The 2017 Ticket Galaxy 200 was the 32nd stock car race of the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the third and elimination race of the Round of 8, and the 19th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, November 11, 2017, in Avondale, Arizona at Phoenix International Raceway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent low-banked tri-oval race track. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. On the final restart with 17 to go, with the help of his pit crew, William Byron, driving for JR Motorsports, would manage to pull away from the field to win his fourth and to date, final career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his fourth and final win of the season, and a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4.[1] To fill out the podium, Ryan Blaney, driving for Team Penske, and Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would finish second and third, respectively.
The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) road course that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current 1.51 mi (2.43 km) interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend.
The first practice session was held on Friday, November 10, at 12:30 PM MST. The session would last for 55 minutes.[3]Ryan Blaney, driving for Team Penske, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 27.404 and an average speed of 131.368 mph (211.416 km/h).[4]
The final practice session, sometimes known as Happy Hour, was held on Friday, November 10, at 2:30 PM MST. The session would last for 55 minutes.[3]William Byron, driving for JR Motorsports, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 27.343 and an average speed of 131.661 mph (211.888 km/h).[5]
Qualifying was held on Saturday, November 11, at 10:35 AM MST.[3] Since Phoenix International Raceway is under 2 miles (3.2 km) in length, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.[6]
Erik Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would win the pole after setting a time of 26.880 and an average speed of 133.929 mph (215.538 km/h) in the third round.[7]
