March 18, 2017
Edwards says he has no plans to return to racing: The Phoenix Raceway garage was buzzing this weekend with rumors that Carl Edwards would be back racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage next year, but Edwards says he has no plans to return. Edwards announced in January that he would leave Joe Gibbs Racing to pursue interests outside of racing. In a text exchange Saturday afternoon with FoxSports Tom Jensen, Edwards wrote, “Like I said at the press conference, I had no racing plans then and do not now. There is no hidden agenda – those three reasons are it.”(FoxSports)[More](3-18-2017)
Happy Hour (final) practice for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is over, after 50 scheduled minutes, the top five, slowest and notes:
#22-Logano 134.736
#20-Kenseth 134.519
#18-Busch 134.399
#2-Keselowski 134.384
#48-Johnson 134.368
slowest: #51-Hill 127.592 & #33-JEarnhardt 128.650
no laps run: #55-Cope
best 10 consecutive lap ave (of 32 cars) #18-Busch 134.094
notes: #17-Stenhouse Jr. smacked the wall but continued with practice. #19-Suarez spun in turn 2, but didn’t hit anything and came back to practice a bit later
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Phoenix Happy Hour Practice speeds page (pdf) (3-18-2017)
1st Saturday practice for the Camping World 500(k) Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway is over, after 55 scheduled minutes, the top five, slowest and notes:
#24-Elliott 135.977
#22-Logano 135.466
#42-Larson 135.323
#78-Truex Jr. 135.206
#2-Keselowski 135.171
slowest: #51-Ware 128.778 & #33-JEarnhardt 129.334
best 10 consecutive lap ave (of 27 drivers) #78-Truex Jr. 134.525
most laps ran: four with 43 laps: 88, 11, 31, 47
notes: #17-Stenhouse Jr. smacked the wall when he had brake issues, but the car was fixed and continued to practice
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Phoenix practice speeds page (pdf) (3-18-2017)
Have Kyle Busch and Joey Logano buried the hatchet? Sporting dark sunglasses, Kyle Busch stepped out of the NASCAR transporter determined to do his best impression of former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, who scrupulously avoided making meaningful comments to reporters. To five straight questions, Busch answered with some variation of the following: “Everything’s great. Looking forward to getting back to the race track and back in my race car.” Everything wasn’t so great for Busch last Sunday in Las Vegas, when, during a battle for third place, Joey Logano’s Ford slid up the track into Busch’s Toyota on the last lap of the Kobalt 400. Busch spun toward the inside wall and eventually finished 22nd. Logano saved his car and came home fourth, only to have Busch launch a haymaker in his direction on pit road. When Logano’s crew members jumped into the fray to protect their driver, Busch was taken to the pavement and wound up with a bloody cut to his forehead. That’s why NASCAR summoned both Busch and Logano to the hauler on Friday morning at Phoenix International Raceway.(NASCAR Wire Service)
AND Busch spoke to a pair of reporters (including Jeff Gluck) on pit road after his qualifying lap, telling us why he punched Logano last week and adding he still didn’t buy Logano’s explanation. When Busch tried to make a move down the backstretch and avoid a slowing Brad Keselowski on the last lap, he made contact with Logano. He felt Logano then took revenge right away. “It was instantaneous,” Busch said. “I made a move down the backstretch that cut Joey off – and I had to; I wasn’t just going to roll out of the gas and fall in behind Brad and probably lose spots to more guys behind me. So I made a bold move – I was two-thirds of my way past Logano, and I figured I can wedge my way through there a little bit. And I did, and it was instantaneous retaliation. That’s what I thought and that’s kind of what I still think.” Logano presented Busch with data during their meeting with NASCAR that he felt proved the incident was unintentional, but Busch didn’t believe it. “No,” Busch said after being asked whether the data changed his mind. “Nope.”(JeffGluck.com)[More](3-18-2017)
Roush sees retirement ahead Jack Roush, one of NASCAR’s most successful owners and a pioneer in bringing engineering technology into the sport with his multi-car Ford teams, has used the “R” word. Retire. “I expected to have better years than (winless) 2016 and 2015,” Roush said to azcentral sports in advance of Sunday’s Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. “Had I realized I had those years in front of me, I might have decided to side-step, and retire. I’m 74. I can’t do what I’m doing today for another 10 years. My window is, the longest I’ve been able to predict what I was going to do in life, has been five years. I’m probably down to a three-year window. I’m looking at how I can be useful.”(Arizona Republic)[More](3-17-2017)
UPDATE Not so, Roush told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Friday.
