The 2016 Good Sam 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 13, 2016, at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 313 laps, extended from 312 laps due to overtime, on the asphalt oval, it was the fourth race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kevin Harvick won the race ahead of Carl Edwards, with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounding out the top five positions.
Busch won the pole for the race and led 75 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish. Harvick led a race high of 139 laps on his way to winning the race. There were seven lead changes among four different drivers, as well as five caution flag periods for 30 laps.
This was Harvick's 32nd career victory, first of the season, eighth at Phoenix International Raceway and fifth at the track for Stewart–Haas Racing. With the win, he moved up to first in the points standings. Chevrolet moved to first in the manufacturer standings.
The Good Sam 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Report Background
Phoenix International Raceway, also known as PIR, is a low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona.
Entry list The entry list for the Good Sam 500 was released on Monday, March 7 at 9:11 a.m. Eastern time. Thirty-nine cars are entered for the race. The only driver changes for this weekend's race were Ty Dillon returning to the seat of the No. 14 Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet and Joey Gase taking over the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Ty Dillon (i) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 30 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Joey Gase (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 34 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 98 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 25.928 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.928 138.846 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 25.999 138.467 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 26.039 138.254Official first practice results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice Kurt Busch was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.194 and a speed of . During the session, Michael Annett suffered a front-end lockup and slammed the wall in turn 1. Because this required him to go to a backup car, he'll start from the rear of the field. He said that "the car just didn’t want to turn. I don’t know if we were on the splitter or if we cut down a right-front (tire). ... I cranked on the wheel and it wouldn’t go straight.” PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime141Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.194137.43624Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.338136.685319Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.375136.493Official second practice results
Final practice Kevin Harvick was fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.409 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime14Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.409136.317241Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.437136.173318Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.452136.096Official final practice results
Qualifying
Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 26.014 and a speed of . He said afterwards that he "cooled everything back down to make sure we gave it everything we got. We just made a couple of fine-tuning adjustments from what we ran before and it was a tick faster, not much, just a tick.” Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne will both go to backup cars after mishaps in qualifying with the former crashing out and the latter changing engines. Johnson said after being released from the infield care center that the car was "a lot of straight in an area of the track that I didn't need to have straight. We'll have to get to the bottom of it. Just a really hard impact to the outside wall. Thankful that we have SAFER barriers and soft walls. But very disappointed because we had such a fast race car." He later took to Twitter to say that the wreck was because his steering wheel came off.
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 118Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.288 26.08726.014 219Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.363 26.09326.179 311Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.331 26.07926.196 441Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.175 26.14626.202 548Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26.249 26.21826.244 620Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.405 26.12426.244 742Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet26.327 26.20326.271 878Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota26.231 26.22126.290 922Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord26.290 26.11426.321 1017Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord26.304 26.22326.325 111Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet26.451 26.21826.363 1221Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord26.252 26.22326.411 1316Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord26.395 26.230 — 1443Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord26.408 26.236 — 153Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet26.38726.260 — 1627Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet26.324 26.272 — 1724Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26.423 26.283 — 184Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet26.383 26.298 — 192Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord26.304 26.306 — 2031Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet26.485 26.359 — 216Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord26.405 26.373 — 2247A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet26.428 26.376 — 2383 Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota26.391 26.394 — 245Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26.241 0.000 — 2513Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet 26.561 — — 2688Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet 26.563 — — 2738Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord 26.589 — — 2814Ty Dillon (i)Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 26.594 — — 2923David RaganBK RacingToyota 26.626 — — 3044Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord 26.683 — — 317Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet 26.763 — — 3234Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord 26.780 — — 3395Michael McDowellCircle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevrolet 26.852 — — 3498Cole WhittPremium MotorsportsChevrolet26.932 — — 3515Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet27.053 — — 3610Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet27.089 — — 3730Josh WiseThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet27.109 — — 3846Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet27.115 — — 3932Joey Gase (i)Go FAS RacingFord27.161 — —
Race First half 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. He would go on to finish last for the first time since 2008. 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.” 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. 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.” 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. 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.” Kyle Busch exited pit road 18th after overshooting his pit box and stopping too close to the pit wall.
Second half 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. Edwards beat Harvick off pit road.
Fourth quarter