I enjoy night racing, and last night's race was a classic night race. I've always enjoyed the Spring Phoenix race, and last night was different. The race distance was extended from 500k (312 laps) to 600k (375 laps) which meant for more exciting racing. Also the strategy from starting under the daylight, ending under the lights makes it fun for teams to gamble on how their car is handling.
The race started off with a bang as Kurt Busch gets loose and spins into Kasey Kahne (who eventually returned to the track 100 laps down), and then Montoya dominates the lead until dusk. Then, Johnson held onto the lead, avoiding minor wrecks including Brad Keselowski's incident. With over a hundred laps to go, Kyle Busch passed Johnson on the restart and nobody couldn't get to him. A late caution with 3 to go after Scott Riggs (was impressive in the #90 Keyed-Up Motorsports entry) blew a tire and sent the leaders to pit road for strategy. The 18 and 48 took 4 tires, while the 24 (Gordon) and 39 (Newman) took 2. On the restart, Gordon got locked up which allowed Ryan Newman to score his first victory since the 2008 Daytona 500. Hendrick Motorsports and Roush cars had solid cars throughout the race. EGR with Montoya did well, maintaining a top-10 car all race. Stewart started off well, but struggled throughout most of the race. Greg Biffle, who had 6 straight top 10 finishes going into Phoenix struggled and finished 22nd.
Point standings after the race shows Johnson leading Matt Kenseth by 36 points, Biffle by 92, Harvick by 112 and Gordon by 125. Overall it was definitely a great Saturday Night race, dueling in the desert.
The series returns to action next Sunday for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
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