5 drivers not named Harvick with a shot to win at Phoenix
Look, it doesn't take a genius-level IQ or a big set of onions to predict the winner of Sunday's Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Kevin Harvick, the seven-time Phoenix winner, is the odds-on favorite, as he absolutely should be.
With that in mind, we're going to go out on a limb and pick five guys not named Harvick who have a legitimate shot of winning in the Valley of the Sun this weekend. And they all drive for different teams.
5. RYAN NEWMAN — The Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets have shown more speed this year than they have in the past couple of seasons. Newman has four poles, one victory and nine top-five finishes at PIR. He could be a surprise sleeper.
4. KYLE BUSCH — The Joe Gibbs Racing fleet of Toyotas is running so well that it's hard to pick a clear-cut favorite. But we're going to go with Busch on the basis that he's the only driver with top-five finishes in all three points races this season and he is the reigning Sprint Cup Series champion. Kyle's average finish at Phoenix is 13.810; brother Kurt's is 13.654.
3. KURT BUSCH — The 2004 champ had a car good enough to win last week at Las Vegas, but a mistake on pit road put him in a hole he couldn't dig out of. He will have a fast Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet again this week and he'll be looking to make amends for his mistake in Sin City.
2. JIMMIE JOHNSON — Six-Time is a four-time Phoenix winner, second only to Harvick's seven victories. He also leads in average finish at PIR, with an impressive 7.720. And he has more top-five and top-10 finishes at Phoenix than anyone else, as well. Expect Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to be there at the end.
1. JOEY LOGANO — Already this year, Logano is complaining about finishing second too often, which he did in the Sprint Unlimited and the Can-Am Duel at Daytona and again last week in Las Vegas. But his complaining is a good thing. All the runner-up finishes mean he has fast Team Penske Fords underneath him. And he's getting impatient to win.
