NASCAR arrives at Phoenix for potential championship prep
This is an important weekend on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule as teams compete Sunday in the Instacart 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
It is the 50th race at the recently renovated venue that will host Championship Weekend in November.
Not only is there a trophy to win, but teams will use the race to help prepare for the title-stop later in the season.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin arrives in Phoenix leading the driver standings by 38 points over Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski. However, neither driver has hoisted a trophy yet this season.
Four different drivers — Michael Mcdowell (Daytona 500), Christopher Bell (Daytona road course), William Byron (Homestead-miami) and last weekend’s winner, Kyle Larson (Las Vegas) — have won a race to start the season and secured a position in the June 13 NASCAR All-star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Plus, they have locked themselves into the playoffs.
Should a fifth different driver win this weekend it would mark the first time since 2017 that a season has opened with five different winners. The record is 10 different winners — launching the 2000 schedule.
Only one of these 2021 winners — Byron — made the 2020 playoffs. That leaves the more typical headlinemakers such as Hamlin, an eight-time winner in 2020 and the 2012 season champion, and Keselowski, a fourrace winner last year, still vying for their first trip to Victory Lane.
Count 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott and perennial title-chasers Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch among those still driving for a victory in 2021 as well.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano is the defending race winner of this week’s Phoenix event, which marked the last regularly scheduled race to run in 2020 before the sport took a timeout for COVID-19.
Harvick, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-haas Racing Ford, owns a stellar record at Phoenix with a series-leading
nine victories — 18 top-fives and 25 top-10s in 36 starts. He leads the series in pre-race driver rating (110.6) at Phoenix and has the best average finish (8.917) as well.
A win this weekend would make him one of only six drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history to earn a double-digit victory total at a track, an esteemed list that includes Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson, David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt.
Harvick started the year with three top-10 finishes but suffered a 20thplace showing last week at Las Vegas. The last time he finished outside the top-10 in Phoenix was 2013 — 16 races ago. He was runner-up to Logano last March and finished seventh in November. His last win at the 1-mile track was spring 2018.
With a $178 million facility renovation at Phoenix — from track surface and configuration to grandstands and parking — Harvick is eager to restore his winning ways.
“Our Jimmy John’s team won several races on this configuration,” said Harvick,
who is ranked seventh in the Cup standings. “It’s still the same racetrack that we’ve won the majority of our races on. The only thing that’s changed is the start-finish line. As you look at last year, we ran really well at the first race and really poorly at the second race.”
“A lot of that just depends on where the grip level is and where your car settings are for that particular weekend. But it’s still a racetrack where we expect to go and contend for a win every time and, if we don’t, the expectations were not met.”
Hamlin, the points leader, has four top-five finishes in the last six Phoenix races, including one of his two career wins there (2019 playoffs). The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was 20th in this spring race last year and fourth in the season finale. Twice (2010, 2017) he’s led more than 190 laps but didn’t win the race.
Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, is racing for his first win at Phoenix. He has a pair of runner-up finishes in the last five events, including the Championship Finale last November.
Theta Omicron Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. presents its 2021 Lords and Ladies Scholarship Cotillion.
“A Pearlific Rising,” will take place on March 20 at 7:08 p.m. via Zoom Virtual Platform. Seven young ladies will be presented to society in grand style.
The sorority members have worked diligently with the participants in preparing for this special event.
The participants are:
Shakiera Lynette Anderson of Rome
Sierra Elizabeth Callins of Murphy, Texas
Alexandria Grace Dabney of Decatur
Kirsten Jayla Gibson of Cedartown
Mckaya I’ora Huggins of Cedartown
Catherine Lorren Johnson of Marietta
Ivy Tyese Whitaker of Rome
The cotillion committee was charged with providing a six month pre-cotillion program with an emphasis on the pursuit of higher education, academic excellence, personal development and civic involvement. While fully engaged in the program, the participants took part in various cultural activities, community service projects, workshops, and scholarship fund-raising initiatives.
Elaina Beeman and Ceporah Couch-wiggins are the 2021 cotillion chairmen.
Tickets to view the event are available online at www. eventbrite.com by searching “2021 Virtual Lords & Ladies Cotillion and Scholarship Program.”