{"id":13903,"date":"2017-11-11T19:17:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-12T01:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=13903"},"modified":"2017-11-11T19:29:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T01:29:15","slug":"nascar-saturday-phoenix-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/11\/nascar-saturday-phoenix-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Phoenix Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski isn\u2019t comfortable trying to protect points advantage<\/b><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Brad Keselowski doesn\u2019t think he can afford to play defense.<\/p>\n

But the question remains whether he\u2019ll have a good enough No. 2 Team Penske Ford to mount a strong offensive in Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 (on NBC at 2:30 p.m. ET) at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 11, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Entering the final event in the Round of 8 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff, Keselowski is fourth in the standings with a 19-point edge over fifth-place Denny Hamlin.<\/p>\n

Three of the four positions in the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway already have been locked up by Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and series leader Martin Truex Jr. Yes, Keselowski has a significant advantage entering Sunday\u2019s race, but that\u2019s where the good news ends\u2014at least for now.<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s knockout time trials, Keselowski was the only Playoff driver who failed to advance to the final round. He\u2019ll start 16th, 14 spots behind Hamlin and 15 behind pole winner Ryan Blaney, who starts the race at a 22-point deficit to Keselowski.<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s first practice session, Keselowski struggled early but found some speed late in the session. He ended the 55-minute practice 21st on the speed chart and 10th in fastest 10-consecutive-lap average.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been kind of up and down,\u201d said Keselowski, who improved to ninth in final practice. \u201cWe didn\u2019t start practice the way we wanted, but we ended really close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with a points advantage, however, Keselowski has to worry that Blaney, Hamlin, Chase Elliott or Jimmie Johnson could win Sunday\u2019s race and knock him out of the Playoff. That\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t consider defending his lead a viable strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the 11 (Hamlin), the 24 (Elliott) and the 21 (Blaney) have shown that they can win the race, maybe even the 48 (Johnson), so it would not be a good play to be on defense,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to win the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski – <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Chase Elliott, driver of the #24 Hooters Chevrolet, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 11, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CHASE ELLIOTT\u2019S APPROACH TO PHOENIX IS SIMPLE\u2014WIN OR BUST<\/b><\/p>\n

Unlike Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney or Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott doesn\u2019t have a realistic chance to advance to the Championship 4 on points\u2014and he knows it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur task at hand is pretty simple,\u201d said the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who trails Keselowski by 49 points for the final spot at Homestead. \u201cWe have to win the race to move on next week. Everybody in here knows that. We know that and we are going to try to attack the weekend as best we can. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, give ourselves a chance to do that Sunday afternoon and see what happens. That\u2019s pretty straightforward what we have to do with the situation we\u2019re in now. It\u2019s not the most ideal situation, but if you were able to pull it off, it would be a lot of momentum moving into next week. We\u2019ll give it our best shot and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott got off to a strong start on Friday afternoon with a fourth-place qualifying effort. He was second fastest behind Kevin Harvick in Saturday\u2019s first practice session but dropped to 17th in Happy Hour when the one-mile track at Phoenix Raceway got hotter and slicker\u2014closer to the conditions he\u2019ll face in Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500.<\/p>\n

Elliott was within four laps of winning the opening race in the Playoff\u2019s Round of 8 at Martinsville when Hamlin drove him into the Turn 3 wall. But Elliott would prefer not to dwell on what might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can play the game of \u2018what if\u2019s,\u2019 but unfortunately for our circumstances, this is a sport of do\u2019s and don\u2019ts and we have not,\u201d Elliott said. “I\u2019ve said that before. It\u2019s just the facts.  What happened last week or a month ago or the beginning of the season or having an opportunity to win and not\u2014it\u2019s nothing you can change now. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you just have to understand whatever position that you\u2019re in and hope that you learn something from that experience to know that, if you\u2019re ever in that position again, you can change the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase Elliott – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/PR_MENCS_Elliott_111017.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

SHORT STROKES<\/b><\/p>\n

Members of the JR Motorsports pit crews of NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoff contenders Elliott Sadler, William Byron and Justin Allgaier were stranded in Little Rock, Ark., on Saturday when the ConSeaAir charter that was bringing the teams to Phoenix was diverted because of a mechanical issue. Coincidentally, Sadler was sporting an aircraft company (Cessna\/Beechcraft) as primary sponsor on his No. 1 Chevrolet for the first time this season. The JRM teams had to use makeshift crews to pit their cars during Saturday\u2019s Ticket Galaxy 200\u2026<\/p>\n

Eight-time Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick paced both Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices on Saturday, topping the speed chart at 134.328 mph in the morning session and leading Happy Hour at 134.973 mph. Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who needs a victory to advance to the Nov. 19 Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, posted the fastest 10-consecutive-lap average in final practice at 133.549 mph.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Brad Keselowski isn\u2019t comfortable trying to protect points advantage AVONDALE, Ariz. — Brad Keselowski doesn\u2019t think he can afford to play defense. But the question remains whether he\u2019ll have a good enough No. 2 Team Penske Ford to mount a strong offensive in Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 (on NBC at 2:30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,395],"class_list":["post-13903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Cf","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/PR_MENCS_Elliott_11117.jpg?fit=2880%2C1920","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13903"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13913,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13903\/revisions\/13913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}