Drivers Chassis Selections For Texas: Some New and Some With Great History

by Jeff Wackerlin
MotorRacingNetwork.com

1. Jimmie Johnson: Winner of the fall race in 2007; Finished second in last two spring events; 10.8 average finish in 13 starts; 6.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 580) that won at Las Vegas earlier this season.

2. Matt Kenseth: Winner of the 2002 race; Leads all drivers with a 6.5 average finish in the four races with the new car; Has finished ninth or better in eight of the last nine races; 3.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 646) that finished fifth at Las Vegas.

3. Greg Biffle: Winner of the 2005 spring race; Led 93 laps and finished third in this event last year for third top five; Coming off fifth top 10 with an eighth-place finish last fall; 9.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010. Will debut a new car (chassis No. 646) in the Samsung Mobile 500.

4. Kevin Harvick: Coming off sixth top 10 with a fifth-place finish last fall; Has only led four laps in 14 starts; 5.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 301) in the Samsung Mobile 500. This car was tested at Charlotte last month.

5. Jeff Gordon: Defending race winner; Win is one of seven top fives; Has led 324 laps in last six starts; 10.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Led 219 laps at Las Vegas earlier this season; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 554) that finished 23rd at Bristol last August.

6. Clint Bowyer: Coming off fourth top 10 with a seventh-place finish last fall; Has only one finish outside the top 20 in eight starts; 15.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 257) that finished eighth at Auto Club in February.

7. Jeff Burton: Winner of the inaugural and 2007 spring race; Has posted six top 10s with Richard Childress Racing; 15.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 302) in the Samsung Mobile 500.

8. Carl Edwards: Three-time winner; Leads all drivers in wins (2) and laps led (344) in the four races with the new car; A crash in last fall's event raised his finishing average to 16.0 in 10 starts; 25.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 565) that finished 12th at Las Vegas.

9. Tony Stewart: Finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in first track starts with Stewart-Haas last year; Posted one win and eight top 10s in previous 14 starts with Joe Gibbs Racing; 10.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Won the 2000 race for first of seven top 10s with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.; Has one pole and an average finish of 19.3 in four starts with Hendrick Motorsports; 15.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 599) in the Samsung Mobile 500.

11. Joey Logano: Coming off best finish (19th) in three starts; 20.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

12. Kyle Busch: 9.5 average finish in four starts with Joe Gibbs Racing; Four top-10 finishes in 10 starts; Second-most laps led (286) in the four races with the new car; 20.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

13. Mark Martin: Finished sixth and fourth, respectively, in first track starts with Hendrick Motorsports last year; Finishes are two of 10 top 10s in 18 starts; Won the 1998 race with Roush Racing; Second-best average finish (7.5) in the four races with the new car; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 527) that won at Chicagoland last July.

14. Kurt Busch: Coming off first win in 14 starts; Led 89 laps last fall en route to the win; Finish lowered his average to 16.8 in eight starts with Penske Racing; Latest winner on a 1.5-mile track with his victory at Atlanta; Will return in the Atlanta car (chassis No. 715) in the Samsung Mobile 500.

15. Paul Menard: Scored best finish (13th) in this event last year in track debut in a Ford; Previous five starts came in a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet; 11.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will pilot the same car (chassis No. 594) that finished fifth at Atlanta.

16. Ryan Newman: Finished 15th and 12th, respectively, in first track starts with Stewart-Haas last year; Posted one win and three top 10s in previous 11 starts with Penske Racing; 17.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

17. Brian Vickers: Has yet to finish in the top 10 in 11 starts; 19.0 average finish in the four starts with the new car; 19.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

18. Denny Hamlin: Coming off first top five (second) in nine starts; Fourth-best average finish (9.0) in the four races with the new car; Finished 12th in this event last year; 20.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 270) in the Samsung Mobile 500.

19. Martin Truex Jr.: Making track debut with Michael Waltrip Racing; Scored one pole and four top 10s in previous nine starts with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (Earnhardt Ganassi in 2009); 23.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

20. Jamie McMurray: Last of six top 10s (third) came in the 2008 fall race with Roush Racing; Will make first track start in an Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet; Best finish (second) came in this event in 2005 in a Ganassi Dodge; 31.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 1004) in the Samsung Mobile 500. This car was tested at Charlotte last month.

21. Juan Pablo Montoya: Two top 10s in six starts; Track best seventh-place finish in this event last year; Led 10 laps at the track in the fall of 2007 after starting third; 23.2 average finish; Bringing chassis No. 819; Last raced this car at Atlanta this season to a third-place finish.

22. Scott Speed: Track best 18th in last fall's event; 25.5 average finish in two starts.

23. AJ Allmendinger: Netted first top-10 finish in four starts last fall; 10th-place result came driving a Ford; 27.2 average finish.

24. Marcos Ambrose: 25.7 average finish in three starts; Was running in second position last fall before he ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap resulting in 15th-place finish; That result is best at track.

25. David Reutimann: Won the pole for this event last year; Led 40 laps en route to 11th-place finish; Has finished 16th or better in last three starts with a track best 10th-place finish in fall of 2008; 24.2 average finish in five starts.

26. Kasey Kahne: Won this event in 2006 from the pole; Only other top-10 result came in track debut in 2004; Led a combined 211 laps en route to two top 10s; Average finish of 26.0 in two starts with Richard Petty Motorsports; 6.5 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

27. Brad Keselowski: Made career Cup debut at track in fall of 2008; Debuted with Penske in fall of 2009 at track with 35th-place finish; Average finish of 25.7 in three starts; Bringing brand-new chassis PRS-726.

28. David Ragan: Track best 11th-place finish in fall of 2008; 25.7 average finish in six starts; 30.0 average finish in the two races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2010.

29. Elliott Sadler: Site of one of Sadler's three career Cup Series victories; Three top 10s in 16 starts and average finish of 23.4; Finished 32nd and 22nd with RPM in 2009.

30. Sam Hornish Jr.: One finish inside the top 20 in four starts; 28.0 average finish.

Texas Samsung Mobile 500 Preview: Kenseth, Montoya, and Harvick Have Lots to Like

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

NASCAR is going deep into the heart of Texas this week for the eighth race of the season. It’s hard to believe the season is almost a quarter of the way over, but here we are going to our third 1.5-mile high banked track of the season. We get a nice preview and indicator for what might happen this week just because of what we saw in Las Vegas and Atlanta not too long ago.

We also get to look at the two day Charlotte test session where every team went out and tested the new spoiler which could make a difference in this race. Whoever has the quickest and best read on the set-up of their car -- in regards to how the new spoiler responds -- will be the team that will have a head start this week in Texas and a leg up at all the down force tracks.

During the two days test session at Charlotte on March 23-24, a couple teams really stood out beginning with the Richard Childress cars of Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, and Clint Bowyer.

Kevin Harvick has already had success at Las Vegas and Atlanta with the old spoiler with second and ninth place finish respectively. He’s fallen in points since getting off the fast tracks and his rise back up should coincide with what looks to be Childress’ best performing tracks, one’s like this week in Texas.

Harvick’s week started off pretty good for him as a Yankee fan. He went to opening day at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday and watched as the team was presented with their World Series rings. The inspiration could be useful as Harvick hasn’t won a race since the 2007 Daytona 500. He’s been close and he’s knocking at the door and Texas looks like a great opportunity to snap the losing streak.

