Kyle Busch dominates rain-shortened Blue Jeans Go Green 200
With 35 laps left in the Blue Jeans Go Green 200, the skies would open up and rain would begin to fall. After a two-hour rain delay, NASCAR would make the decision to call the race.
When the rain began to fall, it was Kyle Busch that was in front of the field and he would pick up his third straight Phoenix victory behind the wheel of the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry. It marks his 64th career win in the Nationwide Series.
Busch had dominated the race, taking the lead early in the event and leading 155 laps, only falling out of the lead for 13 laps when he had to head down pit road.
“It can rain all it wants now but if we have to go back to green, we can go back out there,” Busch said at the beginning of the rain delay. “This car is good.”
Kevin Harvick, who made the pass by Keselowski shortly before the caution for second, would end up finishing in the runner-up spot. Today’s race at Phoenix International Raceway marked his first race with JR Motorsports.
“Kyle is really fast. We’re struggling on the restarts to get going,” Harvick commented. “Our car is really loose and stays loose for the first six laps. You just go out there and drive the thing in the corner and hope it sticks.”
Brad Keselowski would finish third after winning the pole for the race; he will lead the Sprint Cup Series to the green flag tomorrow as well.
“I haven’t been where I want to be,” Keselowski commented. “We keep making adjustments on it – but we’re getting further away from that. We could finish second or third, but we don’t want to do that as we want to win. So we’ll keep taking shots if we get a chance.”
Kyle Larson and Matt Kenseth would round out the top five for a Sprint Cup Series regular sweep of those five spots.
“We kind of lost our brakes about 60 laps to go and couldn’t pass anybody after that so we were stuck where we were,” Kenseth commented. “It’s been going okay.”
Elliott Sadler would finish sixth, followed by Trevor Bayne and JR Motorsports teammates Regan Smith and Chase Elliott. Ty Dillon rounded out the top 10.
“We were just starting to come in,” Dillon commented. “We were way too tight at the start of the race – kept working on it and feel that we can get up to seventh.”
Brian Scott finished 11th, followed by James Buescher, Dylan Kwasniewski, Ryan Sieg and Chris Buescher.
The race would see four caution flags, with the first caution flying at 20 for Daryl Harr going around after contact from Brad Keselowski. Keselowski was working his way through lap traffic when Harr came down and crossed paths with Keselowski.
“I was just trying to go in deep there,” Keselowski commented. “I was just trying to show him a nose and he came down and I couldn’t slow down enough to stop from wrecking him. I hate to see that because of them trying to make it in this series, but that’s part of racing.”
Under that caution, Will Kimmel stalled on the backstretch with a problem in the rear of his vehicle.
Derrike Cope brought out the second caution at lap 90 when he got into the wall after blowing a right front tire, while Jamie Dick blew his motor with 68 laps to go. The final caution came out with 35 laps to go for a combination of rain and rookie Ryan Reed getting into the backstretch wall. Reed got loose off the corner and couldn’t save the car as he made heavy contact with the inside retaining wall.
“I feel fine,” Reed commented. “I just hate it for the guys. I don’t know what happened down there. I think a combination of the damp track and the car stepping out with me. I tried to save it – but I couldn’t. I just got real aggressive and hate it that happened.”
Daytona winner Regan Smith will keep the points lead heading to Las Vegas next weekend.
Brad Keselowski scores Blue Jeans Go Green 200 Pole Award
After scoring the pole for the Sprint Cup Series race yesterday, Brad Keselowski kept the momentum rolling as he would score the pole for today’s Nationwide Series Blue Jeans Go Green 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Keselowski covered the one-mile flat track in a speed of 134.053 mph (at 26.855 seconds).
Keselowski came close to winning last weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway, finishing a very close second to Regan Smith.
Richard Childress Racing driver Brian Scott will start second, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. Busch swept won both Nationwide Series races at Phoenix last year. Ty Dillon rounded out the top five.
Elliott Sadler will start sixth, followed by JR Motorsports teammates Kevin Harvick and Regan Smith. Kyle Larson and Trevor Bayne will round out the top 10.
Rookie Chase Elliott qualified 11th, followed by fellow rookies Chris Buescher and Dylan Kwasniewski.
The Nationwide Series race is set to start at 3:47 p.m. EST as NASCAR has moved up the start of the race due to threat of rain.
Kevin Harvick Tops Morning Practice
Kevin Harvick, a four-time winner at Phoenix International Raceway, paced Saturday morning practice, logging in 42 laps during the session, including the quickest one.
Harvick was simply fast. The driver of the #4 Budweiser Chevrolet was the only driver during the morning practice to break 137 mph at 137.757 mph. Jamie McMurray was second quickest in his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy with a speed of 136.830, which was just ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, rookie, Kyle Larson, at 136.380 mph.
Daytona 500 champion, Dale Earnhatdt Jr., came in fourth with a speed of 136.664 mph, with Brad Keselowski, the pole-sitter for Sundays race, rounding out the top five.
Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Joey Logano, rounded out the top 10.
Final practice for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for 2 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1.
On Friday afternoon, NASCAR debuted knockout qualifying. Team Penske teammates, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, will lead the field to green on Sunday at The Profit on CNBC 500 presented by Small Business Fueling America. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1.
