On Sunday November 14, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase moves to the desert with the Kobalt Tools 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway. A confident No.11 FedEx team led by driver Denny Hamlin and his crew chief Mike Ford has already been turned upside down the chase. This weekend in Phoenix, the Joe Gibbs Racing team pulled off the win in Texas last week and is set for a good finish.

In Phoenix, Denny Hamlin has finished in the top five in three of his last five races.
Hamlin had just undergone ACL surgery and he was forced to nurse a damaged car to the finish of the spring race. At Phoenix, Hamlin and the entire Joe Gibbs Racing team have nailed the set up and they should do well.

In the title chase, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus enter this race frazzled and down 33 points to Hamlin. During the Texas race and benched his No. 48 Lowe’s team in favor of Jeff Gordon‘s pit crew the normally cool and collected Knaus lost it. For the remainder of the season the four time championship pit crew for the No.48 will be on Jeff Gordon’s team.

The Stewart Haas team of Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart should be the wild card in this race. This weekend, Newman won the spring race and is actually a long shot at 35-1 to win the race. Pit selection is a key to a good day in Phoenix because of the long pit road Newman will also be a strong qualifying threat in this race.