ThatsRacin.com: Phoenix International Raceway

TV ratings for Phoenix Cup race fall 19 percent

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:31 EST

TV ratings for the Nov. 11 Nextel Cup Series race broadcast on ABC from Phoenix International Raceway were down 19 percent from the same race one year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The Nov. 11 Checker Auto Parts 500 received a 3.8 rating, down from a 4.7 received in 2006 when the race was broadcast on NBC.

The race was the seventh-highest-rated sports program of the week behind four NFL games and two college football games. The first nine races of the Chase for the Nextel Cup registered a decline in ratings from a year ago.

Final ratings from Sunday's season finale at Homestead, Fla., are not yet available.

The Busch race at Phoenix received a 1.1 rating on ESPN2, down from a 1.9 the year before and broadcast on NBC. The Phoenix Truck race received a 0.6 rating, down from a 0.7 the year before. Both were broadcast on Speed Channel.

J. Gordon having great year, just Johnson's is better

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:22 EST

That's Racin's David Poole ranks the top 40 teams in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series following the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. (Rankings based on team performance and potential. Each team's previous week's ranking in parentheses:)

1. (1) Jimmie Johnson -- car No. 48

Now fourth among active drivers with 33 wins. Only Jeff Gordon (81), Bill Elliott (44) and Mark Martin (35) have more.

2. (2) Jeff Gordon -- car No. 24

It's worth remembering this team is having one of the best years any team's ever had.

3. (3) Clint Bowyer -- car No. 07

Third-place in final standings would be a fitting reward for this team's solid season.

4. (4) Kyle Busch -- car No. 5

Had a shot at a Truck-Busch-Cup sweep at Phoenix. News flash: This guy can drive.

5. (5) Tony Stewart -- car No. 20

Thanks to pit crew missteps, he probably passed more cars than anybody at Phoenix.

6. (8) Matt Kenseth -- car No. 17

This team has strung together top-fives in all four races that Jimmie Johnson has won.

7. (11) Kevin Harvick -- car No. 29

After a 10th at Phoenix, this team has now finished between sixth and 10th in 11 races.

8. (10) Martin Truex Jr. -- car No. 1

Postrace friction Sunday between Truex and crew chief Kevin Manion over strategy.

9. (6) Carl Edwards -- car No. 99

Blown engine ruined what was shaping up to be a very good day for him at Phoenix.

10. (9) Jeff Burton -- car No. 31

Only 80 points out of fifth place in the standings going into the season's final week.

11. (7) Kurt Busch -- car No. 2

12. (13) Ryan Newman -- car No. 12

13. (12) Denny Hamlin -- car No. 11

14. (16) Greg Biffle -- car No. 16

15. (15) Casey Mears -- car No. 25

16. (14) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- car No. 8

17. (19) Bobby Labonte -- car No. 43

18. (20) Juan Pablo Montoya -- car No. 42

19. (18) Jamie McMurray -- car No. 26

20. (17) Kasey Kahne -- car No. 9

21. (21) Mark Martin/Aric Almirola -- car No. 01

22. (22) Reed Sorenson -- car No. 41

23. (26) J.J. Yeley -- car No. 18

24. (28) Paul Menard -- car No. 15

25. (30) David Stremme -- car No. 40

26. (23) Ricky Rudd -- car No. 88

27. (24) Elliott Sadler -- car No. 19

28. (25) Tony Raines -- car No. 96

29. (29) Robby Gordon -- car No. 7

30. (27) Dave Blaney -- car No. 22

31. (31) David Ragan -- car No. 6

32. (32) David Gilliland -- car No. 38

33. (36) Johnny Sauter -- car No. 70

34. (35) Brian Vickers -- car No. 83

35. (34) Kyle Petty -- car No. 45

36. (33) Patrick Carpentier/Scott Riggs -- car No. 10

37. (37) Bill Elliott -- car No. 21

38. (38) Jeremy Mayfield -- car No. 66

39. (39) David Reutimann -- car No. 00

40. (40) Michael Waltrip -- car No. 55

| How the top 12 fared

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:23 EST

How the top-12 teams fared on Sunday at Phoenix:

1st - Jimmie Johnson (6,572 points)

Jimmie Johnson declined when he was asked to rate himself as a driver following his 33rd career victory.

