When cancer struck Edward Schrank for the fifth time, the 15-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran was told he would lose his jaw, his voice and, in all probability, his life.

Schrank sought a second opinion from another hospital and got a different prognosis and outcome. And on Saturday at ISM Raceway, he sang the National Anthem before the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200, the race that would determine the Championship 4 drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“I think cancer ... there’s a lot of ways you can be brought close to death,” Schrank told the NASCAR Wire Service before pre-race ceremonies. “Cancer is one of those. And when you spend a lot of time being close to dying—which I spent a few years, being told that I was not going to live—and then you emerge from that, you want to have a big life.

“You want to live a lot. So I filled that gap with wanting to do something with my voice, since part of that was losing my voice forever.”

Schrank had already lost his left eye and part of his skull to the first occurrence of head-and-neck cancer, the result of exposure to JP5/8 jet fuel while he was serving in the Marines. Even though he had no background in singing, he saw the preservation of his voice as a gift that should be used.

“I like to say I’ve never sung a note in my life, but as I say that, my mom reminds me that she loved listening to me sing as an altar boy,” Schrank said. “But either way, I think you could round it down to zero, until I was told during my fifth occurrence of cancer that I was going to lose my voice, that they were going to remove my jaw, and I would never speak again.

“When I found a new hospital that was able to save my life and my voice, I thought, ‘Well, I should learn how to sing.’”

But why the National Anthem, generally recognized as one of the most difficult songs to sing?

“My background in the Marine Corps made me feel like ... I love the National Anthem,” Schrank said. “And I also read repeatedly online that the stupidest thing to learn how to sing was the National Anthem.

“And I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to do that.’ Usually when people describe something as stupid, what they mean is people try it, and it’s too difficult, and they quit. And that’s usually something that I get attracted to.”

Now a healthcare entrepreneur who has formed the Military Cancer Initiative, Schrank also served as special assistant to the mayor of Chicago. When he decided to pursue singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” he enlisted the help of perhaps the best-known National Anthem singer in the world—Jim Cornelison, who provides a booming rendition of the anthem before every Chicago Blackhawks home game.

“He is solely responsible for my ability,” Schrank said. “I met with him, I begged him, I bothered him, I nagged him, and he helped me. I don’t think I showed any reason why he should take me on initially. I think he just wanted—he gave me a chance.

“And I took that chance, and I put in all the hard work from one meeting to give him the reason to take on more opportunities, and that turned into meetings most Fridays at his house for two or three hours of hard work.”

On Sunday, on the eve of Veterans Day, Schrank’s hard work, courage, determination was to be on display again for the singing of “God Bless America” before the Bluegreen Vacations 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Maytag Ford Mustang are set to start 19th in Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

 Menard said his qualifying speed of 137.515 miles per hour was a sign of progress over the weekend.

  “It was a pick up,” he said. “It didn’t drive great, but when we did our mock run yesterday it was a little bit hotter out and the track had a little bit more grip.  

 “We made some adjustments in the right direction. I wish it drove a little bit better, but we’ll see how it holds on.”

 In Friday’s practice sessions, Menard was 10th in the opening round with a best lap at 135.333 mph.

 Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500-kilometer race is set to start just after 12:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. Eastern) with TV coverage on NBC.

WBR PR

Twenty points down heading into the Round of 8 elimination race at ISM Raceway, Denny Hamlin’s knows that failure is a real possibility.

One of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff favorites entering last Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, Hamlin lost control of his car on Lap 80 while running in the top 10, slid through the infield grass, damaged the splitter on the No. 11 Toyota and ultimately finished 28th.

Hamlin comes to Phoenix facing an uphill battle more challenging than a hike up Rattlesnake Hill, which overlooks the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.

Hamlin has known failure at Phoenix before. In 2010, under a different non-elimination scoring system, Hamlin held a 33-point lead over Jimmie Johnson but lost 18 points of his advantage at Phoenix on an errant pit call.

A week later, his best chance for a series championship today evaporated early in the season finale at Homestead, after Hamlin qualified 37th, wrecked early, finished 14th and handed Johnson his fifth straight title.

In Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Hamlin, who qualified third on Saturday, must make up 22 points on pole winner Kyle Busch or 20 points on Joey Logano, the two drivers immediately ahead of him in the Playoff standings. A race win also would earn a spot in the Championship 4.

Even if he doesn’t advance, however, Hamlin will still consider this season a success.

