Deciding the Chase final four at Phoenix

None of the eight drivers who are currently in championship contention won at either Martinsville (Oct. 26) or Texas (last Sunday). That means at least three of the four positions for Homestead will be determined by points. If none of the title contenders wins at Phoenix, then all four will be decided by points.

Entering Sunday’s race at Phoenix, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin are tied in points (4,072 each), while Ryan Newman is just two points behind them.

Logano and Hamlin can both clinch a final four spot for Homestead with finishes of 11th or better, 12th with at least one lap led or 13th with the most laps led. Newman’s clinching scenario is finishing ninth or better, 10th with one lap led or 11th with the most laps led.

When the series most recently competed at Phoenix in March, Logano finished fourth, Newman seventh and Hamlin 19th.

“Basically, we want to do what we did here in the spring,” Logano said. “We had a good car that started up front and led some laps. We were able to have a solid day and finish fourth. All we have to do is finish 11th, but our goal is to come out here and win the race. If our goal was only 11th, we may not finish there, so we have to make sure we set our goals high like we’ve been doing for the rest of the season.”

Jeff Gordon is presently fourth in the Chase point standings (-12), while fifth-place Matt Kenseth and sixth-place Carl Edwards are both only one point behind Gordon. Brad Keselowski is seventh in the rankings (-17), followed by Kevin Harvick (-18).

Harvick has the most victories in the series at Phoenix with five. He has won three of the last four races here, including the previous two. Harvick is also the only driver with a season-sweep at this track (2006).

Can he get another season-sweep here?

Harvick finished 33rd at Martinsville and fell 33 points behind the leader, but he bounced back nicely with a second-place run at Texas.

“We’re excited,” Harvick said. “I think last week was a little bit unexpected just for the fact that we made up a lot more ground than I think we anticipated going in (to Texas). Came up a little bit short on the win, but we couldn’t pick a better racetrack for us to come to next and need to try and win a race. The team is in good spirits, and we are looking forward to this weekend’s challenges.”

In Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice at Phoenix, Harvick had the quickest lap at 141.521 mph.

“I think you need to win this weekend,” he said. “I think it would leave a lot less in everybody else’s hands. I think we are very capable of winning this race, and we have been fortunate to have a lot of success here in the past from my driving side and the first race this year. That would be the easiest way to do it.”

Gordon came to Texas as the points leader and appeared to be on his way to victory there when he held the lead late in the race, but Gordon suffered a flat tire and spun out after Keselowski bumped into him while battling for position following the restart for the first of two green-white-checkered finishes. Gordon ended up finishing one lap down in 29th, while Keselowski placed third.

After the race, Gordon had heated words with Keselowski on pit road while crew members from both of their teams were engaged in a shoving match. Then Harvick approached Keselowski from behind and pushed him. It sparked a huge brawl with plenty of punches being thrown. Harvick was also irritated with Keselowski for his actions on the track.

Both Gordon and Keselowski suffered cuts and bruises to their faces and lips during the altercation.

On Tuesday, NASCAR suspended and fined three crew members from Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team and one member from Kasey Kahne’s No. 5 Hendrick team for their involvement in the physical altercation. Gordon, Harvick and Keselowski were not penalized.

“The thing that I feel terrible about is getting my guys involved with it,” Gordon said. “I feel like if we could have just had a face-to-face (conversation), there would have been no incident.

“Kevin played a role. There’s no doubt about that. I didn’t realize who it was at the time. I thought it was him, but it wasn’t until I went back and saw it later on video. I got a good chuckle out of that one.”

Gordon, at age 43, is attempting to win his fifth championship in the series but his first since 2001. He finished fifth at Phoenix earlier this year.

“We did have a good run here earlier in the year, and we had a good test here a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “I feel like we had a lot of confidence coming out of that test, and in practice (Friday), the track was reacting different than what we had expected. It’s not going to be easy. This team doesn’t seem to like to do anything the easy way, but we’re highly motivated and excited about our chances.”

For the second time in this Chase, Keselowski is on the verge of being eliminated from the championship. During the Contender Round, the No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver and 2012 Sprint Cup champion finished 36th at Kansas and then 16th at Charlotte before winning the Talladega race, which automatically advanced him into the Eliminator Round.

Keselowski began the Eliminator Round with a 31st-place finish at Martinsville. He leads the series with six wins this season.

“If this team is in the race, then we are more than capable of winning,” Keselowski said. “We’ve demonstrated all year long that we can contend for wins and that we are a viable threat to win every weekend…We are going into the Phoenix race with our heads up, our hearts pure and our eyes focused. It’s going to be fun.”

Keselowski started on the pole and finished third in the spring race at Phoenix.

Forty-four teams are on the entry list for the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500.

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup. Date: Sunday, Nov. 9. Race: Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500. Site: Phoenix International Raceway. Track: 1-mile oval. Start time: 3 p.m. ET. Laps: 312. Miles: 312. 2013 Winner: Kevin Harvick. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.

Categorized in: NASCAR