This Sunday, NASCAR teams, drivers and fans meet up at the Phoenix Raceway in Arizona for the Ruoff Mortgage 500. Coverage starts at 3:30pm EST on FOX.
Below, you’ll find some points of interest to keep things interesting as you tune in this Sunday to take in the NASCAR action.
MANUFACTURERS
Chevrolet leads all manufacturers in wins for the race with 10, followed by Ford (4) and Toyota (3). Chevrolet had won 10 of the first 13 Ruoff Mortgage 500 races, but Ford and Toyota have it figured out by each taking two wins each over the last four years. With Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman coming off strong finishes over the last two races and Larson sitting atop the points standings after the first three points races, Chevrolet looks to change its fortunes in the desert. Larson won last year’s race at Phoenix in the fall of 2021 to clinch his first Cup Series points championship and will be looking to recapture that glory in the winner’s circle Sunday.
TEAMS
Stewart-Haas is the all-time winningest team of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 with 5 wins. Kevin Harvick piloted the winning car for Stewart-Haas for the wins in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 with Ryan Newman winning in 2010.
Over the last three years, Joe Gibbs Racing has taken the top spot at two of the last three races with racers Kyle Busch (2019) and Martin Truex Jr (2021) leading the way to the checkered flag. The 2020 race was won by Joey Logano for Team Penske. Larson is leading the points standings again currently and will be racing his Hendrick Motorsports car this Sunday with the next four spots rounded out by Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing. If these two teams can stay in Larson’s draft, they could join together to keep Larson from taking the victory lap.
DRIVERS
Although Martin Truex, Jr., (+700) won last spring’s race, he is not the favorite to win this race. He is tied in odds for second in the early odds with Kyle Busch and followed by Chase Elliott and Joey Logano at +800. The reigning season champion, Kyle Larson (+350), comes in as the early favorite. He revisits the Phoenix Raceway, where he won his first Cup Series championship there last fall. Truex Jr. finished the season just 5 points behind Larson in the standings. He finished in 2nd place in last year’s season finale race, so believe that Truex Jr will remember that day when he straps on the helmet this weekend.
Even though he hasn’t won this race since 2018, you can never count out the veteran, Kevin Harvick, as he has the most wins at the Ruoff Mortgage 500 with 5 total wins for two different teams and two different manufacturers. No matter the team or engine, Harvick knows how to win.
SIDE NOTES
Three of the last Ruoff Mortgage 500’s have gone to overtime, utilizing the green-white-checkered finish. As Phoenix is the last west coast stop, this race will not be short on action, drama and thrilling passing. When lap 300 nears, be ready for aggressive excitement over the next 12 laps – and maybe a few more if it goes to overtime.
*The green-white-checkered finish used by NASCAR ensures a race is not ended within the regulation number of laps on a yellow caution flag. Instead, after the yellow flag is lifted and the green flag drops, the race resumes. The next lap marks the white flag indicating one lap to go. If an accident happens or other event brings out the yellow flag during the last lap, the final results are based on the white-flag lap and the race is completed. If there is a caution flag on the initial green-flag lap, the green-white-checkered system resets and action resumes with the green flag after the caution.
