Harvick, Kyle Busch, Truex Jr. Clinch Spots for Chase Finale

Carl Edwards is the odd man out after Sunday’s race here was a pain for him and a handful of other drivers scrambling for a berth in the Chase finale. After being intentionally wrecked at Martinsville, Logano was put in a serious hole. That 37th-place finish, coupled with a tire-inflicted crash and 40th-place result a week later at Texas Motor Speedway, dug Logano into a hole he couldn’t dig himself out of. The beneficiaries of the call were Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. Our heads are still high.

“I’m playing with house money, so I’ve got the advantage”, he said.

“We will take this win”. It’s been a great season. “We just need to go out in Phoenix and have a good, solid day”. The race start was delayed.

“A lot of guys would love to see this race continue and have an opportunity to race into the Chase”, Earnhardt said.

“It’s hard in the Chase to have a rain-shortened race”, Earnhardt said. Those would have been nice, mind you, but just not possible. However, rain had already moved into the area, forcing NASCAR to postpone the race well into the evening.

Track-drying equipment was on the track at the 2:45 p.m. scheduled start time but was removed when heavier rain began falling.

Keslowski finished his night at Phoenix in the ninth position. By lap 101 there were 24 cars on the lead lap; Harvick’s lead was three seconds. I feel like I don’t want to be greedy and be disappointed with how it went today when you look at the big picture. In the race at Phoenix in March, Joey Logano started second to Kevin Harvick. The lead was just over 4 seconds by lap 108; Kurt Busch was 11th, Johnson was 12th. Knowing he was a lap down when the caution came out was the most nerve-racking part of his day.

“I thought this was the best vehicle we’ve had and it probably was overall, but something about this place doesn’t work for us very well”, he said. We could only get so far.

Kyle Busch finished fourth to advance to the season finale. Busch crossed the start-finish line when the green flag dropped ahead of polesitter Jimmie Johnson.

That sent Busch to the rear of the field. Truex beat Edwards by five points, but that’s just five positions on the track.

“I’ve got none”, Kyle Busch said. Today’s race is 312 laps at Phoenix global Raceway. Had Kenseth held on for the win, he would have advanced to the third round of the Chase. Busch is also capable of scoring a fourth straight top-five, but in all likelihood it will take a victory in the Ford 400 to win the Cup. “That’s the way this Chase is”.

Harvick has had a lot of success at Phoenix, including a win last season to race his way into the final round and to an eventual championship.