Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins rain-shortened race at Phoenix, Chase field set

And Carl Edwards is the odd man out as Sunday’s race here was a pain for him and a handful of other drivers scrambling for a Chase-finale berth.

Logano, the Daytona 500 victor who swept all three races of the second round of the Chase, was headed to the win at Martinsville until he was intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth and Keselowski nearly won last week at Texas but was chased down in the closing laps by Jimmie Johnson.

The four drivers will vie for the Sprint Cup championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday.

During the marathon six-hour rain delay at Phoenix, the Talladega race was replayed on TV, but Earnhardt wanted no part of reliving it. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the win because he happened to be out front during a lengthy caution right before the rain.

Busch is also in the mix for the title.

“The cool thing is we are going there to celebrate regardless of that moment and that day and sharing that with the people that have supported me over the years and are closest to me”. “You like to win them at the checkered flag, but a win is a win so you take it and put it in the record books”, Earnhardt said from pit road. There’s no doubt in my mind we’re still the strongest team on the race track.

Edwards, Busch and Brad Keselowski were the other drivers eliminated from this year’s Chase at Phoenix.

Elliott failed to take advantage of several opportunities for a better finish and crossed the line seventh in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet. This indicates a level of maturity for a driver who has a tendency to fiery outbursts and it could finally be the turning point his backers have looked for. The race, which was delayed from day to night by rain, was called 93 laps early due to deteriorating weather conditions. When asked by the NBC broadcast team about how his team had managed to potentially advance to the Championship Round for the NASCAR Chase, Truex matter-of-factly said, “It’s all about putting our best effort on the racetrack”, referring to his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team based in Denver, Colorado. Kind of bittersweet. You know the auto just really performed well today and we’re going to have to leave a lot of laps just really proud of the guys for the decisions that that they made overnight to.

“I think it’s fun, but I do think it’s interesting to watch how everyone responds to the pressure”, Edwards said. “Just didn’t happen. We’ll be all right”. In those 119 races, 22 times have drivers no longer eligible for the championship have won. “We’d been going to Homestead with a chance to race for the championship under the circumstances”.

Harvick dominated the race after getting off pit road first courtesy of a two-tire stop during a competition caution on lap 40. He came to Phoenix hoping to win for a fifth consecutive time at the 1-mile track in the desert and led for 143 of the rain-shorted race’s 219 laps. He sounded happy to get his third win of 2015, and finishing in the Top 5 in 16 races, but couldn’t mask the disappointment of not being able to contend for his first ever Sprint-Cup title. “I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to do something that we’ve all dreamed about our whole lives next weekend”.