Hello fans. This week’s track is the Phoenix International Raceway. Located in the suburbs of Phoenix in a place called Avondale, Arizona which is located in the foothills of the Estrella Mountains. Construction on the track was completed in January 1964 and a month later in February, the very first race was held at Phoenix and was won on the road course that is located there as well as the oval stock car track.
Over the years, there were a variety of different type races held at the track. Anything from open wheel to midget racing and alot of stuff in between. It wasnt until 1987 that NASCAR came knocking on Phoenix International Raceway’s door. It was announced at that time that NASCAR would run an annual race here at the track and in October 1988 construction was completed on a three story suite building outside turn 1 and an expansion for reserved seating increasing the number of seats to 30,000.
The very first NASCAR event was the Checker 500 and was held November 6, 1988 and was won by Alan Kulwicki. In 1995, the then NASCAR Super Truck Series, now the Craftsman Truck Series, made it’s official racing debut with the very first truck race ever and the race was won by Mike Skinner. In July 1996 they again expanded the reserve seating area to now seat 65,000 more than double the previous expansion total from 1988. In November 1999, the first NASCAR Busch Series race was held and was won by Jeff Gordon. In May 2004, NASCAR revised their 2005 schedule, adding more races to the schedule which would see some tracks having races held twice per season. For Phoenix it meant adding the spring race, the first of which was held on April 23, 2005.
In the winter of 2004 before the new season started, lighting was installed and in March 2005, drivers drove under lights at Phoenix. Phoenix International Raceway celebrated 20 years of NASCAR racing in 2007 and continues to provide a incredible racing experience for all who attend.
There are actually 2 tracks located at Phoenix International Raceway. A long, winding 2.5 mile road course and the uniquely shaped 1 mile oval. The track has an 11 degrees banking in turns 1 and 2 while turns 3 and 4 have only 9 degrees of banking. The front and backstretch also have different degrees of banking. The frontstretch has 3 degrees banking and the backstretch has 9 degrees banking just like turns 3 and 4. The frontstretch measures 1179 feet while the backstretch is 1551 feet. The track qualifying record for the Sprint cup series is held by Ryan Newman since 2004 at 26.499 seconds at 135.854 mph. The Nationwide Series qualifying record for Phoenix is held by Kyle Busch also since 2004 with a top time of 26.902 seconds at a speed of 133.819 mph.
Today Phoenix International Raceway counts its two NASCAR weekends each year as two of the biggest events in the state. The annual fall race includes Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman Truck Series races. As the fifth largest city in the U.S., Phoenix offers everything from food and lodging to recreation and shopping, not to mention the most celebrated and storied racetrack in the west.
Well if anyone has anything to add, please do. I haven’t seen a weather report for Phoenix this weekend so let’s keep our fingers crossed for another rain free qualifying weekend for the second week in a row!!! I hear the engines already! This should be quite interesting this weekend. I’m definitely not counting Carl out just yet and I hope that somehow Johnson gets some bad mojo because even though I’m a big Jeff Gordon fan and a big Dale Jr fan too, I have never been a big fan of Johnson. I know, I know, he is a Hendricks driver, but be that as it may, I have never really cared for him or his crew chief Chad Knause. So I would love to see Carl shake it up a bit and make it so Johnson has to work for it, but that’s just me.
Alright then, I’m gonna do some rain mojo so they have clear skies for practice and qualifying. I’ll be back Sunday after the race for my usual race recap. Until then have a great rest of the week and I’ll see you then.
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Ok I know you really don’t want Jimmie Johnson to do bad being that he is my favorite driver and all
It should be a good race and I am sure that there will be a lot of Jimmie fans making the trek to see him win the race. Yes I said he is going to win!