The 2016 Can-Am 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on November 13, 2016, at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 324 laps – extended from 312 laps due to an overtime finish – on the oval, it was the 35th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, ninth race of the Chase and final race of the Round of 8.
Team Penske's Joey Logano won his third race of the season, and advanced to the Championship 4 as a result of the victory.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer1Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet2Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord3Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet5Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord7Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet10Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota13Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet14Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet15Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota19Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota20Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota21Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord22Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord23David RaganBK RacingToyota24Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30Gray GauldingThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet31Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Jeffrey Earnhardt (R)Go FAS RacingFord34Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord38Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord41Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet42Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet43Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord44Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord46Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet47A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet55D. J. Kennington (i)Premium MotorsportsToyota78Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota83Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota88Alex Bowman (i)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet95Michael McDowellCircle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevrolet98Reed SorensonPremium MotorsportsToyotaOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 25.802 and a speed of . Martin Truex Jr. went to a backup car after wrecking his primary in the closing second of the session.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 25.802 139.524 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 25.808 139.492 3 24 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25.844 139.297Official first practice results
Second practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.573 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime178Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota26.573135.47622Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord26.586135.41031Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet26.646135.105Official second practice results
Final practice Kyle Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.401 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime118Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota26.401136.35822Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord26.415136.286322Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord26.431136.204Official final practice results
Qualifying
Alex Bowman scored the pole for the race with a time of 25.619 and a speed of . He said afterwards that earning it was "amazing. We weren’t really that strong in qualifying trim in practice. I don’t really know where that came from, but I just can’t thank everybody at Hendrick Motorsports enough. To do this in Phoenix, so close to home, means so much to me. We have had such fast racecars we haven’t had an ounce of luck, but to get a pole here means a lot.”
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 188 Alex Bowman (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25.831 25.785 25.619 242 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 25.802 25.741 25.666 324 Chase Elliott (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25.939 25.757 25.671 422 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 25.914 25.645 25.689 511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 25.898 25.781 25.701 64 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.761 25.790 25.718 73 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 25.766 25.730 25.768 821 Ryan Blaney (R) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 25.836 25.749 25.781 91 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 25.983 25.807 25.809 1020 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 26.003 25.818 25.820 1119 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 25.919 25.840 25.843 1241 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 25.954 25.788 25.866 135 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25.892 25.853 142 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 25.918 25.855 1531 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 25.950 25.858 1610 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.012 25.859 1748 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25.986 25.864 1847 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 26.083 25.905 1918 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 25.920 25.922 2027 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 26.014 25.951 2117 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.042 25.956 2213 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 26.106 26.064 236 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.100 26.118 2416 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 26.098 26.195 2514 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 26.120 2695 Michael McDowell Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 26.155 2743 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 26.156 2838 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 26.245 297 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 26.284 3034 Chris Buescher (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 26.297 3123 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 26.382 3283 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 26.408 3344 Brian Scott (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 26.440 3415 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 26.445 3532 Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) Go FAS Racing Ford 26.608 3646 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 26.629 3730 Gray Gaulding The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 26.699 3898 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 27.078 3955 D. J. Kennington (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 27.146 4078 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 0.000 Official qualifying results
Race First half Alex Bowman led the field to the green flag at 2:48 p.m. Kyle Larson brought out the first caution of the race on the first lap after he got loose and spun out in turn 4.
The race restarted on lap 6. During the run, pre-race favorite Kevin Harvick slid back through the field reporting that his car started loose, then started "plowing through the center." Martin Truex Jr., who started 40th, broke into the top-10 on lap 63. A number of cars started pitting under green on lap 79. Trying to get on pit road, Ryan Newman locked up his brakes, spun out and slammed into the rear-end of Larson's car, bringing out the second caution on lap 82. Truex, who was leading the race when the caution flew, was held a lap on pit road for "pulling up to pit." This gave the lead back to Bowman.
