Background

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

Phoenix Raceway, is a 1.022 mi (1.645 km), 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.

The race would be Kyle Larson's last race with Chip Ganassi Racing.

First practice

William Byron was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 26.747 seconds and a speed of 134.595 mph (216.610 km/h).^[11]

Final practice

Chase Elliott was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.823 seconds and a speed of 134.213 mph (215.995 km/h).^[12]

Qualifying results

Stage One

The start of the race showed pole sitter Chase Elliott pull out to the lead with Kevin Harvick following behind. Kyle Larson, in what would be his last race with Chip Ganassi Racing passed Harvick on lap 2. While the leaders were pulling away from each other, there were lots of battles for position in the midfield, including Martin Truex Jr. fighting his way up to the front after having to start at the rear. The traction compound poured on the track, PJ1, was a big factor throughout the race as it provided different grooves to run on. With around 40 laps to go in the stage, Denny Hamlin and Matt DiBenedetto were fighting for position. Also, Harvick had caught up to Elliott, and was battling him for the lead, and would keep fighting until lap 57, when Ricky Stenhouse Jr., trying to pass the lapped car of Joey Gase hit Gase's left quarter panel and spun into the wall, damaging the back end of his car.

During pit stops, all the lead lap cars decided to pit. Stenhouse was the leader coming off of pit road, but took no tires. Harvick would finally be able to grab the lead off of Elliott, with his crew having a faster time. Elliott would come up 2nd, then Hamlin in 3rd, DiBenedetto in fourth, and Logano rounding out the top 5.

A crash on lap 64, involving Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Brad Keselowski. Blaney would retire due to damage sustained from the crash.

During the lap 64 restart, Harvick would pull out to the lead; however, this would be short lived, as while Hamlin was battling for position, Hamlin's car got loose and went up the racetrack, collecting the nearby cars of Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney and sending all three into the outside wall. Keselowski would not suffer much damage, contrary to his teammate, Blaney who had to retire from the race. Hamlin would also be plagued with damage.

With a 4 lap dash to the end of the stage, Harvick and Elliott would duke it out, with Logano following closely behind. However, Harvick would pull out the lead and win the stage. Meanwhile, Erik Jones would win the final stage points in a tough battle with Clint Bowyer.

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 75

Stage Two Laps: 115

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 122

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 20 among 7 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 12 for 73
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 20 minutes and 50 seconds
• Average speed: 94.407 miles per hour (151.933 km/h)

Television

Fox Sports covered their 16th race at the Phoenix Raceway. Mike Joy and two-time Phoenix winner Jeff Gordon called the race from the broadcast booth, the last time Fox would have commentators in the booth at the track for the season, and the last for either of NASCAR's television partners until the Charlotte road course race. Jamie Little, Regan Smith, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties. Larry McReynolds and Jamie McMurray provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN covered the radio action for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Rusty Wallace called the race when the field raced past the start/finish line. Kurt Becker called the action from turns 1 & 2 and Dan Hubbard called the action from turns 3 & 4. Pit lane was manned by Kim Coon, Steve Post, and Dillon Welch.