"I'm not one to pat myself on the back," he said. "I've been doing my part for the team and giving 100 percent. That's one motto we always talk about. If everybody gives 100 percent, we'll get what we want."

2nd - Jeff Gordon (86 behind)

Jeff Gordon said maybe he's the one who needs to do something different when it comes to trying to beat Jimmie Johnson.

"I guess I have got to change, I don't know," Gordon said. "We've got to figure out how to go faster. I know that, because what I am doing now ain't getting it done."

3rd - Clint Bowyer (241 behind)

Clint Bowyer fought brake problems all day in his No. 07 Chevrolet, but still milked an 11th-place finish. He has all but locked in a third-place finish in points for the season.

4th - Kyle Busch (387 behind)

Kyle Busch's bid to become the first to win races in all three national series at the same track in the same weekend fell short. He still has a mathematical shot at catching Clint Bowyer to make it a 1-2-3 Hendrick points sweep.

5th - Tony Stewart (403 behind)

Tony Stewart was hampered by a pair of slow pit stops. "You can't pass 80 cars and expect to win," he said after finishing fourth.

"The good thing is these guys don't quit."

6th - Matt Kenseth (469 behind)

Matt Kenseth lost second in the final laps to Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle and wound up third.

"I just couldn't get it done," said Kenseth, who changed two tires on his final stop. "I didn't have quite enough grip."

7th - Kevin Harvick (479 behind)

Kevin Harvick banged fenders with Jeff Gordon late in the race while battling for position.

"He swerved left," said Harvick, who finished sixth. "He ran into the side of us. He is going to get what he has got coming back and I gave it back to him, so I guess we are even."

8th - Jeff Burton (483 behind)

Jeff Burton never completely got the handle on his car and wound up ninth. He still has a chance to finish in the top five in points for the second consecutive season.

9th - Carl Edwards (505 behind)

Carl Edwards started from the pole and led the first 87 laps, but engine problems sent him to the garage after Lap 125.

"I could go just about as fast as I wanted and you don't get that very often," Edwards said.

10th - Kurt Busch (516 behind)

Kurt Busch currently holds a 47-point advantage over Martin Truex Jr. with one race remaining for the final spot on stage at the awards ceremony in New York City.

11th - Martin Truex Jr. (524 behind)

Martin Truex Jr. was critical of crew chief Kevin Manion's decision to stay out and not pit on a yellow with 40 laps left. Truex faded to seventh and said the decision to stay out left him "a sitting duck."

"We just have to get our communication down to understand that we make calls on the pit box to win races; we don't make calls to run seventh," Manion said. "No matter what pit sequence we decide on the pit box, we get ridiculed and criticized by the driver on the race track. It is tough to swallow."

12th - Denny Hamlin (599 behind)

Denny Hamlin was hit with a pair of speeding penalties which twice forced him to the rear of the field. He still managed to fight back to finish 16th.

| How far up can 48 team go?

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:56 EST

Riding the racing elevator, examining the outcome at Phoenix International Raceway:

UP - Jimmie Johnson

Nobody had won four straight since 1998. Nobody has won five straight since Richard Petty did it between July 11 and Aug. 1 in 1971.

DOWN -- "Championship Weekend" at Homestead

At least there's still some doubt about who will win the Craftsman Truck series title.

UP - Sam Hornish Jr.

Made the race, got 311 laps of experience and didn't cause any trouble in his Cup debut.

Truex, crew chief at odds on final stop

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:48 EST

AVONDALE, Ariz. - It appears there may be a strain in the relationship between driver Martin Truex Jr. and his crew chief, Kevin Manion.

Truex was extremely critical of Manion’s decision on the final pit stop with 40 laps remaining to stay out on the track and not pit. Most of the lead-lap cars pitted for two or four tires and Truex faded to seventh.

“It is my decision. I wanted to stay out. I thought out of 24 cars (on the lead lap) and the car was at the best and only had 26 green flag laps on it, I thought that was our best chance. I absolutely thought more guys would stay out,” Manion said.