“I have no retirement plans whatever,” Roush said. “The article came from an ill-advised stream of consciousness I had at the end of last season.” He then said: “People retire in order to go do things they’re passionate about. I already have a job that allows me to be passionate beyond my imagination as a youngster.” Roush turns 75 on April 19.(NBC Sports)(3-18-2017)
Career best start for Blaney: Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team turned in another strong qualifying performance on Friday at the Phoenix International Raceway as Blaney posted a career-high second-place effort to complete an all-Ford front row for the start of Sunday’s Camping World 500k. Just a week after qualifying third at Las Vegas, Blaney took the second spot at Phoenix, which was the best starting spot for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team since Trevor Bayne started on the outside pole at Daytona International Speedway in July, 2011. “We sat down, my team and I, and tried to figure out what we need and what is more important, going from round to round, and what really helps our car,” Blaney said. “The last two weekends we have shown really good speed in qualifying trim. It is nice to have fast race cars. You have seen it the past two weeks.”(Wood Brothers Racing)(3-18-2017)
Race recap: Justin Allgaier perseveres to win NASCAR XFINITY race in Phoenix: Justin Allgaier popped a tire during his celebratory burnout after Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. But you can forgive the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet if he was a trifle rusty with his donuts-Allgaier hadn’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since August in 2012 at the road course in Montreal. On a blistering afternoon that brought emotions to a boil at the one-mile race track in the Sonoran Desert, Allgaier sailed away with a magnificent restart with four laps left and finished .741 seconds ahead of runner-up Ryan Blaney, who started 33rd after inspection issues kept him off the grid during qualifying earlier in the day.[More](3-18-2017)
Justin Allgaier wins Phoenix XFINITY race: #7-Justin Allgaier won the DC Solar 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. It is his 4th XFINITY Series win and 1st of the year and qualifies him for the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs. In addition, he won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus.
#22-Ryan Blaney finished second, followed by #20-Erik Jones, polesitter #9-William Byron, #1-Elliott Sadler, #6-Darrell Wallace, Jr., #21-Daniel Hemric, #48-Brennan Poole, #5-Michael Annett, and #3-Ty Dillon.
#9-William Byron and #1-Elliott Sadler qualified for the Dash 4 Cash in the first stage. #7-Justin Allgaier and #42-Tyler Reddick qualified during the second Stage.
#20-Erik Jones won Stage 1 of the race. #22-Ryan Blaney won Stage 2.
There was a brief red flag for track cleanup with 9 laps remaining.
There were 10 cautions for 55 laps and 15 lead changes among 7 leaders.
The average speed was 91.013mph.
Complete results are on the Phoenix race results page (pdf).(3-18-2017)
Race stage winners:
Stage 1 – lap 45 – #20-Erik Jones
Stage 2 – lap 90 – #22-Ryan Blaney
Stage 3 – lap 200 – #7-Justin Allgaier
Phoenix XFINITY Race Fast Facts:
Justin Allgaier won the 13th Annual DC Solar 200, his fourth victory in 211 NASCAR XFINITY Series races.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2017.
This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 14 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Ryan Blaney (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his first top-10 finish in 2017.
Erik Jones (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in six races at Phoenix Raceway.
William Byron (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Elliott Sadler leads the point standings by 11 points over William Byron.
(NASCAR Integrated Marketing)(3-18-2017)
XFINITY Driver standings following Phoenix:
1) #1-Elliott Sadler, 144
2) #9-William Byron, 133, -11
3) #16-Ryan Reed, 121, -23
4) #7-Justin Allgaier, 115, -29
5) #6-Darrell Wallace Jr., 109, -35
6) #21-Daniel Hemric, 104, -40
7) #48-Brennan Poole, 98, -46
8) #19-Matt Tifft, 91, -53
9) #5-Michael Annett, 89, -55
10) #28-Dakoda Armstrong, 84, -60
See complete owner and driver standings on the driver standings(pdf) and owner standings page (pdf).(3-18-2017)
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