Wednesday, March 11, 2015

2015 Week 4 Preview: Phoenix

CampingWorld.com 500

Phoenix International Raceway


By Richard Tix

So far in 2015 NASCAR has run three races and three different drivers have visited victory lane. That makes three drivers in 2015 who are virtual locks for this season's Sprint Cup Chase. Those three winners have brought zero surprise as two of the three were in the Chase finals at Miami last year (Harvick and Logano) and the other is known as 6-Time (Johnson).

So, what will Phoenix bring? Most fans would agree that they hope the racing action gets a bit better. I for one am a fan that understands some races are not going to be non stop action, but so far after two races on 1.5 mile tracks with the new car package I have been left a little let down. We still have a lot of season left, but Las Vegas just didn't have it most of the race (again, sometimes we just get there types of races). So, I will hold full judgement for a few more races.

I may be extra critical of this new package because I really enjoyed the 2014 package and thought it was at the very least a step in the right direction.

Enough about the cars for this week, lets look past them and look at what else Phoenix might bring. Will Kevin Harvick be the first two time winner and win back-to-back races at Vegas and Phoenix? He tops this weeks "Good" category. Lets take a deeper look at the categories below.


(A look back at recent driver results and where they place)

The Good
  • Kevin Harvick- Lets get this over with right away, Kevin Harvick is good at PIR. Most know that in his last five races here he has four wins, including three straight. Last year "Happy" swept Phoenix and also used race #35 to get himself into the Finale at Miami. As always, he is a contender here.
  • Jimmie Johnson- He has had quite the career at Phoenix. In 23 career starts he has 4 wins, 14 top 5's, and 18 top 10's. Not bad, right? He finished 6th here early in 2014, but late in the season he laid a dud (39th) when he was involved in a wreck,
  • Brad Keselowski- The "extra credit" driver for race 35, BK finished fourth last fall here after almost getting the pole (started 2nd). In the Spring race (race two) he won the pole and finished 3rd. In his last six here he has five top 10's (the other was an 11th place finish), but is still looking for his first PIR win. 
  • Extra Credit- Dale Earnhardt Jr (Four straight top 10's)
The Middle
  • Matt Kenseth- His career at PIR has been so up and down that its tough to call which way he will go before practice. Last year he did reasonably well finishing 12th and 3rd in a weak season for JGR. In 2013 when Matt had a great year he had finishes of 7th and 23rd. I expect him to run well and within the top 15 at Phoenix in 2015. 
The Bad
  • Austin Dillon- Only two career Cup starts here, but Austin has to start being accountable to get on these lists. In both races he either finished the same or worse than what he qualified. His finishes were 24th and 38th after starting 24th and 25th respectively.
  • Cole Whitt- Cole actually has four starts here and in two of those he has run into bad luck (two wrecks). This is his first appearance on any list for any track, so he may want to forget about it, but he has yet to finish better than 25th in a Cup race here. 
  • Paul Menard- Paul had a stretch in 2011 and 2012 (four races) where it looked like he was getting Phoenix down (two top 10's). Since then has zero top 15's and only two top 20's. In his career 16 starts he only has two top 10's.
Track Stats
  • Kevin Harvick has won 4 of the last 5 races
  • Chevy won 10 straight races from 2005-10
  • In the last 9 races here Chevy has won 5 races, Ford 2, and Toyota 2
  • Jeff Gordon has the most track top 10's (22) followed by Mark Martin (21) in track history
  • Jimmie Johnson has the best Average Finish position with 7.7 over his career (23 races)
  • First NASCAR Cup Win at Phoenix in 1988 was by Alan Kulwicki. Also, his first career Cup win
  • First Night race at Phoenix was run in 2005, won by Kurt Busch
  • Ricky Rudd won the 1995 race from 29th position. Still the farthest back a winner has started
  • Mark Martin is the only driver to win in two different manufacturers (Ford 1993 and Chevy 2009)
  • Mark Martin's last Career Pole was at Phoenix Intl Raceway




Phoenix International Raceway
Race
Date
Cars
Winner(s)
St
Car
1988-28
11/6/1988
43
Alan Kulwicki
21
Ford
1989-28
11/5/1989
43
Bill Elliott
13
Ford
1990-28
11/4/1990
43
Dale Earnhardt
3
Chevrolet
1991-28
11/3/1991
43
Davey Allison
13
Ford
1992-28
11/1/1992
42
Davey Allison
12
Ford
1993-29
10/31/1993
43
Mark Martin
3
Ford
1994-30
10/30/1994
43
Terry Labonte
19
Chevrolet
1995-30
10/29/1995
44
Ricky Rudd
29
Ford
1996-30
10/27/1996
44
Bobby Hamilton
17
Pontiac
1997-31
11/2/1997
43
Dale Jarrett
9
Ford
1998-31
10/25/1998
43
Rusty Wallace
6
Ford
1999-32
11/7/1999
43
Tony Stewart
11
Pontiac
2000-32
11/5/2000
43
Jeff Burton
2
Ford
2001-32
10/28/2001
43
Jeff Burton
3
Ford
2002-35
11/10/2002
43
Matt Kenseth
28
Ford
2003-34
11/2/2003
43
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
11
Chevrolet
2004-34
11/7/2004
43
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
14
Chevrolet
2005-08
4/23/2005
43
Kurt Busch
2
Ford
2005-35
11/13/2005
43
Kyle Busch
15
Chevrolet
2006-08
4/22/2006
43
Kevin Harvick
15
Chevrolet
2006-35
11/12/2006
43
Kevin Harvick
2
Chevrolet
2007-08
4/21/2007
43
Jeff Gordon
1
Chevrolet
2007-35
11/11/2007
43
Jimmie Johnson
6
Chevrolet
2008-08
4/12/2008
43
Jimmie Johnson
7
Chevrolet
2008-35
11/9/2008
43
Jimmie Johnson
1
Chevrolet
2009-08
4/18/2009
43
Mark Martin
1
Chevrolet
2009-35
11/15/2009
43
Jimmie Johnson
3
Chevrolet
2010-07
4/10/2010
43
Ryan Newman
14
Chevrolet
2010-35
11/14/2010
43
Carl Edwards
1
Ford
2011-02
2/27/2011
43
Jeff Gordon
20
Chevrolet
2011-35
11/13/2011
43
Kasey Kahne
10
Toyota
2012-02
3/4/2012
43
Denny Hamlin
13
Toyota
2012-35
11/11/2012
43
Kevin Harvick
19
Chevrolet
2013-02
3/3/2013
43
Carl Edwards
15
Ford
2013-35
11/10/2013
43
Kevin Harvick
9
Chevrolet
2014-02
3/2/2014
43
Kevin Harvick
13
Chevrolet
2014-35
11/9/2014
43
Kevin Harvick
3
Chevrolet


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