AVONDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 06: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Tarkett Ford, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 06, 2020, in Avondale, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The FanShield 500 produces new points leader at Phoenix
Ryan Blaney’s luck turned from bad to worse on Sunday, and it cost him the NASCAR Cup Series lead.
Despite a pit call at Las Vegas that cost him a chance to win and a corded tire at Auto Club Speedway that forced his No. 12 Ford to pit road from second place with three laps left in last Sunday’s race, Blaney was first in the standings on the strength of solid stage finishes in the first three races.
That came to an abrupt close in Sunday’s FanShield 500 when Blaney’s race ended ten laps before the first stage did.
Martin Truex Jr. moved up to the fifth place at the end of Stage 1 after starting at the rear in the NASCAR Cup Series FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images
NASCAR’s Short-Track package and the PJ1 allows drivers to make passes at Phoenix
Sunday’s FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway passed not only the eye test but also the statistical test, as far as the quality of racing was concerned.
With the NASCAR Cup Series car featuring a significantly smaller spoiler and modifications to the oil pan and splitter, the resulting reduction in downforce produced far more competitive racing than fans witnessed in two Phoenix events last year.
AVONDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 08: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 08, 2020, in Avondale, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano expected a bump from Kevin Harvick in the two-lap overtime Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, but the bump never came.
Instead, Harvick pulled up beside Logano in the center of turns one and two on the final lap of the FanShield 500, but Logano sped away with a hard charge off turn two and cruised to the finish line with a margin of 0.276 seconds.
With the victory—his second at Phoenix and the 25th of his career—Logano is the first multiple-time winner of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, having previously taken the checkered flag at Las Vegas in the year’s second event.
AVONDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 07: Brandon Jones, driver of the #19 Menards/Turtle Wax Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 07, 2020, in Avondale, Arizona. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz. – From race winner Brandon Jones’ standpoint, it’s too bad there wasn’t a bounty on Kyle Busch in Saturday’s LS Tractor 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Buoyed by a strong run through turns three and four, Jones shot past Busch into the lead on the frontstretch on lap 181 and pulled away to win by 3.556 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Harrison Burton, who passed Busch on lap 190 for the runner-up position.
Next weekend at Atlanta, there will be a $100,000 bounty on Busch in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race, courtesy of NASCAR cup veteran Kevin Harvick and Marcus Lemonis, chairman and CEO of Camping World.
On Saturday, Jones had to be content with the satisfaction of beating the career leader in NASCAR Xfinity Series victories, who rolled home third without adding to his 96 wins in the series. Jones was happy to settle for the trip to Victory Lane—after beating Busch and fellow NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, who ran fourth.
“These are two of arguably the best in the business,” Jones said. “We just had a car to beat ‘em today. These guys just did an incredible job.”
Crucial to the win was a quick pit stop on lap 130 that got Jones second off pit road and fourth in the running order for a restart on lap 134.
“I told (crew chief) Jeff (Meendering) kind of early in the race… I’m like ‘Man, I’m just lacking track position—that’s the only thing I’m lacking. The pit crew did a heck of a job, and they said, ‘There you go. There’s your track position, and it paid off at the end.”
The one-two-three finish for JGR was the sixth in company history. More important, Jones’ second victory in the series and first at Phoenix was the 500th win for Toyota in NASCAR’s top three national series combined.
Burton’s No. 20 Toyota improved throughout the afternoon, as the 19-year-old driver—fresh from his maiden win at Auto Club Speedway last week—posted his fourth straight top-five finish to start the season.
“Early in the day, we weren’t good enough at all,” Burton said. “We were running ninth, tenth, somewhere back there. We fought really hard and got a lot better by the end. The 19 (Jones) kind of did the same thing.
“We got better and better and better as the race went on, so I’m really proud of that. That was Toyota’s 500th victory, so that’s really cool. Good to have a one-two-three when we do it. Proud of our guys. Proud of our effort. Not quite enough, but we’ll be back (at Phoenix in November), hopefully with a chance to win the championship.”
Keselowski recovered from an off-sequence pit stop and a brush with the outside wall to finish fourth, followed by Xfinity regulars Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain (who overcame a power-steering issue that put him a lap down) and Riley Herbst.
Star-crossed Justin Allgaier had perhaps the fastest car in the race, but the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was trapped in a pit stop zugzwang after staying on the track under caution early in the third stage. Subsequently, Allgaier pitted for fuel only under the sixth yellow on lap 139, but he failed to get a timely caution late in the race that would have allowed him to use his final set of new tires.
Allgaier, who led 51 laps and won the first stage, stood by crew chief Jason Burdett’s pit call.
“I’m good with the decision,” Allgaier said. “Obviously, it didn’t work out, and to say that I’m not disappointed would be lying to you. We had a fast, fast Camaro today. I thought we made the right call. I told him (Burdett) multiple times that I thought we made the right call.”
Notes: Busch led a race-high 78 laps… Gragson won the second stage and led 27 laps… Jones was fourth in laps led with 24… All told there were 12 lead changes among seven drivers… There were seven cautions for 45 laps, the last coming on lap 143.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – 16th Annual LS Tractor 200
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday, March 7, 2020
1. (8) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
2. (3) Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 200.
3. (1) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 200.
4. (4) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 200.
5. (14) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (9) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 200.
7. (7) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 200.
9. (5) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.
10. (11) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 200.
11. (10) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (13) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (6) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
14. (15) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (29) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (24) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (26) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (20) Dillon Bassett, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (17) Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 199.
20. (21) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (33) Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (22) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (30) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 198.
24. (31) Chad Finchum, Toyota, 196.
25. (23) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 196.
26. (32) David Starr, Chevrolet, 196.
27. (35) Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, 196.
28. (28) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 194.
29. (36) Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, 177.
30. (12) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, DVP, 142.
31. (19) Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, Accident, 142.
32. (27) Joe Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 127.
Time of Race: Two Hrs, Nine Mins, 47 Secs. The Margin of Victory: 3.556 Seconds.
Caution Flags: Seven for 45 laps.
Lead Changes: 12 among seven drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Cindric 1-9;K. Busch(i) 10-39;J. Allgaier 40-48;B. Keselowski(i) 49-55;J. Allgaier 56-75;K. Busch(i) 76-85;R. Chastain 86-89;N. Gragson 90-116;J. Allgaier 117-138;B. Jones 139-142;K. Busch(i) 143-180;B. Jones 181-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Busch(i) three times for 78 laps; Justin Allgaier three times for 51 laps; Noah Gragson one time for 27 laps; Brandon Jones two times for 24 laps; Austin Cindric one time for nine laps; Brad Keselowski(i) one time for seven laps; Ross Chastain one time for four laps.
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