NASCAR at Phoenix 2016: Good Sam 500 Start Time, Lineup and TV Schedule

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will shift down a gear this weekend as it heads to the flat, one-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway. 

Here is an event guide and a glance at a few storylines heading into the Good Sam 500 this weekend:

Date: Sunday, March 13

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: Fox

TV Commentators: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon (booth)

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Radio: Motor Racing Network

Favorite: Kevin Harvick, +300 (per Odds Shark)

And here is a look at the 39-car starting grid:

Start Order	Driver	Car Number
1	Kyle Busch	18
2	Carl Edwards	19
3	Denny Hamlin	11
4	Kurt Busch	41
5	Jimmie Johnson	48
6	Matt Kenseth	20
7	Kyle Larson	42
8	Martin Truex Jr.	78
9	Joey Logano	22
10	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	17
11	Jamie McMurray	1
12	Ryan Blaney	21
13	Greg Biffle	16
14	Aric Almirola	43
15	Austin Dillon	3
16	Paul Menard	27
17	Chase Elliott	24
18	Kevin Harvick	4
19	Brad Keselowski	2
20	Ryan Newman	31
21	Trevor Bayne	6
22	AJ Allmendinger	47
23	Matt DiBenedetto	83
24	Kasey Kahne*	5
25	Casey Mears	13
26	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88
27	Landon Cassill	38
28	Ty Dillon	14
29	David Ragan	23
30	Brian Scott	44
31	Regan Smith	7
32	Chris Buescher	34
33	Michael McDowell	95
34	Cole Whitt	98
35	Clint Bowyer	15
36	Danica Patrick	10
37	Josh Wise	30
38	Michael Annett	46
39	Joey Gase	32

NASCAR also provided a brief preview of the weekend's event:

Kevin Harvick is the outright favorite by a wide margin at 3-1 odds over next best Jimmie Johnson at 6-to-1, per Odds Shark. 

Harvick is a warranted favorite. Seven of his 31 career victories have come at Phoenix, and he had a four-race win streak there snapped last November, settling for second place in a rain-shortened race.

The 2014 Sprint Cup champion is also reaching another major milestone this weekend as he prepares to start in his 500th straight Cup event. 

Harvick couldn’t think of a better track to reach such a feat, per David Scott of the Charlotte Observer:

"

It’s obviously been a great race track for me personally, but really for the last two years at Stewart-Haas Racing it’s been phenomenal. We have won three of the four races and got beat by the rain in the last one. All in all it’s been a lot of fun to come here. For me personally, this is a fun place to come just for the fact that I started racing here in the mid-90’s, and you still see a lot of the same fans and people that followed your career up through the ranks.

"

Among the rest of the field, Kurt Busch is running atop the speed charts for the third straight week. The No. 41 Chevrolet has been on the pole the past two weeks at Atlanta and Las Vegas and ran quickest in the opening round of practice Friday. His brother, Kyle Busch, won the pole Friday, just five days after losing the lead with six laps to go at Las Vegas. 

Just behind Kurt Busch on the speedcharts was Denny Hamlin, who is looking to recover from his Daytona 500 win hangover after finishes of 16th and 19th the past two weeks, respectively. Hamlin will start third. 

Martin Truex Jr. will be without crew chief Cole Pearn after the Furniture Row Racing team withdrew its appeal of a one-race suspension for Pearn. He was suspended for a rules violation regarding the roof flap on their car at Atlanta a week after being put on probation for a similar issue at Daytona.

Yet Truex, who will roll off eighth, brushed off the notion his absence for just one race would make a major impact. 

"It's all about preparation and Cole has the team prepared,” Truex said, per Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com. "We've got a good plan in place to make sure we do all the right things throughout the weekend. We'll just see how it goes, but all in all, I don't think it will be a huge deal.”

Defending Phoenix winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is another name to keep an eye out for, as the No. 88 Chevrolet has ran up front all season. He was derailed by an accident at Daytona but has otherwise had one of the fastest cars in the garage through the first month.

The young Sprint Cup Series campaign has featured a new winner in each of the first three races, and that trend could continue again this week. Harvick has been knocking on the door in each of the first three races and is heading to his favorite track. Busch will also be hungry after losing the lead late last week and having his pole win at Atlanta disallowed after he failed post-qualifying inspection.