The 2018 Can-Am 500 was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

race that was held on November 11, 2018, at

ISM Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a dogleg oval track in Avondale, Arizona. The track has ...

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and ...

. Contested over 312 laps on the one mile (1.6 km) oval, it was the 35th race of the

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series file:William byron (40178678380).jpg, William Byron (racing driver), William Byron the 2018 NASCAR Rookie of the Year file:Joey logano burnout (48070037412).jpg, Ford Motor Company, Ford won the List of NASCAR Manufacturers' champions, Manuf ...

season, ninth race of the Playoffs, and final race of the Round of 8.

Report

Background

ISM Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

race track located in

. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two

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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, USAC and the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. The raceway is currently owned and operated by

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business was the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

. The raceway was originally constructed with a

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend. ISM Raceway is home to two annual NASCAR race weekends, one of 13 facilities on the NASCAR schedule to host more than one race weekend a year. The track is both the first and last stop in the western United States, as well as the fourth and penultimate track on the schedule.

Entry list

First practice

Erik Jones Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and Th ...

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 26.113 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 25.836 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 26.724 seconds and a speed of .

Final practice

was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 26.642 seconds and a speed of .

Race

Stage Results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 75 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 75

Final Stage Results

Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 162

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 8 among different drivers * Cautions/Laps: 10 for 61 * Red flags: 1 for 16 minutes and 24 seconds * Time of race: 3 hours, 10 minutes and 20 seconds * Average speed:

Media

Television

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Phoenix winner

Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed "the Mayor", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is a member of the Burton racing family. He scored 23 career victories in the NASCAR ...

Steve Letarte Steven Letarte (born May 14, 1979) is an American professional NASCAR crew chief and TV sportscaster who works as a color commentator for ''Amazon Prime'', ''TNT'' and ''NASCAR on NBC''. He also works as a consultant for Spire Motorsports, a ...

and three-time Phoenix winner

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns,

Parker Kligerman Parker Lindsley Kligerman (born August 8, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver, color commentator for ''NASCAR on The CW'', studio talent for ''NASCAR on TNT Sports'', and pit reporter for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He competes part-t ...

, Marty Snider and

Kelli Stavast Kelli L. Stavast is an American sportscaster who formerly worked for NBC Sports as a pit reporter for both their NASCAR (in both the Cup and Xfinity Series) and IndyCar Series coverage. She has reported for numerous other forms of motorspor ...

reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on

Sirius XM NASCAR Radio The following is a list of channels on Sirius XM and Sirius XM Canada. There are over 150 full-time channels on Sirius XM, over 140 of which are on Sirius XM Canada. Not included are channels that are specifically used for live sports programmin ...

Standings after the race

;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{NASCAR on NBC 2018 in sports in Arizona Can-Am 500 NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway Can-Am 500