmie Johnson is second with four wins, while Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Davey Allison all have two a piece.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1 mile tri-oval, 312 laps (312 miles, 502 kilometers)
Banking: 11 degrees in turns 1-2, 9 degrees in turns 3-4
Frontstrretch: 1,179 ft, banked 3 degrees
Backstretch: 1,551 ft., banked 9 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 55,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 50 mph
Opened: 1964, first Cup race in 1988
Website: http://www.phoenixraceway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhoenixRaceway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PhoenixRaceway
Pre-Race Schedule:
Practice No. 2: Saturday, November 14, 11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. on NBCSN
Happy Hour: Saturday, November 14, 2:30 - 3:20 p.m. on NBCSN
Qualifying: Friday, November 13, 6:45 p.m. on NBCSN
Say What?!
"I feel like that can be gone at any point. That's the hardest thing about having success. You have to have an open mind to try new things to keep moving forward. If you don't have an open mind or are not willing to try a fresh approach, then it will get stagnant. You're going to become stale and get left behind. As we go to Phoenix, we have to look at the things that we've done well. Obviously, we've done a lot of good things. We look at the race tape and pay attention to the lines and braking, steering, throttle and all the things that you have access to and you try to mimic that immediately when you get on the racetrack. The hard part about our sport is the conditions are never the same. The tire is constantly changing. You never know if it's going to be 100 degrees or if it's going to be 50 degrees. That makes a big difference on the balance of the car, how much downforce it makes and how much tape you can run on the front. There are all kinds of things to navigate through once you get there. There are a lot of good racecar drivers and lots of circumstances that could play out to have things go wrong. You go there with a fresh start like you've never won there before and try to get the car dialed in." - Kevin Harvick, on if he feels that he has an advantage
"Phoenix [International Raceway] is one of my favorite tracks, right behind Bristol [Motor Speedway]. It's one of the shorter tracks and it gives us drivers the chance to be really aggressive behind the wheel. The driver makes much more of a difference at the short tracks. Qualifying is always difficult at Phoenix with the sun starting to go down. It's hard for us to see off of the corners, and it's difficult for the spotters too, but that makes it unique. The track has a sold-out crowd and that always makes for a great environment with all of the fans cheering. It's also the last race before the Championship Round, so that adds extra intensity for everybody. BRANDT Professional Agriculture is on the car for these final two races of the season. It'll feel good to be back to wearing the familiar BRANDT red. I still owe them a top-10 finish, and if there's any track I can do it at, it would be Phoenix." - Justin Allgaier
"I love going out to Phoenix, it's a fun and challenging place to race. It's hard to find a balance between the two ends because the corners are so different. Turn one is really like a tight short track, where turns three and four are almost like a 1.5-mile track. The radius of the corner tightens up on exit" - Greg Biffle
"It's hard because there are so many great moments. The first time I drove a Supermodified there, I think we were running 22-second or 23-second laps around there. One year, Ryan (Newman) and I had a great race where I was having motor trouble all day. I couldn't seem to get the car off the corner. It stumbled a lot but, halfway down the straightway, it would come to life and I could use the draft following Ryan to get caught up. He ended up having an issue with two laps to go and we won the race. I remember another time in one of the early Silver Crown races I ran at Phoenix where I think we ran fifth to Jac Haudenschild. Jac was sideways all the way down through the dogleg on the backstretch. I would pass Jac through the corners and then, down the straightway, here he would come with smoke coming off the right rear (tire). I thought, 'Man, this guy's tire is never going to make it.' He made it to the end and he finished either third and I ran fourth, or he was fourth and I was fifth. That was one of coolest moments for me." - Tony Stewart, on his greatest stories about racing at Phoenix
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Q: In the past, pitting situations at some tracks could get weird if you didn't qualify well. For Stan Barrett, getting into the 1989 Autoworks 500k on a provisional (42nd of 43 starters) meant an alternate method for pitting. Where did he have to pit?
Thursday's Answer:
Q: Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt had a jovial friendship during their years racing against each other in Winston Cup, but the 1993 Slick 50 500k at Phoenix featured a spat between the champion and the rook. What happened?
A: Gordon and Earnhardt were side-by-side entering turn 3 when Earnhardt got in the back of Gordon. Gordon spun and hit the outside wall hard enough to break the panard bar. The crash can be seen here.
Earnhardt continued on with no issues and eventually finished fourth. Gordon drove away, but was not happy. It appears that he made some kind of gesture towards Earnhardt's pit before going behind the wall for repairs. He would eventually finish 35th.
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