2016 Good Sam 500

Start

Under clear blue Arizona skies, Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:49 p.m. After 10 laps, he pulled to a one-second lead over teammate Carl Edwards. The first caution of the race flew on lap 52 for a single-car wreck in turn 3. Going into the turn, Ryan Newman suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall.^[23] He would go on to finish last for the first time since 2008.^[24] He said he "just blew a right-front tire. It must have melted the bead or something. I don’t know if something failed in the cooling department or what the deal was. I didn’t do anything any different than I’ve ever done here before. Just definitely blew a right-front tire out and that was the end of our day with the Grainger Chevrolet.”^[25] Denny Hamlin was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted on lap 60. Unlike the first run, he didn't pull away from the field. After taking just right-side tires on the first pit stop, he began losing his lead to Dale Earnhardt Jr. who took four. Earnhardt passed him in turn 3 to take the lead on lap 76. The second caution of the race flew on lap 104 for a single-car wreck in turn 3. Going into the turn, Paul Menard suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall.^[23] When asked what happened, he said he wasn't “really sure. We were okay that last run. We fired off pretty decent and started getting really tight at the end. I don’t know if a left-front tire blew or what going into 3. I don’t know if something broke or if a tire blew. We are going to check it out. I’m curious about it.”^[25] Edwards exited pit road with the race lead. Brian Scott was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

Second quarter

The race restarted on lap 113. After pulling away from the field, Edwards began losing his lead to teammate Kyle Busch. The third caution of the race flew on lap 163 for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Going into turn 1, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall.^[23] He said he was "really tight and I was having to use too much brake and I think we got the tires hot and once we did that the right front gave out from having to use too much brake. The cars were a handful. They were fun to drive. We just didn’t quite have the Fastenal Ford dialed in like we needed to today. We were really tight, therefore, we had to use too much brake.”^[25] Kyle Busch exited pit road 18th after overshooting his pit box and stopping too close to the pit wall.

Halfway

The race restarted at lap 169. Kevin Harvick powered ahead of Edwards on the restart and took the lead. On lap 180, Harvick led his nine-thousandth career lap in Sprint Cup Series competition. Debris on the backstretch brought out the fourth caution of the race with 87 laps to go. The debris came from the shredded right-rear tire of Brad Keselowski's car.^[23] Edwards beat Harvick off pit road.

Fourth quarter

The race restarted with 78 laps to go. Harvick had no difficulty retaking the lead from Edwards going into turn 1. Joey Logano pitted from ninth with seven to go because he was short on fuel. The fifth caution of the race flew with six laps to go for a single-car wreck in turn 4. Rounding the turn, Kasey Kahne suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall.^[23] He said he "had a right front tire go down. It happened earlier in the race but a caution came out and I thought it was the engine at the time because of the way it kind of vibrated and changed the tone of the engine. Come to find out it wasn’t the engine and it was the tire. We’ll look at what we are doing since it happened a couple of times. We had a car capable of running in the top-15 and we were really good early. The longer the race went I felt like I got looser. I used a lot of brake during the entire the race, which I was surprised about. Yesterday in practice I didn’t have to use the brake hardly at all and today with different grips I used it so much.”^[25] Harvick, Earnhardt and Austin Dillon opted to stay out while the rest of the field opted to pit.^[26]

Driver comments

Harvick said that he "knew he (Edwards) was better through (Turns) 3 and 4, but that was not the car I wanted to see behind me. I tried to protect the bottom in 3 and 4, and I just missed the bottom with all the rubber built up on the tires. I knew I was going to be on defense down there. I got up too high … and then he got into me, like he should have. I knew I needed to get a good run off the corner and I was going to have to get into his door. And it worked out, just barely.“^[28]

Edwards said that Harvick "was pretty fast, even on old tires. Once we got clear, I thought we were going to get one shot. I tried to go to the outside of him and he blocked a little bit, and I didn't have anywhere to go but rub him a little bit."^[29] He joked that he "should’ve wrecked him. No, those guys were doing a great job all day. They hung on with those tires but we were faster so I thought, ‘Man, I’ll just move him out of the way and get by.’ I just didn't move him far enough and then he got up the door and I thought I was trying to time—I thought ‘I think he’s going to beat me.’ So, I tried to sideswipe him before he got there but I needed to be in front of his front tire. Anyway, just a fun race.”^[30]

Hamlin said he "was actually rooting on Carl going, ‘Get him.’ But, we’ve been on the other side of that photo finish. Awesome that this rules package creates this kind of racing and some of the finishes that we’ve seen so far this year.”^[31]