Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch truly impressive with Phoenix performances
I guess I can't say that I'm surprised at the outcome of the race Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway. I think everyone knew it was going to be a very tall order to beat that No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick.
He won the pole and even watching the practice sessions on Saturday it became even more evident that if you were going to win the race, you were going to have to beat Harvick. I mean quite honestly, the only way I saw the No. 4 team losing that race was if they beat themselves.
Sure Kevin led 224 of 312 laps on his way to his fourth consecutive win at Phoenix, but you know what, there was some really great racing throughout the day back in the pack. I think it's a tribute to our production folks who found and showed everyone that excellent racing. We didn't have a whole lot of lead changes other than on restarts, but we did have some great battles inside the top 10 all day long.
To me, aside from Kevin's continued dominance at Phoenix, the other amazing feat I witnessed was by his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch.
This was his first official points-paying race of the 2015 season. He had only been in a Sprint Cup car with this new rules package one time and that was during a test at Las Vegas back during the offseason. This was also his first experience with the new pit road monitoring system.
Kurt came out Sunday and basically ran like he had never missed a race. His fifth-place finish was simply incredible and I believe a tribute to that man's talent. If they can keep everything straight and pointed in the right direction, he might be the one guy out there to be able to challenge his teammate on a week to week basis.
VIDEO: Kurt Busch finishes fifth in first race back from NASCAR suspension
