Cup: Phoenix Mid-Race Report

What’s Happening?

Two stages down, one to go in the Straight Talk 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The first stage was dominated by Team Penske with Joey Logano going on to lead the first half and some change before falling to his teammate Ryan Blaney. Austin Cindric also ran solidly in the top 10. Blaney went on to effortlessly win Stage 1, collecting 10 valuable stage points. Meanwhile, Logano, at the time, had claim to the Xfinity Fastest Lap.

Stage 2 was plagued with tire issues as tires started to go out following runs as short as 20 laps. Some heavy hitters were affected by the debacle, including Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Connor Zilisch (twice), Shane van Gisbergen, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, among others. In the closing laps of the stage, this really brought into question of whether or not teams should pit before the final run, which was about 19 laps long.

Ryan Blaney had a speeding penalty on pit road. That effectively took him out of contention to win the stage. Instead, as Logano continued to fade, it was the JGR duo of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin who rose to the occasion. Bell won the stage. The last two times he went on to win the second stage at Phoenix, he went on to win the race.

Notes:

• The first stage was a tale of two Penske Cars. Joey Logano led the way early, leading 46 of the opening laps of the race. But as the run ran longer, the No. 22 car faded some. He fell prey to Ryan Blaney, 18 laps of the stage on his way to victory. Blaney has been strong early this season, showing race-winning speed to rival Tyler Reddick last week at COTA. He has been historically fast at Phoenix so keep an eye on him. Also earning stage points in the stage were Blaney (10), Bell (9), Logano (8), Reddick (7), Hamlin (6), Cindric (5), Suarez (4), Gibbs (3), Byron (2), and Chastain (1).
• A few big-name drivers struggled early in the race, going a lap down before the first stage even concluded. The most notable of them was Kyle Busch. Finishing the stage in the 34th position, it was set to be a long day for the two-time champion as his late-career slump seemingly continues into a third straight year.
• Stage 2 was a bit messy for some drivers. Kyle Busch had a tire go down. He was already two laps off the pace, and the incident didn’t trigger a caution. It was looking like a nightmare scenario. Fortunately for Busch, the caution came out a lap later for SVG.
• Win-and-you ‘re-in being a thing of the past, Shane van Gisbergen had only one simple goal heading into Phoenix: have a quiet, solid top 15 finish. Starting 18th, he was on his way to doing just that. He was in the 13th position when he had a tire go down, causing him to spin around. This triggered the first caution for cause of the day, the second overall.
• On Lap 104, the caution yet again flew as Daniel Suarez turned around. He collected the likes of Erik Jones and Chase Elliott, who all received minimal damage. Suarez was running solidly at the time, having earned stage points in Stage 1.
• Christopher Bell went on to win the second stage, earning him 10 stage points. Other stage points earners include Hamlin (9), Logano (8), Buescher (7), Wallace (6), Cindric (5), Hocevar (4), Reddick (3), Larson (2), and Gilliland (1).
• Chase Briscoe suffered a massive crash after a tire failure had him plow into the wall. He retired from the race as a result.

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