Date: Saturday, March 2
Start Time: 4:30 p.m. ET
Site: Phoenix International Raceway (1964) -- Avondale, Ariz.
Track: one-mile oval - 1,179 feet (Frontstretch); 1,551 feet (Backstretch)
Laps: 200
Miles: 200
Capacity: 50,000 (Grandstand Seating)
Total purse:
Payouts:
Year: 9th
On TV: ESPN2
Announcers:
On Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
Race record: Elliott Sadler, 2012 (116.317 mph)
Qualifying record: Kyle Busch, 2011 (134.298 mph)
2012 Finish
Defending champion: Elliott Sadler
Runner up: Brad Keselowski
Pole winner: Denny Hamlin (132.979 mph)
Top 10:
1. Elliott Sadler (Start: 8)
2. Brad Keselowski (7)
3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2)
4. Austin Dillon (9)
5. Kevin Harvick (12)
6. Sam Hornish Jr. (6)
7. Trevor Bayne (5)
8. Joey Logano (10)
9. Denny Hamlin (1)
10. Michael Annett (21)
Average speed: 116.317 mph
Time of race: 1 hr., 43 mins., 10 secs.
Margin of victory: 0.259 secs.
Caution flags: 3 for 15 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 5 drivers
Past winners
2012 Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 116.317 mph (race record)
2011 Kyle Busch, Toyota, 112.272 mph
2010 Kyle Busch, Toyota, 93.872 mph
2009 Greg Biffle, Ford, 92.965 mph
2008 Kyle Busch, Toyota, 98.764 mph
2007 Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 87.581 mph
2006 Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 92.250 mph
2005 Greg Biffle, Ford, 83.007 mph
Last race
Race: DRIVE4COPD 300 (Feb. 23)
Site: Daytona International Speedway -- Daytona Beach, Fla.
Miles: 300
Laps: 120
Finish line order: Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish Jr., Alex Bowman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Parker Kligerman
Time of Race: 2 hrs., 8 mins., 37 secs.
Average speed: 139.951 mph
Margin of victory: Under Caution
Caution flags: 7 for 26 laps
Lead changes: 34 among 20 drivers
Lap leaders: T. Bayne 1-3; Kyle Busch 4-5; T. Stewart 6; D. Patrick 7-11; E. T. Bayne 1-3; Kyle Busch 4-5; T. Stewart 6; D. Patrick 7-11; E. Sadler 12-17; B. Vickers 18-22; E. Sadler 23-27; B. Keselowski 28-29; Kyle Busch 30-45; M. Kenseth 46-49; J. Allgaier 50; M. Kenseth 51-57; D. Earnhardt Jr. 58-59; Kyle Busch 60-62; K. Kahne 63-65; D. Efland 66; J. Earnhardt 67; M. Harmon 68; R. Smith 69-70; D. Earnhardt Jr. 71; R. Smith 72-85; Kyle Busch 86; M. Bliss 87; B. Keselowski 88-90; M. Kenseth 91; B. Scott 92-93; M. Kenseth 94; B. Scott 95-96; K. Larson 97; B. Scott 98; E. McClure 99; P. Kligerman 100-109; E. Sadler 110-111; R. Smith 112-118; T. Stewart 119-120.
