2016 Good Sam 500

2016 Good Sam 500
Race details
Race 4 of 36 in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date March 13, 2016 (2016-03-13)
Location Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona
Course Permanent racing facility
1 mi (1.6 km)
Distance 313 laps, 313 mi (500.8 km)
Scheduled Distance 312 laps, 312 mi (499.2 km)
Weather Sunny, clear blue skies with a temperature of 70 °F (21 °C); wind out of the southwest at 4 mph (6.4 km/h)
Average speed 113.212 mph (182.197 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Joe Gibbs Racing
Time 26.014
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps 139
Winner
No. 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing
Television in the United States
Network Fox
Announcers Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip
Nielsen Ratings 3.6/8 (Overnight)
4.0/9 (Final)
6.6 million viewers
Radio in the United States
Radio MRN
Booth Announcers Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Announcers Dave Moody (1 & 2) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4)

The 2016 Good Sam 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 13, 2016, at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 313 laps, extended from 312 laps due to overtime, on the 1 mi (1.6 km) asphalt oval, it was the fourth race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kevin Harvick won the race. Carl Edwards finished second. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top–five.

Busch won the pole for the race and led 75 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish. Harvick led a race high of 139 laps on his way to winning the race. There were seven lead changes among four different drivers, as well as five caution flag periods for 30 laps.

This was Harvick's 32nd career victory, first of the season, eighth at Phoenix International Raceway and fifth at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. With the win, he moved up to first in the points standings. Chevrolet moved to first in the manufacturer standings.

The Good Sam 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

Background

Phoenix International Raceway was the site of the fourth race of the season

Phoenix International Raceway, also known as PIR, is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

The entry list for the Good Sam 500 was released on Monday, March 7 at 9:11 a.m. Eastern time. Thirty-nine cars are entered for the race. The only driver changes for this weekend's race were Ty Dillon returning to the seat of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and Joey Gase taking over the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford.

No. Driver Team Manufacturer
1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford
3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford
7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet
14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet
16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford
18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford
22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford
23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota
24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet
31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
32 Joey Gase (i) Go FAS Racing Ford
34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford
38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford
41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet
42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford
46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet
47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota
83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota
88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet
98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet
Official entry list

First practice

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 25.928 and a speed of 138.846 mph (223.451 km/h).

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed
1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.928 138.846
2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 25.999 138.467
3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 26.039 138.254
Official first practice results

Qualifying

Kyle Busch scored the pole position.

Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 26.014 and a speed of 138.387 mph (222.712 km/h). He said afterwards that he "cooled everything back down to make sure we gave it everything we got. We just made a couple of fine-tuning adjustments from what we ran before and it was a tick faster, not much, just a tick.” Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne will both go to backup cars after mishaps in qualifying with the former crashing out and the latter changing engines. Johnson said after being released from the infield care center that the car was "a lot of straight in an area of the track that I didn't need to have straight. We'll have to get to the bottom of it. Just a really hard impact to the outside wall. Thankful that we have SAFER barriers and soft walls. But very disappointed because we had such a fast race car." He later took to Twitter to say that the wreck was because his steering wheel came off.

Qualifying results

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer R1 R2 R3
1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.288 26.087 26.014
2 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.363 26.093 26.179
3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.331 26.079 26.196
4 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.175 26.146 26.202
5 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.249 26.218 26.244
6 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.405 26.124 26.244
7 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 26.327 26.203 26.271
8 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 26.231 26.221 26.290
9 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 26.290 26.114 26.321
10 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.304 26.223 26.325
11 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 26.451 26.218 26.363
12 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 26.252 26.223 26.411
13 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.395 26.230
14 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 26.408 26.236
15 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.387 26.260
16 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.324 26.272
17 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.423 26.283
18 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.383 26.298
19 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 26.304 26.306
20 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.485 26.359
21 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.405 26.373
22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 26.428 26.376
23 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 26.391 26.394
24 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.241 0.000
25 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 26.561
26 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26.563
27 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 26.589
28 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.594
29 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 26.626
30 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 26.683
31 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 26.763
32 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 26.780
33 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 26.852
34 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 26.932
35 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 27.053
36 10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.089
37 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 27.109
38 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 27.115
39 32 Joey Gase (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 27.161

