PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY (ONE-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: AVONDALE, ARIZONA
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 35 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 2:30 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13 (NBC/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 36 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
17th in standings
34 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
3 top-five finishes
13 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
466 starts
17 wins
27 pole positions
89 top-five finishes
169 top-10 finishes
4,607 laps led
Track Career
24 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
5 top-five finishes
8 top-10 finishes
55 laps led
FARMERS AT PHOENIX: Kasey Kahne will pilot the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway — the paint scheme’s final race of the season. The Enumclaw, Washington, native last drove the flat black Farmers Insurance Chevy at Kansas Speedway, where he earned a 10th-place finish.
KAHNE AT PHOENIX: Kahne heads to Phoenix this weekend coming off of an eighth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. He scored one win at Phoenix in November 2011 with a 0.802-second margin of victory over Carl Edwards. Kahne’s average starting position of 10.8 over the past 10 races at the track ranks him fourth among active drivers competing full-time this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
PHOENIX LOOP DATA: Kahne is eighth in the closer category at the one-mile track with 13 positions improved over the last 10 percent of the race. The 36-year-old ranks 13th in laps spent in the top 15 with 3,576 and in quality passes with 418. Quality passes are determined by the number of times a driver passes another car that is running in the top 15 while under green-flag conditions.
SEE KAHNE: Kahne will appear in the Phoenix fan zone near Turn 1 at the Team Chevy stage for a question-and-answer session on Sunday, Nov. 13, at 10 a.m. local time.
SUITS FOR SOLDIERS: Farmers Insurance has launched Suits for Soldiers, a national program to help transitioning veterans enter the civilian workforce. Through the end of November, bring new or gently used suits or pieces of business attire for men or women to your local Farmers Insurance agent’s office to donate. Farmers will distribute the business attire to veterans through the Army Reserves, various transition assistance programs and at Recruit Military events starting in 2017. Suits for Soldiers builds on Farmers’ commitment to veterans, as a corporate citizen and as a workplace. In an effort to bring awareness to the program, the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS will be adorned with #SuitsForSoldiers on the TV panel for the upcoming Phoenix race weekend.
KASEY’S KAROLINA KAHNEWICH: Kahne and the Kasey Kahne Foundation have partnered with PDQ (People Dedicated to Quality) restaurants to create the Karolina Kahnewich. Kahne’s revved-up BBQ sandwich will be served exclusively at all 11 PDQ locations throughout North and South Carolina from Oct. 4 through Nov. 30. The sandwich is $5.99 with $1 from each sandwich sold benefiting the Kasey Kahne Foundation in its effort to raise funds to support chronically ill children and their families.
HAIRCUTS FOR VETERANS: This Veterans Day, Great Clips is giving fans a great way to say thanks to the men and women who have served our country. Visit a Great Clips on Friday, November 11, and, with a purchase of a haircut, Great Clips will give you a free haircut card to pass along to a U.S. veteran. In addition, all Veterans can stop in for a free haircut on Friday, November 11, or pick up a free haircut card to use on a day of their choice. The free haircut cards are redeemable until December 31.
No. 24 SunEnergy1 Chevrolet SS / Chase Elliott
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 20 Resides Dawsonville, Georgia
2016 Season
11th in standings
34 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
10 top-five finishes
16 top-10 finishes
358 laps led
Career
39 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
10 top-five finishes
16 top-10 finishes
358 laps led
Track Career
1 start
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
1 top-10 finish
0 laps led
SUNENERGY1: The penultimate race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season is the final event of the season with SunEnergy1 on board Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS as the primary scheme. SunEnergy1 has been on the hood of the No. 24 Chevy at Daytona in July, Watkins Glen in August and Kansas in October. The rookie earned his second top-10 finish of the year at the Avondale, Arizona, raceway, improving his starting position by nine spots to finish eighth there earlier this spring.
GOING HOME: John Gianninoto – No. 24 jackman — will compete this weekend in front of friends and family at his home track of Phoenix International Raceway in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Gianninoto grew up in Tucson, Arizona, graduating with honors from Catalina Foothills High School. He went on to play as an offensive lineman for UNLV, signing in 2006, earning his first letter in 2007 and becoming a captain of the team in 2010. Gianninoto participated in the NFL’s Carolina Panthers’ training camp in 2012 before signing with Hendrick Motorsports in September 2012.