Juan Pablo Montoya surprised everyone with a great Phoenix after tweeting that he hated his car in Friday’s practice and said it was going to be a long race day. During the Charlotte testing, Montoya was at or near the top on each day. In Atlanta, Montoya also came home with a third place finish which makes him a nice candidate to win this week. This week he's bringing his best car he's ever had in NASCAR, the same one that got robbed last year at Indy and that also finished third in Atlanta this year.

Jimmie Johnson’s world class crew would seem like the natural choice to be ahead of the curve with any new change to the car, especially as to how it relates to the down-force track that they’re always so good at. Johnson won at Las Vegas and finished 12th in Atlanta already this year. During the testing, Johnson didn’t dominate as would be expected, but he was in the top-10.

Jeff Gordon has gone 36 races without a win. The last race he won was this very same Texas race last season. Prior to that win, Gordon had gone an entire season without a win, the first time that happened since his rookie season. It’s not like he hasn’t been competitive, because he has. In fact he probably should have won the last two races this year. In both instances, at Martinsville and Phoenix, Gordon had victory within his grasp but let it go.

Could it be that his family life has softened Gordon a bit, or is it just age and maturation, or maybe the combination of all of the above. The Gordon from a decade ago would not have let both of those races go without winning at least one of them. We can’t blame the car or the crew in either instance because each gave Gordon a chance to win. The blame for not winning those two races falls squarely on the driver.

Texas was one of the last races Gordon was able to check off on his things to do check-list. The only race track that Gordon hasn’t won at now is Homestead-Miami. He’s a smarter, more cautious driver than ever before, but it has cost him some wins along the way; that and the brilliant idea of giving Jimmie Johnson a ride with the best organization in NASCAR.

Matt Kenseth didn’t do anything special in the testing with the new spoiler, but we should believe that he’ll be good on race day based on what he did at Las Vegas and Atlanta where he’s the only driver to finish in the top-5 for each. He’s a former winner at Texas and has the best average finish position of anyone with a 9.1 average finish. He’s on a current streak of six straight top-10 finishes. He should present good value in odds to win this week.

Kenseth fall under the category of being a Roush driver who drives a Ford, something that has been very favorable over the years since Texas debuted in 1997. Despite the track arriving during Gordon’s hey-day along with the most dominating driver and team in modern NASCAR history, Hendrick Motorsports has won only three races; one each by Gordon, Johnson, and Terry Labonte. RCR cars have one win with Jeff Burton, DEI with Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Joe Gibbs with Tony Stewart.

Only six wins by Chevy cars for 18 races is well under the normal ratio of Chevy on most tracks in the Cup circuit. Roush Racing kicked off the track’s first two races with wins and followed up in later years with wins by Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and three other times by Carl Edwards.

An interesting driver in a Ford to take a look at this week who will have great long shot possibilities is Paul Menard. He was fastest in one of the test sessions and finished fifth in Atlanta this year.

Kasey Kahne has shown some horsepower on the high-banked 1.5-mile tracks this year. He led the most laps in Atlanta and finished fourth. He’s also one of only four drivers to have top-10 finishes at both Las Vegas and Atlanta. He hasn’t been so special on the other tracks, but it’s likely he’ll have the same type of horsepower this week and contend for another good finish. While driving a Dodge, Kahne won at Texas in 2006.

Brian Vickers has never cracked the top-10 over his career at Texas, but these are the type of tracks he does well at and made his run into the chase last season by doing well on them. He looked fast in the Charlotte testing with the new spoiler and could be another semi-long shot to take notice of.

Kyle Busch moved four points in the standings after a great run at Phoenix and is currently in 12th. Had there been no caution late at Phoenix, or had his team made the winning call by taking two tires in the last pit, or perhaps not even pit at all, Busch might have won the race. The good run at least shows that his is team might finally be moving in the right direction. During testing, Busch was rather ordinary as were his finishes at Las Vegas and Atlanta this year, but did lead the most laps at Texas last fall.

Kurt Busch won in Atlanta this season and last season along with taking the last Texas race as well. He dropped eight points in the standings following a poor Phoenix run, but he’s been on of the most consistent drivers all season. Look for a great run this week as he has more positives pointing to his name than most this week.

Top 5 Finish prediction:
1) #17 Matt Kenseth (15/1)
2) #2 Kurt Busch (10/1)
3) #42 Juan Pablo Montoya (15/1)
4) #29 Kevin Harvick (18/1)
5) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)

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Matt Kenseth Bringing His Vegas Lucky Charm To Texas This Week

Matt Kenseth doesn't have the great Charlotte test times with the new spoiler on that some of the other contenders have, but what he does have is great past Texas history and a great car this week. As for his history, an average finsh position of 9.3 is tops among all drivers at Texas and has also led a track record 497 laps. Kenseth has also led a lap in eight of the last 10 Texas races.

Speaking of leading laps, he'll be bringing his same chassis that ran near the front for much of the day in Las Vegas. Since Texas is so similar to Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Charlotte, it serves well to look back at some of the like-track performances and see who was the best combined on the first two runs thus far. Kenseth is the only driver to finish in the top-5 of both Vegas and Atlanta. He's a good look this week with high odds.

Kenseth on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:
"Texas to me is a track that’s more about real racing and making sure that you have a car that handles better than the rest of the guys, so that you can make sure you’re the fastest car around the track every lap. I’m a little unsure about how the spoiler change may effect the racing action this weekend heading into Texas. I don’t foresee any big changes, but we won’t know until we get all the cars on track for practice. Texas is a track that I really enjoy a lot and we’ve been very successful here, so I always look forward to racing at Texas Motor Speedway."

Crew chief Todd Parrott on racing at Texas Motor Speedway:
"There is a new tire for this weekend at Texas, as well as the fact that we’re running the spoiler for the first time, so there are a lot of unknowns this weekend. The guys in our engineering and wind tunnel programs have put in countless hours to make sure that we have as much data as we head into this 1.5-mile high-banked track. We’re taking the same car we ran at Las Vegas and I have a lot of confidence in that car since we ran up front all day. I love Texas and have been fortunate enough to have won some races there, so I’m optimistic for this weekend."

Juan Pablo Montoya is Bringing His Super Bad Indy Car For Texas

If this doesn't look like the week to ride Juan Pablo Montoya to victory lane, there really aren't that many until he rolls into Sonoma. Not only did his team have things figured out at Charlotte testing last month with the new spoiler, but they are bringing his best car ever for this weeks race at Texas.

Brian Pattie and the No. 42 team will bring chassis #819 this weekend. This is a veteran chassis that was used in Atlanta earlier this season where Montoya started and qualified third.

It also ran six times in the 2009 season finishing in the top-five three times at Pocono (August), Atlanta (September), and California (October). This is also the chassis used in the Brickyard where Montoya dominated, leading 116 laps before finishing 11th. The other two races ran were Michigan (August) and Texas (November) where it finished 19th and 37th.

Johnson Bringing Winning Vegas Chassis To Texas This Week

It don't get any easier for anyone rooting against Jimmie Johnson this week. He's be driving chassis No. 580 this week at Texas. Johnson took that chassis to Victory Lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February in it's only Cup start.

If things get tough in practice or he should wreck the primary car, things get worse for the haters because he's bringing a back-up that won at California. In four career starts, Johnson has brought this back-up chassis to victory lane three times.

