Background , where the race was held.
Phoenix International Raceway is one of five
short tracks to hold
NASCAR races; the others are
Richmond International Raceway,
Dover International Speedway,
Bristol Motor Speedway, and
Martinsville Speedway. The standard track at Phoenix International Raceway is a four-turn short track
oval that is long. After the
February race, PIR was significantly reconfigured. The first two turns are now
banked from 10 to 11
degrees, while the final two turns are banked from 8 to 9 degrees. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at three degrees. The back stretch, nicknamed the 'dogleg', varies from 10 to 11 degree banking.
Kyle Busch and
Ryan Newman was eleventh and twelfth with 2,216 and 2,213 points. In the
Manufacturers' Championship,
Chevrolet was leading with 235 points, 52 ahead of
Ford.
Toyota, with 174 points, was 18 points ahead of
Dodge in the battle for third. Edwards is the race's defending champion, after winning the race in
2010. earned his third
pole position of the season with a time of 26.258 seconds
Practice and qualifying Two 120 minute practice sessions were held before the race on Friday.
Jeff Burton was quickest with a time of 25.702 seconds in the first session, more than two-hundredths of a second faster than Kenseth.
David Ragan was just off Kenseth's pace, followed by
Paul Menard, Newman, and
David Reutimann.
A. J. Allmendinger was seventh, still within a second of Burton's time. In the second practice session, Menard was fastest with a time of 25.510 seconds, seven-hundredths of a second quicker than second-placed Edwards.
Regan Smith took third place, ahead of
Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch and
Jamie McMurray. Stewart could only manage 36th place. Kenseth clinched his third
pole position during the season, with a time of 26.258 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the
grid by Allmendinger.
Marcos Ambrose qualified third,
Mark Martin took fourth, and
Martin Truex Jr. started fifth. Stewart, one of the drivers in the
Chase for the Sprint Cup, qualified eighth, while Edwards was scored ninth. The three drivers that failed to qualify for the race were
Scott Riggs,
David Stremme, and
Andy Lally. Once the qualifying session completed, Kenseth commented, "
Jimmy Fennig, had a strategy to go fast in the first practice to go out late. Even though we knew the temperature would be hotter he thought the track could be faster with more cars having run on it. A lot of people chose the opposite strategy and worked on race set-up in the first practice and did their qualifying stuff in the second practice to go out early." ==Results==