Late pass lifts Scott to victory at Phoenix
The victory was Scott's first of the season and second of his career, his first win coming at Dover in 2009. But Scott provided only half the drama.
James Buescher and Ty Dillon, the top two contenders for the series championship, both had major trouble, with Buescher blowing a right front tire and crashing hard into the Turn 4 wall with less than three laps left.
Buescher finished 17th and Dillon 15th, to tighten the race for the title as the series heads for the season finale next Friday at Homestead. Buescher leads Timothy Peters by 11 points and Dillon by 12.
Passed by Dillon early in the race, Scott learned from the experience.
"I probably have to give a dozen roses to Ty Dillon," said Scott, "because he was able to get by me on a restart earlier by holding me down and driving in deep through the corner and just keeping position on me — and I learned from it.
"Luckily I was able to come back and have the opportunity to do the same thing to somebody else, somebody that probably wasn't expecting it… Fortunately for us, I was able to apply something I learned earlier in the race. I just went into the corner really hard, held him down and got him a little loose."
Larson trailed Scott to the finish line, followed by Joey Coulter and Peters. Ryan Blaney completed the top five.
Friday's race went green for the first 36 laps before it took on the character of a demolition derby. Six cautions, which occupied 33 of the next 42 laps, saw a rash of competitive trucks damaged on the treacherous race track.
Jason White collected Todd Bodine's Toyota on Lap 49. Parker Klingerman’s Toyota broke loose in traffic on Lap 54 and waylaid the truck of Matt Crafton. Polesitter Nelson Piquet Jr., Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Miguel Paludo were involved in a four-truck melee on Lap 65.
Cale Gale crashed on the frontstretch on Lap 73 to bring out caution No. 6. Divergent pit strategies put Ryan Truex in the lead before Justin Lofton overtook him as the race neared the 100-lap mark, but a caution on Lap 102 shuffled the running order for a restart on Lap 109, with Peters and Scott leading the field to green.
Larson dived to the inside to pass the top two trucks on the restart lap, but one circuit later, German Quiroga drove too hard into Turn 1, locked his brakes and wrecked the trucks of Brendan Gaughan and Dillon.
NASCAR stopped the race for 13 minutes, 10 seconds to facilitate track cleanup. Back under yellow, Dillon's crew worked frantically to patch the damage to the No. 3 Chevrolet, keeping Dillon on the lead lap.
Larson held the top spot until Scott passed him on Lap 152 of 153.
Results
| FIN | ST | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | PTS/BNS | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 3 | 18 | Brian Scott | Toyota | Dollar General | 0 | 153 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | Ganassi Earnhardt Racing | 43/1 | 153 | Running |
| 3 | 17 | 22 | Joey Coulter | Chevrolet | American Eurocopter | 41/0 | 153 | Running |
| 4 | 8 | 17 | Timothy Peters | Toyota | Toyota / Red Horse Racing | 41/1 | 153 | Running |
| 5 | 2 | 29 | Ryan Blaney | Ram | Draw-Tite / Mopar | 39/0 | 153 | Running |
| 6 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Chevrolet | RSS Racing | 38/0 | 153 | Running |
| 7 | 4 | 33 | Cale Gale * | Chevrolet | Rheem Heating, Cooling & Water | 37/0 | 153 | Running |
| 8 | 1 | 30 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Chevrolet | Qualcomm / Autotrac | 37/1 | 153 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 27 | Ryan Truex | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 0 | 153 | Running |
| 10 | 22 | 6 | Justin Lofton | Chevrolet | Lofton Cattle | 35/1 | 153 | Running |
| 11 | 23 | 135 | Matt Merrell | Chevrolet | Merrell Lease Service | 33/0 | 153 | Running |
| 12 | 13 | 119 | David Mayhew | Ram | MMI / Steak & Grape | 0 | 153 | Running |
| 13 | 27 | 09 | John Wes Townley * | Toyota | Zaxby's | 31/0 | 153 | Running |
| 14 | 15 | 32 | Miguel Paludo | Chevrolet | World Diabetes Day / Duroline | 30/0 | 152 | Running |
| 15 | 21 | 3 | Ty Dillon * | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 30/1 | 152 | Running |
| 16 | 32 | 99 | Bryan Silas * | Ford | Rockingham Speedway | 28/0 | 152 | Running |
| 17 | 9 | 31 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | Exide Batteries | 27/0 | 152 | Running |
| 18 | 33 | 08 | Todd Peck | Toyota | Stopain Cold / Arthritis Foundation | 26/0 | 149 | Running |
| 19 | 34 | 57 | Norm Benning | Chevrolet | Norm Benning Racing | 25/0 | 148 | Running |
| 20 | 5 | 88 | Matt Crafton | Toyota | Fisher Nuts / Menards | 24/0 | 144 | Running |
| 21 | 26 | 23 | Jason White | Ford | GunBroker.com / Grime Boss | 23/0 | 136 | Accident |
| 22 | 10 | 9 | Ron Hornaday | Chevrolet | Anderson's Pure Maple Syrup / Bashas' | 22/0 | 111 | Running |
| 23 | 19 | 2 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | South Point Hotel & Casino | 0 | 109 | Accident |
| 24 | 18 | 151 | German Quiroga | Toyota | NET10 Wireless | 20/0 | 109 | Accident |
| 25 | 16 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | Toyota | SealMaster / Curb Records | 19/0 | 104 | Running |
| 26 | 30 | 174 | Brian Weber | Chevrolet | Koma Unwind Relaxation Drink | 18/0 | 95 | Rear Axle |
| 27 | 7 | 7 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | Toyota / Red Horse Racing | 17/0 | 78 | Accident |
| 28 | 12 | 11 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | Toyota Care | 16/0 | 48 | Running |
| 29 | 36 | 5 | John King * | Ford | Fairway Ford | 15/0 | 43 | Accident |
| 30 | 20 | 297 | Jeff Choquette | Chevrolet | Adrian Carriers / Liz Girl Logistics | 14/0 | 34 | Accident |
| 31 | 24 | 225 | Stephen Leicht | Chevrolet | Boggy Creek Air Boat Rides | 0 | 22 | Brakes |
| 32 | 31 | 93 | Dennis Setzer | Chevrolet | RSS Racing | 12/0 | 8 | Brakes |
| 33 | 25 | 07 | Ross Chastain * | Chevrolet | Watermelon.org | 11/0 | 7 | Ignition |
| 34 | 35 | 84 | Chris Fontaine | Chevrolet | Glenden Enterprises | 10/0 | 6 | Brakes |
| 35 | 28 | 38 | Chris Jones | Chevrolet | RSS Racing | 9/0 | 4 | Ignition |
| 36 | 29 | 0 | Blake Koch | Ford | Driven2Honor.org | 0 | 2 | Susp. |
* Denotes Rookie