Johnson Quotes
LOOKING AT TEXAS, HOW DOES THAT LOOK FOR YOU GUYS? "I'm excited to get back on the 1.5-mile (tracks). We've had good stuff at Texas and at the 1.5-mile tracks in general. But the big wild card out there is how is this spoiler going to work? I think that the lead car in qualifying we won't see a lot of difference. But there is still a lot to be learned with the car in traffic. Even though we had the Charlotte test, we really never put ourselves in a racing position and side-by-side and stuff like that. I feel good about things. I know we're going to have a good set-up, but it's a different world in the pack. We're going to need a few months to really evolve set-ups in the cars to handle what's going to go on in the pack."

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SPOILER. HOW HAS IT MADE THE CAR DRIVE, AND IS IT GOING TO CHANGE YOUR IMPRESSIONS GOING INTO TEXAS? "From my standpoint, I feel that the cars drove very similar to the way that I have in the past. I didn't even think about wing or spoiler on the back of the car throughout the (Phoenix) race. It seemed the same. The final test will be in Texas. And even to Talladega. There's some things with this spoiler that should help the car stay on the ground and change the draft a bit at Talladega. So we have a nice progression in tracks to really evaluate what's going on. But so far I think it's going well and it's driving a lot like it did before."

Kasey Kahne Out At Petty and In With Hendrick, or At Least a Subsidiary of HMS

Kasey Kahne has agreed to a contract to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2011, a source told SceneDaily.com on Tuesday.

Richard Petty Motorsports, which has Kahne under contract for this season, confirmed Kahne is leaving the organization.

Exactly whether Kahne will drive for a Hendrick team or for Hendrick affiliate Stewart-Haas Racing is still to be determined. Stewart-Haas, which features drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, gets chassis and engines from Hendrick.

Kahne is in the final year of his contract at RPM. His sponsor, Budweiser, also is in the last year of its contract with RPM. It was unclear whether Budweiser would follow Kahne to Hendrick.

RPM officials confirmed Kahne told them Tuesday he would not return to the organization after this season.

"Kasey is a very talented driver, and I have enjoyed watching him race," co-owner Richard Petty said in a statement. "We all wish him nothing but the best and hope he succeeds in anything he chooses to do."

Kahne, 30, who entered the Cup series in 2004 with Evernham Motorsports, has 11 career victories and has qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup twice. He is 26th in the 2010 standings.

The Evernham team, founded by former Hendrick crew chief Ray Evernham, was purchased by George Gillett in 2008, forming Gillett Evernham Motorsports. The team was renamed Richard Petty Motorsports last year after Gillett formed a partnership with Petty.

RPM merged with Yates Racing and switched from Dodge to Ford after last season.

"Drivers like Kasey Kahne are the very reason we got into this sport," Gillett said. "Kasey has helped us get to where we are today. We wish him well in his future, however we have the rest of this season to race together, and we’re looking forward to a successful remainder of the year."

All four Hendrick drivers—Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr.—are signed beyond next year. The organization is prohibited from fielding a fifth Cup team under NASCAR’s team cap rule. Stewart-Haas, which debuted last season, has two Cup teams.

Bires out, McMurray in at JR Motorsports
JR Motorsports has released driver Kelly Bires from his contract and will replace him with Jamie McMurray for at least nine of the remaining Nationwide Series races this year.

Bires, 25, had a seventh-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in California in the second Nationwide race of the season but has not had a finish better than 12th since. He did not lead a lap in the five events he competed in this year in JRM’s No. 88 car.

"We are extremely appreciative of Kelly Bires and wish him the best," JRM co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said. "Internally, it was evident the chemistry that is imperative for us to succeed in this highly competitive industry was simply not there.

"That is the fault of no one person. We owe it to our fans and sponsors to make necessary adjustments in an effort to put our best product on the track, and we’ll continue evaluating our progress until we are confident that our full potential is being reached."

McMurray, who has seven career Nationwide wins and currently drives for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, will drive for JRM in the next six Nationwide races (Texas, Talladega, Richmond, Darlington, Dover and Charlotte) as well as at Chicagoland in July, at Atlanta in September and the October race at Charlotte.

Stenhouse gets new crew chief
Mike Kelley, who started the 2010 season as the crew chief for Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series, will now be the crew chief for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Kelley replaces Ben Leslie, who will assume Kelley’s most current role as director of competition for the organization’s Nationwide program.

Stenhouse is 28th in the standings after six races.

Kelley was replaced by Drew Blickensderfer as crew chief for Edwards’ Nationwide Series team in February.

"I missed working on top of the box with a single group of guys," Kelley said. "The other role I was doing is very important and I enjoyed it, but I missed the camaraderie of working with one group of guys. It’s a whole fresh start for me now."

Keyed-Up not racing at Texas
Keyed-Up Motorsports, one of the 45 Sprint Cup teams that had entered each of the first seven races this season, is not among the 46 teams attempting to qualify for the Samsung Mobile 500 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

The team, which qualified for two races with drivers Casey Mears and Scott Riggs, had its best performance of the season when Riggs finished 28th Saturday at Phoenix.

But the unsponsored team is not entered at Texas as the team announced it will scale back to a partial schedule. Doug Richert will remain with the team as crew chief.

"I set out with this team to race, not start and park," owner Raymond Key said. "However, a reduced schedule will allow us to continue operations and focus our time on specific aspects of racing to make us stronger when we return to the track."

Driver changes for Phoenix, Tommy Baldwin teams
Mike Bliss is expected to replace Aric Almirola in Phoenix Racing’s No. 09 Chevrolet this week at Texas, with Johnny Sauter taking Bliss’ spot at Tommy Baldwin Racing.

TBR announced Tuesday that Sauter would drive for the team at Texas and the following week at Talladega.

Almirola, who qualified for four of the first seven Sprint Cup races for Phoenix, said Monday he has mutually agreed to part ways with the team and will focus on competing for the Camping World Truck Series title with Billy Ballew Motorsports.

NASCAR suspends truck crewman
Ryan Sebek, a crewman for the Ryan Hackett Racing team in the Camping World Truck Series, has been suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for violating the sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy. Sebek is the 16th crewman suspended since the implementation of random drug testing at the start of the 2009 season.

Texas Samsung Mobile 500 Odds & Ends

At Texas Motor Speedway
compiled by Mike Forde
NASCAR Media Services


History
· Construction began in 1995.
· The first NASCAR race was a NASCAR Nationwide Series event on April 5, 1997.
· The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was on April 6, 1997.

Notebook
· There have been 18 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway, one per season from 1997 through 2004 and two races per year since 2005.
· Four drivers have competed in all 18 Texas races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
· Jeremy Mayfield was the first pole winner, in 1998. Qualifying for the inaugural race in 1997 was canceled.
· Jeff Burton won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
· 12 drivers have scored poles, led by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon with two.
· 15 drivers have won races, led by Carl Edwards, with three. Jeff Gordon won at Texas for the first time, last season. Gordon has won at every track he has run except Homestead-Miami Speedway.
· 14 of 18 races have been won from a top-10 starting position. Only one has been won from the pole (Kasey Kahne in 2006).
· Matt Kenseth started 31st en route to his victory at Texas in 2002, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
· Both Jeff Burton (1999) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000) scored their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Texas.
· Five of the last seven races have had a margin of victory under one second.
· Matt Kenseth (9.3) is the only active driver to average a top-10 finish.
· Roush Fenway Racing leads all owners in victories, with seven. Hendrick Motorsports is second, with three wins.
· There has been one season sweep, by Carl Edwards in 2008. Edwards is looking to break a 43-race winless drought.

