Richard Childress Racing at Phoenix Raceway … In 130 starts at Phoenix Raceway, Richard Childress Racing has scored six NASCAR Cup Series victories led by Kevin Harvick with four victories (a sweep of both races in 2006 plus the fall races in 2012 and 2013). Dale Earnhardt won in 1990 while Ryan Newman claimed the win in the 2007 spring event. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, RCR has three wins by three different drivers: Elliott Sadler (2012), Clint Bowyer (2007) and Harvick (2006).

Introducing the Next Gen … NASCAR’s Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which officially debuted in 2022, is a collaboration of the brightest engineering minds in racing. With technology at the forefront, Richard Childress Racing has played a unique and critical role in helping to bring this new on-track identity to life, working closely with OEMs, other teams and NASCAR to build and test the initial prototype.

Catch Saturday’s Action … The United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway will be televised live on Saturday, March 12 at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Sunday’s Action in Phoenix … The Phoenix 500 will be televised live Sunday, March 13 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Phoenix Raceway … Dillon has 16 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix Raceway to his credit, earning two top-10 finishes. He earned his best finish of eighth at the track in November 2018.

Delivering Performance On the Track and For the Planet … Austin Dillon will race the Get Bioethanol Chevy in Phoenix, showcasing the performance benefits of racing with earth kind and engine smart bioethanol blended fuel, Sunoco Green E15. Whether it’s delivering cleaner and cooler high octane on the racetrack or a more affordable option for spring break road trips, plant-based bioethanol makes a positive impact on our planet. Learn more about bioethanol at getbioethanol.com.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:
What do you expect the racing to be like at Phoenix Raceway? Do you expect any noticeable differences from how the previous car raced there?
“I tested one day at Phoenix Raceway, but we didn’t really get around a bunch of cars at the test. One thing about Auto Club Speedway, and a reason why I thought it was a solid race, is there’s a lot of options at that track and places to go find some air for these cars. I think short tracks are going to be great for this car. Tracks like Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway should be strong. The fans saw a great race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Phoenix Raceway is between a short track and a speedway, which will make it interesting. You start to get into a bit of an aero problem at Phoenix, and you start relying on downforce and different things so I feel like it’s going to be important to qualify well. I do think that tires are going to fall off a pretty good amount at Phoenix, which will be nice. You have to set up your car for that and hope you make it work. I don’t know how great it’s going to be. It’s performed well so I wouldn’t underestimate it. It’s a challenging car to drive and it’s putting on a good show so far.”

How much do you think you’ll be able to take from the Spring Phoenix Raceway race when we go back for the championship in November? Since we’re learning so much about the Next Gen right now, are we going to be on a completely different page by the time November rolls around?
“I would say some things will probably change, but not a whole lot by the time we go back. We just need to take good notes. Anytime we go to the track, writing notes, talking about parts, pieces, and different thoughts on how to drive. It’s a whole new notebook this year. Even if you don’t go back to a track, or you change tracks that you’ll never see again, there’s something you can learn and take to the next event.”

Outside of winning races and making the playoffs, are there any specific competition goals that the team has set for itself to achieve this year, especially with the new car?
“For me it’s winning a championship. My goal is to be the first guy to win all three championships. That’s what I put the effort into. It’s what I spend my weekends for, to try and win all three. That’s why I wrote ‘Crazy Faith’ on the back of my helmet this year. I’m believing in the process. I’ve set goals throughout different seasons. In the past, I’ve set obtainable goals like a earning a couple of wins and getting in the playoffs. I want to start thinking about what I really want and having faith towards that. The championship is the only thing I wrote down as a goal.”

