03/07/2024

RFK Advance | Phoenix I

Phoenix I Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 10
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Avondale, Arizona
Format: 312 Laps, 312 miles, Stages: 60-125-127
TV: FOX
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Friday: 5:05 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 2:10 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• Phoenix hosts its annual spring date this weekend for the fourth points race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
• Phoenix is the site of seven of Jack Roush’s Cup wins all-time, and 17 wins across NASCAR’s three series.
• Chris Buescher is coming off a top five effort in the desert in the season finale a year ago where he led 18 laps and finished fifth.
• Consumer Cellular makes its season debut alongside Keselowski and the No. 6 team.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Consumer Cellular

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: BuildSubmarines.com

Keselowski at Phoenix
Starts: 29
Wins: —
Top-10s: 13
Poles: 2 (2014, 2021)

• Keselowski makes his 30^th Cup start in Phoenix this weekend where he has 13 top-10s with an average finish of 13.9. Most recently he finished 15^th last fall and 18^th in the 2023 spring race.
• He’s led 284 laps in 15 different Phoenix races and has six top-10s in the spring race alone at the 1-mile track.
• Keselowski has two poles (2014, 2021) with an average starting position of 13.8, and is coming off a fourth-place qualifying effort last spring.
• He is a two-time Xfinity Series winner in Phoenix including winning the 2018 race in the No. 22 entry, and in 2014 for Team Penske. Overall he has 21 NXS starts with 5 top-10s. He also made two Truck Series starts in 2005 and 2008 with a best finish of sixth in his own No. 19 truck for BKR.

Buescher at Phoenix
Starts: 16
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his 17^th Cup start in Phoenix this weekend. He’s coming off his career-best finish there last fall where he finished fifth in the season finale after starting ninth. Last spring he ran 15^th after starting 21^st.
• Buescher has an average starting position of 24.1 with the P9 start last fall as his best.
• Buescher also made four Xfinity Series starts in Arizona for Jack Roush with a best finish of 12^th (2014).

RFK Historically at Phoenix
Cup Wins: 7 (Mark Martin, 1993; Jeff Burton, 2000, 2003; Matt Kenseth, 2002; Kurt Busch, 2005; Carl Edwards, 2010, 2013)

• Hooked on Phoenix: RFK has 305 combined starts at Phoenix, totaling 17 wins, 76 top-five and 136 top-10 finishes. RFK Fords have nine poles and have led 4,050 laps at the 1-mile track.
• Winning in the Desert: RFK has won at Phoenix in all three of NASCAR’s major divisions, with the organization’s first win coming in the fall of 1993 with NASCAR Hall of Famer and former driver Mark Martin in the NCS. RFK won the second-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in 2000 and former driver Greg Biffle claimed the organization’s 100th overall NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Phoenix in 2009.
  • Former driver Carl Edwards also won at the track that fall to give RFK the season sweep. All in all, six drivers have won NASCAR races for RFK at Phoenix (Martin, Biffle, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Joe Ruttman). In addition, Edwards swept Phoenix in the fall of 2010, winning both the NXS and NCS events.
• Xfinity Success: Phoenix was one of the strongest tracks for RFK’s Xfinity program. In 93 starts, the organization won eight times, earned 27 top-fives, 53 top-10s and has led 1,406 laps. RFK most recently went to victory lane with Edwards in Nov. 2010. Its eight wins rank most of any track on the circuit behind only Charlotte (12), Darlington (15), Richmond (9) and Rockingham (10).
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has started 176 NCS races at Phoenix, recording a total of seven victories, 36 top-five finishes, 62 top-10 finishes, four poles and has led 2,310 laps. Edwards earned RFK’s most recent victory at Phoenix in the March 2013 event.

RFK Phoenix Wins

1993       Martin  Cup

1997-2   Ruttman Truck

2000       Burton  Cup

2000       Burton  NXS

2001       Biffle     Truck

2001       Burton  Cup

2001       Biffle     NXS

2002       Kenseth Cup

2005-1   Busch    Cup

2005-2   Edwards NXS

2006-2   Kenseth NXS

2008-2   Edwards NXS

2009-1   Biffle     NXS

2009-2   Edwards NXS

2010-2   Edwards Cup

2010-2   Edwards NXS

2013-1   Edwards Cup

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Las Vegas: Keselowski pulled through a P13 finish last weekend in Las Vegas, while Buescher was inside the top-10 early and lost a tire to finish 37^th.

Points Standings (17: 23^rd, 6: 28^th): Keselowski jumped six spots after his first finish of the season.

By the Numbers at Phoenix

Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles

176         7              36           62           4              52793    2310       18.3        16.3        52793

93           8              27           53           5              17917    1406       11.3        11.7        17917

36           2              13           21           0              5195       334         12.3        12.4        5195

305         17           76           136         9              75905    4050       15.5        14.4        75905