PHOENIX, Ariz. (WCYB) — From the road course back to high speed racing in the Valley of the Sun, NASCAR begins its west coast swing this weekend as Cup Series drivers prepare to take on the Shriners Children’s 500 from Phoenix Raceway.
While known for being the final championship race of the season and crowning a Cup Series champion in November, drivers will get the first taste of it in the spring race version on Sunday.
Last year’s spring race featured a Christopher Bell dominant win. This time around, Bell has the opportunity to become the first driver to win three consecutive races in the Next Gen Car after taking the checkered flag in Atlanta and at COTA.
But the rest of the field will aim to stop that from happening – including Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevrolet, as he and his team try to crawl out of the bottom half of the standings.
A lot of importance put on this one. Everybody is trying to focus on there so you can get to the championship and have the best car you can have coming back. Obviously the Penske cars have been strong, so there’s been a concerted effort from Chevrolet to put more emphasis on this track,” said Dillon. “Every weekend presents an opportunity. Winning is so important that you’ll be aggressive to try and accomplish that. So we’ll do whatever we can to get to victory lane and lock ourselves in the playoff and go from there.
The green flag from Phoenix is set to drop at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
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