This season will be it for competitive racing for Gordon, and fans get a special treat at the NASCAR event Sunday, as the track will be renamed Jeff Gordon Raceway for Sunday’s race.
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NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton and chairman Brian France approached Gordon on the dock. “The only thing I’ve thought about this week was winning this race”. I elected not to be a part of it. It’s absolutely my choice.
“I don’t think Phoenix is too big of a wild-card knowing that we’ve been so fast there the last two years”, Jones said. A two-time victor this season, Busch may have cooled off but can not be counted out on tracks like Phoenix or Homestead – where Busch clinched his championship in the first year of the Chase in 2004.
It could be feast or starvation for three organizations trying to advance their drivers into NASCAR’s championship race of the Sprint Cup season. All of the other six Chase drivers (not including Jeff Gordon, who is already locked into a berth at Homestead) can potentially reach the final round depending upon where they are in the standings. The other two would qualify on points.
Busch is Kevin Harvick’s teammate which means he will race with a set-up on his auto similar to if not the same as Harvick. “I feel like that (edge) can be gone at any point”, said Harvick. Consistency is key now, but the problem is that you have to get top-fives. “You have to win”.
It wasn’t always this way.
“The points battle is tight right now, and there are so many scenarios that can still play out this weekend”, the Mayetta, N.J., native said.
While the drama created by the Chase receives generally favorable reviews, there is a few grumbling about the format. I know my team is ready to go. And a blown left rear tire last week at Texas Motor Speedway cemented Logano’s current must-win predicament. “I don’t mind being in this position, but I’d rather have sleepless nights, worrying about (the Chase)”. And he arrived at Phoenix in a better position, ranking third in the standings among Chase-eligible drivers with a 10-point advantage over fifth placed Carl Edwards.
AVONDALE, Ariz. – When it comes to Phoenix global Raceway, there’s Kevin Harvick and then there’s the rest. Needing a win at the end of the first segment of this year’s Chase, Harvick won at Dover. Joey Logano, apparently in excellent shape for a championship after winning all three races in round two, must win Sunday after Matt Kenseth wrecked him at Martinsville (after Logano wrecked Kenseth at Kansas, leading to Kenseth falling out of championship contention). They showed what they are capable of last week at Texas where they dominated before coming up just short at the finish. Instead of automatically qualifying, Keselowski remained mired in sixth place in points.
So it didn’t help when both failed to advance out of the second round of Friday qualifying.
“It’s not gonna be easy, but like we’ve seen plenty of times in these races this year recently you never know what’s gonna happen”, said Logano, who will line up 14th. “I wish we were in the next round and going for a pole, but the fact of the matter is we’re going to start 14th, and we’re going to work on our vehicle (during Saturday’s practice) and get it ready to win a race on Sunday”.
Gordon, whose consistency paved the way for his four previous championships, agrees with Logano.
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“There are a lot of good racecar drivers and lots of circumstances that could play out to have things go wrong”, he said. I think that I try and not be that selfish and think of what is best for the sport.
