Roush Fenway Racing Facing Series History With Two To Go

Roush Fenway Racing Facing Series History With Two To Go

 

Roush Fenway Racing’s exceptional season continues. With two races remaining, it should be no surprise with the success the organization has had this season that it’s on the cusp of making series history if it can become the first organization to win the series driver standings championship and the owner standings championship in the same season with two different teams. 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 team leads the owner standings, but Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 60 team is just two points back and closing. Gibbs aims for a series-record fourth consecutive owners title. Jack Roush leads all owners with nine NASCAR Nationwide Series wins at Phoenix, including this race last year. Carl Edwards, the 2007 series driver champion, has won the last three November races at Phoenix and has a pre-race Driver Rating of 123.3. Edwards has made 13 series starts, posting four wins, nine top fives and 12 top 10s at Phoenix.

“Phoenix is really a big unknown,” said Edwards. “The track is very smooth and easy to drive. I don’t know that you’ll be able to go there and manhandle the car and hustle it around there like you could at the old Phoenix, at least not this first time.”   

Joey Logano will be in the No. 18 this weekend at Phoenix, attempting to pad his team’s scant lead. Logano has made five series starts at the 1-mile raceway, posting two top fives and five top 10s. The tale of the tape may give the nod to Logano in this bout. He has a better Average Running Position (5.310) than Edwards (5.759) at Phoenix.     

At the other end of the championship table sits Ricky Stenhouse Jr., leading the driver’s standings by 17 points over second place Elliott Sadler, the only competitor who can mathematically catch Stenhouse.

 

Phoenix Resident: Danica Patrick Is Building On Previous Success

 

If there were such a category at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Awards Banquet for the most improved driver on a limited schedule, Danica Patrick would take the honors.

Patrick has bettered her NASCAR career in almost every facet. In 2010, she finished the season ranked 43rd in the driver standings, having made 13 starts posting an average finish of 28.0 and leading only four laps. She also posted a season-to-date Driver Rating of 51.7 and an Average Running Position of 27.8, and only 2.3 percent of her laps completed were in the top 15.

This season she has exceeded expectations. Patrick is ranked 26th in the driver standings, having made 10 starts year-to-date, posting an average finish of 15.6 and having led 14 laps.

This weekend, many of the series competitors are looking at Phoenix as a wildcard with all the unknowns since the one-mile track was repaved, but Patrick has taken a different approach.

“I think it’s (Phoenix’s surface) going to be a little bit different, but probably for me that’s not the worst thing in the world because of being new to the car and new to the sport. It’s not the worst thing in the world that everybody has to start from learning the track a little bit,” said Patrick.

Though she calls Roscoe, Ill., her hometown, Patrick currently resides in Phoenix, Ariz., and will be making her third series start at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend. Patrick finished 32nd in 2010 and 17th earlier this season at Phoenix.

 

Sunoco Rookie Title Tied

 

Two races remain for Sunoco Rookie of the Year contenders, Timmy Hill and Blake Koch, to settle what could come down to the closest race for rookie of the year honors in series history. Hill and Koch are tied atop the rookie standings at 184 points each, but don’t forget third-place Ryan Truex, who is entered at Phoenix to drive the Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota. Truex is just two points behind Koch and Hill with 181 points in the rookie standings. 

The closest rookie of the year standings battle in series history was when Danny O’Quinn edged John Andretti by one point in 2006.

Koch tied up the standings with Hill after winning the past two Sunoco Rookie of the Race Awards by being the highest-finishing rookie at Charlotte (18th) and Texas (22nd).

 

NASCAR Nationwide, Etc.

 

Four-time NCWTS champion Ron Hornaday Jr. will make his debut with Turner Motorsports, driving the No. 32 Dollar General Chevrolet at Phoenix. Hornaday has made 11 series starts at Phoenix posting three top-five and six top-10 finishes. … MacDonald Motorsports will enter three cars this weekend at Phoenix – Nos. 80, 81, 82. Team owner Randy MacDonald’s daughter, Jeni MacDonald, 18, will be listed as the owner of the No. 80 this weekend for DJ Kennington. … Elliott Sadler’s wife Amanda gave birth to the family’s second child on Monday, Nov. 7, Austyn Rose Sadler. … Milestone Watch: Roush Fenway Racing will attempt to post its 300th NASCAR national series win, RAB Racing will attempt its 100th series start, Joe Nemechek will attempt his 950th NASCAR national series start, and Brian Scott will make his 75th series start.