Event:               Can-Am 500k (Round 35 of 36)
Series:               Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location:          Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)
Format:             312 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/162 laps)
Start/Finish:      15^th/21^st (Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
Point Standing: 15^th with 2,193 points

Race Winner:    Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-75):

• Kurt Busch started 15^th, finished 16^th.
• Busch noted loose-handling conditions in addition to low right-rear grip during the opening laps.
• He continued to battle balance issues for the duration of the stage.
• Busch pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and air pressure and chassis adjustments at the conclusion of the stage.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 76-150):

• Started 17^th, finished 15^th.
• Loose handling continued to hinder the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford’s speed throughout the stage.
• Busch pitted for four fresh tires, fuel and adjustments at the end of the stage.
• Due to a broken jack during the stop, Busch lost two positions on pit road. 

Final Stage Recap (Laps 151-312):

• Started 17^th, finished 21^st.
• Busch pitted during a lap-239 caution to counter loose-handling conditions. He restarted in the 15^th position.
• He opted to stay out during a lap-250 caution to restart ninth.
• Busch battled the Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford in and around the top-10 until a lap-280 caution.
• During the final restart, Busch was caught in traffic, and his car sustained front-end damage that limited driver visibility. 

Notes:

• There were seven caution periods for a total of 41 laps.
• Eighteen of the 40 drivers in the Can-Am 500k finished on the lead lap.
• Matt Kenseth won the Can-Am 500k to score his 39^th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his second at Phoenix. His margin of victory over second-place Chase Elliott was 1.207 of seconds.
• The Championship Four contenders Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Kesolowski enter the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with 5,000 points each.

Next Up:

The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday, Nov. 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The final race of the 10-race playoffs starts at 2:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Event:               Ticket Galaxy 200 (Round 32 of 33)
Date:                 Nov. 11, 2017
Location:          Phoenix Raceway
Layout:             Mile oval

Cole Custer Notes of Interest 

• The Ticket Galaxy 200 is the sixth of seven races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs and the third race in the second playoff round, which consists of eight drivers. Four drivers will be eliminated at the conclusion of the race, narrowing the field to a quartet of drivers who will compete in a winner-take-all championship finale Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. 
• Cole Custer is sixth in the XFINITY Series playoffs with 3,066 points, 37 behind series leader William Byron and 13 behind fourth-place Brennan Poole. 
• In the five playoff races run thus far, Custer has two top-five finishes and four top-10s. 
• The Ticket Galaxy 200 will be Custer’s second XFINITY Series start at Phoenix and his eighth overall at the mile oval. Custer has three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and three NASCAR K&N Pro Series starts at Phoenix. Custer’s best Truck Series finish is third in 2014 and, that same year, he won the K&N Pro Series race. Custer also has a K&N Series pole at Phoenix, earned in 2013 when he first competed at the track. Custer has three top-fives, five top-10s, one pole, one win and has led 111 laps in seven starts at Phoenix. 
• In 37 XFINITY Series starts, 42 Camping World Truck Series starts and 29 K&N Pro Series starts since 2015, Custer has five wins, six poles, 14 top-five finishes, 25 top-10s and 919 laps led at tracks that are a mile in length or shorter. 
• Custer’s best finish in the 31 XFINITY Series races run this season is fourth, earned in the 11^th race of the year June 3 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The result equaled Custer’s best career XFINITY Series finish, which he earned in his series debut in May 2016 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.
• Custer’s best qualifying effort in the 31 XFINITY Series races run this season is second, earned last Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Custer has 23 top-10 starts and 10 top-five starts this season.
• Custer is third in the XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year standings, 50 points behind leader William Byron and nine points behind second-place Daniel Hemric. Custer has earned nine Rookie of the Race awards this season. Rookie of the Race awards are given each race to the highest-finishing rookie.
• Last weekend at Texas, Custer cut a tire on the opening laps and battled back from a lap down to earn his second consecutive top-five at the 1.5-mile oval.
• Custer has seven top-fives and 19 top-10s in 36 career XFINITY Series starts.
• At 19 years and 9 months of age, Custer is the youngest driver in the playoffs.

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

The entire team has run like a well-oiled Haas Automation machine during this year’s playoffs. Can you carry it past this weekend and into the final round at Homestead?  

“I think there’s no reason why we can’t go to Phoenix and have a good run. It’s a place I’m confident at and our short-track program is starting to be where we want it. If we keep running like we have been and don’t run into bad luck, we’ll be locked into the final four.” 

You have two wins at Phoenix. What is it about this track that fits your driving style?  

