Matt McLaughlin’s Thinkin’ Out Loud: 2012 Phoenix Spring Race Recap
Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb got served up a huge helping of redemption after their humiliations last season.
Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb got served up a huge helping of redemption after their humiliations last season.
Matt Kenseth drifted high on the final restart to pick up teammate Greg Biffle, who never made a move on his teammate down the stretch. While Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled for second, Kenseth drove to his second Daytona 500 victory in four years.
Race One – A caution froze the field on the final lap of the race as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was trying to mount a challenge on Tony Stewart for the win. Race Two – Greg Biffle dominated the race but swept up on the final lap thinking he’d hook up with teammate Matt Kenseth to seal the deal. Instead, Kenseth dove down into the lower lane Biffle had opened for him, towing Jimmie Johnson in his wake to take the lead and the win.
Kyle Busch used a David Pearson, patent perfect slingshot pass to get around Tony Stewart coming to the line.
With 33 laps left to go, Carl Edwards moved into second behind Tony Stewart. For those 33 laps, Edwards gave it his all but he came up a little over a second short.
Kasey Kahne elected to pit early for his final stop. Meanwhile, Carl Edwards was leading the race but ran up on his old buddy Brad Keselowski, who was trying not to get lapped (and perhaps sending some subtle payback Edwards’ way.) By the time the No. 99 abandoned the effort to pass the No. 2, Edwards had given up too much time to Kahne.
Tony Stewart was able to pass Carl Edwards on the final restart. The outside move wasn’t as impressive as passing Johnson on the outside at Martinsville, but it was still pretty nifty.
Tony Stewart drove by Jimmie Johnson on the outside with less than three laps to go to claim his third victory in seven Chase races this season.
Clint Bowyer out drag-raced teammate Jeff Burton out of turn 4 to the flag, on the final lap to win what some pundits will allege to be a race.
Thank God for the SAFER barriers and the HANS device. Jimmie Johnson’s wreck looked horribly similar to a certain last lap wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Jimmie Johnson easily aced Kasey Kahne on the green-white-checkered restart to score the win.
Kurt Busch got enough of a jump on the final restart, with 35 laps remaining that he was easily able to hold off Jimmie Johnson for the win.
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