The NASCAR Cup season is three races old and three drivers have won, but a few trends have emerged as the series heads to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend:
Three to the good
Kevin Harvick has led 342 of the season’s 590 laps. He hasn’t won yet, something that could change Sunday at Phoenix, where he has had tons of success (eight victories, including last season’s March race). He had the Atlanta race in the bag until an inexplicable speeding penalty on pit road, then wrecked at Las Vegas, where he finished 38th. When the tires on his No. 4 Ford don’t go down and he’s not making mental errors, he’s been the best out there so far.
Brad Keselowski appeared to be heading for a second consecutive victory Sunday at Las Vegas, but a major mechanical failure ended his day with two laps remaining. Overall, he’s shown that he will be a factor in the championship race with two consecutive impressive performances.
Martin Truex Jr. has been perhaps the most consistent performer over the past two seasons, and he got in the win column at Las Vegas. The addition of Erik Jones to Furniture Row Racing’s team hasn’t seemed to slow Truex in the least.
Three to the … not so good
Jimmie Johnson will be a factor in the championship race before it’s over. It’s just that he’s taking a little while to get warmed up. Johnson, who is pursuing a record eighth Cup title, doesn’t have a top-10 finish yet, although he’s gradually improved each week from 34th at Dayton to 19th at Atlanta and 11th at Las Vegas.
A variety of problems cost him at Las Vegas and he seemed perplexed. “We somehow finished 11th. I’m not really sure.”
“We had just about everything go wrong that could,” Johnson said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also been underwhelming in his much-ballyhooed return to racing after he missed 18 races in 2016 with a concussion. His best finish is 16th at Las Vegas.
Earnhardt cautioned at the start of the season not to expect too much, too early.
“(If) we just can put a few races together and try to climb our way back into the points …” he said. Earnhardt is in 26th place in the standings.
Kyle Busch’s season has started miserably (average finish 25.3), with a wreck at Daytona and now a fight with Joey Logano after the Las Vegas race. The latter is something he’s going to have to continue to explain for the next weeks, and that’s not the type of distraction a driver needs to get back on track.
TV: Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX. Radio: Motor Racing Network/SiriusXM Channel 90.
RACE NOTES: Sunday’s race begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on FOX. This will be the 42nd NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix (the first was in 1988; Alan Kulwicki was the winner). … Kevin Harvick, the defending winner of this race, has won six of the past nine Cup races there and leads all active drivers with eight wins in total at Phoenix. … Joey Logano won last year’s fall playoff race at Phoenix. … Martin Truex Jr. won last Sunday’s race at Las Vegas. It was his first triumph there. Truex has now won five of the past 27 Cup races, the most of any driver in that span. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano got into a brief fight after the race on pit road, but NASCAR did not penalize either driver. … Points leaders: Brad Keselowski (132 points), Kyle Larson (131), Chase Elliott (129), Truex (127), Logano (119), Ryan Blaney (106), Kurt Busch (93), Harvick (91 — dropped from first to eighth), Kasey Kahne (88) and Jamie McMurray (86).