This Week’s Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Phoenix Raceway … Reddick will make his fifth start at the Avondale, Arizona track on Sunday, sporting the red, white and black Guaranteed Rate paint scheme on the No. 8 Chevrolet. Reddick made his Cup Series debut at Phoenix in 2020 and most recently, finished 19th in the 2021 season finale. He has a best finish of 19th twice, both in the Cup Series championship race, and he’s completed 95.6 percent of laps attempted. During his time in the Xfinity Series, Reddick made five starts at Phoenix and tallied a best finish of third in both of the races at the track in 2019. In total, he has four top 10s and two top fives and completed 999 of 1,000 laps attempted. Lastly, during his NASCAR Truck Series career, Reddick made three starts at Phoenix and grabbed a best finish of fifth in 2015.

Reddick’s Stats Improve … Reddick has led the most laps this season among all Cup Series drivers with 90. Prior to this season, Reddick had only led 73 laps total in 74 races. Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Reddick grabbed his first top-10 finish of the season after overcoming some obstacles throughout the race. Reddick and the No. 8 team are looking forward to adding another great finish this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

About Guaranteed Rate … Guaranteed Rate is a leader in mortgage lending and digital financial services. Headquartered in Chicago, the company has more than 8,000 employees in 500 offices across the U.S., and is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its launch in 2000, Guaranteed Rate has helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances, funding more than $95 billion in total loan volume in 2021 alone. Powered by its belief in positivity, the company has become one of the largest retail lenders in the nation. Guaranteed Rate delivers innovative technology, including the world’s first Digital Mortgage, low rates and unparalleled customer service.

TYLER REDDICK QUOTES:
Talk about how you were able to rally back to a seventh-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend after starting from the rear twice, suffering from leg discomfort, and on-track obstacles.
“It was a pretty good recovery for our team. I guess if you look at where we started and where we finished, you’d think it was a pretty boring day because we were supposed to start seventh, but it was anything but that. We had a few issues throughout our weekend starting with some steering issues that ultimately led to us changing our steering rack, forfeiting our starting spot, going to the back. From there, we definitely had a car that was pretty good in clean air, which we practiced a majority in, but once you get back there in that bubble of 10th to 20th, it’s pretty vicious back there. We just needed something different to be able to handle better but we had good pit stops and got a couple of breaks on restarts where we were able to get ourselves in that fifth to 10th bubble and we were able to manage it to the finish. I’m proud of the fight our team showed throughout that whole race and feel like we have good momentum heading to Phoenix this weekend.”

You got to test the Next Gen car at Phoenix a few months ago. How do you think the racing will play out this weekend with a lot more cars on track at once?
“This weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway is going to provide some really entertaining and exciting racing, I think. When we were out there for the test, we didn’t get to run a lot in traffic but that will be different on Sunday. We’ve seen such solid and good racing at all the tracks we’ve visited so far this season and it feels like Phoenix is going to be the perfect mix of all of them. This car is so challenging to drive and with the aerodynamics at Phoenix, practice is going to be crucial to see what kind of speed and car you’ve got. Qualifying is going to be really important too, you want to have a good starting position especially as the tires start to give throughout the first stage or two. My team has been working really hard each and every week and I think we’ll have a good game plan put together for this weekend and hopefully we’ll be able to run up front and put on a good show.”

This Week’s Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Camaro SS at Phoenix Raceway … Creed will be making his second start at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He scored a 10th-place finish this past November at the 1.0-mile desert oval. It was his first top-10 and came in his fourth career start in the series. He has two top-10 finishes in three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts this season and enters the United Rentals 200 on Saturday afternoon 14th in the series standings. The Alpine, Calif., native has made four NASCAR Truck Series starts at Phoenix, highlighted by his victory in 2020 that gave him the series championship.

About Whelen … Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

SHELDON CREED QUOTES:
What is the key to running well at Phoenix Raceway?
“You need to roll really good through the center of the corner and put the power down on exit. That was what I battled at Phoenix Raceway when I ran the NASCAR Xfinity Series car there in the fall. If we can just turn a little bit better that should help us get off the corner better and I think we’ll be faster.”

