The Nationwide Series teams are at Phoenix International Raceway for the Blue Jeans Go Green 200 presented by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives and on Saturday, March 1st at Phoenix International Raceway, they’ll run 200 miles in 200 laps on the one-mile track. ABC starts their pre-race coverage at 3pm ET and the green flag will wave around 3:45 pm ET. Race coverage is also available on MRN, Sirius XM Radio, channel 90.
Regan Smith started his season with a thrilling finish at Daytona, by edging out Brad Keselowski at the finish line by .013 seconds – the seventh closest finish in series history and second closest in series history at Daytona. That win could be the beginning for Smith to realize his dream of bringing JR Motorsports their first title.
“This year there’s two goals, that’s to win Junior Motorsports their first championship and for me to prove to the right owner that I belong racing on Sundays,” Smith said after the race. “But that first goal is the primary goal.”
If Smith achieves his first goal, he could find himself racing in the Sprint Cup Series on Sundays. Historically, fifteen of the past 16 Nationwide championships – dating back to 1998 when JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr won his first driver’s title – were earned by drivers currently competing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series. Last year’s Nationwide Series champion, Austin Dillon is now competing for Rookie of the Year honors in NASCAR’s top series.
The next step on Smith’s quest is at Phoenix International Raceway and he plans to continue changing his history at the track. In six series starts at the one-mile track, Smith has posted one top-five – fourth in last November’s race – and two top-ten finishes. In nine Cup starts, Smith has never finished better than 20th. In two Truck starts at Phoenix, his best finish is 30th.
Nationwide series drivers arrive at Phoenix with Smith enjoying a six-point advantage over Trevor Bayne. Elliott Sadler (-eight), Brendan Gaughan (-nine) and Ty Dillon (-10) round out the top-five. Smith’s four career wins have come in the last 35 races, including last year when he captured two of those victories at Talladega and Michigan on the heels of winning the season finale in his only 2012 start.
In 2013, Smith led the point standings for ten consecutive weeks before ultimately finishing third in the year-end ranking, behind Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr.
Phoenix is the Nationwide Series’ first full chance at implementing the new qualifying format and racing on a short track with the new rules package. While drivers are still unsure exactly how all of that will impact their teams, the crew is busy planning their strategy for how everything unfolds during Saturday’s qualifying session and race. David Ragan’s been around the circuit for some time understands, those ingredients on-track could create some ‘wild’ action on Saturday.
“The Phoenix weekend is kind of your first test. What’s the new rules package going to bring? What’s the new qualifying format going to bring? Phoenix has the ingredients to be wild for qualifying because it’s a fairly new racetrack and sometimes cycles on your tires do make you go faster. So, there will be some strategy and there will be some crew chiefs and engineers that will have some tricks up their sleeve.”
With so much parity among drivers and teams, it’s difficult to establish winning streaks of any length. But Joe Gibbs Racing has a rare chance this Saturday to win their fourth consecutive race at Phoenix.
Kyle Busch is once again behind the wheel of his No. 54 car and swept both Phoenix races last year after Joey Logano won the fall race of the 2012 season. Logano left Joe Gibbs Racing during that off-season to drive for Team Penske.
In 24 races, no team has ever captured four victories in a row at Phoenix. Roush Fenway Racing is the only other team to piece together three straight series’ wins at the track. Carl Edwards won in November 2008 and then Edwards and Greg Biffle won the two Phoenix events the following year.
Joining Busch this weekend are teammates, Elliott Sadler, (No. 11) and Matt Kenseth (No. 20). The trio of Gibbs drivers have collected eight series’ Phoenix wins – Busch (six), Kenseth (one) and Sadler (one).
The Nationwide Series rookies are setting high expectations for the season. At the end of their 121-laps at Daytona, Ty Dillon, Dylan Kwasniewski and Chase Elliott were top rookie finishers, all with top-20 finishes and seeded in the top-ten point standings.
The trio of rookies are now headed to Phoenix, with an average age of 19, and all three are making their first Nationwide Series starts at the track.
In two Truck starts at Phoenix, Dillon – 7th at Daytona – has finishes of fourth and 15th and now sits seventh, just ten points behind the leader Regan Smith and one point ahead of Kwasniewski. Elliott finished 15th and is in eighth-place, 18 points outside of first. In Elliott’s only truck series start at Phoenix, he finished tenth. Saturday marks Kwasniewski’s first start at the track in a national series event.
Before Saturday’s race, Joey Gase is meeting the family of Michael Choppi, who saved three lives through the generous gift of organ donation. Gase’s mom passed away in 2011 and was an organ and tissue donor.
Tommy Joe Martins and Martin Roy are attempting to make their first career start in the Nationwide Series this weekend as well.
Fans planning to attend the Phoenix Nationwide Series race need to remember to bring their jeans. Not to wear them, but to donate them as part of an at-track recycling program. The race’s sponsor plans to recycle by converting the denim into UltraTouch Denim Insulation by Bonded Logic and then donated to communities in need across the county.