The 2014 The Profit on CNBC 500 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

stock car

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

held on March 2, 2014, at

Phoenix International Raceway 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. P ...

in Avondale,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Contested over 312 laps on the asphalt tri-oval, it was the second race of the

2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 66th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 43rd modern-era Cup season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway, with the Sprint Unlimited, followed by the Da ...

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champio ...

won the race, his first win driving for

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

, while

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

finished second.

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...

, and

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were

Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...

(20th),

Austin Dillon Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver and reality TV show actor. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing. ...

(24th), and

Cole Whitt Cole Daniel Whitt (born June 22, 1991) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. After advancing his way through Kart racing, Whitt moved up to sprint cars and became a development driver for Team Red Bull. After running in the K ...

(27th).

Previous week's race

Although close on fuel and with a piece of bear bond from Ryan Newman's car stuck to his grill,

took off on the last restart of the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

, moving in front of

. Over the course of the last lap, an intense battle for the runner-up spots unfolded between

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

, Gordon,

, and

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He co-owns and oper ...

. Heading through turn 4,

tried to force himself between

Jamie McMurray James Christopher McMurray (born June 3, 1976), nicknamed Jamie Mac, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for ''Fox NASCAR''. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018 b ...

and

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...

in turn 4, and a wreck ensued as Harvick was sent into the wall, collecting a number of other cars including McMurray, Busch,

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. 9 ...

, and

Reed Sorenson Bradley Reed Sorenson (born February 5, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver and spotter. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Premium Motorsports, the Nos. 74/ ...

. While that was happening, Earnhardt Jr. held off Hamlin and took the checkered flag to score his second Daytona 500 victory. Earnhardt Jr. stated that his car was "awesome" and after some help from Gordon on the restart, Earnhardt Jr. "just took care of it from there".

Report

Background

The track,

, is one of five short tracks to hold

races, the others being

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Known as ...

Dover International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per yea ...

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

, and

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in s ...

. The standard track at Phoenix International Raceway is a four-turn short track

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one or ...

that is long. The track's first two turns are banked from 10–11 degrees, while the third and fourth turns have an 8–9 degree banking. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 3 degrees, and the back stretch has a 10–11 degree banking. The racetrack has seats for 55,000 spectators. The 2013 winner was

Entry list

The entry list for The Profit on CNBC 500 was released on February 24 at 11:22 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-six drivers were entered for the race.

Practice

First practice

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 25.951 and a speed of .

Qualifying

In the first running of NASCAR's new-for-2014 knockout qualifying system,

won the pole with a new track record time of 25.828 and a speed of . Keselowski was intrigued as to how the qualifying session looked to the general public, stating "I'm more curious the feedback we get from our fans" and that "at the end of the day it's not about whether I like it, it's about whether they liked it".

, who missed out on the top 12 placings by 0.001 seconds in the first part of the session, complained about the cooling of the cars, defining it as "dumb", while also praising the qualifying concept as "really cool, but they need to let you cool the cars down. One of these times somebody is going to get clobbered in the back".

did not allow teams to use cool-down units and teams were forced to run cool down laps on the track while other drivers were making qualifying laps. Defending champion

opined that everyone understood "what NASCAR is trying to do, and I'm confident that if there is a problem they'll make some changes".

vice president for competition Robin Pemberton stated that the organization would "continue to talk to the drivers and teams and solicit feedback and how, if anything, we can improve".

Justin Allgaier Justin M. Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He is the 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series champion a ...

crashed his car during the opening session, switched to a backup car and started last as a result.

Qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

Harvick was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.133 and a speed of .

Final practice

Kevin Harvick was also the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.285 and a speed of .

Race

First half

Start

The race started at 3:20 p.m. with

leading the field to the green flag, but he did not keep the lead for long as his teammate

passed him to lead the first lap. Logano led the race for the entire first stint, ahead of a competition caution on lap 36, due to overnight downpours. Keselowski won the race off pit road to assume the lead, for the restart on lap 41. Just as it was at the first start, Logano assumed the lead on the first lap following the restart, and he held the lead until

moved ahead on lap 74. Harvick held the lead until a scheduled pit stop on lap 111; Keselowski reassumed the lead before a pit stop of his own on lap 113, and Harvick returned to the head of the race for the next stint. The second caution of the race flew on lap 162, caused by debris on the frontstretch.

Brian Vickers Brian Lee Vickers (born October 24, 1983) is an American professional stock car and sports car racing driver. He last drove the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing as an interim driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the injured Tony ...

' car cut down a right-front tire and hit the wall in turn 3 under that caution.

Second half

Halfway

The race restarted on lap 170, but was almost immediately back under yellow flag conditions, after a multi-car incident which brought out the third caution.

Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman ...

made contact with

going into turn 1 and both spun out.

Travis Kvapil Travis Wade Kvapil ( ; born March 1, 1976) is an American professional stock car driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for Beaver Motorsports. He was the 2003 NASCAR ...

made contact with Patrick trying to avoid her. Allgaier and Patrick discussed the incident post-race, with Allgaier telling the media that Patrick "was just upset because she got involved in the crash that we had", and that "she's been through this and that she felt like I needed to settle down at that point". The race restarted on lap 176, with Harvick maintaining the lead. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 187 after Patrick went high into the groove in turn 1, cut the left-rear tire and spun through 180 degrees before coming to a stop. The race restarted on lap 192, with Harvick leading once again for the next stint, leading all the way to his next pit stop, with 76 laps to go and

assumed the lead position.

and Ryan Newman also had stints at the head of the race, with Newman leading the race at the time of the fifth caution of the race, caused by debris on the backstretch, with 66 laps to go. Newman swapped positions with

Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...

on pit road and the lead cycled back to Harvick, for the restart with 61 laps to go. The sixth caution of the race flew with 35 laps to go for debris in turn 1, with the restart coming with 30 laps to go. With 27 laps to go,

David Gilliland David Leonard Gilliland (born April 1, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. Since 2017, he has operated David Gilliland Racing, a team that races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, ...

's left-rear tire delaminated in turn 1, and in the circuit's dogleg, he over-corrected the car and spun around bringing out the seventh caution of the race. The race restarted with 21 laps to go, before the eighth caution of the race flew with 16 laps to go, after

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

's engine failed.

Finish

The race restarted with nine laps to go and Harvick held off

to score the victory. Harvick praised his

team for the efforts in the early part of the season, since his move from

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

, stating "to add an extra team, bring in a bunch of new guys, new driver, Rodney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win that is why they came here". He added that he was "really happy" with the engine that had been provided by

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 291 Cup Seri ...

. Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed to miss out on the victory, stating that he "would have loved to have won the race, am a little disappointed to have come that close", but like Harvick, praised his team for their performances, adding that they have "a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth. Everybody's confidence is very high. Everybody's mood and morale is really high".

Race results

Race summary

* Lead changes: 14 among different drivers * Cautions/Laps: 8 for 38 * Red flags: 0 * Time of race: 2 hours, 51 minutes and 23 seconds * Average speed:

Media

Television

Radio

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings * Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings.

Note

References

{{2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup The Profit on CNBC 500 The Profit on CNBC 500 NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway Profit on CNBC 500