Edwards, Stewart Vie To Be “Penultimate Warrior”

Edwards, Stewart Vie To Be “Penultimate Warrior”

This weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway is the penultimate race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, with the victor inheriting the title of “Penultimate Warrior.” (By no one in particular, of course.)

And the manner in which the latter half of this Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has unfurled suggests Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart as the favorites on Sunday. Points leader Edwards leads Stewart by a scant three points in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

Really, in-season momentum might be the only way to analyze the upcoming race at the repaved and reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway. Studying past Phoenix statistics might only tell a small portion of the story; most drivers say the “new” Phoenix is unlike the old.

Said Denny Hamlin of Phoenix’s new “wild-card track” status, “Driving it was like ‘wow, this is a lot different than any other course we’ve ever kind of been on before,’ with the elevation changes and things like that.”

The changes…

•           Widened the frontstretch from 52 to 62 feet

•           Reconfigured pit road with the installation of concrete pit stalls

•           Pushed the dog-leg curve between Turn 2 and Turn 3 out 95 feet

•           Tightened the turn radius of the dog-leg from 800 to 500 feet

•           Implemented variable banking to ensure the immediate use of two racing grooves, including 10-11 degree banking between Turn 1 and Turn 2; 10-11 degree banking in the apex of the dog-leg; and 8-9 degree banking in Turn 4

In other words, little is known. One certainty: Stewart and Edwards will share the spotlight. The two top contenders have run more laps than most drivers, having participated in both the two-day test in October and the Goodyear tire test in August.

Stewart and Edwards have been literal mirror images, point-wise – they’ve both scored the exact same number of points in the Chase: 313. Edwards owns his miniscule advantage because of the three Chase bonus points he earned for winning a race in the regular season.

That three-point advantage roughly equates to 13 points in the old system, making it the closest margin between first and second in Chase history with two races to go.

But who has the edge this weekend at Phoenix? Early exit polls say Stewart, winner of four Chase races this postseason, including the last two. Stewart turned the fastest lap during last October’s test. To view the testing speeds for the two-day session, click here.

Ten Spot: All Is Not Lost

No competitor wants to finish last. Or – in the case of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ - next to last, either.

That’s why you’ll see no “give up” in any of the three competitors eliminated from the Chase last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. There’s pride at stake, of course, but the opportunity to be among the final top 10 drivers on-stage at next month’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas is equally, if not more, important.

Statistics aren’t everything but here’s how Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman (currently ranked 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively) have performed at Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

•           Hamlin, 10th, has one win at Homestead, a Phoenix Driver Rating of 98.3 (sixth) and finished 11th at Phoenix in February.

•           Busch, 11th, has a Phoenix win, was second there in February but has an average finish of 26.3 at Homestead, where he was 32nd a year ago.

•           Newman, 12th, won at Phoenix in 2010 and was second there in February. He’s the only one of the trio with a top-10 finish (seventh) at Homestead last season.

Chipping Dale: Junior Hammers Away Toward Drought’s End

Even though his winless streak stretched to 127 races, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s recent performance offers hope that the end of the dry spell may be near.

Earnhardt Jr. jumped two spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings to the seventh position Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, claiming his second consecutive seventh-place run. He sits 81 points behind series leader Carl Edwards with two races left, but is just 46 points behind third-place Kevin Harvick in a logjam of drivers in the middle of the Chase pack. Emerging from that cluster of drivers for a podium finish would put Earnhardt Jr. in position to equal the best points finish of his career – third in 2003 – or approach his next-best season rank – fifth, in 2004 and ’06.

Earnhardt Jr. finished 10th earlier this season at Phoenix International Raceway, and previous outings in the desert bode well for the No. 88 team come Sunday. His two wins there make the Arizona track one of the four NASCAR Sprint Cup circuits (Talladega, Daytona and Richmond are the others) where Earnhardt Jr. has multiple victories.

Kasey Kahne On Fire As Hendrick Move Nears

Most drivers competing in a lame-duck situation could be content to play out the string this late in the season. Not so for Kasey Kahne.

Even as the Red Bull Racing team faces offseason uncertainty, a bright spot has been Kahne’s swan song in the No. 4 Toyota. Kahne, under contract to move to Hendrick Motorsports next season, has proven his on-track worth even though the team came up short in qualifying for the Chase. Kahne’s third-place effort at Texas was the latest manifestation of that, marking his fourth top-five finish in the last six races.

Even though Kahne is ineligible for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, the only two drivers to accumulate more points during the eight Chase races thus far are Edwards and Tony Stewart, who sit 1-2 in the standings. The recent upswing in performance has elevated Kahne from 21st in points entering the Chase to his current rank of 14th.

Interestingly, Edwards and Stewart have each earned 313 points during the Chase. Next-best is Kahne with 284, just ahead of Matt Kenseth (272) and Brad Keselowski (267).

Top Guns Aim For Title Of “Best Of The Rest”

Outside of the tight-knit Chase is an equally close race for the next-best unofficial prize, 13th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. Four drivers have shown to be far from triskaidekaphobic.

Clint Bowyer, on the move from Richard Childress Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing next season, is tops among the non-Chasers with 975 points. But just 29 points separate 13th from 16th – Kahne is 18 points back in 14th, Greg Biffle is 19 points behind Biffle in 15th, and AJ Allmendinger sits 16th, another 10 points behind Biffle.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Etc.

Early this week, Phoenix International Raceway President Bryan R. Sperber announced that the track’s grandstands are sold out for the Kobalt Tools 500 on Nov. 13. Race fans wishing to attend may still purchase general admission tickets to PIR’s hillside area or infield passes by calling 866-408-RACE or visiting PhoenixRaceway.com. PIR also sold out its grandstands for February’s SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500™ NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. … Milestone Watch: Hendrick Motorsports will attempt to post its 200th series win, Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch will attempt to post his 25th series win, Chase contender Ryan Newman will attempt to post his 50th series Coors Light pole (he leads all drivers with four poles at PIR), five-time champion Jimmie Johnson will attempt to post his 225th top-10 finish, Juan Pablo Montoya will attempt to post his 50th top-10 finish and Marcos Ambrose will attempt to post his 25th top-10 finish. … Testing: NASCAR has an Electronic Fuel Injection test scheduled on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at Daytona International Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The tests are part of the continued development of the EFI Research & Development for the teams. EFI will be fully implemented in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning at Daytona International Speedway in February 2012. …