CONCORD, N.C.— This Sunday marks the second race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ West Coast swing. All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers head to Phoenix International Raceway to take on the one-mile tri-oval.
The Avondale, Arizona, track hosts more than one race a year. The second visit will be during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in November.
Tune in this Sunday and catch all the action on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET to see how the drivers perform during the fourth race of the season.
Here is what you should watch for this weekend:
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Sunday’s race will air live on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET. Can’t make it to a television? Listen to the race live on PRN and SiriusXM to catch the radio coverage. Here is the full broadcast schedule:
Friday, March 11:
12:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
6:45 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, FOX Sports 2
Saturday, March 12:
10:30 a.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
1 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, FOX Sports 1
Sunday, March 13:
3:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Cup Race, FOX/ PRN/ SiriusXM
THIS WEEK’S PAINT SCHEMES: Kasey Kahne returns No. 5 Great Clips to the Chevrolet SS this weekend. NAPA AUTO PARTS will be the primary partner on board Rookie of the Year contender Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS. Jimmie Johnson will race the No. 48 Lowe’s ProServices Chevrolet SS and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will debut the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS this Sunday at Phoenix.
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT PHOENIX: Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 wins, 10 pole positions, 44 top-five finishes and 74 top-10s at Phoenix International Raceway. Those 10 wins are spread among six drivers, with Johnson accounting for four. Earnhardt recorded the organization’s most recent Phoenix victory in November 2015.
DOUBLE DIGITS: With Earnhardt's win in November, Phoenix became the 11th racetrack where Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 or more Sprint Cup victories. A 10th Auto Club Speedway win next week would add a 12th track to the list. On April 3, the Sprint Cup circuit visits Martinsville Speedway, where Hendrick Motorsports has a team record 23 wins.
KAHNE AT PHOENIX: Coming off of a 10th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne heads to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend in the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS. Kahne's one win at the desert track came in November 2011. The driver also has the highest average starting position of all active drivers at Phoenix – 11.565. Kahne looks to add a pole position this weekend at Phoenix -- he has earned three of his 27 pole awards at short tracks.
ELLIOTT AT PHOENIX: Elliott already has several starts under his belt at the Avondale, Arizona, track. In 2011 and 2012 he raced in three NASCAR West Series races, earning two top-five finishes and improving his average starting position by 1.3 positions among the three events.
JOHNSON AT PHOENIX: Following his win at Atlanta two weeks ago, Jimmie Johnson left Las Vegas with a strong third-place finish. Johnson led a race-high 76 laps and is now second in the standings, just six points behind the leader. Johnson has led the most laps of all drivers so far this season, leading in all three events for a total of 146 laps, or 18.3 percent of all laps run.
EARNHARDT AT PHOENIX: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at Phoenix last November after a rain-shortened event. The wet weather didn’t put a damper on Earnhardt, who led 22 laps en route to his 26th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory and his third at PIR. The 41-year-old driver earned his first two Phoenix wins back to back, going to Victory Lane in November 2003 and November 2004 when the one-mile tri-oval hosted one Cup event per season. By virtue of his three wins, Earnhardt ranks third on the all-time wins list at Phoenix.