NASCAR in Texas
* There have been 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Texas.
* 72 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Texas.
* There have been seven race winners from Texas in NASCAR’s three national series:

Texas Motor Speedway Data
Race #: 8 of 35 (4-18-10)
Track Size: 1.5 miles
Race Length: 501 miles
· Banking/corners: 24 degrees
· Banking/straights: 5 degrees
· Frontstretch: 2,250 feet
· Backstretch: 1,330 feet

Driver Rating at Texas
Tony Stewart 106.1
Matt Kenseth 105.0
Carl Edwards 99.7
Kyle Busch 98.6
Jimmie Johnson 96.1
Denny Hamlin 95.6
Greg Biffle 95.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 94.4
Kurt Busch 93.8
Jeff Gordon 91.4
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2009 races (10 total) at Texas.

Qualifying/Race Data
* 2009 pole winner: David Reutimann (190.517 mph, 28.344 secs.)
* 2009 race winner: Jeff Gordon, 146.372 mph, 4-5-09)
* Track qualifying record: Brian Vickers (196.235 mph, 27.518 seconds, 11-3-06)
* Track race record: Carl Edwards (151.055 mph, 11-6-05)

Pit Window: Every 50-55 laps, depending on fuel mileage.

Odds To Win Texas Samsung Mobile 500 From Las Vegas Hilton Super Book

Odds to Win

SAMSUNG MOBILE 500

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON 9-2
MARK MARTIN 10
JEFF GORDON 8
KYLE BUSCH 10
DENNY HAMLIN 12
JUAN MONTOYA 15
TONY STEWART 12
CARL EDWARDS 15
GREG BIFFLE 15
KURT BUSCH 9
KASEY KAHNE 20
CLINT BOWYER 20
KEVIN HARVICK 18
JEFF BURTON 18
BRIAN VICKERS 30
MATT KENSETH 12
DALE EARNHARDT JR 25
JOEY LOGANO 30
RYAN NEWMAN 30
MARTIN TRUEX JR 50
DAVID REUTIMANN 50
JAMIE McMURRAY 50
DAVID RAGAN 100
BRAD KESELOWSKI 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
SAM HORNISH JR 200
AJ ALLMENDINGER 200
ELLIOTT SADLER 500
PAUL MENARD 500
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
REGAN SMITH 1000
SCOTT SPEED 500
TRAVIS KVAPIL 1000
FIELD 100

Newman Wins at Phoenix; First Win in 77 starts

Associated Press

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- One of the first people to greet Ryan Newman in Victory Lane was Tony Stewart.

"He's so proud of me," Newman said after breaking a 77-race Sprint Cup winless streak. "He told me he loved me and I told him I loved him back because it's his name, I'm representing him and a lot of people behind us."

Newman took the lead after a late caution at Phoenix International Raceway and held off Jeff Gordon in a two-lap shootout Saturday night to get his first victory since the 2008 Daytona 500, and first since joining Stewart's new team last season.

Kyle Busch was cruising to what would have given him a weekend sweep when a caution flag came out with three laps remaining. When the lead-lap cars pitted, Busch took four tires and came out eighth - behind six cars that took only two tires and Jimmie Johnson, who also took four and was seventh out of the pits.

Gordon beat everybody out of the pits, but spun his tires on the restart in a green-white-checkered finish. Newman then charged inside and took the lead, and held on for the win.

"All of a sudden he shot forward. I was like, `Oh man, I'm in trouble here,' " Gordon said.

"It's been a long time coming for me to get to Victory Lane," Newman said. "I'm gracious to be here. This is the most emotional victory I've ever had in my entire career just because it's been so long."

Newman, driving the No. 39 Chevrolet owned by Stewart, had led only two laps before the final two. That lead came during the first caution only 21 laps into what became a 378-lap race -- instead of the scheduled 375, already 63 more than last spring -- on the oddly shaped mile track.

"I couldn't believe it. I saw the white flag and I was like I don't have that far to go," Newman said. "Every restart, I had been on the inside and I couldn't get going. ... I held my line and got a good shot off Turn 2. That's all we needed."

It was Newman's 14th career victory in 303 starts, but the first time a No. 39 car has been to Victory Lane (286 races).

Johnson, who had won four of the previous five races at Phoenix, finished third and increased his series points lead -- from 14 to 36 over Matt Kenseth. Greg Biffle had been second in points before finishing 22nd Saturday night, the first time this season he wasn't in the top 10.

"I made the call for four [tires] and made the most of it," Johnson said. "Not a bad night at all. I'm excited to see us stretch out the points a little bit."

Denny Hamlin, racing only 10 days after surgery to repair the torn ACL in his left knee, drove the entire race and finished 30th, two laps off the pace. He had moved up to 13th before an extended pit stop to repair damage from being hit and to address an electrical problem.

Newman snapped Hendrick Motorsports' string of six consecutive victories at Phoenix, and gave Chevrolet its 10th straight win at the track. Chevy drivers had the top five spots, with Mark Martin fourth and Juan Pablo Montoya fifth.

Matt Kenseth was sixth and Carl Edwards seventh in Fords, while Busch finished eighth in his No. 18 Toyota.

Busch had taken the lead from Johnson on a restart on lap 263, then stayed in front and was seemingly on way to his first Cup victory of the season. But the caution came out when Scott Riggs blew a right front tire -- while running just ahead of Busch -- and ran into the wall.

Busch won the Nationwide race Friday night at Phoenix in dramatic fashion when he benefited from a late caution.

In the Nationwide victory, Busch took four tires on the final stop and was 10th on the restart with eight laps left. It took him only three laps to dart through the field and take over the lead.

Busch had lost his lead on a disputed restart that led to a red flag and was penalized on the ensuing restart to drop to 19th place and 20 seconds behind. If not for that last caution, during which he collided with his teammate on pit road, he would have never been able to win that race.

"I thought Kyle stole one last night," Newman said. "So it's even." The late caution cost Busch on Saturday night.

Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, said the decision had been made before the race to change all four tires if there was a late stop, a decision based largely on what happened in the Nationwide race. Busch left without commenting.

Before Busch took the lead on a restart, Johnson had led 66 consecutive laps and had built a 1½-second lead over Montoya until David Ruetimann's accident brought out the seventh of nine cautions.

On that restart, Busch went ahead while Johnson and Montoya were bumping each other behind him.

The race that featured 20 lead changes among 13 drivers was slowed by 59 caution laps. Newman won with an average speed of 99.372 mph by a margin of .130 seconds.

Busch and Johnson both led 113 laps, and Montoya led 104.

A.J. Allmendinger, a first-time polesitter in the Richard Petty-owned No. 43 Ford, led the first 17 laps until the first caution, and never led again. He finished 15th.

Scott Speed, who essentially replaced Allmendinger on the Red Bull team, started second but had slipped to 31st by lap 77. He got back on the lead lap during a caution 122 laps later and wound up 21st.

