Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our new Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• Well hello, close finishes. Are you becoming a habit in the Cup Series in 2016? Kevin Harvick’s incredibly close win over Carl Edwards on Sunday at Phoenix was the second finish of 0.01 seconds in four races. Insane.
The photo-finish rate of 50 percent is unsustaintable. But damn, it sure does make for some fun moments at the end of a race. There aren’t too many times immediately after a race that you’re left wondering who the winner was.
• Richard Childress Racing accomplished a rarity on Sunday. Both Ryan Newman and Paul Menard hit the wall after melted beads on the right front tires led to tire failures and crashes. Newman finished 39th and Menard was 38th, meaning the teammates were the last two cars in the standings.
We’re guessing that’s an achievement that doesn’t happen very often at all. We’ll go through box scores over the next week to see when the last time two teammates finished last and next to last was.
• Beads, especially on right front tires, can melt because of excessive brake heat. With less downforce this season, teams were forced to use the brakes more entering the corners at Phoenix.
And the only cautions for crashes came as a result of right-front tire issues. In addition to the two RCR cars, Kasey Kahne (to set up the race’s dramatic conclusion) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slammed into the wall because of right-front tire failures. Brad Keselowski also had a right rear tire failure that caused a caution because of debris all over the track.
• Joe Gibbs Racing backed up the 1-2-3 effort in qualifying by putting all four of its cars in the top 10 on Sunday. When asked where his team had gotten better at Phoenix on Friday, Kyle Busch (who finished fourth), had this to say:
“I don’t know but we were getting smoked here a few years ago. We were really bad. I think when this place was repaved we obviously really struggled really bad. We’ve known to do a really big push on this place because it’s the second to last race in the Chase. We’ve done a good job of being able to do all of that, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing has pushed real hard.“
Yeah, that work has paid off. Busch led 75 laps while Carl Edwards, who finished second, led 65. Denny Hamlin finished fourth and Matt Kenseth was seventh.
• The season didn’t get any better for Clint Bowyer. An early – and we mean 10 laps in to the race early – pit stop under green put Bowyer two laps down and he never recovered. He finished 31st, six laps off the pace.
• Matt DiBenedetto backed up his good qualifying effort in the BK Racing No. 83 with a 20th place finish. We think DiBenedetto has overperformed given his level of equipment so far in his Cup tenure. Will that trend continue?
• Joey Logano finished 18th because the team didn’t get the car full of fuel on the final pit stop. He had to pit for gas just before Kahne’s car hit the wall and caused a caution with five laps to go.
Had Logano’s team been able to wait – or the caution came earlier – he could have gotten a top-10 finish out of the day. But instead, Logano finished 18th.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
