PHOENIX, Ariz. — One of the most appealing things about the NASCAR Cup Series is that the season takes the green flag in an ambitious schedule, featuring a wide variety of tracks that provide different challenges and reward different talent sets. And the championship standings reflect as much.
From the superspeedway in Daytona to the Atlanta 1.5-miler that races like a superspeedway, to Austin’s famed road course to Sunday’s fast and furious Phoenix one-miler before hitting the Las Vegas 1.5 miler this week — a track that represents so much of the overall schedule — all the early variation typically provides a good test before sorting out which driver and which team will be making that championship run deep into the season.
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Phoenix contributed another vivid chapter after the big ovals and a road course to open the season. Ryan Blaney’s inspired win over a hard-charging Christopher Bell on Sunday was a great sample of some big moves in the championship points standings as the series heads to Las Vegas for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (4 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, FOX One, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The good news for the season’s established front-runner Tyler Reddick is that the 23XI Racing driver still proved himself a contender even when he’s not hoisting a trophy. After a history-making 3-for-3 streak to open the year with wins in the Daytona 500, at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway and then Austin’s Circuit of The Americas road course, Reddick earned a top-10 at Phoenix even as his win streak halted. And it’s given him a substantial 60-point edge over the field as the series continues its Western roll.
Only now, the points standings beyond him look a little different. Blaney’s victory and stage win at Phoenix vaulted him into second place in the standings, 12 points up on Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace. It comes after a three-race run when Reddick and Wallace had widely separated themselves from the rest of the field.
It was especially rewarding for Blaney, who had to overcome two pit road issues and still managed to rally for the win — exactly the kind of determination and effort that helped him to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship and has again served as a reminder that he is a perennial title contender.
“Perseverance,” Blaney said. “Definitely a long day, but really proud of everybody for keeping their heads down. It’s easy to beat yourself up over that stuff and kind of take yourself out of the game. But those guys just don’t do that. Those guys’ mentality is unbelievable, and on this 12-group is where it needs to be. Mainly proud of the effort for all those guys for fighting back like they did.”
Not only did Blaney establish himself in the elite part of the standings, but Bell’s runner-up showing Sunday delivered a dramatic jump in the standings for him as well. He skyrocketed 18 positions from 24th to sixth.
Similarly, Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin finished fifth at Phoenix — his first top five of the year — and moved up 11 positions in the standings to 12th place. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the reigning series champion, jumped up five positions in the standings to 10th. Sunday’s third-place showing was his best finish and first top- five of the season.
“We definitely have a lot of work to do here,” Larson said, “but excited to get to Vegas next week, see what we have on a mile-and-a-half. Go to work.
“But happy to put together two solid finishes in a row here. Just continue to build on it.”
And perhaps one of the most telling signs of year-over-year improvement comes from Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen. Although he won a rookie record five races last season, all the trophies came on road courses where the former Australian Supercars Champion is so masterful.
This year he’s purposely and successfully raised his oval game, scoring a career best sixth-place at Atlanta and answering with arguably an even more impressive 11th-place at Phoenix — considering he had to overcome a tire issue and was collected in a multicar accident. Van Gisbergen has led laps in three of the first four races and is now ranked fifth in the championship standings — a career high for him.
“Excellent result for the crazy day we had,” the New Zealander said. “My Safety Culture Chevy had a lot of speed, but just had those two spins that reset our progress each time. Passed a lot of cars and had a good points day. Headed to Vegas next weekend with a lot of momentum.”
A one-hour practice for the Pennzoil 400 is Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET, followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 3:40 p.m. ET (Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry is the defending race winner.