Updated Odds to Win Phoenix Subway Fresh Fit 600 Following Qualifying

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book
Odds to win SUBWAY FRESH FIT 600--Adjusted after Qualifying & Final Practice

PHOENIX INT'L RACEWAY
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2010

JIMMIE JOHNSON 5
MARK MARTIN 7
JEFF GORDON 10
KYLE BUSCH 12
DENNY HAMLIN 20
JUAN MONTOYA 15
TONY STEWART 12
CARL EDWARDS 10
GREG BIFFLE 20
KURT BUSCH 10
KASEY KAHNE 40
CLINT BOWYER 18
KEVIN HARVICK 18
JEFF BURTON 18
BRIAN VICKERS 60
MATT KENSETH 18
DALE EARNHARDT JR 18
JOEY LOGANO 20
RYAN NEWMAN 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 40
DAVID REUTIMANN 100
JAMIE McMURRAY 18
DAVID RAGAN 100
BRAD KESELOWSKI 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 40
SAM HORNISH JR 60
AJ ALLMENDINGER 40
ELLIOTT SADLER 500
PAUL MENARD 500
BOBBY LABONTE 500
REGAN SMITH 1000
SCOTT SPEED 100
TRAVIS KVAPIL 1000
FIELD 300

Changing Conditions at Phoenix Track Will Play Big Role Saturday Night

By Micah Roberts
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix is going to be a tale of three races within and who adapts to all three the best as the race goes on. The race starts in the bright Arizona sunlight at 4:45 p.m. (PDT) where the temperatures will be about 85 degrees. They race for a few hours under those conditions until twilight hits at around 6:30 p.m., and then by 7 it will be completely dark with temperatures much cooler than when it started.

Each of those stages will be critical for every team involved because the surface and temperature of the track will change drastically. The crews for each team will have to slowly make the transition from day to night racing a little bit at each pit stop with the combined goal of having the optimum setup for the final stages of racing at night and finishing strong.

Phoenix International Raceway changed the length of its race from 500 kilometers to 600 because of the earlier NASCAR-mandated start time, which would have had the race ending just as twilight hit. The difference equates to about 63 laps, but also ensures that the spring Phoenix race remains unique because of the day/night changes.

Because the race is being run on a Saturday, the practice and qualifying schedule was compacted into one Friday session, which changes a normal pattern set by the crews as well as everyone else who use the practice speeds as a barometer in trying to figure out who will do well. On a normal weekend, we have a practice session Friday, which is used mostly with qualifying trim, then the teams qualify, take a break, and practice for real on Saturday.

The two sessions Saturday are critical for handicappers, bookmakers and fantasy players to get the best read on who the drivers to beat will be. This week in Phoenix, we have a jumbled mess because everyone was trying many different things to prepare for the different expected conditions on Saturday.

Following Friday’s qualifying session, the teams will not get any other practice time and will have to do their final tinkering as the race goes on.

More so than with other races to determine who might win, we have to look at recent past history of a driver’s performance at not only Phoenix, but Richmond and New Hampshire as well. While none of those three tracks are similar on paper, they all have relatively flat banking and are a mile or less in distance. Crew chiefs who have had success on one of the three tracks often will bring the same chassis to the other two because the setup requirements are similar.

The practices are still important and critical to the calculations, but because it was a much different kind of practice this week, it doesn’t hold as true as with other tracks. So this week, we’ll place a lot of emphasis on what chassis certain drivers have brought for the race, mixed in with some notes about practice.

Jimmie Johnson has won four of the last five races at Phoenix and it just so happens he brought the same car he won with in the last Phoenix race. He wasn’t spectacular in practice and only ran a few laps with qualifying trim on in the final session Friday, but chances are that this car is set up to run its best when the lights come on with cooler temperatures. Knowing this, it’s likely crew chief Chad Knaus made only minor adjustments for the early stages of the race because you can’t win a race at the beginning.

Denny Hamlin is an interesting candidate to win because he’s on the injured list. Following his Martinsville win two weeks ago, Hamlin had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. He has Casey Mears on standby just in case he can’t go the distance because of the pain.

Should Hamlin hand over the steering wheel to Mears during a pit stop, chances are that they’ll go a lap down, which makes Hamlin a risky play this week. However, he had a great practice run Friday and brought the same car that finished third at Phoenix last fall.

All indications show that it will be tough to get Hamlin to get out of the car while the race is going, especially if he’s having a good run. He’s a competitor, the team finally ran well with their win at Martinsville, and he’ll want to keep the momentum going as much as he can.

Tony Stewart hasn’t been talked about too much this season, but has managed to quietly put himself eighth in points. He brought his second-place Phoenix chassis from this race last year which, coupled with a great practice on Friday, makes him a solid contender to get his first Phoenix win since his rookie year of 1999.

Along the same lines as Stewart is his teammate Ryan Newman who brought his same chassis that ran at both Phoenix and Richmond races last season. He finished in the top-10 of both Richmond races. During the final stages of practice, Newman reeled off the third-fastest lap while in qualifying trim.

Jeff Burton is a two-time winner at Phoenix, along with multiple wins combined at New Hampshire and Richmond. The team struggled early in practice but gathered itself nicely toward the end Friday with good speeds in qualifying trim. The best thing about Burton this week is that he brought the same car that finished second in Phoenix last November.

Mark Martin should be considered a candidate just because he won this race last season. He practiced well Friday, but the car he’s using is new which always leaves some uncertainty to its capabilities because it has no track record. Jimmie Johnson has proven this year that a new car can win a race, but Johnson is in an entirely different class.

Greg Biffle is a nice candidate to run well this week just because he runs well every week. He’s the only driver this season to have finished the first six races within the top 10. Biffle had a strong practice with the fourth-fastest single lap and has done well at Phoenix in all series in the past. His most recent success was a fifth-place finish in this race last year.

Drivers that could surprise this week include Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. McMurray had a great first practice but couldn’t get any speed with qualifying trim on. Joey Logano was smooth for the entire day Friday, and Earnhardt Jr, a two-time Phoenix winner, had a good first practice.

Don’t put too much into start position for this race, even though it has proved very critical the last four races. Only 10 of the 27 Phoenix races have been won from a top-five starting position with only four more getting wins while starting among the top 10. However, the last four races have been won from a top-five starting position. Based on this week's lineup, it doesn’t appear anyone of the top nine starters can win.

Driver Quotes

Tony Stewart on what makes the Phoenix track so slick:
“It is just Phoenix. But that is what makes it fun, too; it makes us work as drivers. You have got to not overdrive your car. It is very sensitive to heat and that makes us as drivers have to work harder.”

Jeff Gordon on how his Friday Phoenix practice and qualifying sessions went:
"Under the conditions, I am pretty happy our team had a very impressive day. We started the day really far off, so we tried a few new things and experimented since we’re early in the season. It’s hard to do that when we have all our practices in just one day. I’m really proud of my guys; they didn’t give up and we made big gains certainly for qualifying as well. We’ll see what happens tomorrow night in the race."

For Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings, click here.....

MICAH ROBERTS: Changing Conditions at Phoenix Track Will Play a Big Role Saturday Night - ReviewJournal.com

MICAH ROBERTS: Changing Conditions at Phoenix Track Will Play a Big Role Saturday Night - ReviewJournal.com

MotorRacingNetwork.com - Hamlin Will Make Early Call

MotorRacingNetwork.com - Hamlin Will Make Early Call
It will be interesting to see if the pain outweigh's his competitive drive for this one.

