DALE EARNHARDT, JR. RESETTING ODDS, GOING TO LAS VEGAS

March 05, 2014 – Granted, it’s early. But here’s a Dale Earnhardt Jr. statistic worth noting: for the second time in his career, he has led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points for the first two weeks of the season.

After his Daytona 500 victory and second-place finish this past Sunday at Phoenix, he’s likely causing odds makers to reset his chances of winning the series championship for the first time, as the series rolls into Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Only once before has Earnhardt had this sort of start, in 2004 – his first Daytona 500 victory, followed by a fifth-place finish at North Carolina Motor Speedway (Rockingham), which gave him two weeks’ time atop the standings.

Said Earnhardt, following the strong run at Phoenix: “I would have loved to have won the race … but our team is performing so well.  Got a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth.  Everybody’s confidence is very high.  Everybody’s mood and morale is really high.”

Las Vegas has been a so-so proposition for Earnhardt through the years, with seven top 10s but only two top fives in 14 starts. An average finish of 15.6 and a Driver Rating of 88.2, ninth-best in the series, show consistency in lieu of trips to Victory Lane. Consistency, though, takes a back seat under the new Chase format. It’s all about winning; by capturing the Daytona 500 Earnhardt virtually assured himself a spot in NASCAR’s “playoffs.”

Somewhat lost amid the celebration of winning the 500 and nearly winning again at Phoenix is the fact that Earnhardt’s resurgence actually cranked up late last season; he had eight top 10s in the 10-race Chase including three second-place finishes. That clearly set the table for this year’s impressive start.

“I was wondering if we would carry on the momentum from last year, running so good in the Chase,” Earnhardt said. “The performance is there for us. Hopefully we can maintain it.  We go to a completely different track [this week] at Vegas, but we have a whole day Thursday [during testing] to figure it out.”

 

HOMECOMING FOR DANICA PATRICK AND OTHERS THIS WEEKEND AT PHOENIX

Danica Patrick

February 27, 2014 – Danica Patrick is another driver who was disappointed at Daytona, after a 40th-place finish that belied a semi-strong run. A hard crash into the wall entering the DIS tri-oval ended her effort.

This week Patrick returns to her adopted hometown of Phoenix. Patrick, from Roscoe, Ill., has three NASCAR Sprint Cup starts at PIR with a best finish of 17th in November 2012.

A few more Phoenix connections to watch for this weekend:

• Denny Hamlin, fresh off his runner-up Daytona 500 finish, has an affinity to the area – renting a house in Scottsdale in the offseason between the 2011-12 seasons. He won at PIR in March 2012 and got his first series pole there in November 2005. Hamlin’s listed hometown is Chesterfield, Va.
• Michael McDowell, driving the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Ford, is from nearby Glendale. McDowell failed to qualify for the 500.
• Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Alex Bowman, from Tucson, Ariz., will make his series PIR debut after a 23rd-place finish in the 500.

And new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Managing Director Richard Buck is a Phoenix native. Buck was named series director in January of this season after overseeing the merger of GRAND-AM and the American Le Mans Series. Prior to his role at IMSA, Buck served as the director of NACAR’s touring series from 2006-12.

 

K&N WEST AND MEXICO TOYOTA SERIES GET UNDERWAY

Rodrigo Peralta

February 27, 2014 – The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will kick off its 2014 campaign with the Talking Stick Resort 75 with a 7 p.m. MT start on Thursday, Feb. 27 at Phoenix International Raceway. It’s the fourth consecutive season for the Arizona track to host the opener and 11th overall. Greg Pursley, the 2011 series champion, won this event from the pole last season. In last year’s season finale at Phoenix, Gray Gaulding used a final-lap nudge to get around Cole Custer and become the youngest winner in series history. All three drivers are entered in the season opener.

For the second consecutive year, the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series will open its championship season under the lights in the Arizona desert. The Toyota 120 will get underway at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 28 with live Spanish-language television coverage from mun2 and FOX Sports Latin America. Last season’s Phoenix race winner Abraham Calderón and series champion Rodrigo Peralta will be on hand to defend their respective titles.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season got started last week with a pair of Florida events. NASCAR Next and Drive For Diversity driver Daniel Suárez collected wins at New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 16 and Daytona on Feb. 18 in the UNOH Battle At The Beach. Past NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Doug Coby capitalized on the misfortune of Ryan Preece to win the non-points Whelen Modified Tour-Whelen Southern Modified Tour race at the Battle at the Beach.

 

TRIO OF ROOKIES SETTING HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Chase Elliott

February 27, 2014 – A loaded Sunoco Rookie of the Year class arrived last weekend in Daytona with the highest of expectations. At the end of the 121-lap race, Ty Dillon, Dylan Kwasniewski and Chase Elliott were the top rookie finishers all with top-20 finishes and seeded in the top 10 in the standings.

The series now heads west to Phoenix where all three drivers, whose average age is 19, will be making their first NNS starts at the one-mile track.

In two NCWTS starts at Phoenix, Dillon, who finished seventh in Saturday’s Daytona race, has finishes of fourth and 15th. He currently sits seventh (10 points behind leader Regan Smith), one spot and 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 10th. Saturday marks Kwasniewski’s first start at the track in a national series event.

Credit: NASCAR

 

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 CLOROX® CHEVROLET SS JTG DAUGHERTY RACING QUOTEBOOK

Track: Phoenix International Raceway

Event: The Profit on CNBC 500, Presented by Small Business Fueling America

Race Date: Sunday, March 2

Coverage Begins/Race Start: 2:30 PM/3 PM

TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SIRIUSXM

February 27, 2014

TEAM QUOTES:

Phoenix International Raceway:  “I look forward to racing at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) because it’s a fun track for me and it is a technical track,” AJ Allmendinger said. “I have just always enjoyed it.  Hopefully, we can go there and get some momentum going. I finished 11th there in the No. 51 car last year. Richard Childress Racing (RCR) had a good test there and hopefully we can go to PIR and feed off them.”