How big of an advantage is it to have one NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Phoenix Raceway?
“Having a little bit of experience in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Phoenix Raceway will be huge for us. I’m excited to be able to go there having laps in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car and knowing what to expect right off the bat for practice and feeling like I know what I need. I’ll be a lot more comfortable just having that prior experience. I’m excited to get into the race with the Whelen Chevrolet and to continue to learn as much as I can. It’s important get more comfortable and get up to speed. I’m just trying to learn and get comfortable these first few weeks of the season and get ourselves a good base. We all want to win, but I’ll take solid finishes early in the season and have solid races.”

This Week’s United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro SS at Phoenix Raceway … Hill will be making his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday afternoon. He won the pole at Phoenix in 2019 and has one top 10 (a 10th-place effort in 2021) in the NASCAR Truck Series. Hill is 10th in the Xfinity Series driver standings entering Saturday’s race and has led at least one lap in two of the first three races this season. With his victory in the season-opening event at Daytona, Hill has clinched a spot in the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs.

About United Rentals … United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world. The company has an integrated network of 1,278 rental locations in North America, 11 in Europe, 28 in Australia and 18 in New Zealand. In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 20,100 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and others. The company offers approximately 4,300 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $15.72 billion. United Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Barron’s 400 Index and the Russell 3000 Index® and is headquartered in Stamford, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at unitedrentals.com.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:
How important are restarts at Phoenix Raceway?
“Restarts are huge everywhere but even more so at Phoenix Raceway. As soon as you get to the start-finish line on a restart, you’ve got to start looking in your mirror. You’ve got to be ready for the guy behind you. If you’re leading the bottom lane, you’ve got to be ready for the guy behind you to short cut the racetrack. When he does that, you’ve got to be ready to react and throw that block and run that shorter line. Getting through the gears with smooth shifts is crucial. It seems like once you get in the restart , people start playing some games and you have to watch out for that.”

You were able to watch the Phoenix race last fall. What did you learn?
“I was able to sit on the box and listen and watch last year when they ran at Phoenix. It just seemed like the way the cars were driving, the track fit my driving style well. They were a little on the freer side.”

How big of a factor is the PJ1?
“I think the PJ1 has a lot to do with how the track is going to change throughout the race. As soon as the PJ1 gets activated, it then seems like you have to be up there to be fast. Sometimes your car works up there, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s one of those things that you’ve got to work through.”

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team are headed to Phoenix Raceway, hoping to build on their most recent performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where they recovered from some mid-race misfortunes to post a 16th-place finish.

Burton, making his first appearance at Phoenix in a Cup Series car, said he believes his past races at the unique one-mile track will be a confidence booster for him and the DEX Imaging team. In his four Xfinity Series starts there he has a runner-up finish and a third-place finish, along with a sixth-place run and a 12th. He also has a third-place finish at Phoenix in NASCAR’s truck series.

“Phoenix is a great track for me personally,” Burton said. “I love it there, and building on the past race at Vegas is important.”

“Obviously 16th isn’t what our goal was, but to finish the race and show flashes of the speed we need was great.”

“I’m excited to move forward with the group and carry the momentum.”

He’s also proud to be representing DEX Imaging, which has been his primary sponsor in all but one of his prior Phoenix races, including two in the K&N Series.

“Every time DEX is on the car it’s pretty special,” Burton said. “They have been with me since I was a kid, so to get to try to have success with that group in Cup is very fun.”

Practice for the Ruoff Mortgage 500K is set for Saturday at 11:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. Eastern Time) to be followed by qualifying at 12:05 (2:05 p.m. Eastern).

Sunday’s 312-mile race is set to get the green flag just after 12:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage on FOX. Stage breaks are set for Laps 60 and 185.

