2016 NASCAR Week 35 Preview: Phoenix

Can-Am 500

Phoenix International Raceway

By Richard Tix

Harvick International Raceway, oh, I mean Phoenix International Raceway. NASCAR's last stop before its 36th and final race of the 2016 season which will crown a Cup Champion at Homestead-Miami. Phoenix is the last shot for anyone of the six drivers left in the Chase without a win this round to lock in a spot to race for the Championship.

Unfortunately for Kevin Harvick, he sits in a hole and is almost in must win position this weekend. Thats where all the sad news for Harvick ends, because PIR is the best thing that could happen to KH. 

Since 2012 Harvick has been almost untouchable here at Phoenix. In those nine races starting in 2012 he has six wins and all but one finish was no worse then second. Yes you read that right, second. He had one finish of 13th in 2013 without leading a lap otherwise he finished first or second eight times in nine races. If you take out that 13th in 2013 he has an average finish of 1.25 and he averages 145.87 laps lead per race. 

So, don't feel bad for KH. Almost every driver has been in a pressure spot at least once in the past three years and none of them have had such a nice track in front of them.

Now, if Harvick wins that means we have one open spot left for Homestead (Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards are locked in). If he doesn't win, we still only have two spots left and three JGR cars have yet to lock in a finale spot. 

Three, minus two, equals one. One guy at minimum sitting out from JGR after this round. Some interesting dynamics will be going on all race and "teammate" may be a word used lightly around JGR. Even considering JGR, we're still missing Joey Logano who has put himself in a nice spot, but one little slip up can mean a lost shot at the Cup Championship.

Then we have Kurt Busch... Sorry Kurt fans, I just haven't been aboard his chances since the start of the Chase. Something about this season just doesn't seem on for that team and it is costing them a bit of speed to truly contend. Then again, PIR is a pretty good track for him and he has learned a thing or two from Kevin.

So what will it be? Kevin Harvick winning his way into Miami with three JGR cars missing out and Joey Logano getting the last spot? Harvick winning and two of three JGR cars missing out and JoLo as well? How about Harvick not winning, not getting in and a mix of JoLo and JGR cars getting in?

This Chase hasn't seen quite the fireworks as the past two seasons, but Phoenix is setting up to have all the drama rolled into one race.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Kevin Harvick- We talked about him above and you should already know his dominance here. If not, I can not help you.
• Kyle Busch- Rowdy has back to back top five finishes here at PIR and won the pole early this season. He and Denny Hamlin both have a nice track record here lately.
• Carl Edwards- I did mention a few previews back that Carl hadn't been running well, but that this round set up nicely for him as tracks he runs well at. Well, here is another but he doesn't need it.

The Middle

• Team Penske- Both Keselowski and Logano are really good drivers here at PIR since the repave, but neither has won. Most of that is due to Harvick's dominance, but you would think between the two of them one of them would have cracked the code. Maybe this weekend?

The Bad

• Paul Menard- It always amazes me how many races Paul has run at tracks and his lack of top 10's at said track. This one is 19 tries and only two top 10's.
• Kasey Kahne- In the past four races he has three finishes outside of the top 20. In the last nine he has three top 10's and four top 15's. However, ten races ago he won. So, he's got that going for him, which is nice.
• Martin Truex Jr- In the last 13 races Martin has three top 10's. He does have eight top 15's in the last 13 races at PIR, but that's jut not good enough anymore for this team.

About the Track: Phoenix

Track Stats

• Chevy won 10 straight races from 2005-10
• Kevin Harvick has won 6 of the last 8 races
• 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
• Jeff Gordon Retired with the most career top 10's of any driver at PIR (24 total)
• Kevin Harvick has the most led laps in PIR Cup history with 1,484 total.
• Ryan Newman still has the most career poles at PIR with 4 total

Track Info

• Surface
• Asphalt
• Length
• 1 mile
• Banking
• Turns 1/2- 10-11 degrees
• Turn 3- 8 degrees
• Turn 4- 8-9 degrees
• Frontstretch- 3 degrees
• Backstretch- 10 degrees