“I’ve been lucky enough to drive some fast cars there, but I think I’ve taken to flat tracks fairly well and it’s a feel I just like. We had a quick Haas Automation Ford Mustang there earlier in the season so, with the notes we have now, we should be even quicker. ” 

Are you content with where you are in the standings heading to Phoenix?  

“I can’t really say I am too upset or too down going into Phoenix. It is just two weeks in a row that we had some bad luck, but there is nothing that our team could have done differently to avoid the tire issues. Last week, we cut a tire and finished fifth after going a whole lap down. I think anything is possible for us and there’s no reason why we don’t belong in the Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead.”

You look to Kevin Harvick for most of your on-track advice. Does his win at Texas and incredible track record at Phoenix give you confidence heading into the weekend?   

“Definitely. Stewart-Haas Racing is in a really good spot right now and we have a lot of fast racecars. So, hopefully, we can build off that and have the run we need at Phoenix. It’s an honor to be a part of such a competitive organization. Kevin and the entire team have helped me a ton along the way.”

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

What can we expect to see from the Haas Automation team this weekend at Phoenix?

“We have been preparing for this race for over a month now and have a good practice plan. We were around a seventh-place car the first race back in June. With our current points situation, we are going to have to be better than that. We made big improvements over the course of the year with our short-track setups, so I have confidence that we can have a strong run. We are bringing Chassis No. 1090. This is only the third race for this car. The others were Richmond and Dover.”

Kevin Harvick is locked in.

The driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) secured his position in the Championship 4 at the season-ending Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway with his win Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. He will appear in the Championship 4 for the third time in the last four seasons.

However, Harvick is entering refreshing new territory as he heads to Phoenix Raceway for this weekend’s Can-Am 500k Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race without the pressure of having to race his way in to the Championship 4. In Harvick’s previous two trips to the winner-take-all finale, he has had to produce nearly flawless results under pressure in the Arizona desert.

Harvick needed a win at Phoenix in November 2014 to advance to the championship race at Homestead, and he delivered one of the most dominant wins of his Cup Series career when he started third, led 264 of 312 laps and beat runner-up Jeff Gordon to the finish line by 1.636 seconds.

In 2015, a second-place finish in a rain-shortened race at Phoenix was enough to advance Harvick to the Championship 4.

Harvick needed a Phoenix win to advance to the Championship 4 in 2016 but fell just short with a fourth-place result.

The Bakersfield, California, native has no pressure to win as the series heads to the desert mile oval in 2017, but that won’t stop Harvick and the No. 4 team from trying to add another trip to victory lane to their already impressive resume at Phoenix.

Harvick’s career numbers at Phoenix feature a series-high eight NASCAR Cup Series wins, including five in his last eight outings. He became the only Cup Series driver to win four consecutive races there when he won the November 2013 race, swept the 2014 races and won again in March 2015. Only five drivers have won consecutive Cup Series races at Phoenix and Harvick is the only one to win consecutive races twice. He swept both races in 2006 to go with his back-to-back wins in 2014. His most recent Phoenix win was this past March.

According to NASCAR loop data, Harvick is the only driver to score a perfect 150.0 driver rating on three different occasions at Phoenix. Harvick scored his first perfect rating at the mile oval in November 2006, when he started second and led 252 of 312 laps on his way to victory lane. He accomplished the feat a second time in winning the November 2014 race. His third perfect score came in March 2015, when he won the pole, led 224 of 312 laps and beat Jamie McMurray to the finish line by 1.153 seconds.

In addition to his series-high eight Cup Series wins, the 2014 Cup Series champion has four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins at Phoenix and one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. His Truck Series wins came in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009. His lone Xfinity win came in 2006.

A win at Phoenix would continue the momentum from Texas all the way through to the Championship 4 at Homestead next week, where Harvick will attempt to be the first Ford driver to win a Cup Series championship since his SHR teammate Kurt Busch won the title driving a Ford in 2004.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Are you focused on Homestead, now, or do you go to Phoenix and try to win the race?

“I think at this point you just don’t even think about it. I feel like the things that we do every week, I’m going to prepare for Phoenix as though we need to go there and win the race because winning’s a lot more fun. I think, for us, the cars are already built, they’re in transit to the racetrack, plans are already laid out. I think as you look at those plans, they’re not going to be any different. But, as far as the things we go through during the week, the things we do, the things we watch, the things we talk about, we’re going to prepare for Phoenix first. I’m sure they won’t do that in the shop, but I’m a one-week guy. I can only focus on so many things. I think, as you look at all the workload, the things I’ve had on my schedule, the things we’ve done up to this point, they stop leading into Phoenix and Homestead just because you want to make sure you don’t miss anything. I feel like the things we’ve laid out and the structure of all the things we’ve done is 100-percent focused on intending to go to Homestead and go to Phoenix with the intention of having to put everything you have in it to win the race. That was already laid out in 2016 as to how it was all going to work. We’ll see if it all plays out.”

