Denny Hamlin had enough gas to win today the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International raceway. This is the first win for Denny and his new crew chief Darrian Grubb who took over after being let go by Stewart Haas racing after last season.
Kevin Harvick was closing in late until he ran out of gas with a few laps remaining. It looked like Harvick would run Hamlin down but that wasn’t to be. Hamlin said in his after race press conference that he had something left if Harvick was able to catch him.
Once again Phoenix became a fuel mileage race just as before they reconfigured the track last year. Hamlin took the lead on lap 260 and held on for the remainder of the race.
This was Denny Hamlin’s 18th win in the Sprint cup series. It was a good weekend for all Joe Gibbs Racing cars as they all finished in the top 10.
It was not a good weekend for defending Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart and Haas racing as Ryan Newman was tapped by Carl Edwards and was sent into the wall. Tony Stewart’s #14 had issues restarting after shutting the engine off to save fuel. As of this writing they are saying it was a circuit breaker problem.
Jimmie Johnson had a good day and led a bunch of laps and was always in the top of the field despite having to pit 3 times for a loose wheel/stud problem. Jimmie moved up 12 spots in the point standings.
Here is the final race results
1. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 312.
2. (8) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 312.
3. (7) Greg Biffle, Ford, 312.
4. (4) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 312.
5. (28) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 312.
6. (12) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 312.
7. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 312.
8. (30) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 312.
9. (1) Mark Martin, Toyota, 312.
10. (9) Joey Logano, Toyota, 312.
11. (5) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 312.
12. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 312.
13. (26) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 312.
14. (29) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 312.
15. (19) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 312.
16. (17) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 312.
17. (24) Carl Edwards, Ford, 312.
18. (15) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 311.
19. (41) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 311.
20. (3) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 311.
21. (6) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 310.
22. (2) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 310.
23. (23) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 309.
24. (42) Mike Bliss, Ford, 309.
25. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 309.
26. (35) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 309.
27. (40) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 308.
28. (36) David Gilliland, Ford, 308.
29. (43) David Stremme, Toyota, 306.
30. (16) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 306.
31. (20) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 303.
32. (14) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, Engine, 295.
33. (11) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, Engine, 291.
34. (10) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 274.
35. (22) Landon Cassill, Toyota, 272.
36. (32) David Reutimann, Chevrolet, Engine, 248.
37. (21) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, Engine, 212.
38. (33) Josh Wise, Ford, Vibration, 110.
39. (31) Casey Mears, Ford, Accident, 109.
40. (38) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, Brakes, 62.
41. (39) Robby Gordon, Dodge, Brakes, 33.
42. (27) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, Brakes, 29.
43. (37) Michael McDowell, Ford, Brakes, 8.
Leave a Reply