Track Advance: Flat Trackin’ In Phoenix

Tony Stewart loves it here. Chad Knaus thinks Jimmie Johnson owns it, as far as that goes, Phoenix International Raceway has been downright kind to Johnson’s boss Rick Hendrick. The desert will come alive Saturday night when the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour descends on the Valley of The Sun- a great place to be when the weather is still a bit unpredictable in other corners of the country.

The TV Broadcast on FOX gets underway at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. It will be broadcast on radio on the MRN network. Green flag start is 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific.

Let’s scope the place out:

The Subway Fresh Fit 500 is actually a 500 kilometer race  on PIR’s one-mile track, meaning the race will have 312 laps. The track is a relatively flat oval with a dog leg- there’s 3 degrees banking on the front stretch, 9 on the back. There’s 11 degrees banking on turns 1 and 2, 9 degrees on 3 and 4. Tony Stewart has been quoted as saying that to get the car right for the first two turns means you’ll be loose on the back two turns. On the other hand, Smoke says having a car that’s good in 3 and 4 means a tight car in 1 and 2.

The first NASCAR Cup event ran here on November 6, 1988, the Checker 500, won by Alan Kulwicki. Not only has Jimmie Johnson won the most victories (3) at Phoenix, he’s the winner of  the last three races here since Jeff Gordon tied Dale Earnhardt for career victories in this race in the spring of 2007. Jeff Burton won here twice for Jack Roush at the beginning of this decade, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at PIR in 2003 and ‘04, Kevin Harvick swept the 2006 races, plus the Busch brothers, Smoke, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin have victories at this track where Cup events have only gone to two dates a season since 2005.

Richard Petty may be “The King”, but among today’s drivers, Ryan Newman is the “King of Qualifying.” Newman is the all-time pole-sitter at PIR with 4, his lap of 26.499 seconds (135.854 miles per hour) on November 5, 2004 is the track qualifying record.

Tony Stewart has run the fastest race at the Arizona track. On November 7, 1999 in the Dura-Lube 500, the “Rushville Rocket” ran the course in 2 hours, 38 minutes, and 28 seconds- a speed of 118.132 miles per hour.

Though people talk about this track having a short track feel, the record for cautions is 11- set in November of 2004- not exactly Bristol is it. The fewest cautions? 2 in November of 1999. Only 3 drivers finished on the lead lap in the 1994 race, 29 did so in 2003. 41 racers finished the contest 3 times, the most recent being the spring, 2007 race. The 1989 race had the fewest finishers with 27. In 2000, there were 23 lead changes, in 1990, there was only 1.

Crew chief Chad Knaus says the car has to be the total package at Phoenix. With all the variations in the turns, it’s not hard to see how this track will provide challenges to chief and driver. You’ve got the flat turns in the back, a fairly tight corner going into turn one, and the dog-leg coming out of turn two.

Looks like fun.

A couple of weeks ago, I made reference to my friend Mike Caplinger, an old modified racer and former muffler shop owner. One of his vendors gave Mike and his wife a trip to the fall Phoenix race back in 2007. They absolutely loved it. For me, I don’t know what it is, but I love Saturday night races. It is also interesting to watch teams adjust to the changing track conditions as day turns to night.

We’ll get more into predictions tomorrow in the “Fearless Forecast.” Right now, I will tell you that now more than ever, Hendrick Motorsports with it’s current slate of drivers is poised for dominance, but we can also see from the winner’s last that Jack Roush and Ford has also tasted considerable success. Because of the short track feel, its not completely illogical to figure the Richard Childress gang might do well at Phoenix. Another interesting fact going into the race, David Reutimann is the only top 12 driver to never finish in the top 10 at PIR. 

PHOTO CREDITS- Top photo by cyclist451. Right photo by dutsguru. PIR at night by Albert Fattal. More from these photographers may be found at flickr.com.