Greg Zipadelli and Tony Stewart said in victory lane at Texas they really like your chances at Homestead. Do you feel the same way, more confident about the opportunity ahead of you given what you and the organization have been able to put together?

“Yeah, three or four months ago the conversation really was about how we were going to point our way through the playoffs. We didn’t really feel like we were consistently in contention to win races, not leading laps. When you don’t lead laps, you can’t win races and control things. You can luck into them every once in a while, but you can’t control things like the No. 78 has done this year and the No. 18. As the playoffs started, we started leading laps again at the mile-and-a-half racetracks. That’s really been our focus. It has been our focus for the last four years because that’s really the bread and butter of what we do. Three or four months ago, it was, ‘How are we not going to make any mistakes, be thorough, capitalize on everybody else’s mistakes?’ When we got done with Charlotte, OK, we can still win a championship. Those are two different thought processes of how you go through this championship process of 10 weeks, especially as you get later in the game as you wind up with fewer and fewer cars. Their teams all step up and they usually have their best performances of the year, as well. Hopefully, we can keep that rolling. But the mindset is definitely that we think we can win, as it was not three months ago. That’s just the difference three months has made.”

Who was the first driver to top 200 mph in an Indy car? Some would say Tom Sneva at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1977.

Others would say “unofficially” Gordon Johncock or Mario Andretti at Indianapolis in 1973.

The first was actually the late Gerald Wayne “Jerry” Grant on Sept. 3, 1972 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway. Grant hit 201.4 mph in his 1,100-horsepower Mystery Eagle for Dan Gurney.

Kurt Busch, winner of the 2017 Daytona 500, did a great impression of Jerry Grant, who coincidentally finished fifth in the 1967 Daytona 500, last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth when he earned the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series pole with a blistering lap of 200.915 mph.

It was the NASCAR track record at Texas and the fastest NASCAR lap ever at a 1.5-mile oval. It was Busch’s 22^nd career pole and his first since 2016 at Las Vegas.

After finishing ninth in Sunday’s race at Texas, Busch and his NASCAR brethren head to Phoenix Raceway, where Grant finished eighth at Phoenix in an Indy car in 1972.

Busch has one win, seven top-five finishes and 17 top-10s at Phoenix. Additionally, the 39-year-old driver has led 751 laps, has an average starting position of 12.1, an average finish of 13.5, and has completed 99.6 percent – 9,012 of 9,051 – of the laps he’s contested there.

With only Phoenix and Homestead left on the schedule, Busch is hoping he can finish strong and finish in the top-10 in points.

KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Talk about your record-setting lap last weekend at Texas.

“(Turns) three and four is an incredible sensation. Once the car goes into the banking, it travels. The suspension collapses in the car and the car gets lower to the ground and picks up speed because you are lower to the ground and have less drag. It is a sensation that is hard to describe. When you have that grip level in the car, it gives you the feeling that you can just put it down to the floor and there won’t be any consequences. Turns one and two are where I think the lap times come from, if you can get it to hook and stay right on the bottom because that end of the track is a lot flatter. You have to back out of the gas all the way. Then, in three and four, you can hold it wide open. Both ends of the track are very different. It is a cool sensation going through three and four almost holding it wide open.”

What do you feel you need to work on at Phoenix to continue the success you’ve had there?

“It seems like, each time we go back to Phoenix, the asphalt is getting a little bit older. It’s starting to get a little bit slicker, yet it still seems like you can stay out forever on tires. You are out there a long time on tires and the air pressures build up. We are going to work this time around on keeping the air pressure down and trying to make our long-run speed better.” 

What makes Phoenix such a unique racetrack?

“It’s got a great atmosphere there with turns one and two being much tighter than turns three and four. They reconfigured the dogleg on the back straightaway, which is a huge corner now. It opens up the ability to go way below the yellow line. Sometimes you see cars five-wide on the back straightaway. That is definitely a wild card in the mix there.”

When Clint Bowyer joined Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) before the 2017 season, he told news media, fans and anyone who would listen that his new organization is the best he’s been a part of during his nearly 12 full seasons in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

That’s a strong statement from a driver who’s scored three top-five finishes in the season standings – 2007 and 2008 with Richard Childress Racing, and 2012 with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Bowyer cites his crew, shop, owners, manufacturer and teammates when he talks about the depth of resources at SHR. The 2017 results are proving Bowyer correct. Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 in February, and Kevin Harvick earned a spot in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with his victory Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

SHR has collected 35 poles and 39 victories in 964 races.

