Tire: Goodyear Eagle Intermediate Radials

Number of Tires: Nationwide: Left-side -- 550, Right-side -- 550

Set limits: Nationwide: 6 sets for event

Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4472; Right-side -- D-4520

Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 2,223 mm; Right-side -- 2,243 mm

Technical Inspection Inflation:
Left Front -- 26 psi; Left Rear -- 26 psi;
Right Front -- 36 psi; Right Rear -- 36 psi

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 14 psi; Left Rear -- 14 psi;
Right Front -- 34 psi; Right Rear -- 32 psi

Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will run the same tire codes at Phoenix this weekend . . . this is the same combination of left- and right-side tires that these teams ran at Phoenix last November . . . after the track was repaved last summer, Goodyear held a tire test on Phoenix's new track surface with Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart on August 29-30, 2011 . . . this tire set-up came out of that test and was confirmed at a NASCAR open test in early October . . . as on most NASCAR ovals one mile or less in length, teams will not run inner liners in their tires at Phoenix.

Young Series Talent Kick Off 2012 On The Right Note 
Record-setting lead changes (38), record-setting number of leaders (16), pack racing, tandem racing and a spectacle of a finish to top it off is just how the NASCAR Nationwide Series wanted to kick off the season  in high gear. 
Young and talented Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders Cole Whitt, 20, and Austin Dillon, 21, who finished fourth and fifth respectively, did not waste time and took advantage of the opportunities the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway would afford them. Whitt is second in the series standings, just two points behind series standings leader Elliott Sadler, while 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Dillon holds third in the standings just three points from the lead.  
Heading to Phoenix, Whitt has made one series start at the 1-mile raceway (2010), posting a 15th-place finish. Dillon also has one series start at Phoenix, where he finished 34th. 
Up-and-coming driver Tayler Malsam, 23, posted his career-best finish (sixth) at Daytona and heads to Phoenix fourth in the standings, four points off the lead. Malsam has made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Phoenix, posting a best finish of 17th. Malsam will be attempting to make his series track debut at PIR this weekend. 
Rounding out the top five in the standings is 2011 Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne, who finished 11th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season opener and is eight points behind Sadler. Bayne has made five series starts at Phoenix, posting an average finish of 19.4. His pre-race Driver Rating is 82.1
Timmy Hill, who turned 19 on race day, finished a career-best seventh at Daytona this past weekend. Hill won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in 2011 and recently announced he'll move full-time to NASCAR Sprint Cup this season, where he'll also compete for the award. Hill made his series debut in this race last year.
Another rookie contender, Pensacola, Fla., native Johanna Long, 19, was solid in her series debut, finishing 21st at Daytona. 

Danica Down But Not Out: Just Ask Sadler
The spotlight was bright in Daytona for Danica Patrick. She started strong but didn't end up with the hoped-for results. Although she is down, she isn't out. One driver who can attest to that is Elliott Sadler, who faced nearly the same circumstance last season following the season opener at Daytona. 
Patrick, a Phoenix resident, became just the second woman in national series history to win a Coors Light Pole when she did so in Daytona. But a potential strong run was cut short when her JR Motorsports teammate, Whitt, tapped her from behind, causing extensive damage to her No. 7 Chevrolet. She was able to return, but finished 38th. She comes home 26th in points.
In the 2011 opener at Daytona, Sadler  the media favorite to unify the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and owner championships  finished 38th due to an accident. At the time, Sadler was 27th in the series standings, 35 points behind the leader. Ten weeks later, following the 11th race of the season at Dover International Speedway, Sadler had reached the summit, taking the standings lead for the first time in 2011.
Patrick has the opportunity to do the same. She has made three starts at Phoenix International Raceway, posting a best finish of 17th in this event last season. She almost mimicked her spring performance in the fall on the newly resurfaced Phoenix International Raceway, finishing 21st, six positions ahead of now-standings leader Sadler, who finished 27th.
Incidentally, Patrick is 35 points behind Sadler  the same deficit Sadler faced last season. Watch for Patrick to start to make her rebound over the next few weeks. Following Phoenix is Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the track where Patrick posted her series career-best finish (fourth).

Sadler Is Back With A Vengeance
Fighting back from a 35-point deficit in the standings after last season's opener at Daytona to then go throughout the season without a win and ultimately finish the season second in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has fueled Sadler to return this season with a vengeance. 
Out of the gate, Sadler is focused. He posted his best series finish at Daytona (third) this past weekend and now is atop the standings two points ahead of second-place Whitt and 17 points ahead of 10th-place Sam Hornish Jr. 
Sadler has made six series starts at Phoenix, posting a best finish of second (2005); he finished 12th in the spring race at Phoenix last season. His pre-race Driver Rating is 83.8 and his Average Running Position is 15.2. 
2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Stenhouse was relegated to a 19th-place finish at Daytona due to a last-lap accident and comes to Phoenix ninth in the standings, 17 points behind Sadler.

NASCAR Nationwide Series, Etc.
Kyle Busch, the 2009 NNS champion and series' all-time wins leader (51), won this race last year for Joe Gibbs Racing. Saturday, he'll try to defend his victory in his own Kyle Busch Motorsports equipment. The last time Hornish ran at Phoenix resulted in his first NASCAR victory. The three-time IndyCar champion/two-time Indianapolis 500 winner captured his landmark win in last November's NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He's in his first full-time NNS season in 2012. & Daytona's NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opening winner James Buescher, who checked the driver championship box in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, is one of three Turner Motorsports entries at Phoenix. Milestones Watch: 2011 series champ Stenhouse will make his 75th series start this weekend; four drivers will try and reach significant top-10 milestones  Kyle Busch (150), Joe Nemechek (125), Denny Hamlin (75) and Justin Allgaier (50). Brad Keselowski will be going for his 75th top-five finish in just 170 starts. Keselowski finishes in the top five 44 percent of the time he competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.