Aric Almirola Starts Fifth At Atlanta On Sunday

Aric Almirola ended up in the middle of eight Ford cars in the final group of qualifying on Saturday. That is not a bad thing as he starts Atlanta from the fifth position this Sunday afternoon. Almirola and his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford have enjoyed some solid results at super speedways. Again, Atlanta is still behaving […]

Ryan Blaney Hopes To Find Success Again At Atlanta

Ryan Blaney finished third among the Team Penske drivers in qualifying on Saturday. The good news is that the top three spots are occupied by Penske's for Sunday's race in Atlanta. Blaney has enjoyed much success on this 1.54-mile track. Blaney has the best average finish among all active drivers with a 6.4 in the […]

Ross Chastain Hoping To Avoid Conflict In Atlanta

Ross Chastain just wants to drive his car at this point. After what happened to the Trackhouse Racing driver last week, Chastain just wants to win or finish well in races. The No. 1 car has a little work to do as he starts 17th in Atlanta on Sunday. Chastain has the one car which […]

Bubba Wallace Can Move Up Again On Sunday

Bubba. Wallace only qualified in 19th but is driving the Kurt Busch build that has enjoyed success at Atlanta lately. Combine that with Wallace's ability to negotiate superspeedways, and the 1.54-mile track could be a help to the 23XI Racing driver. The No.23 car showed late speed and great handling. Only an accident derailed the […]

Kevin Harvick Qualified Sixth For Atlanta On Sunday

The Ford reigned supreme on Saturday in qualifying as Kevin Harvick ended up sixth among the sea of eight Ford cars. Harvick and the Stewart-Haas Racing car qualified ahead of teammate Chase Briscoe and one spot behind Aric Almirola. Now, what happens for the Ambetter Health 400 is another question. Harvick has a couple of […]

Josh Berry Breaks Into Top Ten At Phoenix

Considering that Josh Berry was mired in the 20's last week at Las Vegas, few expected much at Phoenix. However, Berry, driving the No. 9 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports Racing, made a late push. That push resulted in the first ten top finish for Berry at the top level of NASCAR. It allowed him to […]

Alex Bowman Keeps Points Lead For Now

Alex Bowman moved up just enough on Sunday to finish ninth at Phoenix. He started 18th but stayed mostly out of trouble. That helped the Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver move up the field later in the race. Despite zero wins, Bowman is now 4-for-4 when it comes to top-ten results. The No. 48 car has […]

Kyle Busch Finished Eighth On Sunday

Kyle Busch did not finish where he hoped but eighth was a solid result for the Richard Childress Racing car. The No. 8 Chevy led zero laps and almost was just happy to be in the top ten after 317 laps on Sunday. It was his second top-ten of 2023 to go along with one […]

Chase Briscoe Makes Impact Late At Phoenix

For Chase Briscoe, it was not where he started but truly where he finished. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver qualified 24th on Saturday. Later in the race, Briscoe started to make progress and wound up in the top ten. On the restart, the No. 14 Ford solidified his position winding up seventh at Phoenix. Briscoe did […]

Christopher Bell Almost Ends Up Where He Started

Christopher Bell and his Joe Gibbs Racing car started in fifth on Sunday at Phoenix. At the end of the race, the No. 20 Toyota wound up sixth. There was quite a bit in between. However, Bell never did lead a lap and never got to the front in a way some had expected. The […]

Kevin Harvick Ends Up Fifth On Sunday At Phoenix

For awhile there, it looked like Kevin Harvick might pull off a win at the United Rentals Work United 500. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver led 36 laps on Sunday at Phoenix, but could not stay up front on the overtime restart. While the other contenders took on two tires, Harvick and his crew elected to […]

Kyle Larson Catches Unlucky Break Again At Phoenix

For the second week in a row, Kyle Larson is in a dominant position when disaster strikes. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver led a race-high 201 laps after starting from the pole. With a few laps left (lap 310), the caution flag came out. On the first overtime restart, William Byron had position on the […]

Tyler Reddick Winds Up Third On Sunday

All of a sudden, Tyler Reddick and his 23XI Racing car were battling William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney for the lead. Where did that come from? Reddick started 12th, did not lead one lap, but got to the front for the first overtime restart. That was vital for the No. 45 car. This […]

Ryan Blaney Comes Up Just Short At Phoenix

Ryan Blaney and his Team Penske did a great job in getting the Ford close enough to win on Sunday at Phoenix. However, he came up about a third of a second short. Blaney got three wide with William Byron and Kyle Larson. The No. 12 car did not have enough speed and downforce to […]

William Byron Wins Again On Sunday

William Byron was at the right place at the right time on Sunday. The Hendrick Motorsports Racing driver steamed out of the three-wide in the lead and never looked back. Byron led the final two laps after the first overtime restart. That allowed him to cross the finish line 0.33 seconds ahead of Ryan Blaney […]

Justin Haley Has Slight DFS Potential Sunday

Justin Haley in a couple of Spring races has performed well in the Kaulig Racing Chevy. The driver had place differentials of +5 and +12 in his two March drives. Haley's No 31 car was quite slow in the practice session with intervals outside the top 30. However, race day can be different. That is […]

