Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the rain delayed-shortened Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 and the NASCAR Championship Four was set at Phoenix International Raceway.

Who would think that a NASCAR Sprint Cup race would be delayed by rain when it is set to run in the desert? Well, the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 was set to run Sunday afternoon (11/15) in the desert just outside Phoenix, Arizona, but it became a night race when rain forced a seven hour delay in the start of the race.

When the green flag finally waived Sunday evening, Jimmie Johnson started on the pole with Kurt Busch outside him in the front row. Kurt was one of the seven remaining Chase Grid drivers hoping to advance to the championship race next week. However, he would put himself in a major hole literally from the start of the race.

Kurt crossed the start-finish line before pole sitter Jimmie Johnson did, which is a NASCAR rule violation for the initial start of the race. That forced Kurt to serve a “pass through” penalty which meant he had to drive through pit road at pit road speed. As a result of the penalty, Kurt went from the second place car to the last place car and had to start working his way through the entire field of cars to get back tot he front.

Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion who has dominated the races at Phoenix in recent years winning five of the last six Sprint Cup races at the track including the last four in-a-row, quickly moved up from his eighth place starting position to the lead of the race. Kevin took the lead for the first time on lap 45 and again showed that he was set to dominate the race at Phoenix as he led the field around the track for a race-high 143 laps.

The Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 saw a competition caution on lap 42 and then ran under the green flag for 149 laps. That was the longest green-flag period in a race for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. However, when the second caution period was issued some cars were already in the pits for service. The timing was good for a change for the #88 team as Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to inherit the race lead because of where he was on pit row for his stop. Dale Jr. had been running well remaining in the top five all race long after qualifying third for the race. His and his team’s efforts would ultimately be rewarded.

While the field drove around the track behind the pace car as the accident was cleaned up, it began raining again at the track. It was a light rain at first and NASCAR kept the cars circulating on the track to try to keep the track dry. The rain began to get a little harder so the cars were brought down pit road and parked so that the jet dryers could get on the track to try to stay ahead of the rain and keep the track dry. However, the rain really began coming down strong and it was quickly evident that in order to get back to racing it would take another several hours to dry the track. Since the race had passed the half-way mark NASCAR made the decision to end the race with 219 of the 312 scheduled laps completed.

That gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. his third win of 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season with Kevin Harvick taking the second place finish. Joey Logano ended the race in third place with Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson taking home third and fourth place finishes respectively. See the complete race results for the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 here.

Jeff Gordon had already locked himself in the Championship Four with his win to start the Eliminator Round at Martinsville. With another non-contender winning the third and final race in the round (Jimmie Johnson won the Texas race), the other three drivers to advance to the Championship Four were based on the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings of the remaining seven drivers on the Chase Grid. That means the Kevin Harvick will have a chance to defend his 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship. Jeff Gordon will get the opportunity to win his fifth championship title. Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. will get the chance to win their first Sprint Cup Championship.

Which driver will finish in front of the other three to become the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion? We will find out in the final race of the season Sunday, November 22nd in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

By: Buck Stevens