NASCAR Phoenix 2017 live stream: Start time, TV channel, starting grid, and how to watch online

The semifinal round of the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs concludes Sunday at Phoenix Raceway where the Can-Am 500 will determine the final participate in next week’s championship final.

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. have already solidified their spots in the best-finish-wins-the-championship final at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 19. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Brad Keselowski can claim the final slot by winning Sunday at Phoenix. If a non-playoff driver wins the Can-Am 500 the final slot will go to the playoff driver who’s amassed the most points within the round.

Keselowski provisionally holds the final transfer position, 19 points over Denny Hamlin and 21 points up on Blaney. Elliott trails by 49 points, with defending and seven-time series champion Johnson 51 points behind. Elliott and Johnson are in must-win situations where their only means of advancing requires them to win Sunday.

NBC will televise the Can-Am 500 with the network’s coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET and the green flag scheduled to wave at 2:37 p.m. Rick Allen (play-by-play) along with Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte (analysts) will be in the NBC broadcast booth.

Blaney (137.942 mph) set the fastest time in qualifying, earning his second-career pole. Hamlin posted a 137.936 mph lap around the one-mile track to join Blaney on the front row. Kyle Larson qualified third, with Elliott fourth and Truex fifth. Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Busch, Joey Logano and rookie Daniel Suarez complete the top 10.

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.”