Allmendinger Gets First Career Pole at Phoenix

MotorRacingNetwork.com

AJ Allmedinger scored his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole in qualifying for Saturday's Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway.


Allmendinger put Richard Petty's famous No. 43 on the pole - the first time since 1999 when John Andretti turned the trick at Phoenix - with a lap of 134.675 mph.

Scott Speed equaled his career best start after he qualified second for the fourth time in 47 starts with a lap of 134.373 mph.

Sam Hornish Jr. continued a strong qualifying effort for former open wheel drivers after he grabbed a career best start of third.

Marcos Ambrose and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five.

Click here for Starting Lineup

Hamlin Fastest in First Phoenix Practice Session; Mears Takes a Few Laps in The No. 11

Denny Hamlin ran the first 22 laps of practice with what was then the 10th fastest single lap before giving up his seat to Casey Mears as a precaution should Hamlin not be able to race all 375 laps Saturday night at Phoenix.

Hamlin had surgery last week to repair a torn ACL ligament and there is some uncertainty whether he will be in the car for the entire race.

Mears times were close to what Hamlin had put on the board and the team should feel confident that Mears could do a nice job feeling in if needed.

For the final 10 minutes of practice, Hamlin's crew put on qualifying trim, one of the only cars to do so in the first session, and put up the top speed. The others were some of the start and park drivers like Michael McDowell who had the second fastest lap after running only two laps for the entire session. Tony Stewart also tried a qualifying set-up just as the session ended but didn't improve his times as drastically as Hamlin did.

Stewart also spun out with fresh tires on a very slick surface coming around turn four midway through the practice but didn't hit anything or do damage to the car.

The final practice should be interesting as every team will be mixing up race and qualifying set-ups throughout. 

Top 5 Speeds From First Phoenix Practice Session
1) #11-Hamlin 131.210 mph
2) #66-McDowell 130.274
3) #1-McMurray 130.110
4) #2-Busch 130.025
5) #88-Earnhardt, Jr. 129.992

Driver Chassis Selections: Phoenix Subway Fresh Fit 600

by Jeff Wackerlin
MotorRacingNetwork.com

1. Jimmie Johnson: Winner of four of the last five races; 5.1 average finish leads all drivers; Finished fourth in this event last year; Has combined to lead 631 laps in last five races; Last finish outside the top seven was 15th in this event in 2005; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 540) that led 238 laps en route to the win last fall at Phoenix.


2. Greg Biffle: Has an 8.2 average finish in last five starts; Finished fifth in this event last year for third top five in 12 starts; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 634) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600.

3. Matt Kenseth: Winner of the 2002 race; 17.7 average finish in six starts with the new car; Last of six top 10s (third) came in the 2007 fall race when he led 93 laps; Finished 27th in this event last year.

4. Kevin Harvick: Won both Cup races in 2006; Has posted a 16.0 average finish in the six races at the track with the COT; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 304) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600.

5. Jeff Burton: Coming off sixth top five in 21 starts with a second-place finish last fall; Third-best average finish (9.0) among drivers that have raced in all six events with the new car; Won the 2000 and 2001 events with Roush Racing; Last fall's finish was seventh top 10 in 11 starts with Richard Childress Racing; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 280) that ran at Phoenix last November.

6. Kurt Busch: Best track on the circuit based on 12.0 average finish; 3.7 average finish in last three starts; Second-best driver rating in last 10 races; Won the 2005 race with Roush Racing; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 701) that finished eighth at Auto Club Speedway last October in its debut. This car was tested at Gresham Motorsports Park last month.

7. Jeff Gordon: Coming off 16th top 10 (ninth) in 22 starts; Won the 2007 spring race from the pole; Three-time pole winner; 16.5 average finish in the six races with the new car.

8. Tony Stewart: Finished second in this event last year in track debut with Stewart-Haas Racing; 25th-place finish last fall raised his average finish to 11.0 in 16 starts; Posted one win and six top fives in previous 14 starts with Joe Gibbs Racing; Bringing chassis No. 14-535; Car brought team a second-place finish in this event last year.

9. Clint Bowyer: Coming off third top 10 (seventh) in nine starts; 13.3 average finish in the six starts with the new car; Finished 26th in this event last year; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 265) that was rebuilt during the offseason after finishing sixth (Atlanta) and 36th (Charlotte) last season.

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 19.8 average finish in four starts with Hendrick Motorsports; Has led a combined 150 laps with the team in the spring races; Won the events in 2003 and 2004 with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 586) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600.

11. Paul Menard: 24.3 average finish in six starts; Finished 23rd in this event last year in first track start driving a Ford; Will pilot a 2009 chassis (No. 574) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600. This car has yet to make a start in 2010.

12. Brian Vickers: 29.0 average finish in five starts with Team Red Bull; Best finish (19th) with the team came in this event last year; Only top 10 came in the 2005 spring race, in eighth, when he was driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

13. Joey Logano: Finished 21st in both events in 2009; Taking brand new chassis No. 269 to Phoenix.

14. Carl Edwards: 14.5 average finish in the six races with the new car; Has finished in the top 10 in three of his last four starts; Led 87 laps in the 2007 fall race from the pole before an engine failure; Will be back in the same car (chassis No. 647) that finished 16th last fall at Phoenix.

15. Denny Hamlin: Second-best average finish (6.0) among drivers that have raced in all six events with the new car; Has finished sixth or better in last four starts; Will have Casey Mears on standby because of his knee surgery last week; Will return in the same car (chassis No. 263) that finished third at Phoenix last fall.

16. Kyle Busch: 11.8 average finish in four starts with Joe Gibbs Racing; Won this event in 2005 driving for Hendrick Motorsports; Has yet to lead a lap in last seven starts.

17. Mark Martin: Won this race from the pole last year in first track start with Hendrick Motorsports; Finished fourth in the fall; 8.8 average finish in 25 starts; Also won the 1993 race with Roush Racing; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 588) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600.

18. Martin Truex Jr.: 15.0 average finish in the six races with the new car; Coming off consecutive top 10s; Scored only top five (fifth) last year in the fall race from the pole; Will make first track start in a Toyota.

19. Jamie McMurray: Only top 10 (third) in 13 starts came in the 2008 fall race; Will make first track start in a Chevrolet with Earnhardt-Ganassi; This is the same team that finished in the top 10 in both races in 2009 with driver Martin Truex Jr.; Will debut a new car (chassis No. 1008) in the Subway Fresh Fit 600.

20. Kasey Kahne: One top five and three top 10s in 11 starts; 19.2 average finish; Celebrating 30th birthday on race day.

21. Scott Speed: Track debut in 2008 ended in bad accident and 40th-place finish; Average finish of 35.7 in three starts.

22. Ryan Newman: Three top-five finishes in 15 starts; Best finish was runner-up spot in 2004; Recorded 18.0 average finish with SHR in 2009; Leads all drivers in poles (4); Piloting chassis No. 39-536, which was raced at both Phoenix and Richmond races in 2009; Posted two top-10 finishes at Richmond with the car.

23. Elliott Sadler: Only top 10 in 16 starts was in a Ford for Yates Racing in 2002 fall event; 26.6 average finish; Making 400th Cup start; Driving brand new chassis No. 609.

24. David Reutimann: Posted two top-10 finishes in 2009; Track best eighth place in this event last year; 18.6 average finish in five starts.