A.J. Allmendinger May Have A Challenge On Sunday

While A.J. Allmendinger looked pretty good in practice over the weekend, the Kaulig Racing driver dropped to 22nd in qualifying. Despite seeing the No. 16 Chevy as high as 12th in practice, the lap interval times dropped by 0.65 seconds. That represents a very significant amount of time. The prevailing thought is the Chevy could […]

Ryan Preece May Struggle At Phoenix

Ryan Preece begins Sunday's race on the mile-long track from the 25th position. Preece and his Stewart-Haas Racing car could not maintain enough speed coming out. He was not the only one as every SHR qualified 15th or worse. That included Kevin Harvick who has finished 19 straight occasions in the top ten. The short-track […]

Erik Jones Looking For Top-10 Finish At Phoenix

Erik Jones begins on Sunday from the 10th position at Phoenix. The Legacy Motor Club driver narrowly got in the final round of qualifying. His No. 43 Chevy enjoyed all four of its top-10 runs with the Joe Gibbs Racing team. However, this is Jones' best start for his second team. Also, last fall, Jones […]

Daniel Suarez Just Misses Out On Top 10 Saturday

Daniel Suarez nearly made the final round of qualifying but settled for 11th place. The Trackhouse Racing driver and his No. 99 Chevy carry some intriguing potential for Sunday. The Mexican racer did have two Spring top-ten results in 2017 and 2018. Last March, he rose up from 23rd to end up ninth (+14 place […]

Bubba Wallace Qualifies A Career-Best 19th At Phoenix

Bubba Wallace had never started in the top 20 at Phoenix. On Saturday, Wallace still finished the worst out of the Toyota cars. However, the 19th place start represents some solid progress for the 23XI Racing driver. Wallace has only finished on the lead lap three times in his career on the mile-long track. The […]

Ty Gibbs Begins 14th For Joe Gibbs Racing On Sunday

Ty Gibbs qualified a respectable 14th for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday afternoon. Gibbs did sweep the pole and victory for the Xfinity race at Phoenix last Fall. It would be nice to see the No. 54 Toyota slide upward on Sunday. There are two more Toyota's in front of him (Tyler Reddick and Martin […]

Austin Dillon Begins Way Back In 30th Sunday

Austin Dillon thought he might have a faster car at Phoenix for Sunday. That was not the case as Dillon's No. 3 Chevy begins in 30th place. The Richard Childress Racing driver could not the same speed out of corners as Kyle Busch (who ended up 8th in qualifying). Dillon has two top-ten results on […]

Alex Bowman Settles Into Middle Of Pack At Phoenix

Alex Bowman and his Hendrick Motorsports car will start in 18th on Sunday at Phoenix. He will be right next to Josh Berry. Bowman and his No. 48 Chevy could not go fast enough to get into the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Normally, Bowman is just OK on these type of shorter tracks. […]

Corey LaJoie Looks To Move Up Sunday At Phoenix

Corey LaJoie starts 28th at Phoenix on Sunday for Spire Motorsports. LaJoie has an average finish of 16.7 in three races this season in the No. 7 Chevy. Can the driver replicate what he pulled off last Fall? LaJoie placed nine spots higher at the season ending event at Phoenix (started 27th, finished 18th). Typically, […]

Zane Smith Begins 34th At Phoenix On Sunday

Zane Smith hopped into the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports car for this weekend's race at Phoenix. Predictably, he begins Sunday 34th for the United Rentals Work United 500 from Phoenix Raceway. Smith's only NASCAR Cup race was at Gateway last year. He began 32nd and survived his way up to 17th. Could Smith do […]

Cody Ware Begins Last On Sunday

Cody Ware had issues throughout practice and qualifying on Saturday. The Rick Ware Racing driver begins the United Rentals Work United 500 in 36th place. Ware and his No. 51 Ford was more than a full second off the pace of Kyle Larson. Worse, only B.J. McLeod ended up worse in practice on Friday. The […]

B.J. McLeod Begins Sunday From 33rd Position

B.J. McLeod starts from near the back again on Sunday for Live Fast Motorsports. McLeod qualified more than 0.55 seconds off from the pole of Kyle Larson. He could advance past the first round again and will start Sunday 33rd. McLeod's career best finish on the mile-long track was 27th in 2021. All four qualifying […]

Brad Keselowski Qualifies Fourth At Phoenix

Brad Keselowski held the Ford flag proudly in qualifying on Saturday. The RFK Racing driver starts the United Rentals Work United 500 fourth on Sunday. Keselowski's No. 6 Ford was a mere tenth of a second off from Kyle Larson's pole qualifying time (27.642 seconds). With the debut of this new short-track package, it will […]

Josh Berry Qualifies 17th For Phoenix On Sunday

Josh Berry got a little more used to the No. 9 Chase Elliott car from Hendrick Motorsports this week. As a result, Berry begins 17th on Sunday. He will be right next to Alex Bowman, also from Hendrick. Berry only tested at five and ten-lap intervals with a slow down of about a tenth of […]