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11.16.15
Phoenix 500k Post-Report
Date: Nov. 15, 2015
Event: Race for Heroes 500k (Round 35 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Phoenix International Raceway (1-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 21st/16th (Running, completed 218 of 219 laps)
Point Standing: 24th (696 points)
Winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Danica Patrick and the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) earned their 13th top-20 finish of the season by scoring a 16th-place result in Sunday’s rain-shortened Race for Heroes 500k at Phoenix International Raceway.
After a delay of more than six hours due to rain, Patrick started the event from the 21st position and raced her way up to 18th by the time NASCAR issued a competition caution at lap 40. Patrick brought the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and fuel, but when NASCAR cited the team for the crew members being over the wall too soon, the penalty put Patrick at the tail of the field in the 29th position for the lap-48 restart.
Patrick went down a lap to the leader on the ensuing long, green-flag run. Crew chief Daniel Knost called for a scheduled four-tire pit stop at lap 122. The No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet team was scored in the 26th position once green-flag stops cycled through.
When the caution flag waved again in the middle of green-flag pit stops at lap 195, Knost called Patrick to pit road for four tires and fuel. The team also made a wedge adjustment and added a piece of tape over one of the brake ducts. Patrick rejoined the field in the 16th position. As the field continued under caution, rain began to fall. NASCAR brought the cars down pit road as the rain intensified. After a heavy downpour, the race was deemed official and Patrick was credited with a 16th-place finish.
“The GoDaddy Chevrolet was decent tonight,” Patrick said. “It got tight in the center of the corner and seemed to be better later in the run. The pit road penalty definitely hurt us, but we were able to come back and get a solid finish.”
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent Sunday by finishing second in the Race for Heroes 500k. He led twice for a race-high 143 laps en route to his 22nd top-five this season and his 11th top-five in 26 career Sprint Cup starts at Phoenix. The finish was also Harvick’s 27th top-10 of 2015, eclipsing his previous single-season career-best of 26 top-10s in 2010. Harvick has now led 2,248 laps in 2015, breaking his single-season record of 2,137 laps led in 2014 as he raced to the Sprint Cup championship.
Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished seventh to earn his 20th top-10 this season and his 15th top-10 in 26 career Sprint Cup starts at Phoenix.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 27th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Race for Heroes 500k to score his 26th career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his third at Phoenix. The victory also secured the manufacturer’s championship for Chevrolet. It is the brand’s 13th straight title and 39th overall in the Sprint Cup Series.
Finishing behind Earnhardt and Harvick in third was Joey Logano. Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five while Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were two caution periods for 29 laps, with two drivers failing to finish the 219-lap race around the 1-mile oval.
As the penultimate event in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Phoenix served as the final elimination race. The eight-driver Chase field was whittled down to four following the Race for Heroes 500k. The winner-take-all Championship Round is Nov. 22 in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Harvick advanced to the Championship Round, along with Gordon, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. All had their respective point tallies reset to 5,000.
Logano, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Keselowski were the four drivers eliminated from the Chase.
The Sprint Cup season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC.