Dale Earnhardt Jr. has claimed the rain-shortened race in Phoenix with the big winners being Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who will join Jeff Gordon in the fight for the NASCAR title next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Despite being run in the desert of Arizona, persistent rain throughout the afternoon pushed the race start well into the evening.
Kevin Harvick dominated the race leading a total of 143 of the contested 219 laps. However, a caution period during a pit stop cycle occurred after Joey Gase found the fence. Earnhardt Jr. was being serviced at the time and was in the pit box directly prior to the start finish/line. As he left his pit box he was scored as the leader when the caution was called.
A combination of a long clean-up and then rain locked the field into position with Harvick sitting second. That was more than enough to see him advance to the Final 4 next week along with the finishing positions of Kyle Busch and Truex Jr., as well as the victory to Gordon two weeks ago at Martinsville.
The drivers to miss out were the Penske duo of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.
The NASCAR champion will be decided by whichever of the Final 4 driver finishes the highest at the season-ending race in Florida.
Click here to find out how.
VIDEO: Race re-cap
RESULTS: Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 – Phoenix International Raceway
STANDINGS
| POS | DRIVER | POINTS | BEHIND | STARTS | WINS | TOP 5 | TOP 10 | DNF |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 5000 | Leader | 35 | 3 | 22 | 27 | 1 |
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 5000 | Leader | 35 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 1 |
| 3 | Kyle Busch | 5000 | Leader | 24 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 2 |
| 4 | Martin Truex Jr | 5000 | Leader | 35 | 1 | 8 | 22 | 2 |
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 2334 | -2666 | 35 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 2 |
| 6 | Joey Logano | 2319 | -2681 | 35 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 0 |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 2306 | -2694 | 35 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 1 |
| 8 | Brad Keselowski | 2304 | -2696 | 35 | 1 | 8 | 24 | 1 |
| 9 | Kurt Busch | 2297 | -2703 | 32 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 0 |
| 10 | Denny Hamlin | 2293 | -2707 | 35 | 2 | 14 | 19 | 2 |
| 11 | Ryan Newman | 2286 | -2714 | 35 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 1 |
| 12 | Jimmie Johnson | 2280 | -2720 | 35 | 5 | 14 | 21 | 1 |
| 13 | Jamie McMurray | 2264 | -2736 | 35 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| 14 | Paul Menard | 2239 | -2761 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 15 | Matt Kenseth | 2197 | -2803 | 33 | 5 | 12 | 19 | 4 |
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | 2174 | -2826 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 2 |
| 17 | Aric Almirola | 937 | -4063 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| 18 | Kasey Kahne | 914 | -4086 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 3 |
| 19 | Greg Biffle | 840 | -4160 | 35 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | Kyle Larson | 832 | -4168 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 5 |
| 21 | Austin Dillon | 802 | -4198 | 35 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 22 | Casey Mears | 752 | -4248 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | AJ Allmendinger | 734 | -4266 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 24 | Danica Patrick | 696 | -4304 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 25 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 690 | -4310 | 35 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 26 | Sam Hornish Jr | 690 | -4310 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 27 | David Ragan | 684 | -4316 | 35 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 28 | Tony Stewart | 680 | -4320 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 29 | Trevor Bayne | 629 | -4371 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 30 | Justin Allgaier | 580 | -4420 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 31 | Cole Whitt | 537 | -4463 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 32 | David Gilliland | 521 | -4479 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 | Alex Bowman | 419 | -4581 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 34 | Brett Moffitt | 409 | -4591 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 35 | Matt DiBenedetto | 392 | -4608 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 | Michael Annett | 384 | -4616 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 37 | Josh Wise | 249 | -4751 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 38 | Jeb Burton | 216 | -4784 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | 202 | -4798 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 | Alex Kennedy | 120 | -4880 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Reed Sorenson | 74 | -4926 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | Bobby Labonte | 60 | -4940 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | 58 | -4942 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Brian Vickers | 32 | -4968 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Ryan Preece | 29 | -4971 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Will Kimmel III | 11 | -4989 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | Mike Wallace | 8 | -4992 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | T.J. Bell | 7 | -4993 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Eddie MacDonald | 7 | -4993 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | Ryan Ellis | 4 | -4996 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | Kyle Fowler | 3 | -4997 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 52 | Ron Hornaday Jr | 2 | -4998 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 | Ryan Blaney | 0 | -5000 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 54 | Brian Scott | 0 | -5000 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 55 | Erik Jones | 0 | -5000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | Landon Cassill | 0 | -5000 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 57 | Ty Dillon | 0 | -5000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 | J.J. Yeley | 0 | -5000 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 59 | Regan Smith | 0 | -5000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 60 | Chase Elliott | 0 | -5000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 | Matt Crafton | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 62 | Johnny Sauter | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 | Chris Buescher | 0 | -5000 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 64 | Boris Said | 0 | -5000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 | Brendan Gaughan | 0 | -5000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 66 | Justin Marks | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 | Mike Bliss | 0 | -5000 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 68 | Travis Kvapil | 0 | -5000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 | Joe Nemechek | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 | B J McLeod | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 0 | -5000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 72 | Timmy Hill | 0 | -5000 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 73 | Joey Gase | 0 | -5000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 74 | Derek White | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 | Jeff Green | 0 | -5000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 | Tanner Berryhill | 0 | -5000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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