The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has taken a dramatic twist in its penultimate race at Phoenix, where a crash from Jimmie Johnson allowed Brad Keselowski to take a comfortable points lead.
Johnson blew a tyre and slammed into the Turn 4 exit wall with 76 laps to go, causing significant damage to the right-side of the #48 Hendrick Chevrolet. The five-time champion returned to the circuit to finish 32nd – 26 places behind title rival Keselowski.
The result has turned Johnson’s seven point lead into a 20 point deficit, meaning that, even if Johnson scores maximum points, the #2 Penske Dodge need only finish inside the top 15 next weekend at Homestead to secure the crown.
The AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix was won by Kevin Harvick, who led home Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Keselowski in a wild finish.
Two big wrecks occurred in the closing stages. The first saw a limping Jeff Gordon deliberately fence Clint Bowyer as payback for earlier contact, leading to trackside fisticuffs between the pair and their respective crews.
The race was restarted after a 15 minute red flag, with a second major wreck – this time due to oil dropped in a penultimate lap incident for Danica Patrick – occurring as the field took the chequered flag. Keselowski only narrowly escaped both accidents.
Australian Marcos Ambrose also survived all of the carnage to finish with a straight #9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford to finish 18th.
Ironically, the first victory of the season for both Harvick and Richard Childress Racing comes amid speculation that the long-time driver-team combination will split up after the 2013 season, with Harvick tipped to be heading to reigning championship winning squad Stewart-Haas Racing.
See below for the full race result
|
FIN |
ST |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | 19 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 47/1 | 319 | Running |
| 2 | 3 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 43/1 | 319 | Running |
| 3 | 1 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 43/2 | 319 | Running |
| 4 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 40/0 | 319 | Running |
| 5 | 12 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans | 40/1 | 319 | Running |
| 6 | 14 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 39/1 | 319 | Running |
| 7 | 20 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Filtrete | 37/0 | 319 | Running |
| 8 | 6 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 36/0 | 319 | Running |
| 9 | 7 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Rheem | 35/0 | 319 | Running |
| 10 | 10 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 35/1 | 319 | Running |
| 11 | 13 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 33/0 | 319 | Running |
| 12 | 21 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 32/0 | 319 | Running |
| 13 | 33 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 31/0 | 319 | Running |
| 14 | 22 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 30/0 | 319 | Running |
| 15 | 30 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Vektor Vodka | 29/0 | 319 | Running |
| 16 | 5 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Farmland | 28/0 | 319 | Running |
| 17 | 37 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 0 | 319 | Running |
| 18 | 17 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Black & Decker | 26/0 | 319 | Running |
| 19 | 39 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King | 26/1 | 319 | Running |
| 20 | 9 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Mobil 1 / Office Depot | 24/0 | 319 | Running |
| 21 | 23 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew | 23/0 | 317 | Running |
| 22 | 25 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 22/0 | 317 | Running |
| 23 | 18 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Allstate | 21/0 | 317 | Running |
| 24 | 8 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 20/0 | 316 | Running |
| 25 | 27 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 19/0 | 316 | Running |
| 26 | 42 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Accell Construction | 18/0 | 316 | Running |
