Thirty-nine drivers and their teams will battle Phoenix International Raceway when the green flag waves at approximately 3:44 p.m. on Sunday. The Good Sam 500(k) can be viewed on FOX, with prerace coverage beginning at 3 p.m.
Drivers should be in for much different conditions than when they qualified on Friday. The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-70s at the desert track, or about 20 degrees cooler than two days prior.
“I think today is kind of its own beast because there is not going to be a ton of rubber,” said Kevin Harvick, a seven-time winner at the track whose streak of four was finally snapped last November during the Chase for the Sprint Cup race. “There is going to be rubber on the race track, but it’s not going to be as much as there will be come Sunday morning.
“Tomorrow is really when things kind of kick into gear as far as getting your race set-up and everything situated for the weekend.”
Harvick qualified 18th, with a sweep of the top three spots recorded by Joe Gibbs Racing: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin. Harvick was much better during practice on the one-mile tri-oval Saturday, however, posting the second-fastest lap behind only Kurt Busch during the second session and the best time during the final one. In fact, Chevrolet drivers answered Toyota’s challenge well. Five of the top six times posted during the Happy Hour session were owned by Chevy.
As much as teams will be battling each other, however, they’ll also be continuing to adjust to the new downforce package. It resulted in a fun race in Atlanta two weeks ago, but a bit of a letdown last weekend at Las Vegas.
“That is really the team’s job to make the cars better and make things continuously get better,” Harvick said. “I think as you look at Atlanta and you look at Las Vegas I think as we move forward I think that everything is going to continue to get better just for the fact that Goodyear is going to get a better idea of how far they can go on the tires.”
If you can’t watch the race on television, you can stream it on a device of your choice from Fox Sports Go.
Good Sam 500(k)
Race Information
Start time: Green flag approximately 3:44 p.m. (ET), Sunday
Location: Phoenix International Raceway
Track dimensions: 1.0 mile tri-oval
Length: 312 laps
March 2015 winner: Kevin Harvick
November 2015 winner: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
TV
2 p.m. RaceDay coverage on Fox Sports 1
3 p.m. prerace coverage on FOX
3:30 p.m. race coverage on FOX
Streaming
Radio
Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM Ch. 90
Starting Grid
*Jimmie Johnson (backup car), Kasey Kahne (engine) and Michael Annett (backup car) will start the race at the back of the pack.