“We just have to get our communication down to understand that we make calls on the pit box to win races. We don’t make calls to run seventh. We don’t make pit decisions to run us out of gas.

“No matter what pit sequence we decide on the pit box, we get ridiculed and criticized by the driver on the race track. It is tough to swallow.”

Truex said the decision to stay out left him “a sitting duck.”

“It was unfortunate at the end. We stayed out. We were taking a gamble. If we pit, I don’t think we could have won so we stayed out and tried to do what we could do.”

| Piling up some serious points

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:44 EST

Some observations on Sunday's race from David Poole of The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com:

If Jeff Gordon wins and leads the most laps at Homestead, he'll have 6,681 points. If that happens, Johnson still wins the championship with 109 points, which is 18th without leading a lap or 19th if he leads one. If Johnson does that, he will have scored 1,621 points in the Chase. The first three Chase winners scored 1,486, 1,487 and 1,437 points in the respective 10-race playoffs.

Hendrick Motorsports has won the past six races and 18 of 35 races this year. That's the way teams like Petty Enterprises or Holman-Moody used to dominate. It's not unprecedented, but it does seem ironic. The car of tomorrow was supposed to even things between the haves and have-nots. Eventually, it might. But as many suspected before the season began, this year the top-tier teams have been the first to seize on the car's quirks and make them work in their favor.

| Four things that shaped Sunday's outcome at Phoenix

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:46 EST

Key moments in Sunday's race:

LAP 119

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crash brings out a yellow flag, and Jeff Gordon comes down pit road while Jimmie Johnson stays out. That puts Gordon out of sequence, a potentially pivotal situation.

LAP 188

Matt Kenseth makes a green-flag pit stop, handing the lead to Johnson. That gives Johnson five bonus points, and since Gordon is yet to lead a lap that's five bonus points more on the lead Johnson would leave with.

LAP 199

Gordon makes a green-flag pit stop and falls a lap down. If a caution comes out before Johnson pits, the race for this year's championship would be over. But Johnson comes in on Lap 219 and Gordon dodges immediate disaster.

LAP 270

With Gordon's left-front tire smoking after contact with Kevin Harvick, debris on the track brings out a yellow. That gives Gordon a chance to get a new tire, but he's buried back in 12th for the restart.

LAP 289

Johnson passes Martin Truex Jr. to take the lead on his way to a fourth-straight victory. Coincidentally, the pass comes with 24 laps left - matching the car number of Gordon in a race where Johnson most likely put his teammate away.

'I just lost it off 2,' Eanrhardt Jr. says

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:40 EST

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s frustrating season took another bad turn when he wiped out on the 118th lap.

Earnhardt Jr. failed to finish for the ninth time in 35 races, and for the third time in the last six races.

“I just lost it off (Turn) 2,” said Earnhardt Jr.

“I got up there a little high and it just came around. I tried to save it the best I could, but I couldn’t.”

With one race to go, Earnhardt Jr.’s string of seasons with a victory is in jeopardy. He has won at least one race every year since 2000 but hasn’t won this year.

Next week’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway is his last race driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. He’s leaving the team for Hendrick Motorsports next season.

Edwards leads early, then engine lets go

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:36 EST

Winning the pole for the first time since the 2005 season finale, Carl Edwards was having “a blast” early on. Then his engine went bust.

Edwards led for the first 87 laps before his No. 99 Ford broke down.

“I mean, I was out there just having a blast,” Edwards said. “I could go just about as fast as I wanted, so you don’t get that very often. It’s too bad it blew up.

“It was something important in the engine,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what it is, but we don’t have many engine failures. It’s too bad to have one on this day.”

Edwards dropped four slots in the points standings, to ninth.

Good news for Kahne: Season's almost over

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:34 EST

The end of the season can’t come fast enough for Kasey Kahne, who got into an accident with Tony Raines midway through the race.

“That there was driver error,” Kahne said. “We’ve only got one week left, so I’m happy about that. I drove like an idiot all day and finally wrecked. We were slow. We were way off the pace.”

Kahne was evaluated and released from the infield medical care center.

