Subway Fresh Fit 500 Race Preview

Phoenix International Raceway -- 04/12/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Wednesday Apr 9 2008 4:22pm

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of NASCAR Cup racing at Phoenix International Raceway, the first race having been held in November of 1988. That event, the 1988 Checker 500, ran 312 laps and was won by Alan Kulwicki.

PIR was a once-a-year (fall) date on the Cup schedule from 1988 until 2005, when NASCAR awarded a second (spring) date to the track as part of an overall plan to add more western venues to the schedule.

Though it is a one-mile racetrack, the race is called the "Subway Fresh Fit 500" because the 312-lap/312-mile distance is roughly equivalent to 500 kilometers.

Most drivers enjoy racing at PIR, if for no other reason than, as Casey Mears (+6000) told me, it is different than the so-called cookie-cutter tracks that are so prevalent in Cup racing today. PIR is a one-mile tri-oval with a tricky dogleg in the backstretch. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 11 degrees, while turns 3 and 4 are banked at 9 degrees. Turns 1 and 2 are relatively tight compared to the more sweeping curve in 3 and 4, but turn 4 has traditionally been the trouble spot at PIR.

Although this is the first night race of the year, set to go green at 5:30 p.m. local time, the sun will not set until 7:01 p.m. As a result, drivers heading down the frontstretch will be staring directly into a glaring sun low on the horizon for the first 90 minutes of the race.

Managing the difference between the two ends of the track will be foremost on the minds of drivers and crew chiefs Saturday night. "This track is tricky, and it really challenges everyone," said Jeff Gordon (+845). "Turns 1 and 2 are banked, while 3 and 4 are flat, and the groove really widens out during the race." Clint Bowyer (+1625) notes, "Making your car work on both ends of the race track is the toughest part. You’ve got a tight corner in 1 and 2 and a big sweeping corner in 3 and 4. That’s definitely something that’s unique and separates Phoenix from other race tracks."

Two factors at Phoenix should help prevent the kinds of difficulties that some teams faced at Texas last week. For one thing, teams tested at Phoenix last month - something they did not have the opportunity to do before Texas. Additionally, both Cup races at Phoenix last year utilized the Car of Tomorrow, while last year's Texas races were run in the old car.

It was probably the latter factor which contributed to a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of PIR last year, since the organization was so strong in COT races in 2007. Jeff Gordon won the spring race and Jimmie Johnson (+625) prevailed in the fall.

Chevy drivers in general have been dominant at the track in recent years, though all three Toyota drivers at Gibbs - Tony Stewart (+925), Denny Hamlin (+745), and Kyle Busch (+745), have run well here before switching manufacturers. GM teams have won seven of the last eight Phoenix races, including two wins during that time by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1025) and Kevin Harvick (+1125), and one each by Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson. The lone non-Chevy winner was Kurt Busch (+3050) in April of 2005 piloting a Roush Racing Ford.

The only other two-time winner at this track is Jeff Burton (+1425), though his victories were posted in 2000 and 2001 when he, too, was with Roush. Along with those already mentioned, other single race winners include Mark Martin (+5000) in 1993, Tony Stewart in 1999, and Matt Kenseth (+925) in 2002.

The Hendrick duo of Johnson and Gordon lead all drivers in the average finish category at 6.6 and 8.3 respectively. Just two other drivers have sub-10 average finishes - Mark Martin and Tony Stewart at 9.4 each.

NASCAR reports that twice in the past three years, a driver has scored a perfect driver rating at Phoenix International Raceway. This rare feat has only happened six times in the Cup series since the inception of this particular statistic in 2005. Kurt Busch scored a perfect driver rating of 150 points at PIR in the spring of 2005, while Kevin Harvick did so in the fall of 2006.

In terms of total points, including bonus points, earned at PIR in the last five races, Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers, followed by Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Matt Kenseth.

NASCAR's hottest driver at the moment, Carl Edwards (+550), winner of three of the year's first seven races, has four top 10s in seven Phoenix starts, including four straight in 2005-2006. He finished 11th in the spring race last year, but DNF'd with an engine failure in the fall after leading the first 87 laps of the race.

Current points leader Jeff Burton finished 13th in the spring '07 race and 9th in the fall. Burton expressed concern about his team's past performance here, but is optimistic about his chances this weekend. "Although we have a bunch of top 10’s, Phoenix-style race tracks have been a weakness in our program," said Burton. "Particularly for the 31 team, we haven’t done as well at Phoenix, New Hampshire and Richmond as we needed to. For us, this is an important race. We run a lot at these types of race tracks throughout the season so we need to be better. We’ve put a lot of effort into this program and we’re looking forward to the outcome of our efforts."

Notably, NASCAR’s loop data statistics rank Burton as the best green-flag passer at PIR, reporting that over the last six races, Burton has completed 275 passes under green-flag conditions. He is also the only driver in the Cup series who has completed every lap of competition this season.

Burton added his voice to the chorus of drivers who use the word "fun" to describe racing at PIR: "It’s a fun race track to compete on. It has multiple grooves. You don’t have to run right on the bottom - you can run on top or in the middle. It’s a neat race track with short track characteristics and higher speeds. You don’t get a demolition derby as you do on the shorter tracks, but you get good racing."