2021 Instacart 500 Explained

The 2021 Instacart 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 14, 2021, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 312 laps on the 1.022miles oval, it was the fifth race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Report

Background

Phoenix Raceway, is a 1.022miles, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
00			Chevrolet
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4			Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14	Chase Briscoe (R)		Ford
15			Chevrolet
17			Ford
18			Toyota
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
34			Ford
37			Chevrolet
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)		Ford
41			Ford
42			Chevrolet
43			Chevrolet
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51	Cody Ware (i)		Chevrolet
52			Ford
53	Garrett Smithley (i)		Chevrolet
66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota
77	Justin Haley (i)		Chevrolet
78	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Starting Lineup

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	2			Ford
2	5			Chevrolet
3	11			Toyota
4	20			Toyota
5	19			Toyota
6	9			Chevrolet
7	18			Toyota
8	12			Ford
9	22			Ford
10	24			Chevrolet
11	47			Chevrolet
12	1			Chevrolet
13	3			Chevrolet
14	43			Chevrolet
15	37			Chevrolet
16	34			Ford
17	17			Ford
18	4			Ford
19	6			Ford
20	21			Ford
21	48			Chevrolet
22	42			Chevrolet
23	8			Chevrolet
24	41			Ford
25	23			Toyota
26	14	Chase Briscoe (R)		Ford
27	99			Chevrolet
28	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)		Ford
29	77	Justin Haley (i)		Chevrolet
30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)		Ford
31	51	Cody Ware (i)		Chevrolet
32	10			Ford
33	7			Chevrolet
34	53	Garrett Smithley (i)		Chevrolet
35	00			Chevrolet
36	52			Ford
37	66	Timmy Hill (i)		Toyota
38	15			Chevrolet
Official starting lineup

Race

Martin Truex Jr. won the race, driving a Toyota. It was his first Cup Series win since the race at Martinsville Speedway in June 2020. He finished 1.698 seconds ahead of Ford driver Joey Logano.^[8] It was Truex's 28th Cup Series win and his first at Phoenix.^[9]

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 75

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	9
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	8
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	4
8	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 115

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	7
5	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	6
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5
7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	3
9	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 122

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	5	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	312	49
2	9	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	312	54
3	3	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	312	49
4	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	312	48
5	6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	40
6	18	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	40
7	2	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	32
8	10	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	36
9	4	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	312	29
10	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	312	43
11	32	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	29
12	11	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	312	25
13	21	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	24
14	20	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	312	24
15	12	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	312	22
16	25	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	312	21
17	13	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	312	20
18	17	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	312	19
19	22	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	312	18
20	14	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	17
21	27	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	312	16
22	26	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	312	15
23	16	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	312	14
24	29	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	312	0
25	7	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	311	17
26	15	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	311	11
27	33	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	311	10
28	19	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	311	9
29	23	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	310	8
30	30	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	309	0
31	24	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	308	6
32	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	305	5
33	38	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	303	4
34	34	53	Garrett Smithley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	300	0
35	36	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	258	2
36	31	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	101	0
37	28	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	87	1
38	37	66	Timmy Hill (i)	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	15	0
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 22 among 9 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 7 for 45
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 0 minutes and 20 seconds
• Average speed: 103.808mph

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their 16th race at the Phoenix Raceway. Mike Joy, two-time Phoenix winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN covered the radio action for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race when the field raced past the start/finish line. Dan Hubbard called the action from turns 1 & 2 and Kyle Rickey called the action from turns 3 & 4. Pit lane was manned by Steve Post and Dillon Welch.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Denny Hamlin	235
	2	Brad Keselowski	197 (–38)
3	3	Joey Logano	192 (–43)
4	4	Martin Truex Jr.	180 (–55)
2	5	Kyle Larson	179 (–56)
2	6	Chase Elliott	179 (–56)
	7	Kevin Harvick	176 (–59)
3	8	Christopher Bell	167 (–68)
2	9	William Byron	152 (–83)
	10	Kurt Busch	144 (–91)
2	11	Michael McDowell	140 (–95)
	12	Austin Dillon	135 (–100)
2	13	Ryan Blaney	134 (–101)
1	14	Ryan Preece	123 (–112)
1	15	Kyle Busch	115 (–120)
1	16	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	113 (–123)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	180
1	2	Toyota	180 (–0)
1	3	Ford	177 (–3)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2021 schedule . Jayski.com. . February 10, 2021.
2. Web site: Phoenix International Raceway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. February 10, 2021. January 3, 2013. March 10, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170310031052/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/phoenix-international-raceway.html. dead.
3. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. March 8, 2021. March 8, 2021.
4. Web site: Starting Lineup. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. March 10, 2021. March 10, 2021.
5. Web site: Instacart 500 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. March 14, 2021. March 14, 2021.
6. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. March 14, 2021. March 14, 2021.
7. Web site: Instacart 500 ratings. https://web.archive.org/web/20210316154812/http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/skedball-weekly-sports-tv-ratings-3-8-3-14-2021.html. dead. 16 March 2021. ShowBuzzDaily. Mitch Metcalf. 16 March 2021.
8. News: Truex triumphs at Phoenix for first NASCAR Cup win in 28 starts . Utter . Jim . 14 March 2021 . 15 March 2021 . Autosport.
9. News: Martin Truex Jr. finally prevails at Phoenix Raceway . . 15 March 2021 . 15 March 2021.