NASCAR Phoenix 2017: Schedule, results, and news

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch have secured their spots into the NASCAR Cup Series playoff championship final, as too has Martin Truex Jr. That leaves one slot left unclaimed entering the semifinal elimination race Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Of the five remaining playoff-eligible drivers, Brad Keselowski provisionally holds the last transfer position into the championship final next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Keselowski is up 19 points over Denny Hamlin, with Ryan trailing by 22 points. Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson are 49 and 51 points behind, respectively, deficits that effectively place the Hendrick Motorsports teammates in must-win situations on Sunday.

A win by any of the five playoff-eligible drivers would automatically advance them into the next round. If a non-playoff driver were to win the last spot would go to the playoff driver who’s accumulated the most points within the semifinal bracket.

Session 1: Friday, 1 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. ET

Session 2: Saturday, 11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.

Session 3: Saturday, 2 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBCSN; (session 1 stream) (session 2 stream) (session 3 stream)

Time: Friday, 6:45 p.m.

TV/streaming: NBCSN (live stream)

Time/green flag: 2 p.m/2:37 p.m.

Distance/laps: 312 miles (500k)/312 laps

TV/streaming: NBCSN (live stream)

Denny Hamlin’s championship hopes on the brink entering Phoenix elimination race

The results have been very good to near excellent. The kind where you think Denny Hamlin is on the cusp of advancing out of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff semifinals, having finished seventh at Martinsville Speedway two weeks ago, followed by a third Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Yet, Hamlin enters Sunday’s elimination race at Phoenix Raceway on the wrong side of the cut line, facing the distinct possibility that despite thus far turning in a superb semifinal round performance, it still may not be good enough to get him to the championship final.

Hamlin trails Brad Keselowski by 19 points for the final transfer spot. A deficit that, barring a winning, gives Keselowski control of his playoff fortune as Hamlin would otherwise need misfortune to strike Keselowski to overcome the points gap.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. emotional as NASCAR career nears end.

“I feel like I almost need to apologize because I’ve got a pregnant wife, I’m retiring and I just feel like I’m going to break down any minute,” Earnhardt said. “I feel like every answer that I have has some sort of sad undertones and very emotional temperament, but yeah, it’s starting to really sink in.

“[I] got here and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s just a week away. I am not sure that I’m like just ready to be going through all of that emotion that I will have in Homestead, but it’s coming. I hope that I can handle it well, but it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how that feels.”

Blaney and Hamlin will try and race their way into the championship final from the front row after they qualified first and second, respectively, for Sunday’s semifinal elimination race.

Blaney’s 137.942 mph lap around the one-mile track earned him his second-career Monster Energy Cup Series pole, unseating Hamlin (137.936 mph) off the top spot. Kyle Larson starts third, followed by Elliott and Truex. Harvick, who won last week at Texas Motor Speedway, qualified sixth, with Matt Kenseth, Busch, Joey Logano and rookie Daniel Suarez completing the top 10.

Keselowski, who provisionally holds the final transfer position into the championship final four, struggled in qualifying and failed to advance out of the second of three rounds. He will start 16th on Sunday.

As the field lines up, Blaney will trim 15 points off the 22-point gap between himself and Keselowski, while Hamlin’s deficit will close from 19 points to 14.

An emotional Matt Kenseth scored what very well could be his final Monster Energy Cup Series race Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, winning the Can-Am 500 a week after he announced he would not compete full-time in NASCAR next season.

Kenseth, 45, passed Chase Elliott with five laps remaining, then pulled away to win for the 39th time in NASCAR’s premier division. Elliott, who needed a win to advance to the championship final, finished second.

“This was a storybook ending,” Kenseth said. “It has been an incredible journey and there is no way you could write it better than this.”

Martin Truex Jr. finished third, with Kevin Harvick fourth, and rookie Erik Jones fifth.

Brad Keselowski labored to finish 16th, but the result was good enough to qualify him for the four-driver championship final. The Team Penske driver joins Truex, Harvick and Kyle Busch in vying for the series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19.

Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday.