| NASCAR Cup SeriesPhoenix Raceway Straight Talk Wireless 500 Team Chevy Post-Race ReportMarch 8, 2026 |
| MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| · Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson, turned a challenging day in the desert into an impressive rebound – driving his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a third-place finish in the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The finish – his 12th top-five in NASCAR’s top division at the Arizona oval – marks the Elk Grove, California, native’s best finish of the season with four races complete. · Team Chevy wrapped up the ‘Desert Double’ weekend at Phoenix Raceway with a hard-fought three top-10 finishes with Kyle Larson leading his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, in seventh, and Michael McDowell and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team with back-to-back top-10s with a ninth-place result. Race Recap: Stage One: · Back at the site that made him a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson drove to a front-row qualifying effort to lead Team Chevy to the green flag at Phoenix Raceway. Despite fighting loose conditions behind the wheel of his No. 5 Chevrolet, Larson held onto a top-10 running position throughout the first-half of Stage One. With the translation of the increased horsepower and tire falloff unknown, a short opening stage saw the opportunity for teams to go pit stop-free. After an alternator issue forced the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to the rear of the field for the start, Carson Hocevar wasted no time to start his charge through the field – working his way up into the top-25 in the opening 30 laps. After a strong Saturday performance, Daniel Suarez remained a consistent contender in the top-10 to ultimately lead Team Chevy to the first green-white checkered flag from the seventh position. Stage Two: · On the horizon of his first trip to pit road of the day, Suarez reported that he fired-off free and progressively lost grip throughout the first 60-lap run. Also earning top-10 stage points, the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew boosted William Byron up two positions in the race off pit road to earn the seventh spot to start Stage Two. Settling into position during the next green flag run, Byron made an early report that the adjusts made during the stage break helped the handling of his No. 24 Chevrolet. Quickly approaching a green flag pit cycle, a pair of Team Chevy drivers, Kyle Busch and Shane van Gisbergen, suffered flat right-front tires to bring out the first natural caution of the day. While the majority of the leaders made a trip to pit road, Byron’s crew earned the driver yet another position on pit road. Electing the inside lane of row three, the field took the green flag with 84 laps left in Stage Two. But the run was short-lived with the second caution of the day falling just two laps later. After a 13-position gain in Stage One, the speed in the No. 77 Chevrolet continued to prevail with Hocevar already making an appearance in the top-10 early in Stage Two. With tire troubles looming, a late-stage caution triggered a mixed bag of pit strategy. Under the leadership of crew chief Luke Lambert, a call for tires kept Hocevar in position to take the second green-white checkered flag in the seventh position. Final Stage: · Reporting that he was happy with the handling of his Chevrolet-powered machine, Hocevar’s trip down pit road under the stage break consisted of a fresh set of Goodyear tires, fuel and a tear off. With another position gained on pit road, Hocevar inherited the sixth position to take the green flag for the final 116-lap run to the finish. Under caution at the 100-lap marker, varying pit strategies saw the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team make a gamble for track position – bypassing pit road to line up on the front row for the restart. But tires continued to pay dividends among the leaders. With a progressive climb back up through the field after a challenging start to the race, it was the reigning champion, Larson, that found himself back up into the top-five as the event reached 50 laps to go. With resilience behind the wheel and atop the pit box, Larson and the Cliff Daniels-led team earned their spot in the late-race fight for the win – ultimately coming home with a season-best third-place finish to lead Team Chevy to the checkered flag to culminate the ‘Desert Double’ weekend. |
| Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos. Driver 3rd – Kyle Larson7th – William Byron9th – Michael McDowell  Chevrolet’s season statistics with four NASCAR Cup Series races complete:Wins: 0Poles: 1Top-Fives: 8Top 10s: 14Stage Wins: 1 |
| The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 15, at 4 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. |
| NASCAR Cup SeriesPhoenix RacewayStraight Talk Wireless 500Team Chevy Post-Race ReportMarch 8, 2026 |
Kyle Larson Drives to Season-Best Finish at Phoenix Raceway |
| MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| · Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson, turned a challenging day in the desert into an impressive rebound – driving his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a third-place finish in the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The finish – his 12th top-five in NASCAR’s top division at the Arizona oval – marks the Elk Grove, California, native’s best finish of the season with four races complete. · Team Chevy wrapped up the ‘Desert Double’ weekend at Phoenix Raceway with a hard-fought three top-10 finishes with Kyle Larson leading his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, in seventh, and Michael McDowell and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team with back-to-back top-10s with a ninth-place result. Race Recap: Stage One: · Back at the site that made him a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Larson drove to a front-row qualifying effort to lead Team Chevy to the green flag at Phoenix Raceway. Despite fighting loose conditions behind the wheel of his No. 5 Chevrolet, Larson held onto a top-10 running position throughout the first-half of Stage One. With the translation of the increased horsepower and tire falloff unknown, a short opening stage saw the opportunity for teams to go pit stop-free. After an alternator issue forced the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to the rear of the field for the start, Carson Hocevar wasted no time to start his charge through the field – working his way up into the top-25 in the opening 30 laps. After a strong Saturday performance, Daniel Suarez remained a consistent contender in the top-10 to ultimately lead Team Chevy to the first green-white checkered flag from the seventh position. Stage Two: · On the horizon of his first trip to pit road of the day, Suarez reported that he fired-off free and progressively lost grip throughout the first 60-lap run. Also earning top-10 stage points, the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew boosted William Byron up two positions in the race off pit road to earn the seventh spot to start Stage Two. Settling into position during the next green flag run, Byron made an early report that the adjusts made during the stage break helped the handling of his No. 24 Chevrolet. Quickly approaching a green flag pit cycle, a pair of Team