| 27 | 15 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Dollar General | 17/0 | 312 | In Pit |
| 28 | 16 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 16/0 | 312 | In Pit |
| 29 | 41 | Timmy Hill | Ford | U.S. Chrome / TMone | 15/0 | 312 | Running |
| 30 | 11 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 14/0 | 309 | In Pit |
| 31 | 26 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 299 | In Pit |
| 32 | 24 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 12/0 | 281 | Running |
| 33 | 29 | David Ragan | Ford | CertainTeed / 31-W Insulation | 11/0 | 280 | In Pit |
| 34 | 32 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 10/0 | 86 | In Pit |
| 35 | 35 | Stephen Leicht * | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 9/0 | 74 | In Pit |
| 36 | 31 | David Gilliland | Ford | Loan Mart | 8/0 | 50 | In Pit |
| 37 | 38 | Josh Wise * | Ford | MDS Transport | 7/0 | 50 | In Pit |
| 38 | 28 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 6/0 | 36 | In Pit |
| 39 | 43 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM-FM Energy | 0 | 30 | In Pit |
| 40 | 34 | David Reutimann | Ford | No Label Watcher | 4/0 | 28 | In Pit |
| 41 | 36 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical / Value Place | 0 | 15 | In Pit |
| 42 | 40 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Plinker Tactical / Value Place | 0 | 10 | In Pit |
| 43 | 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 1/0 | 10 | Out of Race |
See below for the updates points standings
|
RANK |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | 2371 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 2351 |
| 3 | Kasey Kahne | 2321 |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | 2319 |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | 2309 |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | 2297 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | 2293 |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | 2285 |
| 9 | Tony Stewart | 2283 |
| 10 | Jeff Gordon | 2281 |
| 11 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2260 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2211 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | 1091 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 1009 |
| 15 | Carl Edwards | 998 |
| 16 | Paul Menard | 973 |
| 17 | Joey Logano | 935 |
| 18 | Marcos Ambrose | 918 |
| 19 | Jeff Burton | 858 |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray | 844 |
| 21 | Aric Almirola | 831 |
| 22 | Juan Montoya | 794 |
| 23 | Bobby Labonte | 753 |
| 24 | Regan Smith | 733 |
| 25 | Kurt Busch | 700 |
| 26 | Mark Martin | 673 |
| 27 | Travis Kvapil | 621 |
| 28 | David Ragan | 609 |
| 29 | Casey Mears | 597 |
| 30 | David Gilliland | 594 |
| 31 | Landon Cassill | 581 |
| 32 | AJ Allmendinger | 453 |
| 33 | Dave Blaney | 405 |
| 34 | David Reutimann | 363 |
| 35 | Brian Vickers | 250 |
| 36 | David Stremme | 230 |
| 37 | Michael McDowell | 184 |
| 38 | J.J. Yeley | 157 |
| 39 | Josh Wise* | 143 |
| 40 | Ken Schrader | 139 |
| 41 | Stephen Leicht* | 126 |
| 42 | Scott Speed | 124 |
| 43 | Michael Waltrip | 94 |
| 44 | Terry Labonte | 94 |
| 45 | Tony Raines | 71 |
| 46 | Scott Riggs | 54 |
| 47 | Brendan Gaughan | 50 |
| 48 | Boris Said | 34 |
| 49 | Timmy Hill | 15 |
| 50 | Bill Elliott | 14 |
| 51 | Hermie Sadler | 13 |
| 52 | Mike Olsen | 11 |
| 53 | Robby Gordon | 11 |
| 54 | Mike Skinner | 10 |
| 55 | Kelly Bires | 9 |
| 56 | Tomy Drissi | 6 |
| 57 | Stacy Compton | 5 |
| 58 | David Mayhew | 4 |
| 59 | Patrick Long | 2 |
| 60 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 0 |
| 61 | Trevor Bayne | 0 |
| 62 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 0 |
| 63 | Danica Patrick | 0 |
| 64 | Austin Dillon | 0 |
| 65 | Mike Bliss | 0 |
| 66 | Elliott Sadler | 0 |
| 67 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 0 |
| 68 | Joe Nemechek | 0 |
| 69 | Reed Sorenson | 0 |
| 70 | T.J. Bell | 0 |
| 71 | Jason White | 0 |
| 72 | Jason Leffler | 0 |
| 73 | Cole Whitt | 0 |
| 74 | Chris Cook | 0 |
| 75 | Tim Andrews | 0 |
| 76 | Brian Simo | 0 |
| 77 | Mark Green | 0 |
| 78 | Jeff Green | 0 |
| 79 | Mike Wallace | 0 |
| 80 | Kenny Wallace | 0 |
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