Brad Keselowski starts on the pole for Team Penske
NASCAR's second and final leg of its west coast swing wraps up this weekend with the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The one-mile oval, where cars will run the higher horsepower package, features a shorter race at one of the more competitive flat tracks on the circuit. The fifth race of the year may be the finest to date after four surprising winners have the sport off to a hypercompetitive start.
The last time the series was in Phoenix, Chase Elliott earned his first Cup title as the track hosted NASCAR Championship Weekend. But the bigger anniversary everyone remembers came one year ago, when Joey Logano earned a win here in the last "normal" weekend before COVID-19 completely changed the way the world operates.
One of those NASCAR adjustments continues in 2021 with no on-track practice or qualifying before this event. Instead, the field was set using a special performance qualifying metric utilizing the formula below.
50% of the metric is their finishing position from the previous race (split between driver and owner).
35% of the metric is the team's current position in the NASCAR Cup Series owner point standings.
15% of the metric is their fastest lap during the previous race.
The team with the lowest total starts on the pole, then the next lowest, etc. until all available spots are filled. It's the best compromise NASCAR could make while attempting to limit each team's at-track time during the pandemic.
For the third week in a row, just 38 cars showed up for 40 positions on the grid, leaving the sport two short of a full field. The 36 teams who have guaranteed spots are entered along with just two "open" cars: the No. 37 of JTG Daugherty Racing (Ryan Preece) and the No. 66 of MBM Motorsports (Timmy Hill).
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Kyle Larson
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Christopher Bell
5. Martin Truex Jr.
6. Chase Elliott
7. Kyle Busch
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Joey Logano
10. William Byron
11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. Kurt Busch
13. Austin Dillon
14. Erik Jones
15. Ryan Preece
16. Michael McDowell
17. Chris Buescher
18. Kevin Harvick
19. Ryan Newman
20. Matt DiBenedetto
21. Alex Bowman
22. Ross Chastain
23. Tyler Reddick
24. Cole Custer
25. Bubba Wallace
26. Chase Briscoe (R)
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Anthony Alfredo (R)
29. Justin Haley (i)
30. BJ McLeod (i)
31. Cody Ware (i)
32. Aric Almirola
33. Corey LaJoie
34. JJ Yeley (i)
35. Quin Houff
36. Josh Bilicki
37. Timmy Hill (i)
38. James Davison
(R) – Rookie
(i) – Ineligible to collect Cup Series points
QUALIFYING NOTES
- Brad Keselowski (pole) is starting up front for the first time since Martinsville last November. He was runner-up to Chase Elliott here last year in the 2020 season finale.
- Last week's winner Kyle Larson (2nd) is also the highest-qualifying Chevrolet.
- Denny Hamlin (3rd) is the best of the Camry drivers, making it a Ford-Chevrolet-Toyota top 3.
- Chase Elliott (6th) is the most recent winner at the track.
- Joey Logano (9th) is the defending winner of this race last spring. Chase Briscoe (26th) is the highest-starting rookie in the field.
- JJ Yeley (34th) makes his first Cup start of the year for Rick Ware Racing, replacing Garrett Smithley behind the wheel of the No. 53 Chevrolet.
- James Davison (38th) returns to the No. 15 RWR Chevrolet after a one-race absence, replacing Joey Gase.
NASCAR RACE BREAKDOWN
Race: Instacart 500
Track: Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.)
Date: Sunday, March 14
TV: FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 312 laps (500 kilometers)
Stage 1: 75 Laps
Stage 2: 115 Laps
Final Stage: 122 Laps
PRE-RACE PREVIEW
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