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.194 and a speed of 137.436 mph (221.182 km/h). During the session, Michael Annett suffered a front-end lockup and slammed the wall in turn 1. Because this required him to go to a backup car, he'll start from the rear of the field. He said that "the car just didn’t want to turn. I don’t know if we were on the splitter or if we cut down a right-front (tire). … I cranked on the wheel and it wouldn’t go straight.”

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed
1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.194 137.436
2 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.338 136.685
3 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.375 136.493
Official second practice results

Final practice

Kevin Harvick was fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.409 and a speed of 136.317 mph (219.381 km/h).

Pos No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Speed
1 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.409 136.317
2 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.437 136.173
3 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.452 136.096
Official final practice results

Race

First half

Start

Kevin Harvick won the race.

Under clear blue Arizona skies, Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:49 p.m. After 10 laps, he pulled to a one-second lead over teammate Carl Edwards. The first caution of the race flew on lap 52 for a single-car wreck in turn 3. Going into the turn, Ryan Newman suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. He would go on to finish last for the first time since 2008. He said he "just blew a right-front tire. It must have melted the bead or something. I don’t know if something failed in the cooling department or what the deal was. I didn’t do anything any different than I’ve ever done here before. Just definitely blew a right-front tire out and that was the end of our day with the Grainger Chevrolet.” Denny Hamlin was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted on lap 60. Unlike the first run, he didn't pull away from the field. After taking just right-side tires on the first pit stop, he began losing his lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. who took four. Earnhardt passed him in turn 3 to take the lead on lap 76. The second caution of the race flew on lap 104 for a single-car wreck in turn 3. Going into the turn, Paul Menard suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. When asked what happened, he said he wasn't “really sure. We were okay that last run. We fired off pretty decent and started getting really tight at the end. I don’t know if a left-front tire blew or what going into 3. I don’t know if something broke or if a tire blew. We are going to check it out. I’m curious about it.” Edwards exited pit road with the race lead. Brian Scott was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

Second quarter

The race restarted on lap 113. After pulling away from the field, Edwards began losing his lead to teammate Kyle Busch. The third caution of the race flew on lap 163 for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Going into turn 1, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. He said he was "really tight and I was having to use too much brake and I think we got the tires hot and once we did that the right front gave out from having to use too much brake. The cars were a handful. They were fun to drive. We just didn’t quite have the Fastenal Ford dialed in like we needed to today. We were really tight, therefore, we had to use too much brake.” Kyle Busch exited pit road 18th after overshooting his pit box and stopping too close to the pit wall.

Second half

Halfway

The race restarted at lap 169. Kevin Harvick powered ahead of Edwards on the restart and took the lead. On lap 180, Harvick led his nine-thousandth career lap in Sprint Cup Series competition. Debris on the backstretch brought out the fourth caution of the race with 87 laps to go. The debris came from the shredded right-rear tire of Brad Keselowski's car. Edwards beat Harvick off pit road.

Fourth quarter

The race restarted with 78 laps to go. Harvick had no difficulty retaking the lead from Edwards going into turn 1. Joey Logano pitted from ninth with seven to go because he was short on fuel. The fifth caution of the race flew with six laps to go for a single-car wreck in turn 4. Rounding the turn, Kasey Kahne suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. He said he "had a right front tire go down. It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine. Come to find out it wasn’t the engine and it was the tire. We’ll look at what we are doing since it happened a couple of times. We had a car capable of running in the top-15 and we were really good early. The longer the race went I felt like I got looser. I used a lot of brake during the entire the race, which I was surprised about. Yesterday in practice I didn’t have to use the brake hardly at all and today with different grips I used it so much.” Harvick, Earnhardt and Austin Dillon opted to stay out while the rest of the field opted to pit.