Clean start:  “We have a clean start this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway after a brake issue at Daytona International Speedway and we have the perfect brand on the hood to play that up with Clorox Fraganzia,” AJ Allmendinger said. “Clorox Fraganzia is a multi-purpose cleaner that comes in three great scents – Spring, Forest Dew and Lavender. I use it at my house and it leaves the whole place smelling great.”

Technical alliance advantage: “We feel like we will be at an advantage at Phoenix,” crew chief Brian Burns said. “The RCR camp has tested at that track. So, we have a notebook to look at now going in with the new rules package. They have already done some work and it gives us a head start as opposed to some teams going there not having that luxury.

“There’s also the new qualifying format, which is obviously new for everybody,” continued Burns. “We feel like we’ve got a good plan going into it and feel like it’s not going to blindside us.”

Welcoming change:  “To have for the fans a constant 30 minutes of cars running there’s going to be so much strategy,” AJ Allmendinger said about the new qualifying format. “You will probably see some tempers flare because you will see some blocking at the end to make sure either they advance to the next group or get the pole. I think as a driver for qualifying, say you don’t get that perfect lap the first round, but it’s just good enough to get into the next group. You really have a shot at the pole.

“Those format changes are going to be a lot of fun,” continued Allmendinger. “The Chase format doesn’t change how I drive. Every weekend you’re out there trying to win the race anyways. If you can’t win the race you are trying to get the best finish possible.

AJ Allmendinger

The Chase format:  “With the Chase format, you can be having a terrible year and all the sudden you win a race and the next thing you know that can light up your season and you’re in The Chase,” Allmendinger said. “Then you gain some momentum, you’re right there and you have a shot at the championship. I think that’s what makes the new format fun. It’s cool to see what NASCAR is doing whether it’s The Chase or qualifying format. It leads to so many more varieties of things that can happen. For us, I think it gives us a good chance. It is just such a long season. It is all about pacing yourself and taking everything as it comes. Each year that I have done this, the more I have learned and the better I have gotten at that. That is what makes the best guys so good at it. They can take a couple bad weekends in a row and forget about it and move on to the next week and almost start over.

“Like I said, if it comes down to you having that bad season, and even with the old format you could win a couple races, but you had to be top 20 in points,” Allmendinger continued. “If you really struggled at the beginning of the year, it was hard to get out of that hole. Now, you can have 12 bad weeks in a row and be 30th in points and next thing you know, you go and win the 13th race. You are in the Chase and you have a shot at it. It really lends itself to making every week like Richmond (International Raceway) to a certain degree for the fans, TV and teams. It will be fun.”

 

JOE GIBBS GOES FOR FOUR AT PHOENIX

February 27, 2014 – In this era of parity among drivers and teams, it’s hard for either to establish winning streaks of any length. Therefore, Joe Gibbs Racing has a rare opportunity this Saturday to win its fourth consecutive race at the one-mile track.

Kyle Busch, who will once again be piloting the No. 54 JGR Toyota at Phoenix, swept both Phoenix races last year after Joey Logano won the penultimate race of the 2012 season. Logano left JGR during that offseason 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 organization to piece together three straight NNS wins there when Carl Edwards won in November 2008 and Edwards and Greg Biffle won the two Phoenix events the following year.

Busch will be joined this weekend in the starting field by teammates Elliott Sadler (No. 11) and Matt Kenseth (No. 20). The trio of JGR drivers has collected eight series Phoenix wins – Busch (six), Kenseth (one) and Sadler (one).

CLINT BOYER No. 15 5-HOUR ENERGY TOYOTA / PHOENIX PREVIEW

CORNELIUS, N.C. – February 26, 2014 –  A visit to Phoenix International Raceway located in the “Valley of the Sun” presents the perfect opportunity for Clint Bowyer and the No.15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota to shine this weekend.

Clint Bowyer

A mechanical failure under the hood prematurely ended Bowyer’s run in the season-opening Daytona 500 last weekend leaving him with a 41st-place finish, a somewhat unusual spot for the driver who ranked second or third in the driver points standings for 12 of the 26 weeks in the “regular season” last year.

But Phoenix has been kind to Bowyer, who just missed visiting victory lane in April 2008, finishing second to Jimmie Johnson. In this race last year he finished sixth. With a new qualifying procedure in place, things may heat up at the one-mile desert oval as drivers battle for a top starting spot.

Bowyer on qualifying: “That had become stale and it needed help. There’s no way getting around it. I think our Fridays were somewhat stale and I think it’s going to add a new element of excitement — who knows what’s going to happen. I really think that you’re going to see that. I think moving through those segments you’re going to see people make a quick adjustment and tune themselves right into the game or more importantly tune themselves right out of the game. There’s going to be a lot of moving parts and it’s going to be something that’s going to be interesting to follow on qualifying day. I don’t think you’ve ever really said that before. It’s going to be cool.”

Crew Chief Brian Pattie on the new qualifying procedure: “I think it’s going to be exciting for everyone, not just the fans. Knock out qualifying was enjoyable to watch in other series and I don’t think it will be any different for us. If anything I think it may be beneficial for the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota.”

Bowyer on Phoenix:  “Phoenix is a good indicator of who has their stuff together to start the season. Daytona is sort of its own deal. The next few weeks we will see who some of the contenders will be. We go to Phoenix– a short track and then 1.5-mile the next week at Las Vegas. We tested the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota a lot in the off season at places like New Smyrna so I’m ready to get this baby on track this weekend at Phoenix and put Daytona behind us.”