Hamlin leads Champ 4 drivers in Cup practice at Phoenix; Briscoe has tire issue

Posted on October 31, 2025November 1, 2025 by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was the best among the Championship 4 drivers in Friday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Phoenix Raceway as teammate Chase Briscoe suffered an early tire issue.

Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota, put down the fifth fastest time overall at 131.262 mph, besting fellow title competitors William Byron (131.099 mph), Kyle Larson (130.961 mph) and Briscoe (130.714 mph).

Overall, it was Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, who topped the leaderboard in the 50-minute session, as the No. 54 Toyota led the way with a speed of 131.868 mph. Team Penske drivers Ryan Blaney (131.406 mph) and Austin Cindric (131.377 mph) were second and third fastest, followed by RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece (131.353 mph) in fourth.

Chase Elliott (131.147 mph), Ross Chastain (131.137 mph) and Josh Berry (131.104 mph) were sixth through eighth fastest, with Byron ninth and Christopher Bell (130.971 mph) completing the top 10. Larson was 11th fastest overall with Briscoe in 16th.

RELATED: Practice results | At-track photos

During the first 10 minutes of practice, Briscoe stopped on track due to a flat left-rear tire on his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Out of the four drivers still eligible to win the Cup Series title, Briscoe completed the fewest laps with 24 circuits and reported a vibration in the closing minutes of practice.

Briscoe was one of several drivers to have a tire go down during their practice runs, including JGR teammate Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Suárez, Riley Herbst and Kyle Busch.

Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

“Yeah, I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not just us, right?” Briscoe told truTV after practice. “It’s unfortunate it’s happening, but at least we’re not on an island by ourselves. Yeah, so I’m sure that James (Small, crew chief) and everybody on our Bass Pro Shops Tracker Toyota will figure out what we can do to help manage that on Sunday. Definitely alarming. This wasn’t a great practice for us just because we didn’t really get to run a lot because of the issues. We’ll get to work on it and see what we can do.”

The No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota of Herbst made hard contact with the Turn 1 wall after his tire went down. After Allmendinger came to a stop initially for a flat tire, he was later involved in a second on-track incident when his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet veered off and made heavy contact with the Turn 3 wall.

Posted on October 31, 2025October 31, 2025 by Zach Sturniolo

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson is the only driver in this year’s Championship 4 quartet that has won a NASCAR Cup Series championship.

On Sunday, he can reach rarefied air by becoming a two-time title winner at NASCAR’s highest level.

MORE: Phoenix schedule | Projected results in title race

Larson is back in the Championship 4 for the third time in five years and will chase that second title at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). And while his legacy would grow by becoming just the 18th multi-time champion in Cup Series history, that isn’t his driving motivation.

“I don’t really like to think about the legacy part of it,” Larson said during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day, “but I’ve always really looked up to Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, and they’re multi-time champions. Just getting a second would mean I’m closer to them.”

Stewart won three titles across his Hall of Fame career, earning the 2002, 2005 and 2011 titles in a tenure that spanned from 1999 through 2016. Gordon, now vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, where Larson races, is a four-time champion with titles in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001.

Larson idolizes both drivers and uses their milestones to help set personal targets. With 32 career Cup wins, Larson has given up on ever catching Gordon’s win total — a whopping 93 that will be difficult for any driver to ever reach again. But catching Stewart’s mark of 49 is absolutely on the radar.

“As far as wins, again, I’ve always looked at Tony. I’ll never catch Jeff,” Larson said with a laugh. “I don’t think about Jeff. But Tony … if I could get to that, I would be pretty satisfied.”

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Larson has plenty in common with both Stewart and Gordon. All made names for themselves as dirt racers before eventually making the transition into stock-car racing. Larson’s passion for dirt racing still shines as he regularly competes in sprint car races across the country, and he now also serves as co-owner of the sprint car series High Limit Racing. That admiration for dirt racing is oftentimes misconstrued, though, Larson said, for a not-as-burning desire in his NASCAR endeavors.

On the precipice of his second NASCAR Cup Series championship, Larson vehemently disputed that notion.

“It’s always bugged me that people just assume that I don’t like doing this (or) I don’t like NASCAR,” Larson said. “This is, like, my 12th year. If I didn’t like it, I would not be here suffering through NASCAR racing. I absolutely love it. I just love racing. I love competing. I love the team aspect. I love everything about racing. It doesn’t just have to be NASCAR or just be sprint cars or whatever. I love racing. Obviously, it provides a lot for us and our family and whatnot. I get to compete at the highest form of American auto racing. What’s there to hate about that?”

That passion continues to drive him toward greatness. Larson has won three or more races per year since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, earning three early-season victories this season to continue that streak. At age 33, Larson is still searching for more. His contemporaries are, too, though.

