2021 Instacart 500

The 2021 Instacart 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 14, 2021, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 312 laps on the 1.022 mi oval, it was the fifth race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Background
Phoenix Raceway, is a 1.022 mi, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

Entry list

 * (R) denotes rookie driver.
 * (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Qualifying
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.

Race
Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole. Alex Bowman spun after contact with Austin Dillon. Ryan Blaney won the first stage. Anthony Alfredo slammed the wall after contact with Cody Ware. Joey Logano won the second stage and dominated the final stage. Tyler Reddick got into the wall while Aric Almirola had to slow for a lapped car and got hit by Kyle Busch. On the restart, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead from Logano and scored the win. It was his first Cup Series win since the race at Martinsville Speedway in June 2020. He finished 1.698 seconds ahead of Ford driver Joey Logano. It was Truex's 28th Cup Series win and his first at Phoenix.

Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 75

Stage Two Laps: 115

Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 122

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 22 among 9 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 7 for 45
 * Red flags: 0
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 0 minutes and 20 seconds
 * Average speed: 103.808 mph

Television
Fox Sports covered their 16th race at the Phoenix Raceway. Mike Joy, two-time Phoenix winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio
MRN covered the radio action for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle called the race when the field raced past the start/finish line. Dan Hubbard called the action from turns 1 & 2 and Kyle Rickey called the action from turns 3 & 4. Pit lane was manned by Steve Post and Dillon Welch.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.