The Shriners Children's 500 is a

NASCAR 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 held annually at Phoenix Raceway in

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and 35,883 in 2000. Avondale, incorporated in 1946, has experienced rapid ...

since 2005. It is one of two Cup Series races at the track, the other being the Season Finale 500. William Byron is the defending race winner.

Race history

As part of the 2005 schedule changes, a second date was awarded to what was then Phoenix International Raceway in the spring.

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Interconti ...

would be the title sponsor of the new race. As there was already a race sponsored by Subway on the schedule (the now

Xfinity 500 The Xfinity 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. The race is traditionally held in the fall and has been run in every NASCAR Cup Series season, starting with the sixth event in the inaugu ...

at Martinsville), the name "Subway Fresh 500" was devised to reduce confusion. Subway later added the word "Fit" to the sponsorship to promote its Fresh Fit combo choices. In the 2007 race,

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 ...

won for the first time at Phoenix from the pole (the first winner from the pole at Phoenix), scoring his 76th Cup Series win (tying

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

). After the race, Gordon celebrated with a black flag with Earnhardt's famous No. 3 on it. With the new 2010 NASCAR start time rule change that starts races only at 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm, and 7:30 pm

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

, track officials were concerned that the new start time (45 minutes earlier than in the past) would put the majority of the race in the day instead of the planned night. At that time of year in Phoenix, sunset takes place at roughly 7:00 pm MST (because Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, this is the same as

Pacific Daylight Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...

). As a result, the race was stretched to so that the extra would take place during the day, and most of the race would still take place at night as planned. The race saw three changes in 2011. After only 1 year as a 600 km race, the race returned to 500 km and 312 laps that year, it was moved from Saturday to Sunday, it was run entirely during the daytime for the first time, and it became the second race of the Cup Series season, replacing the race at

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...

. Jeff Gordon would win the race again that year, snapping a 66-race winless streak (the longest of his career) and tied

Cale Yarborough William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...

with his 83rd career win. In 2013, Carl Edwards won the Subway-sponsored race in a Subway-sponsored car and snapped a 70-race winless streak. In 2015, this race became the fourth race of the season, replacing the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway which was moved from March to April due to bad weather plaguing the spring Bristol race for numerous years. This move allowed for the creation of a three-race west coast swing with the Phoenix race now being between the races at

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and Fontana, providing cost efficiencies to the teams. ( The race at

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

became the second race of the season in 2015, replacing Phoenix.) In 2023,

United Rentals United Rentals, Inc. () is the world's largest equipment rental company, with about 13 percent of the North American market share as of 2019. It owns the largest rental fleet in the world with approximately 4,700 classes of equipment totaling abo ...

became the title sponsor of the race, replacing Ruoff Mortgage. In 2024, Shriners Hospitals for Children replaced United Rentals as the race's title sponsor.

Past winners

Notes

* 2010, 2013, 2016–17, 2020, and 2023: These races were extended due to

NASCAR overtime 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 h ...

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (teams)

Manufacturer wins

Sponsor wins

References

External links

* {{NASCAR Cup Series races 2005 establishments in Arizona NASCAR Cup Series races Recurring sporting events established in 2005 Annual sporting events in the United States