Chevy drivers, Kyle Busch and Shane van Gisbergen, suffered flat right-front tires to bring out the first natural caution of the day. While the majority of the leaders made a trip to pit road, Byron’s crew earned the driver yet another position on pit road. Electing the inside lane of row three, the field took the green flag with 84 laps left in Stage Two. But the run was short-lived with the second caution of the day falling just two laps later. After a 13-position gain in Stage One, the speed in the No. 77 Chevrolet continued to prevail with Hocevar already making an appearance in the top-10 early in Stage Two. With tire troubles looming, a late-stage caution triggered a mixed bag of pit strategy. Under the leadership of crew chief Luke Lambert, a call for tires kept Hocevar in position to take the second green-white checkered flag in the seventh position. Final Stage: · Reporting that he was happy with the handling of his Chevrolet-powered machine, Hocevar’s trip down pit road under the stage break consisted of a fresh set of Goodyear tires, fuel and a tear off. With another position gained on pit road, Hocevar inherited the sixth position to take the green flag for the final 116-lap run to the finish. Under caution at the 100-lap marker, varying pit strategies saw the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team make a gamble for track position – bypassing pit road to line up on the front row for the restart. But tires continued to pay dividends among the leaders. With a progressive climb back up through the field after a challenging start to the race, it was the reigning champion, Larson, that found himself back up into the top-five as the event reached 50 laps to go. With resilience behind the wheel and atop the pit box, Larson and the Cliff Daniels-led team earned their spot in the late-race fight for the win – ultimately coming home with a season-best third-place finish to lead Team Chevy to the checkered flag to culminate the ‘Desert Double’ weekend. |
| Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos. Driver 3rd – Kyle Larson7th – William Byron9th – Michael McDowell Chevrolet’s season statistics with four NASCAR Cup Series races complete:Wins: 0Poles: 1Top-Fives: 8Top 10s: 14Stage Wins: 1 |
| The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 15, at 4 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. |
| Post-Race Driver Quotes: Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 16th “It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe our luck to start the season. We had a fast Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet. Handling was good all day, and I think our Chevy could have been even better if we could have figured out braking. We were in position an eighth-place finish, and who knows, maybe even better if we would have gotten some cautions and restarts to fall our way, when we ended up with a flat tire with less than 25 laps to go. Regardless, this has been a much improved weekend in Phoenix for us. Everyone should be very proud of the effort we brought.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 3rdWhat was the last run like and what more did you need at the end? “It was an awesome finish for how much we struggled today. All day, I felt like we might not even be a top-15 car. This No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team just kept fighting. We gained some track position and made our Chevy better throughout the race. We had some good restarts. It just worked out for us there in the final stage. Just proud of this No. 5 team. We just need to be a lot better. Aside from strategy and pit road, we never really have a shot here at Phoenix (Raceway). We’ll just keep working hard on hitting the set-up to feel like we can be a contender here from start to finish.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 17th “The No. 8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet team battled adversity all day. After we didn’t have the qualifying effort we wanted, the guys got to work on the car to make the needed adjustments but a cut tire put us down two laps early. We never quit and were able to race our way back onto the lead lap and into the Top 20. We’ll leave Arizona with a few learning lessons and be ready to contend again next weekend in Las Vegas.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing ChevroletFinished: 19th “It was just a hard fight with a disappointing ending. I thought we did everything we could with where we were at. We struggled a little bit on long-run speed, but overall, I thought we executed pretty good. We got some track position, but unfortunately, we didn’t have new tires there at the end. We had scuffs and that ultimately put us in trouble there against the guys we were racing against. We just didn’t have enough speed to overcome a minor deficit like that. But we finished on the lead lap, so it was an OK day for this No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet team. We were close to having a really good day here at Phoenix (Raceway), so that’s just what’s disappointing.” Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Finished: 21st“Our United Rentals team had to grind that one out. Our Chevrolet fired off on the free side but then it quickly turned tight. It took us a while to get on the other side of it, but we got ourselves inside the top-20 when we cut down a tire under green. No one gave up and we kept pushing forward to end up with a 21st-place finish. The more I drive these Cup cars, the more I learn of how loose the car needs to be to make speed. I came into the weekend saying that a top-20 would be a good day for the No. 33 team. We came up just short, but can build on today. We’ll try again in a few weeks.” Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 9th“It was a good rally for this No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet team. We had that right-front tire go down when we were running eighth or ninth just before the end of Stage Two. That just put us in the back, and once we were in the back, we just really struggled. But Travis Peterson (crew chief) and everyone on this No. 71 team made some big adjustments, which helped us get through traffic. That last restart didn’t go great. The No. 5 (Kyle Larson) kind of got loose and slid up into my lane, and unfortunately, we lost a few spots there. But overall, we rallied back to a top-10. It was a solid day. We’ll keep building momentum. I thought we were going to have a shot at the top-five there for a few laps, but it just kind of slipped away there at the end.” Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 29th “It was just a tough day overall. We didn’t really have the speed we needed in our No. 88 Wendy’s Chevrolet. We fell behind early, but had strategy to get us back on the lead lap. We just tried really hard all day. This whole team worked really hard to get the car where we needed it, but we were just never really able to get it quite good enough to start getting momentum and make moves towards the front. We’ll go onto Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and try again there.” Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 11th“Excellent result for the crazy day we had. My SafetyCulture Chevy had a lot of speed, but just had those two spins that reset our progress each time. Passed a lot of cars and had a good points day. Headed to Vegas next weekend with a lot of momentum.” |