2023 United Rentals Work United 500

2023 United Rentals Work United 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Race 4 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	March 12, 2023 (2023-03-12)
Location	Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.022 mi (1.645 km)
Distance	317 laps, 323.974 mi (521.385 km)
Scheduled Distance	312 laps, 318.864 mi (513.162 km)
Average speed	105.491 miles per hour (169.771 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	27.642
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	201
Winner
No. 24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Danica Patrick
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon
Turn Announcers	Dan Hubbard (1 & 2) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4)

The 2023 United Rentals Work United 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 12, 2023, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 317 laps – extended from 312 laps due to an overtime finish, on the one mile (1.6 km) oval, and it was the fourth race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. Phoenix Raceway has also hosted the CART, IndyCar Series, USAC and the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The raceway is currently owned and operated by NASCAR.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 27.427 seconds and a speed of 131.258 mph (211.239 km/h).^[10]

Practice results

Qualifying

Kyle Larson scored the pole for the race with a time of 27.642 and a speed of 130.237 mph (209.596 km/h).^[11]

Qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 60

Stage Two Laps: 125

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 127

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 10 among 6 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 5 for 35 laps
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 0 minutes and 18 seconds
• Average speed: 105.491 miles per hour (169.771 km/h)

Penalties

Prior to the race, NASCAR confiscated the louvers (the hood radiator duct) of all Hendrick Motorsports teams and that belonging to Justin Haley (Kaulig Racing)'s car. On March 15, 2023, NASCAR punished all five teams with $100,000 fine and deduction of 100 driver and owner points each, as well as 10 playoff points and four-race suspensions for the respective crew chiefs, as the modifications were deemed to be an L2 violation.^[12][16] For the No. 9 team, only the owner points were affected as Josh Berry competed as a Xfinity Series regular and thus cannot score or lose points in the Cup Series, while Chase Elliott's driver points remain unaffected as he sat out of the race due to an injury. For Hendrick Motorsports, it was the largest fine imposed to an organization as a whole at $400,000, breaking the fine imposed to Michael Waltrip Racing in 2013 ($300,000) for manipulating the finish of the 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400.

Following an appeal on March 29, 2023, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the fines and crew chief suspensions for all of the Hendrick Motorsports entries, but rescinded their point penalties giving them back the 100 driver & owner points as well as the 10 playoff points that each team lost. Haley's penalty was upheld following his appeal on April 5, 2023, but the points penalty was reduced to a 75 point penalty.^[13] On April 6, 2023, Kaulig Racing announced they would move to a final appeal hearing with the National Motorsports Appeal Panel, after team president Chris Rice hinted on NASCAR Race Hub the evening prior that they would do so. On April 18, the NMPA overturned the points penalties at the request of NASCAR, who asked them to amend their appeal decision to be more in line with Hendrick Motorsport's appeal decision.^[14]

Additionally, Denny Hamlin was fined $50,000 and docked 25 driver points for his collision with Ross Chastain, after he admitted on his Actions Detrimental podcast that the collision was deliberate.^[15] Hamlin appealed the penalty on April 6, 2023, but the National Motorsports Appeal Panel upheld the penalty. Two of Aric Almirola's crew members were also suspended after his right-front wheel fell out during the race.^[16]

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 18th race at the Phoenix Raceway. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and Danica Patrick called the race in the booth for Fox. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled the pit road duties, and Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN covered the radio action for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and 2018 NASCAR champion winning crew chief Todd Gordon called the race when the field races past the start/finish line. Dan Hubbard called the action from turns 1 & 2, and Kyle Rickey called the action from turns 3 & 4. Pit lane was manned by Steve Post and Georgia Henneberry.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Kevin Harvick 151 1 2 Ross Chastain 148 (–3) 4 3 Christopher Bell 137 (–14) 11 4 Ryan Blaney 124 (–27) 3 5 Kyle Busch 122 (–29) 1 6 Martin Truex Jr. 122 (–29) 3 7 Daniel Suárez 119 (–32) 1 8 Joey Logano 118 (–33) 2 9 Brad Keselowski 115 (–36) 10 Chris Buescher 112 (–39) 1 11 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 104 (–47) 6 12 Denny Hamlin [b] 100 (–51) 3 13 Bubba Wallace 92 (–59) 3 14 Austin Cindric 81 (-70) 3 15 Corey LaJoie 79 (-72) 3 16 Michael McDowell 76 (-75) Official driver's standings (before penalties)

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 160 2 Ford 133 (–27) 3 Toyota 132 (–28) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References

This page was last edited on 31 May 2023, at 16:28