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:
Reducing Operating Costs
Reducing Paper Consumption
Increasing Productivity

DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
PHOENIX RACEWAY
RUOFF MORTGAGE 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 9, 2022

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1. met with media via teleconference in advance of this weekend’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Press Conference Transcript:

ANY PROGRESS ON THE LEG NUMBING ISSUES AND WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TRY THIS WEEK?
“Yeah, so I just think with this new car there are some things (inaudible). The last car, from since I have been racing really stayed much the same. (inaudible) Yeah, you know just making some mistakes in how I think I needed to be sitting in this car. So, we’ve been able to, now that we are back home, came back from Vegas, been able to sit in the car and adjust some things. Pinpoint some areas where I think I just had my body in a bad posture, not really allowing the weight of my body in the seat being distributed the way it should. Nothing like to the extent of having to change inserts, do that sort of thing. Just moving some things around in the car seems to be better. Obviously, the reason this has been an issue is pretty challenging to understand sitting still you know with no load, no bumps, no heat, whatever it might be to really feel if there is going to be a problem. It’s hard to really understand what’s ok and what’s not. After we ran Fontana, you know we had our Vegas car right there, it was already in Fontana. Sat in it, moved some things around, thought I was going to be good to go in Vegas and obviously I was looking in the wrong places. We had some help this week and were able to make some adjustments and continue learning more and more about it. You know I just think I was in a really good place in that old car for such a long time and didn’t realize how easy or how bad you could end up missing it, the comfort side of things. Unfortunately going through that, that process right now (inaudible) a lot better.”

IS IT ABOUT KIND OF HOW THE PEDALS ARE MOUNTED AND HOW YOU POSITION YOUR FOOT? OR IS IT MORE KIND OF WHERE THE SEAT IS IN RELATION TO PEDALS AND MAYBE THE HEIGHT OF THE SEAT?
“I think more than anything its just having you know no matter where you put your seat its kind of important to have your legs comfortable for you. You know, not too high, not too low. You don’t want to cut circulation off having the pedals too low, on the edge of your seat or having your legs really having a lot of weight or force on the bottom of your seat cutting your circulation off that way. Certainly, with this deeper car, or deeper driver area or cockpit (inaudible) with how ramming my current insert was. So, we made some adjustments there. Certainly, I think I have frustrated some things in my body by putting it through that the last two weeks in a row now. I normally don’t give myself a lot of rest time in between with exercising and everything, so just coming up with the best approach to get my body some time to get out some of the stress I’ve been putting it though the last two weekends.”

HOW WELL TIMED WAS IT TO GET THAT FIRST TOP 10 OF THE YEAR AT LAS VEGAS, GIVEN HOW CRAZY THAT RACE WAS FOR YOU GUYS?
“It was important. I guess for our whole team it was an important thing to be able to come back from that. For me, personally too, I have a lot of distractions in the car. Just hard to give it my best effort with everything going on, not really allowing you to be 100 percent. To still get a top-10 was good, but certainly still I can’t let it keep taking away potential good runs for our team. I do think that it held me back in Vegas. Held us back in Fontana even though we were still really good, still able to execute fairly well on pit road and everything. After going through what I did in Vegas and not always having the track position all day long, it tells me that I was leaving some on the table in Fontana too. I mean I felt like I was and couldn’t really run the bottom because of what I was fighting, but we still had a pretty good car there. Yeah, it was good to get that top 10. The biggest thing that we’re focused on is making sure that we (inaudible) when we get to Phoenix, a place that requires a lot of braking, a lot of thinking about the car and its such a fine line balance wise at that place. It’s going to be very important to have all that worked out, so that is what we are going to try to do, my team is. Make sure that I can be 100 percent.”