Fellow Championship 4 driver Denny Hamlin earned a milestone 60th career win on Oct. 12 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to clinch his way into the title round of the playoffs, but more historically to tie Kevin Harvick for 10th on the Cup Series’ all-time wins list. That triggered some “quizzing” by Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, about the goals that are still out there for him and what he wants his future to look like.

“I told him I’m 33 right now, and I can absolutely see myself racing till I’m 40,” Larson said. “After that is kind of when I want to re-evaluate. I could still go another five (years), seven, 10, or stop then. But 40 is where my head is at before I can really think outside of that.”

But why target age 40 as a particular check-in? That, Larson said, comes down to time with his sons, Owen and Cooper, and his daughter, Audrey.

“Owen will be 18, Audrey will be mid-teens, and Cooper will be about 10,” he said, “so I think life is going to look completely different for them. I’m sure they’ll be hopefully successful. If Owen is racing or Audrey is racing, whatever, they’ll have a lot going on in their lives then. I would think right now I would want to be a part of that.”

In the meantime, Larson loves the ability to go out and contend for wins and championships. His next chance to do so comes Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on October 31, 2025October 31, 2025 by Staff Report

AVONDALE, Ariz. — NASCAR officials penalized the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team Friday morning for violations found during NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pre-race technical inspection at Phoenix Raceway.

Competition officials found the FRM team made an unapproved modification to the No. 34 Ford for driver Layne Riggs, adding a panel to the oil tank “that closes off the area between it and the floorboard.”

Officials ejected No. 34 crew chief Dylan Cappello for the rest of the race weekend. Riggs will drop to the rear of the field before the start of Friday’s season finale (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and he will be required to serve a pass-through penalty on pit road after the green flag. He also will be required to participate in Craftsman Truck Series qualifying.

Riggs was eliminated from the Truck Series Playoffs after last weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. The final championship-eligible driver spot was decided by a tiebreaker with Riggs and Kaden Honeycutt, who will compete for the series championship Friday against Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum and defending champ Ty Majeski. Riggs is no longer eligible for the driver’s championship, but his truck remains eligible for the Owner’s Championship.

Posted on October 31, 2025November 1, 2025 by Holly Cain

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final NASCAR victory. Justin Allgaier’s first championship. Stunning career debuts and the closest finish in all of NASCAR history. All of these moments will forever be associated with Xfinity’s 11-year NASCAR series title sponsorship — more than a decade of making stars and celebrating legends.

Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) pits the defending series champion Allgaier against a pair of his JR Motorsports rookie teammates, superstar 19-year old Connor Zilisch and second-generation star Carson Kvapil, along with Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love for the final title in Xfinity’s long and legendary sponsorship of the series.

All signs point to an intensely competitive and highly entertaining race — and that is befitting of an Xfinity-sponsored era that provided NASCAR with so many iconic moments.

“It’s hard to put into words how much Xfinity has meant not just to our series, but to the sport as a whole,’’ Allgaier said. “They’ve been such an integral part in the successes our series has had, and they’ve been a group that I have really enjoyed getting to know and work with over the years.

“I can’t thank them enough for all of their support and their belief in our series. And I am really happy that they are going to still be a part of our sport (as a Premier Partner of the Cup Series). It’s been an honor to represent them, both as a driver and a champion of the series all these years.’’

The now-familiar “as fast as Xfinity internet” marketing slogan that the series drivers used in television and radio interviews is embedded into the NASCAR mainstream. And how fitting it was. Fast and compelling.

The title sponsorship reigned over some of the most significant and celebrated times in the sport.

In the 2015 title-sponsor debut season, NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch returned from massive injuries to win again in an Xfinity Series race at Michigan. A year later, the NASCAR Hall of Famer and forever Most Popular Driver, Earnhardt, claimed his final national series win at an Xfinity Series race at Richmond.

That same year, Daniel Suárez claimed the Xfinity Series title to become the first international champion in NASCAR history.

In 2017, Jeremy Clements provided the iconic vibes with a spin and win in the Xfinity Series race at the Road America road course.

In 2018, Tyler Reddick literally edged Elliott Sadler in five overtimes to claim an Xfinity Series win at Daytona International Speedway in the slimmest margin of victory — officially scored as 0.000 seconds — in NASCAR history, truly necessitating photo evidence.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

At Chicago in 2023, the Xfinity Series officially became the first series in NASCAR history to compete on a city street course.

Last year, a teenage Zilisch won pole position and the race in his Xfinity Series debut at the historic Watkins Glen International road course and the season was capped off with Allgaier valiantly claiming his first major NASCAR title in 14 years of full-time competition in the series.

Future Cup Series champion Chase Elliott won his first major title in the Xfinity Series in 2014 as did two-time Daytona 500 winner William Byron three years later.