Raines’ car is owned by Arizona Diamondbacks executives Jeff Moorad, the general partner and CEO, and Tom Garfinkel, executive vice president & chief operating officer. It featured the Diamondbacks’ National League West championship logo on the wheel well.

Montoya has best finish of former Indy winners

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:32 EST

There were three Indianapolis 500 winners in a NASCAR field for the first time – Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish Jr.

Montoya finished 17th, the highest by a rookie. Hornish finished 30th and Villeneuve had an accident and was 41st.

Gordon might've already had this concession speech ready

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:22 EST

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Jeff Gordon didn’t hide the resignation. In fact, it was clear he didn’t want to.

Jimmie Johnson’s victory in Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway virtually dimmed all hope Gordon has of claiming his fifth Nextel Cup Series championship this season.

Gordon finished a respectable 10th, but that offered no help as Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, cruised to his fourth consecutive victory and 10th of the season.

“It’s over,” Gordon said of the championship battle. “Even if they have trouble and we win it, we’ll accept the check and the trophy, but it’s not the way you want to win a championship.

“We’ve gotten beat, bottom line. They’ve done the job and deserve to be champions and we haven’t.”

With only next weekend’s season finale remaining at Homestead, Fla., Gordon trails Johnson by 86 points.

Johnson need only finish 18th or better next week and he is assured of his second series championship regardless of how Gordon performs.

“It’s unfortunate. Right now I’m just more frustrated with the way we’ve been running. We’ve run so well all year long and got ourselves in a great position and it just hasn’t worked out for us,” said Gordon, who has six wins this season.

“You go into it trying to figure out if it’s your year and if you got what it takes. I really thought we did. It was just not to be for us.”

Gordon just never seemed to be able to get his No. 24 Chevrolet to perform up to the level of Johnson’s team on Sunday.

He and crew chief Steve Letarte tried a variety of adjustments and different pit strategies in an attempt to improve track position. Some on-track run-ins with Kevin Harvick and Juan Pablo Montoya didn’t make Gordon's job any easier.

On the final stops with 40 laps remaining, Gordon took four tires and restarted 12th but could only pick up two more positions before the finish.

“I tried everything and it just wouldn’t work,” Gordon said. “Whatever they got, we’re missing. We know everything they’ve got but, man, we’re just not hitting on it.

“We’re coming up short here in the crucial time. Those guys have just knocked it out of the ballpark. It’s tough to beat that even when you are running on all eight cylinders.”

All is not lost for Gordon. He can still earn his best points finish since his 2001 series championship and best performance since the Chase for the Nextel Cup format was adopted for the 2004 season.

“We didn’t step up and win the races when we needed to. We gave them a run for a while,” he said. “Now we have to figure out how to get the best finish we can at Homestead and end the season on a positive note.”

Johnson wins, widens lead, all but locks up his 2nd title

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:22 EST

AVONDALE, Ariz. - It's simple, Jimmie Johnson insists.

"I just go out and do my job," Johnson said Sunday after winning the Checker Auto Parts 500 and putting a stranglehold on the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"I've just been trying not to get caught up in things," Johnson added after his fourth-straight victory. "I am just trying to get in the race car and go."

Well, he certainly has that part figured out.

Johnson got his car to go past Martin Truex Jr. to take the lead on Lap 289 and lead the final 24 laps at this 1-mile track.

There's irony in that number, of course, since 24 is the car number of the man who Johnson all but put away in the race for this year's championship with his latest win.

Before Johnson went on his rampage, Jeff Gordon was 68 points ahead of Johnson after a win at Charlotte. Gordon hasn't finished outside the top 10 since, but he's now 86 points behind Johnson with only next week's season-finale at Homestead left.

"Those guys have just flat-out killed everybody," Gordon said of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

Technically, that's only true of everyone in the Chase aside from Gordon. Gordon can still win his fifth career title, but even if he wins and leads the most laps at Homestead Johnson can earn the title with a finish of 18th or better - 19th or better if Johnson leads at least one lap.

"The lead we have is a nice position to be in," said Johnson, who led by 63 points after this race a year ago before finishing ninth at Homestead to wrap up his first Cup championship. "It takes some of the pressure off. But we have to go down there and run 400 miles. If we don't do that, we could be in trouble."