25. Juan Pablo Montoya: Finished eighth last fall for best finish in six starts; 19.2 average finish; Driving chassis No. 909; Same chassis he used in last fall's event.

26. AJ Allmendinger: Finished 13th in a Ford in last fall's race; 21.3 average finish in three starts; Bringing chassis No. 277 for second race this season; Finished 25th at ACS in February with this car.

27. Brad Keselowski: One start in fall of 2009 resulted in 37th-place finish; Bringing brand new chassis PRS-716.

28. David Ragan: One top-10 finish in six starts came in fall of 2008; Piloting chassis RK-613; Car was driven to 23rd-place finish in fall 2009 race.

29. Marcos Ambrose: 14.3 average finish with three top-20 finishes; Best finish of 11th came in fall 2009.

30. Sam Hornish Jr.: Finished ninth in this event last year for first Cup Series top-10 finish; 21.8 average finish in five starts.

All Three Richard Childress Cars Figure to Run Well Saturday Night at Phoenix

RCR at PIR … Team owner Richard Childress has three victories, tying him with Robert Yates for third on the all-time car owner victories list at the Avondale facility. In 62 races at Phoenix, RCR has earned three wins, including Kevin Harvick’s sweep of both races at PIR in 2006. Prior to that, Dale Earnhardt won the Checker 500 on Nov. 4, 1990. Additionally, the Welcome, N.C.-based organization boasts 12 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes.

Kevin Harvick
This Week’s No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet at Phoenix … Kevin Harvick will pilot Chassis No. 304 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. This Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet is a completely brand new car which will see its first laps on the track during Friday’s practice session.

KEVIN HARVICK QUOTES:

What is the key to completing a good lap at Phoenix?
“I think there are two parts that are important at Phoenix. You have to be able to get through the middle of turns one and two and get back to the throttle early, and then you have to be able to get your car to come straight off the corner in turn four. If you can do that and keep your car turning in turns one and two, you will be in great shape.”

This race starts in the middle of the afternoon and ends under the lights. What kind of challenge does that present to the teams?
“It’s going to be a challenge because a lot of it depends on the type of weather that we have. If it’s really hot during the day, then it usually cools off quite a bit at night. As soon as the sun goes behind the suites in turns one and two, the temperature really drops and the track gains quite a bit of grip. The lap times generally pick up a few tenths a lap.”

Jeff Burton
This Week’s No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet at Phoenix International Raceway … Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 280 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable in this weekend’s 375-lap affair. Built new for 2009, this Caterpillar Chevrolet was put through its first paces at Chicagoland Speedway last July where the 17-year veteran was credited with a 37th-place finish after being collected in a late-race multi-car incident. Burton then piloted this No. 31 racer at Kansas Speedway where he finished 23rd before posting a runner-up finish at Phoenix International Raceway in November.

JEFF BURTON QUOTES:

You scored a runner-up finish in the fall race at Phoenix last year. What does the Cat Racing team need to do to better themselves by one spot? “Phoenix has been a really good race track for me. I felt that if we had qualified better and been up front earlier, we would have been hard to beat in that race. We were really fast and got by a lot of cars early but never had good track position until later in the race. It’s been a while since I’ve won there and we’re going back to finish where we left off in the fall. The key for us to do that is to go back better than we were and respond better to the spoiler than everybody else.”

Clint Bowyer
This Weekend’s No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet Impala at Phoenix International Raceway … Clint Bowyer will pilot Chassis No. 265 from Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. Bowyer drove this Chevrolet twice last season, finishing sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March and 36th at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. The Impala was completely updated over the offseason.

CLINT BOWYER QUOTES:

You finished seventh at Phoenix in the fall. What do you expect as you head there this weekend?
“Phoenix is one of my favorite race tracks. It’s another short track that races well. We had a good run there in the fall and I feel like we’ve hit on some things which will allow us to come back and be better. I’m looking forward to going to Phoenix and having some fun. Hopefully, we can run up front all day. So far this season, we’ve been able to do that consistently. We have to keep that going and, if we keep doing that long enough, we’re going to get ourselves a win. Phoenix is one of those places where we can get our first win.”

Denny Hamlin Should Be Just Fine This Week at Phoenix

Denny Hamlin's primary car (JG 263) he'll be using at Phoenix this weekend is the same car that finished third at Phoenix last fall. Should he have any trouble in Friday's practice, he'll be in good shape because the backup is same chassis that he won with at Richmond. Despite the knee surgey last week that may give the appearance Hamlin may not be 100% for this race, this particular car is a monster and should be considered a favorite to win.

HAMLIN CONVERSATION – Phoenix:

Six days after surgery – how is your knee feeling?: “It’s painful – as anyone who has had this surgery or any similar surgery can tell you – but I am working hard to get back my full range of motion and get back to where I need to be. The actual surgery went very well, no issues and no concerns so I owe big thanks to Dr. Connor and his team. They took good care of me and gave me every opportunity to be back in the car this weekend. All I can do now is work hard, follow the rehab program and see how fast I can get back. I have a couple of days yet to see how my knee responds and that will help me make the right decision when I get to Phoenix this weekend.”

What kind of rehab are you doing?: “Right now I am pretty much doing full days of rehab, working to get back my full range of motion, keeping the knee flexible and working to make it stronger while I get more comfortable with what I can and can’t do right now. I spend three hours on the machine working on my range and I am making a lot of progress. It gets better every day and I know I am ahead of schedule for a surgery like this. I do a lot of work on my back, working my quad and stretching and spend a lot time icing it too. It’s coming around but it’s a long and hard process and I knew that was going to be the case. It’s not fun but I know that doing this now was absolutely the right thing to do – now I am focused on getting back to racing.”

How important was that Martinsville win, both in terms of getting the season back on track and giving this team a boost before your surgery?: “The win felt like a long time coming even though we are only six races into this season. There were really high expectations coming off last season and every race where we didn’t run as well as we wanted seemed to lead to more questions and concerns from outside of the team. Inside, we weren’t panicking because we had been pretty good in almost every race. To win at Martinsville sets some of that aside I hope. The win points us in the right direction and takes us into what will be our next challenge of getting past this knee surgery but it’s a long season and a lot can happen. We know we have a lot of work left to do.”

Subway Fresh Fit 600 Preview: Phoenix Is Yet Another Track Johnson Loves to Dominate

By Micah Roberts

VegasInsider.com

We’re only six races into the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the circuit will be making it’s third visit of the season west of the Mississippi when they roll into Phoenix for the first night race of the year. Then a week later, they make a stop at Texas before heading back to some traditional roots in Talladega.

With the west side visits still seem somewhat new even though they’ve been coming out here regularly for over a decade, one thing that seems to be getting old for many is Jimmie Johnson leading in points. It’s only been four straights years with a title, but if you add up the two previous years before he won that he probably should have, and tack on this years outstanding performance, the California driver is a huge sign of the new NASCAR.

Two weeks ago in Martinsville, Johnson didn’t have his car ever at Martinsville, but still took it to a top-10 finish. After Kevin Harvick fell out early and Matt Kenseth got punted late, there was Mr. Johnson backing into his familiar position of number one in points.

Even on what may have been his worst car ever for a Martinsville, he still gains two positions in the standings. The law of physics and averages should always somehow equate for the lucky factor balancing out over the long haul, but Johnson seems to have used up more luck than a three-legged dog named Lucky.

