NASCAR’s West Coast swing concludes this weekend at Phoenix Raceway that will see the Cup and Xfinity Series in action along with the ARCA Menards Series.
Sunday’s Cup Series FanShield 500 will mark the first race of the season with a reduced-downforce package – versus what was used in 2019 – for oval tracks 1.058-miles or less in addition to the three road courses.
Phoenix’s 1-mile layout is one of six oval tracks that will have the new rules package. With the exception of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, all of the oval tracks will have two races this season, including Phoenix hosting the championship race on Nov. 8.
“It is a really important race for multiple reasons, the championship and the low downforce stuff,” said points leader Ryan Blaney. “It is really important to get some good notes from there and hopefully make it back there for the championship.”
Phoenix: Cup Race Winners | Cup Driver Averages
Kyle Busch is the defending race winner and also won the fall race in 2018 with a rules package that is similar to one that will be used this weekend.
“I look forward to Phoenix, it’s always fun and a good place for us,” Busch said. “Lately, we’ve been able to really pick up on some things that help us there that have made us better there the last few times and now this package is different. I think that will lend itself back into a couple years ago I guess.”
Phoenix Loop Data Stat Leaders (Last Six Races)
| Average Running Pos. | Laps in Top 15 |
| 1. Kyle Busch – 3.7 | 1. Kyle Busch – 1,858 |
| 2. Kevin Harvick – 6.7 | 2. Kevin Harvick – 1,753 |
| 3. Denny Hamlin – 7.3 | 3. Martin Truex Jr. – 1,729 |
| 4. Martin Truex Jr. – 7.7 | 4. Denny Hamlin – 1,634 |
| 5. Ryan Blaney – 9.4 | 5. Ryan Blaney – 1,533 |
| Fastest Laps Run | Driver Rating |
| 1. Kyle Busch – 295 | 1. Kyle Busch – 128.9 |
| 2. Denny Hamlin – 189 | 2. Denny Hamlin – 111.3 |
| 3. Chase Elliott – 151 | 3. Kevin Harvick – 109.7 |
| 4. Kevin Harvick – 117 | 4. Martin Truex Jr. – 104.5 |
| 5. Martin Truex Jr. – 117 | 5. Chase Elliott – 102.1 |
All three manufacturers have won in the first three races of the 2020 season, most recently with Alex Bowman putting Chevrolet in Victory Lane last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Led by Bowman, four Chevy drivers are in the top 10 in the standings in the first year with the new Camaro ZL1 1LE.
“I think the new body has helped us a lot, the new Camaro,” Bowman said. “Any change we make, we make for a reason, and Chevy did a good job with that car.
“So I think on the intermediate stuff it’s really showing up. Phoenix I think we finished like 25th there in the fall last year. We were absolutely horrendous, so hopefully we can go there and run a ton better.”
Entry List: FanShield 500
Chevrolet is the all-time leader at Phoenix with 23 wins with its last coming in this event in 2015. Toyota has six wins with three of them coming in the last three races. Kevin Harvick, the all-time win leader with nine, scored the last of 16 wins for Ford in this event in 2018.
“I felt like last year, with that particular rules package, we definitely weren’t as good as we had been in the past,” Harvick said. “I think with the 2018 package, I think we were in the game. It’s been a great racetrack for us as we’ve gone through the years and a place that we go to expect a win.”
Motor Racing Network will have live coverage of Friday’s two NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions (3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET) along with Saturday’s qualifying session (2:30 p.m. ET).
Jeff Striegle, Alex Hayden and Rusty Wallace will call Sunday’s FanShield 500 from the booth. Kurt Becker and Dan Hubbard will be in the turns with Steve Post, Dillon Welch and Kim Coon reporting from pit road. MRN’s air time for Sunday is 2:30 p.m. ET.
Thanks to his first-career Xfinity Series win last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, Harrison Burton leads the standings heading into Saturday’s LS Tractor 200.
Burton will be making his first Phoenix Xfinity start, but does have two top 10s in his two Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series starts there. He also finished sixth in the ARCA Menards Series West race in 2015.
Saturday’s 200-lap race will give Burton the opportunity to compete against Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who both will be making their first series start of the year.
“I’m excited to get to Phoenix,” Burton said. It’s one of my favorite racetracks. I get to race Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, which is going to be awesome. That’s exciting for me. I know a lot of people say they don’t want to the Cup guys to come down and race, but for me as a driver that is the coolest opportunity in the world because that’s your time to prove yourself. That’s your time to go out and make stuff happen. I’m excited, bring them on, let’s do it.”
Entry List: LS Tractor 200
Busch leads all drivers with 11 Xfinity wins at Phoenix while Keselowski has two. Justin Allgaier is the only Xfinity regular in the field that has gone to Victory Lane at the 1-mile track, winning in the fall last season and in this event in 2017.
“Phoenix is always a track that I have circled on my calendar as one of my favorites,” Allgaier said. “I know we’ll have another hot rod this weekend and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish during the race on Saturday.”
MRN’s air time for Saturday’s LS Tractor 200 is 3:30 p.m. ET. Kurt Becker and Dan Hubbard will call the action from the booth. Dillon Welch and Jeff Striegle will be in the turns with Steve Post and Kim Coon reporting from pit road.
The ARCA Menards Series will make its inaugural trip to Arizona to kick off the weekend with Friday’s General Tire 150.
Michael Self, who won the season-opener at Daytona, joins Ty Gibbs as the two drivers in the field that have won at Phoenix when they raced in the ARCA Menards (formerly NASCAR K&N) West Series. Self won in 2012 and Gibbs took the checkered flag last year.
“Phoenix is such a special track to me for so many reasons,” Self said. “It’s not just a track that I’ve won at, it’s the track where I learned how to big-track race.”
See Also: MRN to Broadcast Select ARCA Races
In a week that saw the announcement that he will be returning to Kyle Busch Motorsports to drive in eight NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races in 2020, Chandler Smith will make his first ARCA start of the season Friday.
“I am really looking forward to Phoenix this week and kick starting my 2020 race season,” said Smith, who won five ARCA races last season. “Running the truck race there last year helped prepare me for Friday night’s race and I am excited to get back in my No. 20 JBL Audio Toyota Camry and start back with my Venturini Motorsports team.”
Sam Mayer will also make his first series start of the season after claiming wins in the ARCA East and West Series season openers at New Smyrna and the Las Vegas Bullring, respectively. He does have a Truck Series start and a second-place finish in the West Series at Phoenix.
“I feel really confident heading into Phoenix with GMS (Racing),” Mayer said. “Last time we were there we had the fastest car, and I feel like we’re going to be like that again. I’m excited to have the opportunity to go three-for-three in 2020.”
Entry List: General Tire 150
Hailie Deegan, who finished second at Daytona in her DGR-Crosley and Ford debut, finished fourth last year at Phoenix in the West Series.
“Phoenix is really fun,” Deegan said. “I’d say the restarts are the most fun. You can be four wide going into turn two and it gets sketchy sometimes. It’s a place where a driver can make up for what the car is doing and kind of technique it a little bit.”
Motor Racing Network will have live coverage of the General Tire 150 starting at 7 p.m. ET. Jeff Striegle and Alex Hayden will be in the the booth with Dillon Welch calling the action in the turns. Steve Post will have all the reports from pit road.