STRONG RESULTS IN THE LONE STAR STATE: This past weekend at Texas, while the No. 24 team didn’t take home a win, it still took home an impressive fourth-place result among other awards. Elliott was once again named the Sunoco Rookie of the Race, extending his lead in the yearly standings. No. 24 team crew chief Alan Gustafson also earned an award, claiming his fifth MOOG Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of the Race title of the season. It moved him into the lead ahead of the Nos. 20 and 41 crew chiefs with just two races remaining in the season.
REIGNING ROOKIE: Elliott leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings heading into Phoenix International Raceway by 68 points over second-place Ryan Blaney and 97 points over third-place Chris Buescher. Elliott has accumulated a total of 295 rookie points this year through the first 34 races. He has yet to win his first race, but claims 10 top-five showings – the most by a rookie since Carl Edwards scored 13 in 2005.
MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE: With Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway in the midst of a rain delay, the No. 24 team found a unique way to pass the time. All four crews tried their hand at the newest social media trend — the #MannequinChallenge. To see the No. 24 team’s take on the challenge, click here.
MPD: Voting for the 2016 National Motorsports Press Association Sprint Most Popular Driver is in full swing. Since the award’s inception in 1953, 19 different NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers have been crowned NMPA Sprint Most Popular Driver — including Elliott’s father, Bill, who earned the award 16 times. Elliott has been ranked in the top 10 for the 2016 class. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Nov. 20, 2016. The name of the driver receiving the most votes will be posted Dec. 4, 2016. Click here to cast your daily vote for the 2016 Most Popular Driver.
No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 41 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2016 Season
1st in standings
34 starts
4 wins
1 pole position
10 top-five finishes
15 top-10 finishes
721 laps led
Career
541 starts
79 wins
35 pole positions
217 top-five finishes
329 top-10 finishes
18,430 laps led
Track Career
26 starts
4 wins
3 pole positions
15 top-five finishes
19 top-10 finishes
977 laps led
KOBALT RACE: This weekend at Phoenix, the black and white colors of Kobalt Tools will adorn Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet SS for the fourth and final time this season. Kobalt tools are sold exclusively at Lowe’s.
PHOENIX DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Johnson has the series-best driver rating at Phoenix with a score of 112.0 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
OTHER PHOENIX ACCOLADES: Johnson also has the series-best average running position at Phoenix — 7.89 — and he leads current drivers with 15 top-five finishes at the track. He has spent 85 percent of all laps run at Phoenix in the top-15, which is second-most among current drivers.
TRACK QUALIFYING RECORD: Johnson holds the track qualifying record at Phoenix International Raceway, which was set one year ago on Nov. 13, 2015, with a speed of 143.132 mph or 25.147 seconds around the track.
HOT IN THE DESERT: During the years of 2007 and 2008, Johnson put together a streak of three wins in a row at the oval racetrack in the Valley of the Sun. He won the season’s penultimate event in 2007, followed by sweeping both events in 2008. The last time Johnson won at Phoenix came before the track was repaved in November 2009. Johnson won the pole for this event one year ago.
No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS / Alex Bowman
Driver Alex Bowman Hometown Tucson, Arizona
Age 23 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
8 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
2 top-10 finishes
6 laps led
Career
79 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
2 top-10 finishes
9 laps led
Track Career
4 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
PHOENIX STATS: Alex Bowman has four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway with a best finish of 30th. He’ll have an opportunity to boost his stats this weekend, as he’s run in the top 10 in every event he’s competed in for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team. In the NASCAR XFINITY Series, he has earned two top-15 finishes in four starts at the one-mile tri-oval. The former open wheel racer also has one NASCAR Pro Series West start at Phoenix, scoring a runner-up finish.
AZ NATIVE: Bowman, a native of Tucson, Arizona, will be returning to his home state for this weekend’s races at Phoenix International Raceway. His journey to the NASCAR stage began on short tracks in Arizona and California at the age of 7. He started driving quarter midgets in United States Auto Club (USAC) competition before moving to full-bodied stock car racing at the age of 17. He drove in select races in the Pro Cup Series in 2010 before moving to the NASCAR Pro Series East in 2011. Bowman finished sixth in series points, winning Rookie of the Year. The now 23-year-old competed in two ARCA Racing Series events during the 2011 season, winning both events, and moved to full-time ARCA Series competition in 2012, earning three wins. Bowman made his debut in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2012 and ran fill-time in 2013. Over the next two seasons, Bowman made the jump to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. All totaled, Bowman’s résumé includes more than 125 starts across NASCAR’s top-three series.
