TRACK: Phoenix Raceway
RACE: United Rentals 200 (200 laps / 200 miles)
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 2023
TV: 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1
RADIO: 4:00 p.m. ET on MRN Radio Network and SiriusXM Ch. 90

Quotes:

Sam Mayer: "The No. 1 team continues to bring me a great Accelerate Professional Talent Solutions Chevrolet every single week and I am really looking forward to getting after it in the desert this weekend. Phoenix hasn't been one of my stronger tracks but I have certainly learned a lot there the few times we have been there. I know Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and this team will have a fast car ready when we unload, so that adds a little confidence heading into this weekend."

Justin Allgaier: "I love racing at Phoenix. It's a place that has always suited my driving style and is somewhere that we've been fortunate enough to have a lot of success at here at JR Motorsports. Hopefully we can keep that going this weekend with our hellowater Chevrolet. We've started the season on a really strong note, which gives us a lot of confidence heading into Saturday. I know that Jim (Pohlman, crew chief) and all the guys on this No. 7 team are ready, we just need to go out and do our part and I know we'll be there in the end."

Josh Berry: "This JARRETT team is performing well, having earned top-five finishes in the past two races. Phoenix is unique in that it has short-track characteristics but races like a much bigger track. Taylor (Moyer, crew chief) and our guys have prepared great cars for me so far this year and we're just a tick away from getting that first victory of the season. Phoenix would be a great place to do that this weekend."

Brandon Jones: "I've run really well at Phoenix in the past and Jason (Burdett, crew chief) has a great track record there with Justin. I know we will have a fast Menards/Barricuda Pumps Chevrolet, so hopefully, we can get there this weekend and put a complete race together and be competing for the win at the end of the race. We've been fast all year, just don't have the finishes to show for it. That starts this weekend."

Notes:

• Sam Mayer heads to Phoenix Raceway off a strong seventh-place performance at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This puts him sixth in the points standings, 61 markers behind the leader.

• On tracks measuring 1-2 miles in length, the young driver has tallied six top fives and 15 top 10s, while leading the field for 46 laps.  

• In three starts this season, the Franklin, Wis. native has achieved one top-five and two top-10 finishes, including a second-place finish at Auto Club Speedway two weeks ago.

• Justin Allgaier heads to Phoenix this weekend with a new look, as hellowater returns to the No. 7 team for the first time in 2023.

• In 25 career starts in the “Valley of the Sun,” Allgaier has scored two wins, nine top fives and 17 top 10s. Allgaier's two victories at the 1-mile oval came while driving for JRM, with his first being in this event in 2017 and his second coming in the fall of 2019.

• The Illinois native's 17 top 10s are the most at any track that Allgaier has competed on in the NXS and his average finish of 8.5 ranks third among tracks where he has made more than one start.

• Josh Berry's best finish at Phoenix is third, coming in this race last year. In three career starts, the Tennessee native has one top-five and one top-10 finish.

• One-mile tracks have been good for Berry, as he has one victory (Dover 2022), a pole (New Hampshire 2022), three top-five and four top-10 finishes in seven starts on such tracks.

• Berry's three starts so far this season have produced a pair of fifth-place finishes at Auto Club and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and 22 laps led. 

• Of his 19 top-five finishes in NXS events, 14 of them have come on tracks measuring 1 to 1.5 miles in length.

• Brandon Jones has made 14 starts at the 1-mile Phoenix oval and has recorded one win, three top fives and six top 10s. The six top 10s are the second-most of any track in his NXS career.

• Jones' lone win at Phoenix came during the 2020 season, where he battled Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch for the victory.

• At tracks between 1 and 2 miles in length in the NXS, Jones has recorded four wins, 18 top fives and 53 top 10s.

• Crew Chief Jason Burdett has called the shots for two wins at Phoenix and has only finished outside of the top 10 in three of the 16 events he's been atop the pit box.