“It’s been an honor to race in the Xfinity Series with our family-owned team,’’ said owner-driver Ryan Sieg, who, along with Clements, are the only two drivers to have competed in every Xfinity-sponsored race.

“Xfinity has been a tremendous title sponsor and I am proud to have been a small part of some amazing memories.”

And while Xfinity will no longer headline the series, it will still very much stay an important part of the sport — its parent company Comcast sponsors the annual Comcast Community Champion Award and has played a significant role in recognizing the good in the sport and providing money to help foster a wide range of charitable outreach. Making a difference in so many people’s lives, well beyond the race track.

Xfinity’s tenure has genuinely provided that perfect combination of competitive excitement on track and life-changing outreach off it. The gratitude for the series sponsorship, the stars it has fostered and celebrated, is so real and pervasive.

“I would say Xfinity has been an amazing partner of the best series in NASCAR,’’ Clements said. “You always see them around, and they’re always asking what they could do to make things better as well.

“Their support has elevated the competition, the exposure and the entire racing community. I’m grateful for everything they’ve done to keep this series thriving. It’s been an honor to race under their banner all these years!”

And the sentiment is shared by so many.

Posted on October 31, 2025October 31, 2025 by Official NASCAR Release

Freeway Insurance to also become title sponsor for the 2026 fall NASCAR Cup Series Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR today announced that Freeway Insurance, a division of Confie and the largest independent personal lines agency and broker in the U.S., has joined as the fourth Premier Partner of the NASCAR Cup Series, marking a significant addition to the sport’s group of Premier Partners.

The multiyear agreement establishes Freeway Insurance as an official Premier Partner alongside Coca-Cola, Busch Light and Xfinity, and underscores NASCAR’s continued commercial momentum as major national brands invest in the sport’s growing fanbase and dynamic platform. The announcement also includes Freeway Insurance becoming the Official Insurance Partner and the entitlement partner for the fall NASCAR Cup Series Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The partnerships will officially kick off in 2026.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Freeway Insurance to the NASCAR family as a Premier Partner and a race entitlement partner at Phoenix Raceway,” said Steve O’Donnell, President of NASCAR. “This partnership highlights the strong alignment between our two brands — dedication to serving everyday Americans is at the heart of everything we do. Freeway’s commitment further reinforces the strength and growth of NASCAR’s commercial ecosystem as we continue to attract top-tier partners who see the value and excitement of this sport.”

Freeway Insurance and NASCAR represent two iconic American institutions — both deeply connected to the road, fueled by passion and commitment to excellence for millions of loyal customers and fans nationwide.

Freeway Insurance provides affordable, reliable insurance options to drivers and families in all 50 states. Through its extensive retail network, over-the-phone service and online platform, Freeway helps customers find the right coverage at the right price — from auto, truck and home to RV and boat insurance. Freeway empowers people to make confident, informed decisions about their insurance needs, reflecting its mission to make quality coverage accessible to everyone. The brand’s commitment to service, trust and protection aligns seamlessly with NASCAR’s focus on accessibility, innovation and community.

“At Freeway Insurance, we’re proud to partner with NASCAR — a sport that embodies the same energy, trust and drive that define our brand,” said Cesar Soriano, CEO of Freeway Insurance and a U.S. Army Veteran. “As someone who has served our country, I take great pride in leading a brand that serves hardworking Americans every day. Trust is the foundation of what we do — whether it’s helping families protect what matters most or supporting a sport that fans trust and love. NASCAR’s fans and our customers share the same values — determination, family and a love of the open road — and the Freeway Insurance 500 will be a celebration of everything that makes this country great.”

As part of the partnership, Freeway Insurance will be prominently integrated across multiple touchpoints of the NASCAR Cup Series, including race entitlements, sponsorship of the “Choose Rule” on Motor Racing Network and Performance Racing Network live broadcasts, digital activations and fan engagement programs designed to bring fans closer to the action and help families win when it comes to their insurance needs. Freeway Insurance also becomes the exclusive insurance provider for NASCAR, its social media platforms and all tracks where the national series race.

Together, NASCAR and Freeway Insurance will drive forward a shared mission: to connect with fans and customers across the country — on and off the track — through authenticity, innovation, trust and the open road that unites them.

Freeway Insurance is no stranger to NASCAR, as it’s been a banner partner of NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suárez for the last five seasons. With Suárez set to join Spire Motorsports and pilot the No. 7 Chevrolet beginning in 2026, Freeway is proud to once again ride alongside him — this time as both a team partner and a Premier Partner of the NASCAR Cup Series.

Posted on October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 by Reid Spencer

The 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season has been a rollercoaster for Kaden Honeycutt — literally and emotionally.

Honeycutt was sixth in the series standings when Niece Motorsports released him after 16 races, citing information that Honeycutt had signed with a new team and manufacturer for 2026, though the specifics of the move were not released.