WITH YOU HAVING THE FITNESS REGIMEN THIS OFF SEASON AND CHANGING YOUR BODY SO MUCH, DO YOU GUYS CHANGE THE SEAT INSERT FROM YEAR TO YEAR AND IS THAT KIND OF PART OF THIS SITUATION?
“It could be, but weight wise I haven’t moved that much shape wise a little bit. In the areas that I have changed shape, I don’t think it would, well thinking about it off the top of my head I don’t think it’s where our issue is coming from. I think it just has more to do with it’s a brand new race car, it’s a lot more options of where you can put the pedals in relation to the seat and I just think that’s where some of it is. I guess, yeah, with where I end up putting my pedals for the last couple weeks yeah it could have added some material underneath me to help fill the gap that was there. Yeah, I mean it’s not like the insert itself doesn’t fit me too bad. If anything, I feel like I fit a little bit better, like snug in it than I did. It’s just those other things that we moved around unknowingly really.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE GOING TO SEE NEXT WEEKEND?
“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. These cars, it’s been a lot of fun. it’s been challenging to understand so far. I don’t know. I think the transitioning from straightaways to corners is going to be interesting. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I haven’t even read on it. I have only heard you know a little bit about it, so I really can’t say. I have tried, for the most part, to go into a lot of the race weekends with not a lot of expectations so I can be ready to adapt to anything. That has been a good approach for me and I’m pretty much carrying that thought process, that approach, into Atlanta as well.”

JUST FOLLOWING UP ON THE LEG NUMBNESS, I’M CURIOUS IF ANOTHER SOLUTION YOU GUYS OR THE RCR CAMP HAVE THOUGHT OF WOULD BE GETTING THE BLOOD FLOWING IN THE LOWER EXTREMETIES BEFORE A RACE? COULD THAT POSSIBLY BE A SOLUTION TO THAT TOO OR NOT REALLY?
“For the amount of time that you spend in a car, I think that could help in some sense, but I mean I was in the car for four hours in Las Vegas and to a degree it could help some, but when you are sitting in a car for a long period of time, I don’t expect that to be a fix. But I think it could be something, you know it certainly doesn’t hurt and you don’t necessarily want to get in a car for four hours and not be stretched out and have some good blood flowing anyway. You want to be ready at the start of the race, anything can happen. It certainly helps, but I think there’s some other things that we moved around that hopefully will take care of it.”

AS YOU ENTER THIS WEEKEND, CAUSE THIS IS A TRACK WHERE YOU HAVE TO USE BOTH PEDALS, IS THIS A TRACK WHERE YOU’RE REALLY CONCERNED THAT THE LEG NUMBNESS MAY BE HAPPENING ONCE AGAIN OR NOT REALLY WITH THIS ADJUSTMENT?
“Like I said a little earlier, it’s really hard to tell at the shop sitting still. You can strap yourself in, you can sit there forever. Without the car moving, you know the loads. When I sat in the car in Fontana for Vegas, I thought it was going to be ok. That does make it a little concerning, but I know that we went the right direction. It’s just hopefully we have gone enough, hopefully we didn’t go too far. Its just kind of difficult to really know if we got it right, and you know we got, well I thought we had enough time at Las Vegas to get a feel for it but we had some pretty lengthy changes, I didn’t get to stay out on the track quite long enough for that really to take into effect. You know coming in and sitting for 10 minutes while we were making some changes to the car took away from that, so we had the opportunity with that practice to get an idea for if we were going to be ok or not. We just didn’t take advantage of it. You know at Fontana, we didn’t really get to run long enough in the 15 minute practice session, or group split that we had to figure it out, so that is a cause for concern. We could probably run that whole session straight through and still may not know if it’s ok or not for the race.”

ARE YOU GETTING TO A POINT WHERE YOU’RE STARTING TO KNOW WHERE THE EDGE IS, HOW FAR YOU CAN TAKE IT OUT?
“It’s getting closer. The last two weeks have been a little more difficult to know, Vegas for sure was as well. (inaudible) You know in practice, you know just thinking we were balance wise pretty close and then figuring out as the race kind of unfolded that we were too loose and ultimately the car came around on me. There was a lot of learning left there, but it is hard to kind of get a feel for it with some of the things that we’ve been fighting. You know a place like Phoenix, when I tested there, I guess it would have been January, I actually felt like you could get away with more in this car than what we’ve ran there the last two years on short-tracks. This wider tire definitely adds a little bit different on a short-track than it does on some of the higher speed racetracks, so very interesting to see what that’s like in a lot more traffic, a lot more dirty air in full on racing versus what we were experiencing during the test. The cars definitely different, everyone’s seen that already, but I feel like we have been able to race pretty hard. It’s been kind of nice having a car that, in my opinion, doesn’t get as aero-loose when you’re on someone’s door. There’s a lot of things different about it, it’s been fun learning some characteristics early.”

