NASCAR Cup Series

From a rain delayed and a rain-shortened race in the Valley of the Sun, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 28th annual Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Once Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the lead at Phoenix, no one was going to catch him. Not a single driver even challenged him. Yet, there was still one vehicle that even the race winner could not pass. The pace car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s victory in the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday clinched the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturers’ Championship for Chevrolet. It marks the 13th consecutive year and 39th time overall that the Bowtie Brand has won the prestigious title in NASCAR’s premiere series. It is the third Manufacturers’ award for the Chevrolet SS race car.

It's time to put a nice little bow on everything that went down in the Valley of the Sun.

Cars speeding around the oval at lethal speeds draws the crowd into the speedway and the drivers' strategies and near-misses keep them coming back.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, benefitted from some smart pit stop strategy and the return of rain to win an abbreviated Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday night.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, captured the victory in a rain-shortened NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). This was Earnhardt’s 26th career victory, his third win of the 2015 NSCS season, and third NSCS win at PIR.

Martin Truex Jr. is going to NASCAR's Big Dance. The Furniture Row Racing driver will be one of the four finalists in the Chase playoffs vying for the Sprint Cup championship next Sunday (Nov. 22) at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

BRAD KESELOWSKI – No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – “It was a long day for everybody and to have it end like that wasn’t surprising. We kept adjusting on it, but it’s a short race and who knows? Maybe that last run we would have had something, but that’s not the way it played out. The highest we can get is fifth in points now, so I’d like to pull that off and take advantage of that opportunity when we get to Homestead next week.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER - YOU HAD A FAST CAR, BUT YOU WERE ALSO IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME. TELL US ABOUT THAT PIT CALL: “We had an idea that the rain was in the area, but all the circumstances that played out at the end of the race are just kind of luck I think."