bigbadbrother
03-13-2016, 10:41 PM
Joe Menzer
Kevin Harvick wishes he could run every Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
The rest of the drivers in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series -- especially Carl Edwards -- are no doubt thankful that he can't.
Harvick racked up yet another win on the 1-mile track in the desert Sunday, barely beating Edwards to the finish line to capture the Good Sam 500 for his fifth win the last six Cup races at PIR. It also was Harvick's eighth Cup win overall at the track, extending his own record in NASCAR's top series.
While Harvick enjoyed another sunny afternoon in Arizona, leading the race-high total of 137 laps, the same couldn't be said for everyone else.
The cars of Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Paul Menard, as well as Roush Fenway Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr., all suffered the same fate within the first 200 laps of the race. They overworked their brakes and melted beads in tires, which led to them each crashing in separate single-car incidents.
"Our setup was pretty tight and we had to use a lot of brake," Stenhouse said. "Therefore, I was getting the right-front tire hot. ... We had to use too much brake. I feel like we got the tire too hot and blew it. We have to get it dialed in a little better next time."
Later, with 85 laps to go, the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski also suffered from a melted bead and blew a right-rear tire to bring out yet another caution.
Carl Edwards was first off of pit road for the second stop in a row, edging Harvick by inches. But on the ensuing restart, Harvick surged to the front yet again.
Pole-sitter Kyle Busch led the first 75 laps before Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was on fresher tires, overtook him. But while Busch went on to have major problems in the pits, Edwards' Joe Gibbs Racing crew was money every time the rest of the day. That helped Edwards get to the lead for the first time after a caution came out for Menard getting into the wall on Lap 106 after the right-front tire blew on his No. 27 Chevrolet.
Restarts, however, were another matter for Edwards. He was no match for Harvick.
So even though Edwards led for 65 laps, it was Harvick who was in control pretty much from Lap 165 on.
Earnhardt Jr., who led 34 laps himself, passed Edwards for second with 37 to go and was running faster laps than Harvick for a while. But after pulling to within 1.46 seconds of the lead, Earnhardt's lap times began falling off and Harvick began pulling away again.
Harvick seemed to be crusing to an easy win when Kasey Kahne brought out the final caution with six laps to go, setting up a sprint to the finish. And while Harvick, Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth stayed out, the rest of the top cars pitted.
That meant Kyle Busch and Edwards started on fresher tires in fourth and fifth, respectively, on the ensuing green-white-checkered restart.
Pos Driver Trk Mfg Start Status Laps Led Speed Time Behind
1
#4 Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet 18 Running 312 138 127.700 28.191 Leader
2
#19 Carl Edwards
Toyota 2 Running 312 65 127.524 28.230 0.161
3
#11 Denny Hamlin
Toyota 3 Running 312 0 125.826 28.611 0.716
4
#88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chevrolet 26 Running 312 34 125.017 28.796 0.720
5
#18 Kyle Busch
Toyota 1 Running 312 75 125.436 28.700 0.891
6
#41 Kurt Busch
Chevrolet 4 Running 312 0 125.178 28.759 1.034
7
#3 Austin Dillon
Chevrolet 15 Running 312 0 123.469 29.157 1.225
8
#20 Matt Kenseth
Toyota 6 Running 312 0 124.909 28.821 1.252
9
#24 Chase Elliott
Chevrolet 17 Running 312 0 123.724 29.097 1.422
10
#21 Ryan Blaney
Ford 12 Running 312 0 124.228 28.979 1.552
11
#48 Jimmie Johnson
Chevrolet 5 Running 312 0 122.545 29.377 1.844
12
#78 Martin Truex Jr.