YOU THINK IT’S FAIR TO SAY IT SUITS YOUR STYLE?
“I don’t know actually. I like having a car hung out and you can’t really have this car hung out anymore.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE ITS (NEXT GEN CAR) LIVED UP TO ITS EXPECTATIONS COMING IN?
“I do. It’s definitely more difficult to drive. There’s so much to (inaudible) that you can’t rely on, your old senses or marks. I mean for me it has. It’s been a lot of fun. I really do like the things that are different about this car. As to be expected with it, you know you are going to have more difficult things than others, but I feel like everyone’s maximum potential is or starting point is with this car has kind of brought together. Throughout the field more people have more opportunities to hit it right and be able to run up with the best of the best at the front of the field. But at the same time if you miss it really bad, you’re going to have a really tough day. There’s a lot to learn and we are going to continue to learn with this car.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Roush Fenway Keselowski Weekly Advance | Phoenix

The West Coast swing comes to a close this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, where RFK Racing enters the weekend with 17 wins all-time, including seven in the NASCAR Cup Series. Brad Keselowski makes his 26th Cup start in the desert, while Chris Buescher makes his 13th on Sunday.

NASCAR Cup Series Race at Phoenix
Sunday, March 13 | 3:30 p.m. ET
FOX, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

· Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Violet Defense Ford Mustang
· Chris Buescher, No. 17 ITsavvy Ford Mustang

Hooked on Phoenix

Roush Fenway has 297 combined starts at Phoenix, totaling 17 wins, 75 top-five and 134 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have nine poles and have led 4,031 laps at the 1-mile track.

Winning in the Desert

RFK has won at Phoenix in all three of NASCAR’s major divisions, with the organization’s first win coming in the fall of 1993 with NASCAR Hall of Famer and former driver Mark Martin in the NCS. RFK won the second-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in 2000 and former driver Greg Biffle claimed the organization’s 100th overall NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Phoenix in 2009.

Former driver Carl Edwards also won at the track that fall to give RFK the season sweep. All in all, six drivers have won NASCAR races for RFK at Phoenix (Martin, Biffle, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joe Ruttman). In addition, Edwards swept Phoenix in the fall of 2010, winning both the NXS and NCS events.

Xfinity Success

Phoenix was one of the strongest tracks for RFK’s Xfinity program. In 93 starts, the organization won eight times, earned 27 top-fives, 53 top-10s and has led 1,406 laps. RFK most recently went to victory lane with Edwards in Nov. 2010. Its eight wins rank most of any track on the circuit behind only Charlotte (12), Darlington (15), Richmond (9) and Rockingham (10).

Tale of the Tape

RFK has started 168 NCS races at Phoenix, recording a total of seven victories, 35 top-five finishes, 60 top-10 finishes, four poles and has led 2,291 laps. Edwards earned RFK’s most recent victory at Phoenix in the March 2013 event.

RFK Phoenix Wins

1993 Martin Cup

1997-2 Ruttman Truck

2000 Burton Cup

2000 Burton NXS

2001 Biffle Truck

2001 Burton Cup

2001 Biffle NXS

2002 Kenseth Cup

2005-1 Busch Cup

2005-2 Edwards NXS

2006-2 Kenseth NXS

2008-2 Edwards NXS

2009-1 Biffle NXS

2009-2 Edwards NXS

2010-2 Edwards Cup

2010-2 Edwards NXS

2013-1 Edwards Cup