Ryan Blaney surged to victory for the second straight time at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, becoming the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series’ first winner not named Tyler Reddick. Behind him, though, the running order saw its fair share of fluctuations in an eventful — and sometimes chaotic — 312 laps around the Arizona desert.
Here, we take a look at three drivers who left the year’s first traditional oval race with high spirits and three who already have their eyes forward to test their luck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Phoenix
THREE UP ⬆️
1. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
Started: 28th
Finished: 6th
What happened: An early pit-road speeding penalty and a near-disaster on the race track didn’t detract from Wallace’s best Phoenix performance yet. Wallace carved through the field multiple times Sunday — first from a poor starting position and later while recovering from a Lap 97 speeding penalty. Wallace has finished inside the top 10 in three of the year’s opening four races, now boasting the series’ second-best average finish (8.8), trailing only his teammate, Tyler Reddick (2.8).
What’s next: Wallace has just one top five and two top 10s at Las Vegas in 16 starts, with no top 10s in his last five Vegas appearances. But Wallace did drive the No. 23 Toyota into the lead for 28 laps there last spring before getting collected in an on-track incident.
2. Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
Started: 32nd
Finished: 10th
What happened: Erik Jones notched a much-needed top 10 at Phoenix Sunday, marking his first of the season and the opportunity to break out the smiles again on social media. After battling an illness at Circuit of The Americas en route to a 34th-place finish and two finishes outside the top 20 to start the season, Jones and his No. 43 team executed a penalty-free and incident-free Sunday after an inauspicious qualifying effort. By surviving the carnage that put 10 cars out of the race, Jones capitalized on his first top 10 since the 2025 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September.
What’s next: Jones’ track record at Las Vegas has been rocky, with four top 10s in 17 starts and all four occurring between 2018 and 2022. But Jones qualified fifth for the spring race there one year ago and notched a respectable 15th-place finish at Las Vegas in the fall.
3. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Started: 18th
Finished: 11th
What happened: Two spins and a multitude of issues weren’t enough to thwart an impressive day for van Gisbergen, who rebounded from bounds of adversity to nab an 11th-place finish at Phoenix. While still looking for his first win of the season, the first four races of 2026 might as well be considered a victory for the New Zealand native. Through two drafting-style races, one road course (which he surprisingly did not win) and a 1-mile oval, van Gisbergen sits fifth in the Cup Series standings, currently bettering veterans like Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, among many others.
What’s next: A real test of van Gisbergen’s oval strengths lies ahead at Las Vegas, where he crashed out of both races in 2025 and finished 29th in the 2024 fall race. SVG has proven his oval prowess can improve and is improving, so perhaps the next step will come next weekend in Nevada.
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Started: 1st
Finished: 31st
What happened: While his teammate Blaney went on to celebrate a victory, Logano was left wondering what could have been. The polesitter ultimately made two uncharacteristic mistakes Sunday that led to crashes, the second of which put him out of the race. The first came at Lap 217 when contact from Logano to Ross Chastain sent Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet crashing into Anthony Alfredo and Austin Cindric on a restart. His second misstep came at Lap 254, when he merged from the dogleg apron into the side of AJ Allmendinger’s car, spinning Logano into traffic and destroying his No. 22 Ford, along with others. Those incidents derailed what was set to be a strong day for the three-time Cup Series champion, who led 73 laps and earned third-place finishes in both of Sunday’s opening stages with an average running position of 8.29.
What’s next: Logano could be set for a strong rebound as he bounces back to Las Vegas. Logano is a four-time winner at the 1.5-mile oval with one win and three top 10s in his last four Vegas starts. He earned victories in the spring of 2019 and 2020 as well as during the postseason in 2022 and 2024, with both of his latter triumphs propelling him to eventual championships.
2. Daniel Suárez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 4th
Finished: 30th
What happened: A weekend that started wonderfully ended miserably for Suárez in Arizona. The newest Spire driver turned a fourth-place qualifying effort into four points in Stage 1 with a seventh-place showing, but Suárez was collected when Logano slid directly in front of Suárez’s nose, destroying the front of the No. 7 Chevrolet and ending his day early.
What’s next: Vegas has been a strong site for Suárez in recent years, producing two top fives and three top 10s in his last six starts there — including a runner-up finish last spring. His tenure at Spire has started well, with three qualifying efforts inside the top 15 and two such results (13th at Daytona, seventh at EchoPark).
3. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
Started: 3rd
Finished: 34th
What happened: Another victim of the on-track carnage was Cindric, who had an excellent showing in progress before crashing at Lap 217. Cindric was an innocent bystander atop the high line of the track exiting the dogleg — until Chastain collided with Alfredo, who launched into Cindric, who then pounded the SAFER barrier. He finished sixth in both stages Sunday to earn some points to cushion a 34th-place finish, but Sunday marked his third finish outside the top 30 in the opening four races with a best finish so far of 26th (EchoPark).
What’s next: A bright spot for Cindric is that despite his dismal results, his No. 2 Ford has been in the mix often. His 17.04 average running position ranks 15th-best in the NASCAR Cup Series, showing he has been running well before getting collected in on-track incidents. His Las Vegas results have been a mixed bag, but they were good in 2025: Cindric finished sixth in the spring and 11th in the fall last year, leading 47 laps last March.
