AVONDALE, Arizona (AP) – The big story on the Phoenix Raceway a year ago was the remarkable recovery of veteran driver Ryan Newman, who walked around the field sipping a few weeks after a terrible accident on the Daytona 500 that made everyone fear the worst.
It was a fun race on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with Joey Logano holding Kevin Harvick for his second win of the season. Kyle Larson finished fourth, continuing his rise with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Then came COVID-19, and everything about motorsport – and the world – changed.
“Gee, it doesn’t look like it was a year ago,” said driver Ryan Blaney.
After 12 long months, it will be a much more peaceful setting for this year’s spring run in the desert, with a smaller crowd, masks, social distance and everything else that is considered necessary for sports to continue during a pandemic. It is a commitment that has become somewhat normal, even if it is not ideal.
“I miss you a lot,” said Logano. “Obviously, the fans are not on the track, the energy they bring is second to none, so the silence is terrible. I like to hear the crowd, the boos and everything. I like it. I like having our sponsors on the track and people walking around the garage thinking it is the coolest thing they’ve ever seen when they see these cars up close. “
The NASCAR season was interrupted for two months after Logano’s victory in Phoenix. The sport was one of the first in the country to return on May 17 in Darlington, South Carolina, during a one-day fanless event.
The slow march towards normality continues in Phoenix.
“Hopefully, we are making progress in making the world healthy again, but it has changed the way our sport works,” said Blaney. “It changed the way everything worked, from sports to business and things like that, and I’m looking forward to the day when we can all get healthy again, leave it all behind and go back to normal life.”
LARSON’S RETURN
No one knew that Larson’s fourth place in Phoenix would be his last race with Chip Ganassi Racing.
The driver’s use of racial injury during an online race last April cost him his job, his reputation and his ability to attract companies that fund a racing team. Larson wasn’t sure if he would run NASCAR again until Rick Hendrick gave him a chance.
Last weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced for his first NASCAR victory since being reinstated from a nearly one-year suspension. He was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when NASCAR said the suspension would be lifted earlier this year.
Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s only full-time black driver, was one of the first competitors to congratulate Larson.
“It meant a lot to Bubba to get to the victory track,” said Larson. “He always believed in me. That was special. “
HOMECOMING FOR MCDOWELL
Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell will be racing near his hometown of Glendale, Arizona, where he grew up racing go-karts before moving to North Carolina to pursue his NASCAR dreams.
McDowell, 36, was an unlikely winner of Daytona, achieving his first World Cup victory in his 358th game.
McDowell returned to his old go-kart track in Glendale on Thursday, where he ran under the lights against local children aged 7 to 16. He signed autographs and brought his Daytona 500 trophy for fans to check out.
KEEP CALM
Last year’s spring run in Phoenix was hot, with temperatures reaching almost 90 degrees.
Sunday’s race should be a little cooler, with a maximum temperature around 70 degrees expected, but the rain that fell in the desert on Friday and early Saturday must have passed.
OFFAL
Defending World Cup champion Chase Elliott won in Phoenix in November to secure his title and is the 5-1 favorite to win on Sunday. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin are 6-1. Current race winner Joey Logano is 8-1 and Michael McDowell on his home track is 100-1, the same chances he overcame to win the Daytona 500. … The Cup Series had four different winners in four races at the start of the season but none for active Cup champions. It is the first time since 2008 that a former champion of the series has not won in the first four races of a season. … There were five different winners to start the season 14 times before, but not since 2017. The record is 10 different winners in 10 races in 2000. … There are seven previous winners in Phoenix on the field. Harvick leads all the drivers with nine wins in Phoenix. … Jason Biggs, host of “Cherries Wild” on the NASCAR Fox broadcast partner, is the great marshal.
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AP Auto Racing writer Jenna Fryer contributed to this story.
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