Dale Jr. Wins Rain-Shortened Chase Race At Phoenix

Each could have earned a spot in the finale with a victory in the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500. Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. joined Jeff Gordon in the four-man Chase showdown. They all will be competing for fabulous consolation prizes.

More rain forced NASCAR to called it after 219 laps, with Harvick second behind victor Dale Earnhardt Jr., Busch fourth and Truex 14th. And what a way to end an illustrious career as one of four drivers with a shot at the championship.

Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano were eliminated after the third round of the playoffs.

“I don’t want to be greedy and be disappointed with when you look at the big picture”, said Harvick, who led 143 laps, majority comfortably, as he pursued a fifth consecutive Phoenix victory. “I feel like we’ve overcome a lot of things throughout the Chase”, Harvick said about advancing in the Chase. “I can never – you’ve got to put yourself in position to win, and when it happens, it’s never going to say why we won or how we won, it just says we’re first”.

Harvick had the fastest auto for much of the season, winning two races early and being consistent enough for the rest of the regular season that he finished second an astounding 10 times. However, NASCAR later reasoned that Busch had passed Jimmie Johnson before the two drivers reached the start-finish line, violating a rule in which the number two starter must not drive past the number one starter at the beginning of the race. Busch came into the race in sixth place in the standings.

When the race began, Kurt Busch quickly took command. “It’s just tough we won’t get a chance to find out what we’ve got for this final 100 miles”. I like remembering who won at Homestead, how they did it, and also who won the season ending Championship. That was encouraging just as a team and the way we analyzed everything.

“I’m excited about our chances and our opportunity”, Gordon said.

“Just very disappointing for this whole Stanley Toyota team, how hard they’ve worked all year to come down to something as simple as a rainout”, said Darian Grubb, Edwards’ crew chief.

Gordon already had clinched his spot in the championship round when he won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in the first race of the third round. Gordon won the 2012 finale, and his average finish is 10.6.

Busch has charged on against seemingly insurmountable odds after a crash on the day before the Daytona 500 had jarring consequences – a badly broken right leg and a broken left foot.

Logano, who is the current wins leader in NASCAR this season, was wrecked by Matt Kenseth at Martinsville in the first event of the Eliminator Round, knocking him out of the race. His average finish there is 14.4 and his driver rating is 97.5.

If so, a few credit also goes to team owner Hendrick, who was at Phoenix to help celebrate, for keeping Gordon’s career going. Ingrid 1/8Gordon’s wife3/8 and the kids got there the next day and we immediately went out to the stables where they were at and visited with them. That gave the lead to Harvick, who has been hot recently at the track. “(Today’s race) actually went a little better than we anticipated. After missing the first eleven races of the season, he caught fire in the summer to win four races in five weekends and quickly remind the racing world of his position as a contender, but in the time since, he has cooled down considerably. Busch has four victories this year for Joe Gibbs Racing.