Thursday, November 12, 2015

2015 Week 35 Preview: Phoenix

Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500

Phoenix International Raceway


By Richard Tix

Its the second to last race of the season and the last race for the final 7 drivers (Gordon is already locked in) to lock in a spot in the finale at Homestead. Last year Phoenix had its fair share of drama with Newman knocking his way into the Final (literally, knocking Kyle Larson out of his way).

This year should be no different with 3 drivers practically in a must win situation and another four that are no where near locked in.

Past just the race itself, I want to thank all of my readers, followers (twitter), and contacts on Google+ that check out the blog/site. All the interaction and racing talk makes this well worth it as I do not make any money doing this daily. I do it purely for the love of the sport and the followers/friends along the way.

The season maybe ending but we still have plenty of content to be had. As the season wraps up we will look back at driver previews and do 2015 driver reviews. If I have time we will also get into team reviews (might just lump it into one article this year for the teams). Then, we get going on driver and team previews. I will release the 2016 Paint Scheme page which has already been started. We will dive into some preseason predictions and before you know it the NASCAR offseason will be over!

So, stay tuned all offseason long as I will try and help you through the down times by getting you your NASCAR fix. Again, thanks for all the support! Without anyone to read my articles and hear my opinion (and to share others opinions) it wouldn't be worth it.

Back to NASCAR




The Good
  • Kevin Harvick- This list may as well start and end with Harvick, that's how ridiculous his run has been here. He has four straight wins and five wins in the last six. That pretty much wraps it all up.
  • Brad Keselowski- BK might be one of the best current drivers at Phoenix without a win. He has three straight top 10's and six in his last seven. In that time four of those were top 5's and the lone non top 10 was 11th.
  • Jeff Gordon- This will be Gordon's last go round at Phoenix, but at least it will be a stress free one. Gordon already locked up Miami at Martinsville, but he may still steal a win from someone else trying to clinch. He has three straight top 10's here but hasn't won since 2011.
The Middle
  • Greg Biffle- Biffle has an average finish of 14.3 yet he only has 8 top 10's in 23 starts. However, in those 23 starts he only has three finishes outside the top 20.
The Bad
  • Clint Bowyer- Even taking out getting intentionally wreck as payback in 2012, Bowyer hasn't been very consistent here. He has four straight races without a top 10 and three of those were 20th or worse.
  • Danica Patrick- Trending the right way? Sure. Is she there yet? No. Danica has 6 starts at PIR and only one of those was a top 20 (her first one). Worse yet, only two times was she top 25. 
  • Casey Mears- I hate pin pointing Mears because I do like him, and I like the heart he puts into this small team. However, 22 PIR starts and not one lucky top 10 is too hard to ignore. I hope he gets one this weekend, but it is very doubtful.Just for reference he only has 8 top 20's in that same time (so I do try to be fair to the drivers in lesser equipment).
Track Stats
  • Kevin Harvick has the most wins of current driver: 7 (also the most career wins of any driver)
  • Jimmie Johnson has the most top 5's with 14 (in 24 races).
  • Jeff Gordon has the most top 10's with 23 followed by Mark Martin with 22.
  • Ryan Newman has the most career PIR poles with 4. 
  • Harvick has easily lead the most laps at PIR in a career with 1,202. Jimmie Johnson is the next closest with 933. 
  • Alan Kulwicki only started 5 races at PIR, but has 1 win, 3 top 5's, 4 top 10's, and an average finish of 5.2.
Phoenix International Raceway
Race
Date
Cars
Winner(s)
St
Make / Model
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
2015-04
3/15/2015
43
Kevin Harvick
1
Chevrolet


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