What had been a dramatic, intense build-up to Ford Championship Weekend came to a quiet close Sunday night at Phoenix International Raceway when rain shortened the “Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500″… putting Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Victory Lane and filling The Championship Four with Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. They will race for a title next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The driver who finishes highest among them will be crowned the 67th champion of NASCAR’s top division.
Persistent rain on Sunday delayed the start of the race by nearly 7 hours. Once the green flag flew, Harvick established himself as the man to beat – dominating the first half of the race in his bid for a 5th straight win on the 1-mile desert oval. As the race passed the halfway point, showers approached the track again. A well-timed pit stop by Earnhardt had the #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet well-placed at the front of the field when the race was stopped and ultimately ended 93 laps shy of its scheduled distance.
Harvick finished 2nd with 3rd-place going to Joey Logano, who failed to qualify for the Championship Round despite posting a series-leading 6 wins this year. The Team Penske driver never recovered from a 37th-place finish two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, where he was intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth while leading in the late stages of the “Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500”. Kenseth sat out the Phoenix weekend, completing his two-race suspension as Erik Jones drove the #20 Toyota to a 19th-place finish.
– story by John Singler
www.mrn.com
Concord, NC
The Championship Four after Chase race #9 (unofficial)
| Driver (wins) | Points | Behind Leader | +/- Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kevin Harvick (3) | 4123 | +2 | |
| 2. Jeff Gordon (1) | 4121 | -2 | -1 |
| 3. Kyle Busch (4) | 4121 | -2 | -1 |
| 4. Martin Truex Jr (1) | 4106 | -17 | 0 |
| – Eliminated from The Chase at the end of the Eliminator Round – | |||
| 5. Carl Edwards (2) | 4101 | -22 | 0 |
| 6. Brad Keselowski (1) | 4093 | -30 | 0 |
| 7. Kurt Busch (2) | 4085 | -38 | 0 |
| 8. Joey Logano (6) | 4054 | -69 | 0 |
| – Eliminated from The Chase at the end of the Contender Round – | |||
| Ryan Newman (0) | |||
| Denny Hamlin (2) | |||
| Dale Earnhardt Jr (3) | |||
| Matt Kenseth (5) | |||
| – Eliminated from The Chase at the end of the Challenger Round – | |||
| Jamie McMurray (0) | |||
| Jimmie Johnson (4) | |||
| Paul Menard (0) | |||
| Clint Bowyer (0) | |||