Overtime

The race restarted with two laps to go at an overtime finish, Harvick led the field to the green with Carl Edwards at his back. After the white flag, Harvick and Edwards battled for the lead, bumping each other until Harvick came out victorious by 0.010 seconds, the closest finish in Phoenix history.

Post-race

Driver comments

Harvick said that he "knew he (Edwards) was better through (Turns) 3 and 4, but that was not the car I wanted to see behind me. I tried to protect the bottom in 3 and 4, and I just missed the bottom with all the rubber built up on the tires. I knew I was going to be on defense down there. I got up too high … and then he got into me, like he should have. I knew I needed to get a good run off the corner and I was going to have to get into his door. And it worked out, just barely.“

Edwards said that Harvick "was pretty fast, even on old tires. Once we got clear, I thought we were going to get one shot. I tried to go to the outside of him and he blocked a little bit, and I didn't have anywhere to go but rub him a little bit." He joked that he "should’ve wrecked him. No, those guys were doing a great job all day. They hung on with those tires but we were faster so I thought, ‘Man, I’ll just move him out of the way and get by.’ I just didn't move him far enough and then he got up the door and I thought I was trying to time—I thought ‘I think he’s going to beat me.’ So, I tried to sideswipe him before he got there but I needed to be in front of his front tire. Anyway, just a fun race.”

Hamlin said he "was actually rooting on Carl going, ‘Get him.’ But, we’ve been on the other side of that photo finish. Awesome that this rules package creates this kind of racing and some of the finishes that we’ve seen so far this year.”

Race results

Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 18 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 313 45
2 2 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 313 40
3 3 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 313 38
4 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 313 38
5 26 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 313 37
6 4 41 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 313 35
7 6 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 313 34
8 17 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 313 33
9 15 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 313 32
10 12 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 313 31
11 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 313 30
12 7 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 313 29
13 14 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 313 28
14 8 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 313 27
15 28 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 313 0
16 11 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 313 25
17 22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 313 24
18 9 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 312 23
19 36 10 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 312 22
20 23 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 312 21
21 13 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 312 20
22 24 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 312 19
23 21 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 311 18
24 29 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 309 17
25 27 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 308 16
26 33 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 308 15
27 30 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 308 14
28 31 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 308 13
29 19 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 307 12
30 32 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 307 11
31 35 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 307 10
32 39 32 Joey Gase (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 305 0
33 38 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 303 8
34 37 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 303 7
35 25 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 288 6
36 34 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 236 5
37 10 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 161 4
38 16 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 104 3
39 20 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 51 2
Official race results

Race summary

  • Lead changes: 7
  • Cautions/Laps: 5 for 30
  • Red flags: 0
  • Time of race: 2 hours, 45 minutes and 33 seconds
  • Average speed: 113.212 miles per hour (182.197 km/h)

Media

Television

Fox Sports will be covering their 12th race at the Phoenix International Raceway. Mike Joy, two-time Phoenix winner Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip will have the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum will handle the pit road duties for the television side.

Fox
Booth announcers Pit reporters
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy
Color-commentator: Jeff Gordon
Color commentator: Darrell Waltrip
Jamie Little
Vince Welch
Matt Yocum

Radio

MRN will have the radio call for the race which will also be simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and one-time Phoenix winner Rusty Wallace will call the race from the booth when the field is racing down the front stretch. Dave Moody will call the race from atop the stands in turn 1 when the field is racing through turns 1 and 2. Kyle Rickey will call the race from a billboard outside turn 4 when the field is racing through turns 3 and 4. Pit road will be manned by Alex Hayden, Glenn Jarrett and Steve Post.

MRN
Booth announcers Turn announcers Pit reporters
Lead announcer: Joe Moore
Announcer: Jeff Striegle
Announcer: Rusty Wallace
Turns 1 & 2: Dave Moody
Turns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey
Alex Hayden
Glenn Jarrett
Steve Post

Standings after the race


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