NASCAR Heads For The Valley Of The Sun In Phoneix

What's Different: The stars of the NASCAR Cup Series head for Phoenix Raceway in Avondale Arizona this week for the Ruoff Mortgage 500, This track is a one mile tri-oval shaped speedway with 8 to 11 degrees of banking. Entering this weekend, we will see a brand new aero package for tracks that are one mile or less in length. The cars will feature a much smaller rear spoiler as they have cut down the length from 4 inches to two, they will also be using a different diffuser panels will reduce downforce tremendously. Back in January six drivers including Ross Chastain all took part in a test session here with this new package. Everyone appeared to be encouraged by the feel of the cars and are eager to take to the track this weekend. During practice, there was much intrigue into how these drivers would approach these changes and aside from a few drivers getting lost in the garage area, there were no issues. It should be different when the race starts but this will be a good barometer for the championship race in November as they will return to this track.

Penalties likely coming to Hendrick Motorsports?: Despite a dream weekend for the powerhouse race team, things have been more difficult for Rick Hendrick and his team than usual. To start they lost their #1 driver in Chase Elliott for the next six weeks and the hits keep coming. Yesterday after practice it was discovered that all four cars had "illegal Louvers" and were confiscated by NASCAR officials.

For most people including Kyle Larson would ask, "What the hell is a louver?" well, they are vents on the hood of the race car that allow air to exit from the car. They are placed their for Aerodynamic purposes. This gives the car much less drag and could make a world of difference. This doesn't exactly explain why the Hendrick cars were so fast in practice but it could be an explanation.

Regardless, the four teams put on new louvers and went out and put Kyle Larson on the pole so it clearly didn't do much for the five team, the other three Hendrick cars all qualified in the top ten so it didn't make as much a difference all together. Nonetheless, you can still expect penalties come Tuesday.

The Favorite: Despite all the turmoil, Kyle Larson is still the considerable favorite to win this weekend. After capturing the fast time in both practice and Qualifying, Larson has been extremely fast this weekend as he has owned every single metric of the weekend as he had the fastest 10 lap average in practice.

He is going to a track where he has won at before as he clinched the title here back in 2021. It was a bit of a rough stretch for Larson as he crashed out at Daytona and had electrical issues at California, but he is seeming to turn it around after a second place finish last week at Las Vegas, in fact if it weren't for an Aric Almirola spin in the closing laps he would have won. This week he looks to make better on last week's disappointing result with a win. He will be the car to beat come Sunday.

A Great Start For One Of NASCAR's Underdogs: When you look at the blue-blood teams in NASCAR, Spire motorsports isn't usually on that list, but Corey Lajoie has been giving this team the best start they have ever had. In the first three races of the year, Lajoie has posted a 16.7 average finish, while on the service that seems mediocre to get this car as deep as it is in the top-20 has been incredible.

Last week he out ran cars that have much more resources behind it such as Ty Gibbs in the Joe Gibbs Car and Chris Buescher in a Roush-Fenway-Keselowski car. I understand that it's only the first three races of the season but to see this driver thrive is awesome to see. He will be a driver to watch next weekend at Atlanta but it will be intriguing to watch how he does at Phoenix.

Sleeper pick: This Front-row racing team has been much improved since last 2021 after Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 and they continue to improve as McDowell will start 7th in his home race at phoenix. While I don't expect this team to win this weekend, they could really have a good run if strategy goes their way. The pace wasn't there in practice as they were 26th in ten lap averages but they made up for it with a good qualifying effort.

Other Drivers To Watch: The three drivers that I am zeroing in on to compete with the Hendrick cars are Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney.

First and foremost it has been an incredible start to the season for Christopher Bell. He has carried the banner for a seemingly rebuilding Joe Gibbs Racing and while he only has a 13.3 average finish, it's important to look at the performance of the car instead of the numbers. The race that really effected his average finish has been the California race where he was involved in a multi-car accident not of his making, he's improved tremendously since then as he rolls off fifth on Sunday

Speaking of drivers who have carried their teams, Kevin Harvick has been the biggest of example of this than anyone. Harvick is the only driver at Stewart-Haas to have scored a top-ten this season. While it's early and there are plenty of chances for this team to improve the 2014 Champion has been coming up big for another team in a transitional period. This is his best race track as he has won here NINE TIMES! the most of anyone. If there is one track he can win at it's here. Look for Harvick to try and get at least one more victory at Phoenix in his final season as he starts 15th on Sunday.

Finally, the last driver to watch is Ryan Blaney. It's been a troubling start for the Ford racing camp. While it seems like the speed is there in qualifying the races have been a much different story, Blaney has struggled to find any pace this year in race-trim with a lackluster average finish of 15.7 but an awesome average start of 6.3 which seems like a constellation. If he and his crew-chief Jonathan Hassler can put together a full race, they will win a lot of races this year. Blaney starts 8th on Sunday.