This weekend, the four-car SHR team Bowyer hails as “the best” visits Phoenix Raceway – its best track. SHR has enjoyed five trips to victory lane in 50 races at Phoenix during the team’s nine-year existence. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based team owned by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart also owns 15 top-fives, 22 top-10s and one pole at the Arizona flat, mile oval.

Bowyer hopes driving for the best team at its best track will pay dividends this weekend in the penultimate race of the 2017 Cup Series season.

“I like going to Phoenix,” said Bowyer who owns two top-five finishes and six top-10s and has led 22 laps at Phoenix. “It’s a great city and the racetrack there produces some of the best races we’ve seen the last couple of years. Phoenix has always been kind of unique to itself. I think it always will be. Short-track racing is always a lot of fun. I wish we had five more tracks just like Phoenix.”

Harvick owns four of those five SHR victories since joining the organization in 2014, and Ryan Newman earned the other SHR victory at the iconic desert track in April 2010. Harvick has won six of the last 10 Phoenix races.

Bowyer said he’ll rely on Harvick’s Phoenix knowledge, as well as that of his other SHR teammates Busch and Danica Patrick.

“It is a breath of fresh air to be in the meetings with those guys and debrief with them and work on the next week or even just the race after practice,” he said. “It is really cool to have those guys’ input going into a race or the following week. Stewart-Haas has won a lot of races at Phoenix. Kevin is the master there. I plan to lean on Kevin and, hopefully, we’ll get to add to the list of SHR’s successes.”

Bowyer, who is in his first season with SHR after replacing three-time champion Stewart in the No. 14 Ford led by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz, has posted three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes. The team narrowly missed earning one of 16 berths in NASCAR’s playoffs – despite Bowyer’s average finish of 15.6 that is 12th-best of all full-time drivers this season.

He arrives in Phoenix hoping to turn around his recent bad fortune during which accidents by other drivers ruined consecutive races at Charlotte, Talladega and Kansas, followed by a third-place finish Oct. 29 at Martinsville. Mechanical issues dropped Bowyer to a 36th-place finish at Texas last weekend.

“We are suffering a plague of bad luck right now,” he said. “I don’t know what we have to do to fix it, but I’m ready for some good luck.”

Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford Fusion will carry a red-and-gray paint scheme this weekend promoting DAMNATION – USA Network’s new television series about America’s Heartland in the 1930s that premieres at 10 p.m. EST tonight.

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 DAMNATION Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What is the key to success at Phoenix?

“The key to success at Phoenix is just having a good, neutral racecar. Both ends of the track are quite different with turns one and two being a pretty tight arc and turns three and four being a pretty open, sweeping corner. So, there’s really no perfect setup. You have to find a happy medium with good balance, and then find a middle ground. After that, it’s track position that’s important. You have to qualify well and make sure you stay up front.”

What is the biggest challenge at Phoenix? 

“Since the repave, the track has changed quite a bit, so your driving has to also change. I was probably better with the old, worn-out surface and softer tires. Now, with the harder tires, the new repave and new construction off turn two, plus the difference in the track – it’s been a challenge for me. But again, this is a new world, with new equipment. I’ve learned already, in just a short amount of time, things here at SHR seem to be easier.”

DAMNATION INFORMATION:

DAMNATION is an epic saga about the secret history of the 1930s American Heartland, focusing on the mythical conflict and bloody struggle between big money and the downtrodden. Tuesday’s pilot introduces Seth Davenport (Killian Scott), a man masquerading as a small-town Iowa preacher with hopes of starting a full-blown insurrection against the status quo.

Focused on his mission, he is unaware that an industrialist tycoon has hired a professional strikebreaker named Creeley Turner (Logan Marshall-Green) to stop the uprising by any means necessary. Unbeknownst to those around them, these two men already share a secret and bloody past.

The series also stars Sarah Jones, Chasten Harmon, Melinda Page Hamilton, Christopher Heyerdahl and Joe Adler. From executive producers Tony Tost (Longmire), Adam Kane (American Gods), James Mangold (Logan), Guymon Casady (Game of Thrones) and Daniel Rappaport (Office Space), on behalf of Entertainment 360, the pilot was written and created by Tost and directed by Kane. Universal Cable Productions co-produces the series with Netflix, which will have first-run rights to the series outside of the U.S.