In nine races Johnson has already scored more points, 1,512, than any of the first three Chase-format champions scored in 10 races on their way to their titles.

Before this year's Chase began, crew chief Chad Knaus said he told his team that an average finish of ninth per race would be enough to win the title. "I was way off base with that," Knaus said.

Johnson heard that, but in his mind he had set his sights a lot higher. "We need every point," Johnson said.

"If we let our guard down and don't score maximum points, we are going to get beat."

To be sure, it's hard to get beat when you do score all the points you can. Johnson has all but done that in the past four races, leaving only 20 potential points on the table because he hasn't led the most laps in any of the races he's won.

He led 55 Sunday, first in a 31-lap stretch beginning at Lap 188 during a portion of the race when the contending cars were on various pit sequences that could have, depending on how caution flags fell, led to major swings one way or another in how this race turned out.

Eventually, though, it came down to two pit stops. Johnson came off the pit lane with four tires and in sixth place for a restart on Lap 240, and then was fifth with two tires when the green flew on Lap 275.

But Johnson passed Matt Kenseth for second on Lap 283 and then put Truex in his mirror on Lap 289. Greg Biffle moved up to pass Kenseth for second, with Tony Stewart finishing fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

With only Johnson and Gordon still mathematically eligible for the title, car owner Rick Hendrick is assured of his seventh championship. Now, it's just a matter of one more week of getting the job done for Johnson to become the first to win two straight titles since Jeff Gordon in 1997 and 1998.

"We are just peaking at the right time with everything we've got," Knaus said.

After delivering what amounted to a concession speech after his 29th top-10 finish this year - more than he had in any season is his own brilliant career - Gordon came to victory lane to offer congratulations. It was probably not the most enjoyable thing he's done recently.

"I can imagine the frustration," Johnson said. "We've just been on a roll here. We're glad it's us. We've just been doing our thing."

Simple.

And devastatingly effective.

Take this rule and shove it, Kyle Busch says at short track, I ain't racin' here no more

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:34 EST

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Nextel Cup driver Kyle Busch took an unexpected early exit from a planned Super Late Model feature race late Saturday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Busch, who had to start from the rear of the field, had moved into a battle for second place with driver Shelby Thompson on Lap 96 of 150 when Thompson wrecked Busch.

Track spokesman Jeff Motley said track rules require all cars involved in a caution to restart at the rear of the field, but both drivers refused. Track officials halted the race and issued an ultimatum to both drivers - they could move to the rear of the field or leave the track.

Thompson elected to move to the rear of the field, while Busch drove to the pits and quit the race. Busch soon took a helicopter ride to the Las Vegas airport and returned to Phoenix for Sunday's Cup race.

Busch ended up credited with a 19th-place finish, while Taylor Barton won the race and Thompson finished 17th. The 22-year-old Las Vegas native has already won Craftsman Truck and Busch series races at Phoenix this weekend.

| The things to watch

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:20 EST

1 Jeff Gordon starts third, three spots ahead of Jimmie Johnson. But Johnson is still 30 points ahead in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings.

2 Johnny Sauter and Tony Raines don't have rides yet for the 2008 season. What they do have, however, are top-10 starting spots for today's race. Sauter starts fifth; Raines starts eighth.

3 Open-wheel stars in today's race: Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr., Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier, none of whom are likely to win.

At Phoenix

3:30 p.m. today at Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Ariz.

TV: ABC

WEATHER: Sunny, temperature about 80

TOP 10 QUALIFIERS

Pos.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
1.	Carl Edwards	Ford	132.773	27.114
2.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevy	132.758	27.117
3.	Jeff Gordon	Chevy	132.699	27.129
4.	J.J. Yeley	Chevy	132.236	27.224
5.	Johnny Sauter	Chevy	132.144	27.243
6.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevy	132.130	27.246
7.	Greg Biffle	Ford	132.091	27.254
8.	Tony Raines	Chevy	132.057	27.261
9.	Kurt Busch	Dodge	132.023	27.268
10.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	132.023	27.268