Then when you compound just how good he and his team are week to week, you’re left scratching your head saying, “Man, this guy don’t need no luck.”

Ever since Phoenix has gone to two races a year back in 2006, Johnson has dominated like no other. Heck, even if you include his four races prior to 2006, no one has been better. He’s got an average finish of 5.1 and comes in winning four of the last five Phoenix races. Over his last seven races, he’s finished no worse than fourth. His worst performance ever was 15th, which he’s done twice, and has helped contribute to that awful 5.1 average.

Phoenix starts the mid-range flat track season for NASCAR which includes new Hampshire and Richmond. Although all are different in configuration, most teams that have success on one track always run well on the others prompting crew chiefs to usually bring the exact same chassis to each.

The drivers should give a good run for Johnson’s money include all three Childress drivers, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, and Tony Stewart.

Martin was stellar at all three tracks, Richmond, New Hampshire, and Phoenix at the tail end of last season that included a win and two fourth-place finishes. Martin also won this particular race last season denying Johnson of four straight Phoenix wins. The win was the second of his career at Phoenix that also has him with 11 top-5 finishes.

Jeff Burton use to be the Phoenix sun-king while he drove for Jack Roush with two wins and a host of other top-5 finishes. Burton was also equally good at the same time during his reign in Phoenix at New Hampshire.

Last season, his team debuted some new chassis’ down the stretch as they were attempting to get a jump on the 2010 campaign for what was an awful 2009 season for the entire team, and it worked well. Burton finished second in the fall race and has carried that momentum into this year showing both improved handling and horsepower in nearly every race.

We all know how Denny Hamlin loves Richmond, and he treats Phoenix the same way, except calling it home. After having a finish of 34th-place in his first Cup race, he’s gone a tear over his last seven starts there that include four third-place finishes. He finally had something good happen to him at Martinsville with a win and should be set-up nice to compete this week a well.

The one issue with Hamlin this week is having to race after having ACL surgery last week. It’s not known yet how it will affect his driving ability. If there is discomfort, Casey Mears will be available to take over during one of the pit stops.

Phoenix was a track that Jeff Gordon could never win at through his great career, even when he was the original Jimmie Johnson-type from the 1990’s. He finally took the checkers in 2007 after series of quality runs. Since then, Gordon hasn’t been so good there. In his last five races there, his best finish has been ninth, mixed in with a 41st and 25th-place finish, not exactly numbers expected from someone of Gordon’s stature considering who his cars room with in the Hendrick garages.

Tony Stewart won at Phoenix as a rookie in 1999, one of three late season wins Stewart had that year, but has gone winless there ever since. He does have 3 second-place finishes over his career since, with the last coming in this race last season. His quality finish in this race last season gave validation to the racing world that his new team was going to be able to contend with the rest of NASCAR’s best on a regular occurrence. Look for another quality finish this week.

The Busch Brothers are definite wild cards this week. You know Kurt is going to run well after having three straight terrific runs there with finishes no worse than sixth, but Kyle is the tough one to gauge. Sooner or later Kyle is going to win a race, but he hasn’t had the look of a winner in any practice session prior to each race. He’s almost looked like the weak link among the Joe Gibbs cars as Hamlin and Joey Logano have each tasted some kind of success this year.

Based on Kyle’s history, Phoenix is a place he should run well at just because of how well he’s run at New Hampshire and Richmond over his career, yet he hasn't won there since his rookie year of 2005.

In Las Vegas, the SuperBook at the Las Vegas Hilton has been daring folks to bet on Kyle Busch all season after practices with his odds reaching above 25 to 1, odds we never thought we would have seen for Kyle on any track just a mere few months ago. But that’s how far he has slipped and it’s hard to say when he’ll rebound, but as the odds get higher, he’s going to force some bets out of people and they may just get lucky as Kyle can steal any race.

Johnson’s going to be tough to topple again this week and wouldn’t recommend betting against him in driver match-ups either no matter how high the plus-money is because he’ll probably finish in the top-3. I think the best value may be going with Childress cars this week in match-ups and odds to win.

Top 5 Finish Prediction:
1) #31 Jeff Burton (12/1)
2) #5 Mark Martin (10/1)
3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (5/1)
4) #11 Denny Hamlin (8/1)
5) #29 Kevin Harvick (12/1)

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Phoenix Subway Fresh Fit 600 Odds & Ends

Compliled by Mike Forde
NASCAR Media Services

At Phoenix International Raceway:


History
· Construction was completed in January 1964.The facility consisted of a one-mile oval and a 2.5-mile road course.
· Alan Kulwicki won the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix on Nov. 6, 1988.
· The first spring race was held on April 23, 2005 and also the first night race, which was won by Kurt Busch.

Notebook
· There have been 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Phoenix International Raceway, one per season from 1988-2004 and two each season since.
· Geoffrey Bodine won the first pole in 1988.
· There have been 17 different pole winners, led by Ryan Newman with four.
· Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon are the only drivers to win consecutive poles. Newman won three straight (2002-04), while Gordon won the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007.
· There have been 19 different race winners, led by Jimmie Johnson, with four. Johnson has won four of the last five Phoenix races. Mark Martin (spring 2009) won the other race in that span.
· The race has been won from the pole three times: Jeff Gordon (spring 2007), Jimmie Johnson (fall 2008) and Mark Martin (spring 2009).
· The race has been won from a top-10 starting position in 14 of 27 events.
· Denny Hamlin won his first career pole at Phoenix in November 2005.
· Ricky Rudd won the 1995 race from the 29th-place starting position, the furthest back a race winner has started.
· Mark Martin has 11 top-five finishes, more than any other driver. Martin (8.9 average finish) is one of three active drivers who average a top-10 finish. Jimmie Johnson (5.1) and Denny Hamlin (9.6) are the others.
· Five of the last seven races have ended with a margin of victory under one second.
· Two perfect Driver Ratings of 150.0 have been recorded at Phoenix. Kurt Busch did it with his win in April of 2005, and Kevin Harvick did it in November of 2006.

NASCAR in Arizona
* There have been 32 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Arizona.
* 29 drivers in NASCAR national series history have their home state recorded as Arizona.
* There have been no race winners from Arizona in NASCAR’s three national series.

Phoenix International Raceway Data
Race: 7 of 36 (4-10-10)
Track Size: 1 mile
· Banking/1 and 2: 11 degrees
· Banking/3 and 4: 9 degrees
· Banking/Frontstretch: 3 degrees
· Banking/Backstretch: 9 degrees
· Frontstretch: 1,179 feet
· Backstretch: 1,551 feet

Driver Rating at Phoenix
Jimmie Johnson 123.0
Kurt Busch 104.6
Mark Martin 103.8
Jeff Gordon 99.8
Greg Biffle 99.8
Denny Hamlin 98.8
Carl Edwards 98.8
Tony Stewart 97.8
Kevin Harvick 94.6
Kyle Busch 92.2
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-09 races (10 total) at Phoenix.

Qualifying/Race Data
2009 pole winner: Mark Martin (133.814 mph, 26.903 seconds)
2009 race winner: Mark Martin (108.042 mph, 4-18-10)
Track qualifying record: Ryan Newman (135.854 mph, 26.499 seconds, 11-5-04)
Track race record: Tony Stewart (118.132 mph, 11-7-99)

Pit Window: Approximately 70-78 laps, based on fuel mileage.