{"id":13977,"date":"2017-11-12T19:19:32","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T01:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=13977"},"modified":"2017-11-12T19:19:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T01:19:32","slug":"nascar-sunday-phoenix-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/12\/nascar-sunday-phoenix-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Sunday Phoenix Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Payback from Martinsville knocks Denny Hamlin out of title race<\/b><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 During driver introductions before Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Denny Hamlin was roundly booed for something that happened nearly 2,000 miles away.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 12, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin shoved the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Chase Elliott into the Turn 3 wall while Elliott was leading with fewer than four laps left. The fans at Phoenix hadn\u2019t forgotten what had happened.<\/p>\n

Payback, whether intentional or not, came on Lap 270 on Sunday. Racing for the third position, Elliott squeezed Hamlin\u2019s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into the outside wall off Turn 4. Smoke streamed from Hamlin\u2019s car as a tire rubbed against the wheel well.<\/p>\n

Five laps later, Hamlin\u2019s tire blew, launching his car into the Turn 3 wall. The impact damaged the No. 11 Toyota beyond repair, and Hamlin exited the race in 35th place, eliminated from next Sunday\u2019s Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach person had their own opinion of how they do things, and it just proved to the people that thought I was a bad guy that he would do the exact same thing in the same circumstances,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cSo, I mean, you know, it\u2019s just part of racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got into him and he chose to retaliate, so I\u2019m in the garage, and that\u2019s the way it is. We did a great job all day. This is the best car I\u2019ve had in a very long time. We just got behind on the pit stops, and then that just gave those guys an opportunity to get close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too close, as it turned out.<\/p>\n

JIMMIE JOHNSON\u2019S TITLE HOPES EXPLODE WITH BLOWN TIRE AT PHOENIX<\/b><\/p>\n

There won\u2019t be an eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title for Jimmie Johnson this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 12, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Robert Laberge\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

With less than one lap left in the second stage of Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway, the cutoff race for next Sunday\u2019s Championship 4 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson popped his right front tire as his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet barreled into Turn 3 at the one-mile track.<\/p>\n

Hard contact with the wall knocked the seven-time champion out of the race in 39th-place, ending the title run for a driver who need nothing short of a victory at Phoenix to advance to the final round of the Playoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t have any warning,\u201d Johnson said after exiting the infield care center. \u201cI knew I was hard on the brakes, but the run before we didn\u2019t have any issues reported back. So I felt like I was kind of doing the same thing. Unfortunately, with so few laps to go to the end of the stage, as soon as I went in the corner and touched the brakes, the right front just blew.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate it for this team. They\u2019ve worked so hard all year long, and I\u2019m very proud of their efforts. It\u2019s obviously not the result that we want, but we\u2019re Hendrick strong and I\u2019m proud of my Team 48. Unfortunately, we won\u2019t have a chance to make eight this year, but we\u2019ll come back next year and try real hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even without the accident, Johnson would have faced an uphill battle. He entered Phoenix eighth in the Playoff standings, needing a win to advance. Johnson finished 10th in the first stage and was running 11th on Lap 150 when he hit the wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple of months we\u2019ve been staying alive, with the Round of 8, and then the Round of 4, you can\u2019t just stay alive,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be hitting on all cylinders, and we just haven\u2019t been there, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, I\u2019m very thankful for all the hard work that\u2019s gone into this and all the efforts from (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) and the team, but we just can\u2019t get there right now. We\u2019ll try again next weekend and then do some good changes over the off-season and come back next year and be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

MATT KENSETH\u2019S WIN SENDS BRAD KESELOWSKI INTO CHAMPIONSHIP 4<\/b><\/p>\n

Brad Keselowski\u2019s prospects of qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race weren\u2019t looking good.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on November 12, 2017 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Keselowski entered Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway with a 19-point lead over Denny Hamlin for the final spot in the season finale at homestead-Miami Speedway, but by the end of the second stage of the race, his advantage was gone.<\/p>\n

Hamlin finished second in the first stage and won the second to pull even with Keselowski, who was mired in traffic with an ill-handling No. 2 Team Penske Ford and scored no points in either of the first two stages.<\/p>\n

Hamlin led 193 laps and appeared headed to Homestead before eventual race runner-up Chase Elliott pinched Hamlin\u2019s Toyota into the outside wall. Five laps later, Hamlin was out of the race after a blown tire and hard contact with the Turn 3 wall, and Keselowski preserved his spot in the championship race with a 16th-place finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of feels a little bit like Christmas,\u201d Keselowski said. \u201cWe overcame a lot of obstacles and jumped a lot of hurdles today. I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t have to relive this day, that\u2019s for sure. I\u2019m just looking forward to going to Homestead.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you need a little luck on your side. Today we had that. It wasn\u2019t by any means where we wanted to run. We wanted to run up front and have a shot for the win. That wasn\u2019t in the cards. We tried to run the smartest race we could and survive, and it ended up paying off in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Payback from Martinsville knocks Denny Hamlin out of title race AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 During driver introductions before Sunday\u2019s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Denny Hamlin was roundly booed for something that happened nearly 2,000 miles away. Two weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin shoved the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[79,524,41,63,16,395],"class_list":["post-13977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-can-am-500","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/PR_MENCS_Keselowski_111217-e1510534966348.jpg?fit=640%2C416&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-3Dr","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13977"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13979,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13977\/revisions\/13979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}