NASCAR Cup Series

Ragan on racing at Phoenix International Raceway:“I’m excited to head out to Phoenix this weekend after testing the new surface last month. We have run well on the short tracks this year and I look forward to the trip out west."

Johnson has made 16 Sprint Cup Series starts at Phoenix International Raceway, where he has four wins, 11 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.

Phoenix International Raceway may have held races for more than 45 years and hosted 30 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, but Jeff Gordon believes this trip out west is into an unknown frontier.

Biffle on Phoenix: “I feel pretty good about going to Phoenix this weekend. We ran really well at the test there and we’ve been running better at the one-mile racetracks. We got our best finish of the season at New Hampshire and we were running well at Dover until I hit the wall so I have high expectations for this weekend. "

Carl Edwards on racing at Phoenix:“Phoenix is really a big unknown. I would say this first trip will be more of a crew chief/engineer race. You’re going to have to pay attention to tire wear."

Team owner Richard Childress has three victories at Phoenix International Raceway, tying him with Robert Yates for third on the all-time car owner victories list at the Avondale, Ariz. facility.

When the green flag flew on the seventh annual running of the AAA Texas 500, it seemed almost as an afterthought to a difficult week, with the passing of patriarch Russ Wallace, the plane crash injuring Rick and Linda Hendrick, and of course the parking of Kyle Busch.

A long time ago, the short track ace and 89 Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace made the statement, “It’s not cocky if you can get it done. It’s confident.”

There is more excitement on the NASCAR scene than I’ve seen for ages. We have a real championship battle and enough drama to make the daily soap operas cringe in fear, but yet there doesn’t seem to be any buzz about this final run. And I wonder why. It mystifies me.