Subway Fresh Fit 500 Free Picks
PHOENIX, AZ (The Spread) – NASCAR heads out West to Phoenix this week for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
After a crazy night of racing on that 2.5-mile, high-banked track last Monday night, teams will switch to a flat, one-mile surface this weekend. With the track playing true to more conventional racing, that means we can look to past races here in order to narrow our choices down to two or three drivers.
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Last year Phoenix International Raceway was repaved and several modifications were made to improve the quality of the racing in time for the late season Chase race. The front straightaway was widened and the famed dogleg reconfigured to allow side-by-side racing. While the corners are still similarly shallow to the old setup, variable banking was put in to open things up and create more passing.
Stewart has only one win here but he’s always run well at the one-mile track. His 11.3 average finish is the fifth best among active drivers and he has three runner-up efforts to go with his lone victory. Stewart finished seventh and third at Phoenix last year, respectively, leading 160 laps in the fall when he ended up running third. What makes Stewart our top choice this week is not only his success here but also the chassis he will be bring to this event. This chassis won last year at New Hampshire and is the same one that he used to lead 160 laps back in November. Normally we tend to stay away from Stewart until later in the year but it looks like he wants to avoid his usual slow start and come out with a bang this season.
This race has been kind to Gordon in recent years. He finished second in 2010, and he won this race last year. Gordon was great all season on flat tracks last year, and Sunday’s race will show whether or not it will carry into 2012. Gordon is also looking to get his season on track this weekend after last week’s rare engine failure and what better place than one of his best tracks.
Live Longshot
Newman has four consecutive top-5 finishes at Phoenix over the past two seasons, which no other driver has done. In fact, no other driver has even finished in the top 10 over that span. In those races, Newman has won, finished second once, and fifth two times. Last year’s reconfigured track didn’t seem to faze him one bit and we look for him to be up front at the start and be in contention late to possibly pull off a win at a nice price.
2012 Subway Fresh Fit 500 Information
Race Date: Sunday, March 4
Location: Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Arizona
Pre-Race: 2:30PM ET
Green Flag: Approx. 3:14PM ET
TV Coverage: FOX
Radio Coverage: MRN
Track Type: Oval (312 laps)
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