NCH PATIENT CHAMPION: Through The Dale Jr. Foundation’s Driven to Give Gloves program, 10-year-old Dalton Miller will have his name featured above the passenger door of Bowman’s No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet this weekend as the November Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) Patient Champion. In December 2012, Dalton was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. This has not stopped him from being very active – in fact, his parents note that Dalton’s diagnosis has not slowed him down at all. More than 200,000 children across the nation have been diagnosed with diabetes. There is no cure. Today, thanks to the experts at Nationwide Children’s, Dalton is keenly aware of his illness and will not eat or drink anything without checking with his mom or the person taking care of him. NCH is America’s largest pediatric hospital and research center with all care provided regardless of a family’s ability to pay. All four 2016 NCH Patient Champions attended the Kentucky Speedway race as special guests of Earnhardt and the No. 88 team and Dalton was also able to attend The Dale Jr. Foundation’s Driven to Give event in September in Charlotte.
DOUBLE DUTY: In addition to driving the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, Bowman will also be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Hughes General Contractors Chevrolet Camaro for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports. In his most recent NXS start in the fall of 2014, he qualified fifth and finished 17th, driving the No. 5 Chevy for JRM. Phoenix will mark his eighth start for JRM this season. He’s finished in the top-10 in each of the previous seven races, with a best finish of third and a total of three top-five finishes.
ENGINE BUILDER SHOWDOWN: Hendrick Motorsports is hosting the 15th annual Randy Dorton Hendrick Engine Builder Showdown on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 8-9. The event pairs 12 Hendrick Certified Master Technicians from Hendrick Automotive Group dealerships with 12 Hendrick Motorsports engine department team members. In two rounds of competition over the two days, each team will assemble a 358-cubic-inch Chevrolet engine similar to the fuel-injected engine that runs every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend, with the fastest two teams competing for the win in the final round on Wednesday afternoon. Bowman will be on hand to support the competitors and speak with a group of approximately 150 tech students and instructors from 15 states who will be visiting Hendrick Motorsports to watch the competition and learn more about both the race team and the Hendrick Automotive Group. Media members interested in covering the event on Wednesday can contact David Harris or Tiffany Daniels.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT PHOENIX: Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 wins, 10 pole positions, 45 top-five finishes and 76 top-10s at Phoenix International Raceway. Those 10 wins are spread among six drivers, with Johnson accounting for four. Earnhardt recorded the organization’s most recent Phoenix victory in November 2015.
DOUBLE DIGITS: With Earnhardt’s win in November, Phoenix became the 11th racetrack where Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 or more Sprint Cup victories. Johnson’s win at Auto Club Speedway on March 20 added a 12th track to the list.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 244 victories, 209 pole positions, 1,008 top-five finishes and 1,691 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 66,162 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“Phoenix is tough track. I enjoy racing there and it’s a cool area to visit. I feel like the track stays pretty much the same even as it ages. The tire, the package we bring and the weather always plays a factor, but I feel like we pass as much there now as we did when it was first repaved. It’s definitely wider, but it always seems like the bottom is the best spot.”
Kasey Kahne on racing at Phoenix
“I felt like it was a solid race for us in the spring. We had a good car and got a decent finish. We’d made gains throughout the race and I think that we can take a lot of that back this weekend. The guys did a great job in Texas. I think we’re just going to Phoenix to try and have the best day that we can and get a finish that these guys deserve.”
Chase Elliott on returning to Phoenix
“Phoenix is going to be like every other race weekend for this Lowe’s team. We are heading there to win. There is no such thing as a ‘throw away’ race in my mind. If my pit crew has more exposure in racing for the win, they have more pressure on them. We could all use practice with pressure because Homestead will bring a lot of pressure. So pressure is good for us. We will be racing for every point we can race for, even if we are locked in. We will race our race and let everyone else race theirs.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Phoenix
“I’m ready to get to Phoenix. We’ve got two chances to win this weekend, so we should be pretty good. At Hendrick Motorsports with the No. 88 team, we really haven’t discussed expectations at all – we’ve all just been doing the best job we can. But I want to win a race. I think that would do more for my career than anything else would, so we’re going to try everything we can to make that happen and if not, we’re just going to run the best we possibly can.”
Alex Bowman on racing at Phoenix
