The

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, ...

Phoenix 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 Oval track racing#Unique shapes, dogleg oval track in A ...

is held annually in

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 ...

since 2005. It is one of two Cup Series races at the track, the other being the

NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Joey Logano is the defending winner of the event. It is one of five NASCAR races run with a length measured in kilometers ...

. Christopher Bell is the defending race winner.

Race history

2024 NASCAR Cup Series spring race at Phoenix

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

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 stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

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 (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

). 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, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

, 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 (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...

. 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 Yarborough (March 27, 1939 – December 31, 2023) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winn ...

with his 83rd career win. In 2013,

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards Jr. (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for ''NASCAR on Prime Video''. He last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No ...

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 The Food City 500 is an annual 500-lap, NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. This is one of two NASCAR races held at Bristol, the other being the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. It was the first ven ...

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

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, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

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

United Rentals United Rentals, Inc. is an American equipment rental company, with about 16 percent of the North American market share as of 2022. It owns the largest rental fleet in the world with approximately 4,700 classes of equipment totaling about $19.3 bi ...

became the title sponsor of the race, replacing Ruoff Mortgage. In 2024,

Shriners Hospitals for Children Shriners Hospitals for Children, commonly known as Shriners Children's, is a network of non-profit children's hospitals and other pediatric medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord inj ...

replaced United Rentals as the race's title sponsor.

Past winners

* 2010, 2013, 2016–2017, 2020, and 2023: Race 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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Multiple winners (drivers)

Multiple winners (teams)

Manufacturer 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