Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed speed at Phoenix, but his night ended in frustration. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
ANOTHER TOUGH NIGHT FOR JR Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed speed at Phoenix International Speedway on Saturday night, but his night ended in frustration again, as a late-race spin dropped him to 31st in the final results of the Subway Fresh Fit 500k. It was the fifth time in eight NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season that Earnhardt has posted the worst result among the four Hendrick Motorsports cars. With nearly one-third of NASCAR’s 26-race regular season completed, Earnhardt now stands 19th in points.
Earnhardt once again had pit road issues at PIR, having to make a second stop early on for a missed lugnut. And although he led twice for a total of 63 laps, Earnhardt’s hope of a good finish ended on Lap 301 of the 312-lap event, thank to a bump by Casey Mears that sent Earnhardt’s Chevrolet Impala SS spinning in Turn 4. “We just couldn't get it right tonight and we were very loose at the end,” said Earnhardt. “It felt good to lead some laps. We'll get 'em at Talladega.”
MIXED BAG FOR ROUSH FENWAY Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500k at Phoenix International Raceway saw Greg Biffle pace the Roush Fenway Racing effort with a fifth-place run, best among the team’s five Ford Fusions. Carl Edwards, last year’s runner-up in NASCAR Sprint Cup points, had a respectable 10th-place effort, which put him one spot ahead of fellow Roush Fenway pilot Jamie McMurray. Rounding out the team’s results were disappointing finishes for David Ragan (22nd) and Matt Kenseth (27th).
Not a single one of the five Roush drivers managed to lead a lap at PIR. “I couldn’t get in the lead,” said Biffle, who had to settle for best in class. “There were about three guys tonight better than me – the 5 (race-winner Mark Martin) and the 2 (third-place Kurt Busch) were just a little bit better and I think I could run with everybody else. Those two guys were a little bit better than I was, but, other than that, we just need to work on it harder and be better for next time.”
With eight races complete, Edwards is now 8th in points and Kenseth 12th, despite his two victories to open the season. Biffle, meanwhile, is 14th, two places back of the final transfer spot for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
MAKING PROGRESS Although Sam Hornish Jr. enjoyed tremendous success in the IndyCar Series, where he earned three championships and an Indianapolis 500 victory, success has proven harder to come by in his brief NASCAR Sprint Cup career. And that made his ninth-place finish in Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500k at Phoenix International Raceway all that much sweeter.
It was Hornish’s best result in 44 career Cup races, and his first top 10. Best of all, perhaps, it came at a track where he also won his first IndyCar race. “It was a real good run for us,” Hornish said after climbing from his Penske Championship Racing Dodge Charger. “I said yesterday I thought we had a really good racecar. I was right about that. We might have been fighting for a top five if the driver had qualified a little better.”
And after more than a year of struggle, Hornish is finally starting to see some results. “I’m just real proud of these guys that work on the Mobil 1 Dodge,” said the Ohio native. “They really put a lot of work into it. I said if we keep narrowing it down changing pieces of the puzzle and trying to get all the right people in the right places, we could be competitive. … I was real happy that it happened here. I have a lot of fond memories of this track (his first IndyCar Series victory came at PIR).”
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