Track: Phoenix Raceway
Location: Avondale, Arizona
Track length: 1 mile
When: 3 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 312 laps | 312 miles
Stages: 60 | 185 | 312
Sunday’s starting lineup | Pit stall assignments
Chase hopes hinge on Phoenix opportunity
AVONDALE, Ariz. — It’s a smidge different returning to Phoenix Raceway in the fall this time around, marking the first time since 2019 that the 1-mile track isn’t the host of championship weekend. That slot on the schedule goes back to Homestead-Miami Speedway this year, but finale or not, Phoenix still looms as a pivotal postseason venue for the NASCAR Cup Series – even if it’s taking some getting used to.
“It’s usually like the last-day-of-school moments, right, when you come to Phoenix,” said 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. “So yeah, we’ve still got three more races after this, but definitely is interesting.”
Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the sixth of 10 races in The Chase presented by Mobil 1. While the 312-lap showdown in the desert won’t decide the championship outright, as it did six times in the playoff era’s elimination-style system, an ever-so-compelling pursuit of points is on the table as the new-look Chase format nears its crescendo. It’s a familiar, crucial spot on the calendar for Phoenix, which hosted the circuit’s penultimate race for years after joining the Cup Series schedule in 1988.
MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos: Phoenix
One holdover from the last time the postseason was here: Kyle Larson is in front of Denny Hamlin. Last November, that positioning was especially painful as Larson lunged to his second Cup title, making the most of a split in pit strategies and denying Hamlin again in the final battle for the Bill France Cup. This time, Phoenix isn’t winner-take-all, but the window for Hamlin to make substantial gains on Larson’s 49-point advantage is becoming narrower.
“No desperation, but the gap needs to close starting now,” Hamlin said. “That’s probably pretty accurate with our position. Then just to get back on our front foot. I think that you have to start by winning the day and then go from there. But ultimately, with the races winding down, we’ve got to start chopping into this.”
The Chase contenders made at least signs of a preliminary trim in Saturday’s qualifying session, when Larson stumbled to a 22nd-place starting spot after a bobble during his timed lap. All of his closest challengers, meanwhile, thrived. Team Penske drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano swept the front row to give themselves prime footing for the “must-win” situation they’re in, and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers rounded out the top five, with Chase Briscoe, Hamlin and Christopher Bell (in order) all savoring starting berths further up the grid.
Bell lurks third in the Cup standings with a 51-point deficit, but also with a reputation for accumulating runner-up finishes this year – including a heart-stopper last weekend at Charlotte. Behind that lead trio are two drivers carrying separate bids for three in a row – Briscoe (minus-65) and Blaney (minus-85), whose streaks could help sway the complexion of The Chase for both.
Briscoe is vying for his third consecutive Cup Series win in Sunday’s event, having closed out a white-hot scorch through the three-race stretch of 1.5-mile tracks with finishes of fourth, first and first. Phoenix was the site of his first Cup Series victory during his sophomore season in 2022, but his last seven races here have failed to produce a top five, with a series of tire-pressure issues thwarting those efforts in the last three Phoenix events.
RELATED: Saturday recap
“We’ve been really, really strong here. Just been a matter of keeping air in the tires and them not blowing,” Briscoe said. “I know that we’ve brought a different approach, at least that’s the plan. So we’ll find out, I guess, here in a little bit if that plan worked out.”
Blaney’s streak is more Phoenix-specific, with victories in the tour’s two most recent visits to the Southwest. The track historically has been friendly to his Team Penske outfit, home to clinching performances in title runs for himself in 2023, and teammate Joey Logano in 2022 and 2024.
Making strides in the pursuit of Larson has been made more difficult by the No. 5 team’s near-flawless execution and an impeccable 2.83 average finish through the postseason’s first half-dozen races. Blaney, for one, isn’t waiting for Larson to tumble back to earth.
“No, I’m treating it as they’re not gonna have a mistake and we have to go win races to catch him,” Blaney said before scoring his fourth Phoenix pole and his fifth of the season. “It could go either way. Everyone is like, ‘Oh, the law of averages, he’s gonna have a bad weekend,’ but they might not, and if they don’t, then props, 100 percent. You did a heck of a job. You really whooped up on everybody, so that’s my mindset is they are not going to have a bad week and we have to capitalize on it. If he fifths it out the rest of the way, we have to go win a couple at least to try to get there. That’s where our mindset is at.”
The last two races here have also boiled down to a split in pit-stop strategy, with right-side tires only being the winning ticket over four-tire stops in the closing laps. Larson downed Hamlin in the 2025 championship contest after a two-tire stop provided track position, and Bell’s dominant performance here last spring was short-circuited after a four-tire stop in the late going resulted in the first of his eight second-place finishes this year.
Leadership skills: Setting the Phoenix pace
Sunday’s race will mark the 10th Phoenix race for the Next Gen car platform that debuted in the 2022 season. The nine events in the books so far have produced an elite list of Cup Series pros who have a tendency to be out front – and usually win.
Seven of the top eight lap leaders at Phoenix in the Next Gen era are firmly in The Chase field, aiming to pad their numbers in Sunday’s 312-miler.
| Driver | Next Gen laps led | Best Next Gen finish |
|---|---|---|
| Christopher Bell | 474 | 1st (spring 2024, spring 2025) |
| Joey Logano | 452 | 1st (fall 2022, fall 2024) |
| William Byron | 326 | 1st (spring 2023) |
| Ryan Blaney | 314 | 1st (fall 2025, spring 2026) |
| Denny Hamlin | 298 | 2nd (spring 2025) |
| Kyle Larson | 216 | 3rd (fall 2023, both 2025 races, spring 2026) |
| Ross Chastain | 158 | 1st (fall 2023) |
| Chase Briscoe | 117 | 1st (spring 2022) |
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
– Phoenix hub: Weekend information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
– Sunday Setup: Crew chiefs put the brakes on Phoenix prep | Read more
– Paint Scheme Preview: Hot designs in the desert for all three series | View gallery
– Neil Paine: Briscoe’s recent run gives Kyle Larson an unintended lift | Read more
– NASCAR Classics: Dive into the video vault with full-race replays from Phoenix | Watch now
– Power Rankings: Blaney banking on further Phoenix success | This week’s ranks