Toyota 8 Running 312 0 122.645 29.353 1.954
13
#43 Aric Almirola
Ford 14 Running 312 0 122.678 29.345 2.079
14
#1 Jamie McMurray
Chevrolet 11 Running 312 0 122.395 29.413 2.216
15
#42 Kyle Larson
Chevrolet 7 Running 312 0 123.018 29.264 2.253
16
#14 Ty Dillon
Chevrolet 28 Running 312 0 122.800 29.316 2.370
17
#47 AJ Allmendinger
Chevrolet 22 Running 312 0 122.407 29.410 4.577
18
#22 Joey Logano
Ford 9 Running 311 0 122.387 29.415 1 lap
19
#10 Danica Patrick
Chevrolet 36 Running 311 0 123.355 29.184 1 lap
20
#83 Matt DiBenedetto
Toyota 23 Running 311 0 123.347 29.186 1 lap
21
#16 Greg Biffle
Ford 13 Running 311 0 122.055 29.495 1 lap
22
#5 Kasey Kahne
Chevrolet 24 Running 311 0 108.926 33.050 1 lap
23
#6 Trevor Bayne
Ford 21 Running 310 0 122.137 29.475 2 laps
24
#23 David Ragan
Toyota 29 Running 308 0 120.631 29.843 4 laps
25
#38 Landon Cassill
Ford 27 Running 307 0 123.094 29.246 5 laps
26
#95 Michael McDowell
Chevrolet 33 Running 307 0 121.265 29.687 5 laps
27
#44 Brian Scott
Ford 30 Running 307 0 122.034 29.500 5 laps
28
#7 Regan Smith
Chevrolet 31 Running 307 0 122.096 29.485 5 laps
29
#2 Brad Keselowski
Ford 19 Running 306 0 122.997 29.269 6 laps
30
#34 Chris Buescher
Ford 32 Running 306 0 120.676 29.832 6 laps
31
#15 Clint Bowyer
Chevrolet 35 Running 306 0 119.190 30.204 6 laps
32
#32 Joey Gase
Ford 39 Running 304 0 116.118 31.003 8 laps
33
#46 Michael Annett
Chevrolet 38 Running 302 0 118.452 30.392 10 laps
34
#30 Josh Wise
Chevrolet 37 Running 302 0 117.801 30.560 10 laps
35
#13 Casey Mears
Chevrolet 25 Running 267 0 116.200 30.981 45 laps
36
#98 Cole Whitt
Chevrolet 34 Unknown Status 236 0 19.369 185.864 76 laps
37
#17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Ford 10 Out - Accident 161 0 127.605 28.212 151 laps
38
#27 Paul Menard
Chevrolet 16 Out - Accident 104 0 127.669 28.198 208 laps
39
#31 Ryan Newman
Chevrolet 20 Out - Accident 51 0 88.814 40.534 261 laps
Kevin Harvick wishes he could run every Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
The rest of the drivers in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series -- especially Carl Edwards -- are no doubt thankful that he can't.
Harvick racked up yet another win on the 1-mile track in the desert Sunday, barely beating Edwards to the finish line to capture the Good Sam 500 for his fifth win the last six Cup races at PIR. It also was Harvick's eighth Cup win overall at the track, extending his own record in NASCAR's top series.
While Harvick enjoyed another sunny afternoon in Arizona, leading the race-high total of 137 laps, the same couldn't be said for everyone else.
The cars of Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Paul Menard, as well as Roush Fenway Racing's Ricky Stenhouse Jr., all suffered the same fate within the first 200 laps of the race. They overworked their brakes and melted beads in tires, which led to them each crashing in separate single-car incidents.
"Our setup was pretty tight and we had to use a lot of brake," Stenhouse said. "Therefore, I was getting the right-front tire hot. ... We had to use too much brake. I feel like we got the tire too hot and blew it. We have to get it dialed in a little better next time."
Later, with 85 laps to go, the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Brad Keselowski also suffered from a melted bead and blew a right-rear tire to bring out yet another caution.
Carl Edwards was first off of pit road for the second stop in a row, edging Harvick by inches. But on the ensuing restart, Harvick surged to the front yet again.
Pole-sitter Kyle Busch led the first 75 laps before Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was on fresher tires, overtook him. But while Busch went on to have major problems in the pits, Edwards' Joe Gibbs Racing crew was money every time the rest of the day. That helped Edwards get to the lead for the first time after a caution came out for Menard getting into the wall on Lap 106 after the right-front tire blew on his No. 27 Chevrolet.
Restarts, however, were another matter for Edwards. He was no match for Harvick.
So even though Edwards led for 65 laps, it was Harvick who was in control pretty much from Lap 165 on.
Earnhardt Jr., who led 34 laps himself, passed Edwards for second with 37 to go and was running faster laps than Harvick for a while. But after pulling to within 1.46 seconds of the lead, Earnhardt's lap times began falling off and Harvick began pulling away again.