The race restarted on lap 91. Joey Logano drove to the outside of Bowman going into turn 1 to take the lead on lap 93. Bowman tried to dive to the inside of Logano going into turn 3 on lap 118, but it cost him second to teammate Jimmie Johnson, who proceeded to pass Logano on the backstretch to take the lead on lap 120. Debris on the fronstretch brought out the third caution on lap 132. Logano exited pit road first. Johnson was held a lap on pit road for "pulling up to pit." Following the race, Johnson said that "guys have been pulling up like that all weekend to go to pit lane. In 15 years that has never been a concern, and I was always told that the last thing NASCAR wanted to do would be to penalize the leader, and as you pull off onto the apron, you accelerate to the commitment line. If you are held by the pace car, you’re at a disadvantage as the leader and it allows everybody to catch you and catch up, so even in drivers’ meetings they’ve said, we know you’re going to pass the pace car; it’s okay. The majority of the tracks we go to, you naturally just gradually pull ahead of the pace car coming to pit lane. I mean, this happens all the time. I am still baffled, and I don’t know if I will stop being baffled, but all I can say is if they called me on it and they continue to call everybody else on it every week, then shame on me.’’
Second half The race restarted on lap 140. Bowman pulled up to and passed Logano on the backstretch to retake the lead on lap 158. Debris in turn 1 brought out the fourth caution on lap 210.
The race restarted on lap 218 and Bowman only made it to turn 2 before caution flew for the fifth time when Austin Dillon backed into Greg Biffle and Johnson, and got turned sideways in turn 1.
The race restarted with 84 laps to go. The sixth caution flew with 56 to go for a two-car wreck involving Truex and Newman. Truex went on to finish 40th. Denny Hamlin opted not to pit and assumed the lead. Biffle was sent to the tail end of the field on the restart for speeding on pit road.
The race restarted with 51 to go. Matt Kenseth overtook Hamlin with ease and assumed the lead with 50 to go. Debris in turn 3 brought out the seventh caution with 46 to go.
The race restarted with 43 to go. Bowman demonstrated his car was the fastest in the run to the finish as he worked his way through the top-five to take second with under 20 to go. But the gap from second to Kenseth in the lead was almost four seconds and not closing fast enough. The dynamic of the race changed when Michael McDowell suffered a tire blowout, slammed the wall in turn 3 and brought out the eighth caution with two laps remaining, forcing overtime.
Overtime First attempt
On the first overtime attempt with two laps to go, Kyle Busch tried for the inside of Bowman going into the first turn, but Bowman went down to block him and got sideways. This put him at an awkward angle going into the turn and resulted in him inadvertently "punting" Kenseth out of the groove and into the wall, bringing out the ninth caution. “Is there anything I can do or say right now to make it better?” Kenseth asked after the race. “The only thing I can do or say right now is make things worse, so really I’m just trying not to do that.” He added that feeling disappointment "would put it lightly. It finished our season. Five minutes before that, it looked like we were going to have a chance to go race for a championship." Busch took the blame for what happened afterwards saying "I guess I wrecked a teammate. I feel horrible about it ... Right now, it feels really (expletive), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better. ... The 20 should have been the Gibbs car to (advance)." Logano after the race said he "saw Kyle getting a run on him and I was like, 'Oh, boy! I knew Kyle was going to go three wide, and he has to. He's racing for a championship. That's the desperation that sets in." He was also scored as the race leader.
Second attempt On the second attempt with two to go, the field made it past the overtime line on the backstretch, making it an official attempt, and Logano drove on to score the victory.
Post-race
Driver comments Logano said in victory lane that his win "feels so good. I've never felt this good about a win before. There was so much on the line and everyone brings their A-game when it comes to winning championships and this team did it. Man, this feels so good. I had a good restart there at the end and holding off Kyle to try to get this thing into Miami. We're racing for a championship now. We did exactly what we had to do. We've got to go to Homestead and do the same thing.”