Kurt Busch has momentum from his win at Texas Motor Speedway heading into the NASCAR Sprint Series Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Busch, who is coming off a win at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, said track position management is vital at Phoenix.

“Sometimes four tires aren’t going to overcome two tires with the track position that those two-tire guys have,” said Busch, a winner at Phoenix in April 2005. “So it’s very difficult.

“And double file restarts plug up any chance that you think you’re going to have of making a lot of positions because you’re racing with all the lead lap guys. All the fast guys are up front and usually who you’re around are the ones in the same sequence of tires that you have.”

Carl Edwards, whose best Phoenix finish is a fourth on three different occasions, admitted that he kept a watchful eye on Johnson and Martin during Friday’s 90-minute Sprint Cup practice session.

“We’re watching the 48 and 5 when they were in qualifying trim,” Edwards said. “We watched them really close to see kind of how we stacked up. They’re good, obviously. That’s all you can do in practice.

“You can watch the guys that you think are going to be the best, compare yourself to them and that’s how you’ll see where you stand.”

Other drivers considered to be threats to win on Sunday include Juan Pablo Montoya and Denny Hamlin.

But Montoya appears to be more excited about next week’s season finale at the high-banked 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway than Sunday’s event at Phoenix.

“I just enjoy (going) a little faster, to be honest,” he said.

Hamlin, a successful flat track racer, was asked if he was better on flat tracks than Johnson.

“I don’t know, maybe we should switch cars one week,” Hamlin deadpanned.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

– Jeff Hood can be reached at jhood@racintoday.com