Entry list
#00 Jason White (Richmond, VA) Toyota/Headrush
#01 Mike Wallace (St. Louis, MO) Chevrolet/TBA
#2 Brian Scott (Boise, ID) Chevrolet/White Tail
#3 Austin Dillon (Welcome, NC) Chevrolet/AdvoCare
#4 Daryl Harr (Alberta, Canada) Chevrolet/TBA
#5 Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon, CA) Chevrolet/Great Clips
#6 Trevor Bayne (Knoxville, TN) Ford/Valvoline
#7 Regan Smith (Cato, NY) Chevrolet/taxslayer.com
#10 Jeff Green (Owensboro, KY) Toyota/TriStar Motorsports
#11 * Elliott Sadler (Emporia, VA) Toyota/One Main Financial
#12 Sam Hornish Jr. (Defiance, OH) Ford/Detroit Genuine Parts
#14 Eric McClure (Chilhowie, VA) Toyota/Hefty/Reynolds Wrap
#15 Juan Carlos Blum (Guadalajara, Mex.) Ford/VMP
#18 Matt Kenseth (Cambridge, WI) Toyota/Resers
#19 Mike Bliss (Milwaukie, OR) Toyota/TriStar Motorsports
#20 Brian Vickers (Thomasville, NC) Toyota/Dollar General
#22 Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI Ford/Discount Tire
#24 Blake Koch (West Palm Beach, FL) Toyota/Second/Salt Life
#27 Michael McDowell (Glendale, AZ) Toyota/TBA
#30 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Brasilia, Brazil) Chevrolet/Worx
#31 Justin Allgaier (Riverton, IL) Chevrolet/Brandt
#32 Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, CA) Chevrolet/Eveready
#33 Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, CA) Chevrolet/Menards
#40 Reed Sorenson (Peachtree City, GA) Chevrolet/The Motorsports Group
#42 Josh Wise (Riverside, CA) Chevrolet/Curtis Key Plumbing
#43 Aric Almirola (Tampa, FL) Ford/Pilot Travel Centers/Flying J
#44 Hal Martin (Galliano, LA) Toyota/American Custom Yachts
#46 Chase Miller (Canton, GA) Chevrolet/Curtis Key Plumbing
#51 Jeremy Clements (Spartanburg, SC) Chevrolet/TBA
#52 Joey Gase (Cedar Rapids, IA) Chevrolet/TBA
#54 Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, NV) Toyota/Monster Energy
#55 Jamie Dick (Albuquerque, NM) Chevrolet/vivaautogroup.com
#60 Travis Pastrana (Annapolis, MD) Ford/Roush Fenway Racing
#70 Johanna Long (Pensacola, FL) Chevrolet/Foretravel
#74 Mike Harmon (Birmingport, AL) Chevrolet/TBA
#77 Parker Kligerman (Westport, CT) Toyota/Kyle Busch Motorsports
#79 Jeffrey Earnhardt (Mooresville, NC) Ford/TBA
#87 Joe Nemechek (Lakeland, FL) Toyota/TBA
#89 Morgan Shepherd (Ferguson, NC) Chevrolet/Hylands
#99 Alex Bowman (Tucson, AZ) Toyota/TBA
Leading contenders
| Name | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliott Sadler | 2 | 32 | 14 | 12 | Won | |||
| Brad Keselowski | 32 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 34 | 2 | ||
| Austin Dillon | 34 | 4 | ||||||
| Kevin Harvick | 4 | Won | 9 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Sam Hornish Jr. | 6 | |||||||
| Trevor Bayne | 32 | 31 | 7 | |||||
| Kyle Busch | 12 | 37 | Won | 10 | Won | Won | 11 | |
| Brian Scott | 15 | 16 | 9 | 14 | ||||
| Justin Allgaier | 8 | 13 | 8 | 15 | ||||
| Matt Kenseth | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| Regan Smith | 27 | 8 | ||||||
| Brian Vickers | ||||||||
| Jimmie Johnson |
Notes
Elliott Sadler won at Phoenix one year ago, scoring his first victory in a Nationwide race since October 1998 at Rockingham, N.C. Sadler, who drove the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing last season, took the lead from Brad Keselowski with 26 laps remaining and then held off Keselowski at the finish by just 0.3 seconds. Sadler is now driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
PIR has been on the Nationwide schedule each year since 1999. Jeff Gordon won the inaugural race in the series there that year.
There have been 22 Nationwide races held at Phoenix, including one event per season from 1999-2004 and two each year since then. The series will return there the second weekend of November.
Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards have the most Nationwide wins at Phoenix with four each. Busch also has scored four poles there, which is tops among all drivers. He started on the pole and led all 200 laps in winning the 2011 spring race.
Busch's set a new track qualifying record for a Nationwide event at Phoenix two years ago. He did it with a lap at 134.298 mph. Busch also holds the record for the fastest qualifying lap there in the Sprint Cup Series (138.766 mph). That was done last November.
The quickest a Nationwide race at Phoenix has been completed occurred one year ago when Sadler finished it in 1 hour, 43 minutes and 10 seconds and at an average speed of 116.317 mph.
The closest margin of victory in a Nationwide event at Phoenix happened in November 2008 when Edwards beat Denny Hamlin by just 0.096 seconds.
The race in the series is the March 9 Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won last year's event there.
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