Harvick seemed to be crusing to an easy win when Kasey Kahne brought out the final caution with six laps to go, setting up a sprint to the finish. And while Harvick, Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth stayed out, the rest of the top cars pitted.
That meant Kyle Busch and Edwards started on fresher tires in fourth and fifth, respectively, on the ensuing green-white-checkered restart.
Pos Driver Trk Mfg Start Status Laps Led Speed Time Behind
1
#4 Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet 18 Running 312 138 127.700 28.191 Leader
2
#19 Carl Edwards
Toyota 2 Running 312 65 127.524 28.230 0.161
3
#11 Denny Hamlin
Toyota 3 Running 312 0 125.826 28.611 0.716
4
#88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chevrolet 26 Running 312 34 125.017 28.796 0.720
5
#18 Kyle Busch
Toyota 1 Running 312 75 125.436 28.700 0.891
6
#41 Kurt Busch
Chevrolet 4 Running 312 0 125.178 28.759 1.034
7
#3 Austin Dillon
Chevrolet 15 Running 312 0 123.469 29.157 1.225
8
#20 Matt Kenseth
Toyota 6 Running 312 0 124.909 28.821 1.252
9
#24 Chase Elliott
Chevrolet 17 Running 312 0 123.724 29.097 1.422
10
#21 Ryan Blaney
Ford 12 Running 312 0 124.228 28.979 1.552
11
#48 Jimmie Johnson
Chevrolet 5 Running 312 0 122.545 29.377 1.844
12
#78 Martin Truex Jr.
Toyota 8 Running 312 0 122.645 29.353 1.954
13
#43 Aric Almirola
Ford 14 Running 312 0 122.678 29.345 2.079
14
#1 Jamie McMurray
Chevrolet 11 Running 312 0 122.395 29.413 2.216
15
#42 Kyle Larson
Chevrolet 7 Running 312 0 123.018 29.264 2.253
16
#14 Ty Dillon
Chevrolet 28 Running 312 0 122.800 29.316 2.370
17
#47 AJ Allmendinger
Chevrolet 22 Running 312 0 122.407 29.410 4.577
18
#22 Joey Logano
Ford 9 Running 311 0 122.387 29.415 1 lap
19
#10 Danica Patrick
Chevrolet 36 Running 311 0 123.355 29.184 1 lap
20
#83 Matt DiBenedetto
Toyota 23 Running 311 0 123.347 29.186 1 lap
21
#16 Greg Biffle
Ford 13 Running 311 0 122.055 29.495 1 lap
22
#5 Kasey Kahne
Chevrolet 24 Running 311 0 108.926 33.050 1 lap
23
#6 Trevor Bayne
Ford 21 Running 310 0 122.137 29.475 2 laps
24
#23 David Ragan
Toyota 29 Running 308 0 120.631 29.843 4 laps
25
#38 Landon Cassill
Ford 27 Running 307 0 123.094 29.246 5 laps
26
#95 Michael McDowell
Chevrolet 33 Running 307 0 121.265 29.687 5 laps
27
#44 Brian Scott
Ford 30 Running 307 0 122.034 29.500 5 laps
28
#7 Regan Smith
Chevrolet 31 Running 307 0 122.096 29.485 5 laps
29
#2 Brad Keselowski
Ford 19 Running 306 0 122.997 29.269 6 laps
30
#34 Chris Buescher
Ford 32 Running 306 0 120.676 29.832 6 laps
31
#15 Clint Bowyer
Chevrolet 35 Running 306 0 119.190 30.204 6 laps
32
#32 Joey Gase
Ford 39 Running 304 0 116.118 31.003 8 laps
33
#46 Michael Annett
Chevrolet 38 Running 302 0 118.452 30.392 10 laps
34
#30 Josh Wise
Chevrolet 37 Running 302 0 117.801 30.560 10 laps
35
#13 Casey Mears
Chevrolet 25 Running 267 0 116.200 30.981 45 laps
36
#98 Cole Whitt
Chevrolet 34 Unknown Status 236 0 19.369 185.864 76 laps
37
#17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Ford 10 Out - Accident 161 0 127.605 28.212 151 laps
38
#27 Paul Menard
Chevrolet 16 Out - Accident 104 0 127.669 28.198 208 laps
39
#31 Ryan Newman
Chevrolet 20 Out - Accident 51 0 88.814 40.534 261 laps