This NASCAR weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, the common theme among the Chase contenders for the NASCAR Sprint Car Championship regarding predictions, expectations, etc: “It’s a crap shoot.” Three drivers have a mathematic chance of winning, JIMMIE JOHNSON/No.48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, MATT KENSETH/No.20 Dollar General Toyota – who are seven points apart, and KEVIN HARVICK/No.29 Budweiser Chevrolet, who is 40 points back
Johnson said ““ (Kenseth) Yeah, I think it’s a crapshoot. That is the way I prepared myself mentally. I look at Martinsville at a track that statistically showed to favor the No. 48 and it didn’t point’s wise when the checkered fell. I’m using that to help keep my guard up. I think he ran eighth or something here in the spring which is a great finish and we were second. They are going to be strong is the bottom line and we have to be prepared for that and do our best.”
Harvick was asked if not him, then who was his prediction. ““If you look at the past, and I’ll use Martinsville as the example. Going into Martinsville, you look at it and say Jimmie is absolutely going to annihilate Matt at Martinsville, and Matt goes out and leads the most laps and has a chance to win the race. So, it’s just about who hits it the best on a particular weekend because those guys have run well all year and I think the part that everybody forgets are that the stats don’t really mean anything, especially on Matt’s side, and especially at Martinsville. Roush has never been very good at Martinsville and Gibbs has always been fairly good at Martinsville. So, it’s a crapshoot at this point. About the time that you think that Jimmie hasn’t won a race on a 1.5-mile race track all year and goes out and just absolutely crushes everybody at Texas. So, it’s just a matter of who hits it on a particular weekend. Obviously this race track can play a lot of havoc on track position and things happening and get caught up in something, but I think performance-wise, it’s a draw at this point.”
Kenseth said “When you drop the green out here on Sunday, there’s 42 cars that you want to beat and there’s 42 teams and guys that you’re trying to get ahead of and you’re trying to beat to go win the race. The guys I get along with the best on the race track, I want to beat him (Johnson) just as bad as the guy I get along with the least on the race track. For me, it honestly doesn’t really matter. Once they throw the green, they’re all cars that you want to beat and finish in front of
and you realize that to win the race, you have to figure out how to beat them all.”
In the Friday midday practice, nearly two hours long, several drivers took turns being the fastest. First and last fastest was Johnson at 25.914/138.921 mph. Other drivers who led included KYLE BUSCH/No.M&M’s Toyota; DALE EARNHARDT Jr/No.88 National Guard Chevrolet; MATT KENSETH/No.20 Dollar General Toyota; JUAN PABLO MONTOYA/No.42 Target Chevrolet; and MARTIN TRUEX Jr/No.56 NAPA Toyota.
The final top ten drivers were: Johnson, JPM, Kyle Busch, KURT BUSCH/No.78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, JOEY LOGANO/No.22 Shell Pennzoil Toyota, Kenseth, CLINT BOWYER/No.15 5-Hour Energy Toyota, BRAD KESELOWSKI/No.2 Miller Lite Ford, DENNY HAMLIN/No.11 FedEx Toyota, and JEFF GORDON/No.24 Axalta Chevrolet.
DANICA PATRICK/No.10 Go Daddy Chevrolet was the top Rookie, in twenty-second place.
Sprint Cup single-file, two-lap Qualifying starts at 3:40 MT/5:45 ET.