Kyle Larson finally won a NASCAR Cup Series race after a long while, when he topped the field last Sunday at the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Can he repeat this week? Check out our preview of the 2021 Instacart 500 race down in the desert this coming weekend.
Harvick proved that he’s human when he had a disappointing 20th-place finish at the Pennzoil 400 in Last Vegas last Sunday, which snapped his streak of three top-six finishes to start the current season. Nevertheless, Harvick does look like he is primed for a huge bounce back this week, as he’s always performed great in Avondale. In 36 career appearances at the Phoenix Raceway, Harvick has won nine and finished since the top 5 18 times. He owns the all-time beast average finish of 8.92 at Phoenix Raceway.
Hamlin recovered from an 11th-place finish last at Homestead-Miami Speedway by going fourth in last Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 race. Hamlin now has three top 5s in four races, so far this season. He could nail his first win of the season this weekend, as he’s always put up great shows at the Phoenix Raceway, where he’s won once in six appearances there and finished four times inside the top 5.
Elliott is another top name to watch out for at the 2021 Instacart 500, as he won the last race he had at Phoenix Raceway. Elliott topped the field in last year’s Season Finale 500 after leading the race for 153 laps. Elliott has three top 10s in six starts in Avondale.
Byon remains hot after winning the 2021 Dixie Vodka 400 last month, as he followed that up with an eighth-place finish at the 2021 Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas. He can sustain this good stretch at Phoenix Raceway, where he finished inside the top 10 in his last two appearances there. He also owns a career average finish of 13.5 at that track.
Jones is still hunting for his first win of the season, a search that continues this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, where he has finished inside the top 10 four times in nine starts there. Jones came nearest to winning at Phoenix Raceway in 2017 during that year’s edition of the Can-Am 500 in which he placed fourth overall.
Ware hasn’t exactly made people’s heads turn this season. He has yet to break in the top 20 in four races this season and even went back-to-back 32nds in his last two races. Ware also finished 32nd the last time he raced at Phoenix Raceway (2019 TicketGuardian 500).
