PHOENIX — NASCAR is once again holding their championship weekend here in the Valley in early November, and to get fans excited, Phoenix Raceway and the Arizona Diamondbacks partnered to host NASCAR Night at Chase Field, as the D-Backs took on the San Francisco Giants.
The night saw the first 5,000 fans get a commemorative D-Backs-themed checkered flag and some big names in racing (who both call the Valley home), NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett and Frankie Muniz, who is most known for acting in Malcolm in the Middle and Big Fat Liar, but now races in NASCAR's ARCA Menards Series, came out to the ballgame.
This was not Jarrett's first trip to Chase Field. That actually came during the 2001 World Series, when Jarrett took a helicopter from Phoenix Raceway to what was then called Bank One Ballpark, to catch one of the World Series games.
"Yeah, sure did. A hot day, a hot Sunday afternoon, I know that. And they were playing the Yankees in the World Series and so, we came over here to watch," Jarrett said. "The problem was, I was dehydrated and being a Coca-Cola family member, they didn’t have Cokes there. It was that other product. And so, I spent a lot of the time trying to get hydrated."
Jarrett also got the chance to take some batting practice before Tuesday night's game, which the D-Backs won 8-4.
"It’s been like 20 years since I actually did that," Jarrett said. "I pitched to my son, who’s in the minor leagues, I pitched to him all the time, but I never take any swings myself. And so, I went and took a couple of swings, did that last week, he helped me a little bit. It was a lot of fun to get in there. You realize just how hard this game is."
As for Muniz, this was the first time he has able to get out to Chase Field this season, due to how much traveling he has been doing for the ARCA Menards Series, which Muniz says is a dream come true to race in.
"It’s weird because, like, sometimes I do have to pinch myself," Muniz said. "I’m traveling the country, racing against some of the top drivers, going 200 miles per hour on iconic tracks, like Daytona, Talladega, Phoenix Raceway, and I’m honestly having a blast."
Muniz says this season, which is his first, has been a learning year. It started off well, and Muniz actually led the series in points, but he has since fallen to fourth place, which he admitted, has been frustrating.
"We’ve had five mechanical failures, tires explode at 200 miles an hour, and three big wrecks and it’s humbling because you feel like you’re in control, right? You’re out there, I feel like I’m in control," Muniz said. "I’m the driver, I got it, and then when things take you out of the race that aren’t because of you, it almost stings more. But I’m learning how to deal with that because it is part of racing."
NASCAR wraps up its season with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 4, which you will be able to watch on 12News. And despite the Round of 12 starting in the NASCAR Playoffs this weekend in Texas, Jarrett says he believes the race for the championship is already down to two racers.
"I’m looking at the two drivers that won two of the three races (in the round of 16), and one guy, Denny Hamlin, could have won all three of them," Jarrett said. "So I think Denny Hamlin is the favorite going in, but he’s going to have to outduel Kyle Larson, who won here just a couple of years ago, won his championship. So, I think it comes down to those two, but you never know. There’s some guys, you look at Chris Buescher, that we didn’t expect to be in the position, the talk about that, that he might be right there in the mix too."