NASCAR at Phoenix 2022: Odds, Preview and Top Storylines
NASCAR's season of unpredictability continues as the Cup Series rolls into the Phoenix Raceway for Sunday's Ruoff Mortgage 500.
Drivers will take the 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval track in their Next Gen cars for a 312-mile race that will take 312 laps to complete.
Last week, Alex Bowman won the Pennzoil 400 after the odds had him coming in 10th.
For the second race in a row, Kyle Larson is the odds-on favorite to come in first, this time in Avondale, Arizona on Phoenix Raceway's asphalt racing surface.
The 29-year old Hendrick Motorsports driver's last win was at the Wise Power 400 two weeks ago.
He'll have to fend off driver's like Martin Truex Jr., who won this race last year after 30 previous winless starts in Arizona.
Looking to turn his season around will be Denny Hamlin, who is off to the worst start of his career.
Truex Jr. and Hamlin should be one of many featured matchups to watch on Sunday at the 52nd race hosted by Phoenix Raceway.
Ruoff Mortgage 500
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Date: Sunday, March 13
Odds
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Kyle Larson: +400 (bet $100 to win $400)
Martin Truex Jr.: +750
Kyle Busch : +750
Denny Hamlin: +800
Chase Elliott: +800
Joey Logano: +900
Ryan Blaney: +1200
William Byron: +1600
Kevin Harvick: +2000
Christopher Bell: +2000
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Preview and Top Storylines
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At this point in the NASCAR Cup Series season, it's no secret that the Next Gen cars are making the drivers uncomfortable.
For example, Denny Hamlin logged his first-ever DNF of his career at Daytona and grossly underperformed at Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas, coming in 32nd after his miss-shift coming off pit road resulted in breaking his transmission.
"Just killed every gear when I left pit road," Hamlin told Fox Sports. "We had the best car today. Just made mistakes."
One of the biggest adjustments for drivers and their teams are the single-lug stops.
"Just to my position, the hardest part I think is just learning what is a tight wheel and what isn’t a tight wheel," Houston Stamper, tire changer for Martin Truex Jr told Zack Albert of NASCAR.com. "When you hit five lug nuts for 16 years, you know without a shadow of a doubt whether that wheel’s going to hold or not, or if it’s going to be borderline. That’s probably the one thing I’m concentrating on the most is really trying to zero in on what’s going to be tight and what isn’t going to be tight.
"There’s only one lug nut, so I don’t really have a lot of wiggle room anymore. It’s got to be tight enough for Martin to make it around the race track, but it also can’t be so tight that we jeopardize time on pit road. There’s definitely a fine line, and I think it’s there, we’ve just got to find it."
Outside of the continuing dilemma posed by the new cars, there's plenty of featured matchups to keep an eye on.
Kevin Harvick (-165) has six wins in eight starts at Phoenix, so he's got the experience, but the odds have him coming in ninth this year.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has gone 49 races without a victory, but could find a way to rebound on Sunday since he knows this 1-mile oval so well.
But he doesn't have to win outright to beat Brad Keselowski (+135) in their featured matchup.
Keselowski doesn't have a win at Phoenix yet, but does have three-straight top-10 finishes at Phoenix Raceway.
Considering that he was a runner-up in 2020, this should be an exciting matchup.
This biggest matchup for Sunday should be Truex Jr., (-115) vs. Hamlin (-110).
Neither has a win yet this season, so they'll be out to make their mark in their individual matchup and in the wider field.
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