As Ryan Newman rides high in the Arizona desert, here are the five things we learned from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Camping World 500 at Phoenix.
Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix had a surprise winner, as Ryan Newman was able to hold off Kyle Larson to drive the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing entry into Victory Lane in the Camping World 500.
Along the way to Newman’s celebration new faces emerged, old mistakes happened again and everyone roasted in the triple-digit heat inside their cars. It wasn’t the prettiest day for racing, but it was certainly an informative one.
If you’re looking for the complete results from Sunday’s race, you can find them here.
Here are the five things we learned from the 2017 Camping World 500:
1) Newman is a new man?
If you had been asked to pick the winner of the Camping World 500, chances are you would not have said Ryan Newman. You could’ve said four-time Phoenix race winner Kevin Harvick, or pole sitter Joey Logano, or fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. But not Newman, who had not yet won a race since coming to RCR in 2014. His last victory was in the 2013 Brickyard 400.
Not to say that Newman’s been spinning his wheels since then; he was the runner-up for the Cup Series title in 2014 thanks to consistent performances. But it’s been a long time since he’s taken a Gatorade bath. So now what’s he going to do for a follow-up performance?
2) If you ain’t first, you’re … still first
We joked in our takeaways from the Kobalt 400 that Kyle Larson might be cursed. That joke’s still a good one, as Larson finished in second place behind Newman on Sunday, yet again thisclose to his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win.
But here’s the caveat: even though Larson lost the race, he currently tops the overall Cup Series points standings. Larson holds an eight-point lead over Brad Keselowski and a 13-point edge over Chase Elliott. So while Larson may not have been first at Phoenix he’s still coming out of Arizona as a winner.
3) The tide turns for Kenseth
Matt Kenseth saw his day go up in smoke (or was that pieces of rubber?) when a blown tire caused the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry to introduce itself to the wall. Luckily Kenseth was fine, but we have to wonder: was he standing too close to Kevin Harvick or something? Last week at Las Vegas it was Harvick who had car trouble and got to enjoy wall-surfing; this week it was Kenseth. Maybe Harvick somehow rubbed some of his recent misfortune off on the No. 20 on his way to finishing sixth.
4) Pit road penalties are not a joke
Speaking of Harvick, Joey Logano got to follow in his footsteps during the Camping World 500. Remember when Harvick saw a dominating day slip away because he was dinged with a pit road speeding penalty? Well, Logano raced his way to the pole for Phoenix, then … committed a pit road speeding penalty and had to go to the rear of the field.
To add injury to his screw-up, he then also had a tire blow up and wound up finishing 31st. If there’s a teachable moment from this race it’s to remember that messing around on pit road can mess up your day.
5) The rookies are looking pretty good
Let’s give a round of applause to Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookies Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones, who both finished within the Top 10 in the Camping World 500. Suarez, replacing Carl Edwards (who is still not coming back no matter what Ford thinks), came seventh. Jones was right behind him in eighth place. With performances like these, plus the drives we’re seeing out of the likes of Larson and Elliott, the younger generation is looking very good — and like a lot of fun to watch for NASCAR fans.
Next: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings after Phoenix
The next Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is the Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. The green flag drops next Sunday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET, while the race will be nationally televised on FOX.