NASCAR at Phoenix 2016: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule and More

The drivers left standing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase will leave it all on the track in the desert Sunday.

The Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway is the final chopping block in the Round of 8 before the championship race. There, the drivers left in contention will get halved to four, with Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards already sitting on automatic bids.

At a track Kevin Harvick typically dominates, sleepers outside of the Chase and some of NASCAR's biggest names on the outside looking in will throw everything they have at stealing a checkered flag.

Arguably the wildest event of the year, it's a must-see for those who have watched all season and those just catching up to see a champion crowned.

Viewing Details

Where: Phoenix International Raceway

When: Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET

Watch: NBC

Live stream: NBC Sports

Tickets: ScoreBig.com

Sprint Cup Standings

RK	DRIVER	POINTS	WINS
1	Jimmie Johnson	4,074	4
2	Carl Edwards	4,049	3
3	Joey Logano	4,074	2
4	Kyle Busch	4,074	4
5	Matt Kenseth	4,073	2
6	Denny Hamlin	4,072	3
7	Kevin Harvick	4,056	4
8	Kurt Busch	4,040	1
9	Martin Truex Jr.	2,265	4
10	Brad Keselowski	2,234	4
11	Chase Elliott	2,223	0
12	Kyle Larson	2,209	1
13	Austin Dillon	2,192	0
14	Tony Stewart	2,166	1
15	Jamie McMurray	2,165	0
16	Chris Buescher	2,143	1

NASCAR at Phoenix Lineup

Car No.	Driver
88	Alex Bowman
42	Kyle Larson
24	Chase Elliott
22	Joey Logano
11	Denny Hamlin
4	Kevin Harvick
3	Austin Dillon
21	Ryan Blaney
1	Jamie McMurray
20	Matt Kenseth
19	Carl Edwards
41	Kurt Busch
5	Kasey Kahne
2	Brad Keselowski
31	Ryan Newman
10	Danica Patrick
48	Jimmie Johnson
47	AJ Allmendinger
18	Kyle Busch
27	Paul Menard
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13	Casey Mears
6	Trevor Bayne
16	Greg Biffle
14	Tony Stewart
95	Michael McDowell
43	Aric Almirola
38	Landon Cassill
7	Regan Smith
34	Chris Buescher
23	David Ragan
83	Matt DiBenedetto
44	Brian Scott
15	Clint Bowyer
32	Jeffrey Earnhardt
46	Michael Annett
30	Gray Gaulding
98	Reed Sorenson
55	D.J. Kennington
78	Martin Truex Jr.

Drivers to Watch

Matt Kenseth

Remember Matt Kenseth?

The guy who was right there in wins (four) with Kyle Busch and Johnson last year entering the Chase and hit this year's playoff with only two wins, with the most recent coming in July.

Still, Kenseth hit solid form once September rolled around, running up seven top-10 finishes over his past eight outings to sit fourth ahead of Saturday's race.

But now he has a problem: There are three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers left vying for a Chase spot, and Kenseth did himself a disservice last time out in Texas, finishing seventh in a rain-shortened event.

Even so, he's approaching Phoenix like any other race, as he told FoxSports.com's Joe Menzer.

"I would love to have won last week, I would love to win this week and I’d love to win every week," Kenseth said. "It doesn’t really change. You go there and run as hard as you can. But if you’re running seventh, there’s nothing you can do to miraculously win."

With everything at stake, the dynamics of the JGR teammates and Kenseth's recent consistency will make for one of the most interesting storylines in Phoenix.

Kyle Busch

Ralph Freso/Associated Press

Given his four wins on the season and miraculous title chase after an injury last year, one could suggest Busch has been relatively quiet as of late.

Quiet as in back-to-back fifth-place finishes in the Round of 8.

Nice, but that doesn't give Busch much in the way of security with such a small number of drivers left standing. These normally praiseworthy finishes only have him third in the standings going into Phoenix.

On the other end of the spectrum, all Busch has to do is keep moving at his usual pace. He'll fight for another title soon.

"We've had all the finishes that we need thus far," Busch said, according to NASCAR.com's Kenny Bruce. "We just have to be able to go out there one more week and be able to get another one."

Busch has finished in the top five six times over his last eight outings. If he does so again, it's off to the final round looking for a championship. If the superb consistency fades, revisionist history sets in and fans can go back and point out where Busch could have done better by securing automatic bids with checkered flags.

Either way, how Busch swings the evenly loaded scale is worth watching.

Kevin Harvick

For most, the biggest story about Sunday is the expected Harvick dominance.

He might as well own the track in Phoenix. Not only has he won this race three of the past four years, but he's also won at the track in five of his last six visits.

Sounds great, but keep in mind Harvick sits sixth in the standings. It's easy to wave off this rather scary position because of his past dominance. As Harvick himself admitted to Bruce's colleague Zack Albert, the advantage in the desert could go the way of a mirage at any time:

"

I feel like that can be gone at any point. That's the hardest thing about having success. You have to have an open mind to try new things to keep moving forward. If you don't have an open mind or are not willing to try a fresh approach, then it will get stagnant. You're going to become stale and get left behind.

"

Harvick doesn't have much of a choice but to approach the race like this. He put himself at a disadvantage during the first race of this round, struggling to a finish of 20th in Martinsville in Virginia. He recovered with a sixth-place showing in Texas last time out, but that was a regression on his starting position of third.

With many seemingly guaranteed things going the other direction as of late (mainly 3-1 leads in the sporting world), the last thing Harvick can do is assume he's going to put on another show at one of his best tracks.

Call it yet another factor making this the most interesting race of the season.

Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.

Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.