“No matter what, I will not consider this year any sort of a failure,” Hamlin said. “We, as Mark Martin would say, we just didn’t score enough points. We had a great year, we won races, we led more laps than we have in a long time and more top fives than anybody in the series.

“It’s been a really good year and I’m just not going to let the outcome of this weekend, or last weekend, decide whether it’s a good season or not. I think you have to adjust that. One race, winner take all, or a three-race round – anything can happen, and it did for us.”

CONFESSION WASN’T GOOD FOR BUBBA WALLACE’S WALLET

Deciding whether a competitor has spun deliberately to cause a caution is one of the most difficult judgment calls NASCAR has to make.

Of course, if you admit it to a national reporter, NASCAR’s job is a lot easier.

That was the case with Bubba Wallace, who acknowledged to Dustin Long of NBCSports.com on Friday that he had spun on purpose last Sunday at Texas to try to make the best of a flat tire.

NASCAR reacted quickly, fining Wallace $50,000 and docking him 50 driver points on Saturday.

“The reaction today was after a complete admission of guilt,” said NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller. “That’s really what led to the penalty happening today.

“All we can do is wait and watch and see how we need to react next. Hopefully, we don’t. Hopefully, it cleans itself up.”

In Miller’s view, NASCVAR had no choice after the confession.

“Here’s the deal: it’s not very straightforward to determine whether that is done on purpose. We’ve all watched the cars drive down the straightaway with a flat tire, weaving all over the place. For us to make a definitive call that a guy spun out on purpose when he can barely keep his car straight is a big call—and it’s a judgment call, and it’s a call we would like to not have to be able to make.

“Hopefully, they can know that the possibility of this happening is out there if it’s very blatant and don’t do it.”

Richard Petty Motorsports, which fields Wallace’s cars, declined to appeal the penalties.

WEST COAST STOCK CAR HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES 2020 NOMINEES

Six first-time nominees join 14 others who have appeared on previous ballots in making up the 20 nominees for the 2020 class of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, announced on Saturday at ISM Raceway.

Included in the list is veteran crew chief Ernie Cope, currently serving as competition director for JTG Daugherty racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

New to the list are Ken Boyd, Tony Hunt, Craig Keough, Jerry Pitts, Nick Rescino and Linda Vaughan. Previous nominees include NASCAR veteran Mike Bliss, Dave Byrd, Cope, Mike David, Dave Fuge, Tom Gloy, Lance Hooper, Tommy Kendall, Rick Mears, Danny Ongais, Jim Pettit II, Greg Pickett, Tom Sneva and George Snider.

The Hall will induct five new members during Sonoma race week in June of next year. 

In a Saturday qualifying session that provided validation that the cream rises to the top, Kyle Busch earned his first pole position of the season, as seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers claimed the top seven positions on the grid.

Navigating one-mile ISM Raceway in a blistering 25.693 seconds 140.116 mph, Busch edged Joey Logano (139.752 mph) by .067 seconds for Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the race that will determine which four drivers will race for the series championship on Nov. 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch is currently third in the Playoff standings, two points ahead of defending series champion Logano in fourth and 22 points better than Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in fifth, the first driver below the cut line for the Championship 4.

Hamlin qualified third on Saturday at 139.394 mph, one spot ahead of teammate Martin Truex Jr., who already is locked into the Championship 4 by virtue of his victory in the opening race of the Round of 8 at Martinsville.

“I think this is actually the first race all year we made a mock (qualifying) run in practice,” said Busch, who won his first Busch Pole Award of the season, his fourth at ISM Raceway and the 32nd of his career. “Maybe there’s something to that. The guys did a great job. We fight hard every week trying to figure out what we need to do to continue to improve and get better, and a lot of others guys have certainly done that over the year.”

Track position is of paramount importance at Phoenix, as is the No. 1 pit stall, which Busch earned with his qualifying run.

“Hopefully today bodes well for tomorrow,” he said. “I really don’t know. The schedule is all different with all practice all in one day and then just qualifying today. Overall, proud to start out front in this very important race and very important with track position and such.”

Kyle Larson, tied for sixth in the standings with Ryan Blaney, qualified fifth, one position ahead of Chase Elliott, who is eighth among the Playoff contenders and must win on Sunday to advance to the Championship 4.

Kevin Harvick, locked into the final race with last Sunday’s win at Texas, will start seventh on Sunday. Blaney qualified 10th, as all Playoff drivers will start within the top five rows on Sunday.