Know Your Track: Phoenix

Phoenix International Raceway

Track Name: Phoenix International Raceway

           

Nicknames: N/A

Location: Avondale, Arizona

Capacity: 67,000

Date of First Race: November 6, 1988

Layout: Phoenix is a 1 mile asphalt "D-shaped tri-oval", with four (essentially five) turns. This "fifth" turn refers to the "dog-leg" on the back straightaway, and is one of, if not the, hardest turning "dog-legs" out of any track. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 10 to 12 degrees and turns 3 and 4 at 8 to 9 degrees.

Current Sprint Cup Races: 

• March 15, 2015 - CampingWorld.com 500 (k), a 312 mile, 312 lap regular season points race. This is a Sunday afternoon event.
• November 15, 2015 - Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (k), a 312 mile, 312 lap race which is the final race of the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This is the final race before the Championship Race and is also the second to last race of the season.

Most Wins:  

• All-Time: Kevin Harvick, 6 wins
• Active: Kevin Harvick, 6 wins
• Latest Winner:
• 2014 The Profit on CNBC 500 (k): Kevin Harvick
• 2014 Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 (k): Kevin Harvick

Description: Phoenix is undoubtedly one of the most unique tracks on the tour. With it's varying banking in every turn, different length straightaways, and that crazy "dog-leg" on the back stretch there's no track that is remotely similar. I mean, fans can sit up on top of a small mountain behind turn four to watch the race for goodness sake. 

Though it is unique, this raceway is known for being difficult to pass on. This leads to tight racing and when mistakes are made, this one mile track can cause some surprisingly big pile-ups, such as here in 2011:

The difficulty in passing also causes drivers to pull maneuvers they wouldn't always do, especially with Phoenix hosting the final race before the Championship Race. In 2014, Ryan Newman was one of those drivers who had to make a desperation pass in order to advance in the Chase, and was only able to complete the pass by dive bombing the turn, running into another driver in the process:

                              

Notable Races:

• 1988 Checker 500 - The track's inaugural Cup Series race saw future Cup champion Alan Kulwicki win his first career race. Kulwicki would celebrate his win by performing "The Polish Victory Lap", the now iconic act of turning the car around and driving the opposite way around the track.

Fun Facts: This may be more interesting than fun, but the year before the Cup Series began racing at Phoenix, lightning struck the main grandstand and burned it to the ground.