Preserving his eligibility for the playoffs, Honeycutt found a fill-in ride with Young’s Motorsports for the 17th race of the season at Watkins Glen International.

Three days earlier, Halmar Friesen Racing had announced that Honeycutt would replace Stewart Friesen in the No. 52 Toyota for the rest of the season, starting Aug. 15 at Richmond Raceway. Friesen sustained season-ending injuries while driving a dirt modified race car in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, in late July.

Honeycutt made it through two playoff rounds, advancing on a tiebreaker at Martinsville to Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“Honestly, man, we’re playing with house money this weekend,” said Honeycutt, whose second-place finish at Martinsville was a career-best. “We’ve accomplished the goal of being here. That was the whole deal whenever me and (crew chief) Jimmy (Villeneuve) talked at Richmond.

“They just wanted to make it and have a fighting chance. The fact that we get to come here and mix it up, I feel like we’ve had speed all playoffs. We just get to have fun this weekend, treat it like a normal race and go out and try to win it.”

Honeycutt believes fate had a hand in his opportunity to race for the title. Admittedly, it’s an uphill battle against heavy favorite Corey Heim, an 11-time winner in a record-setting season.

“Everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I think the reason when Stewart got hurt was for me to fill in and do the job right for ‘em and show off how good this team is in this playoff that he wasn’t able to do because of his injuries.

“I think that’s the reason why we’re here for that.”

Posted on October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Last year at Phoenix Raceway, Chase Briscoe was reluctant to leave the race track.

He had just run his last race with his No. 14 team at Stewart-Haas Racing, not as part of the Championship 4 but as a driver for a team that was shutting its doors at season’s end.

It was the end of a dream for Briscoe and the beginning of another fraught with uncertainty.

“It is crazy, what a difference a year can make,” Briscoe said on Thursday during Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix. “You go from being sad and down in the dumps … I don’t know, it’s just weird.

“We were the last people to leave last year, because we didn’t want it to end. We knew when we walked out of the tunnel that that group would never be together again. They literally kicked us out. They forced us to leave. We were here longer than the champions.

“But hopefully this year, I’m the one that’s here the longest again.”

In 2024, Briscoe won the Southern 500, the regular-season cutoff race. That earned him an unexpected berth in the Cup Series Playoffs, but he was out in the Round of 12.

After moving to Joe Gibbs Racing this year, Briscoe has three victories, most recent of which came at Talladega, propelling him into the Championship 4.

Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas group, however, hasn’t abandoned him.

“This week, all the 14 guys — we still have a group chat — they all were sending me motivational videos and trying to pump me up. (Former crew chief Richard) Boswell sent me a text this morning and sent me a video of all his kids wishing me good luck.”

Briscoe is the only one of the Championship 4 drivers who hasn’t raced for a NASCAR Cup title in the season finale. Even before he drove a JGR car for the first time, Briscoe knew expectations were high.

“I’ve raced against Joe Gibbs Racing, so I knew that, if everything went well, there was a very good likelihood that you’d be racing for a championship,” he said. “Year one—I’m not going to say it’s surprising, but it also I would say exceeded expectations for year one, for sure.

“It would mean a lot to do it in year one, just with everything, with Coach (Joe Gibbs) obviously taking a chance on me. Just to start our tenure off together winning a championship would be pretty cool, but it would certainly make the expectations going forward way harder.”

Posted on October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — After a dramatic victory in the Round of 8 elimination race last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, William Byron maintained a deliberately low profile on his trip to Phoenix Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (Sun., 3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Byron elected to fly commercial to the title race.

“I live 15 minutes from the commercial airport in Charlotte,” Byron explained. “I go TSA Precheck, keep my head down — it’s great. I love it. I love to get treated like a normal person, which I am.”

Normal people, however, don’t drive stock cars at breakneck speeds in hopes of securing a series title. That’s what Byron will do on Sunday, when he chases the Bill France Cup for the third year in a row.

In 2023, Byron won the pole for the championship race and dominated the early portions of the event. He won the first stage and led 95 laps but faded to fourth as the track cooled in the late afternoon.

As it turned out, that experience was also emblematic of the current season, where inauspicious circumstances often kept Byron from finishing as well as he ran during most of a particular event.

“We’ve learned the hard way this year that it’s never over,” Byron said. “I think that’s what sticks with me. I mean, honestly, until that guy throws the checkered flag, the race is not over.

“I’ve learned that the hard way this year, and that’s kind of fueled the way I prepared.”

In the first race of the Round of 8, Byron was running second when Ty Dillon slowed in front of him, planning to enter pit road. Unable to avoid Dillon’s car, Byron slammed into it with a vicious impact that knocked him out of the race.

A week later at Talladega, Byron was running comfortably in the top 10 when he spun in the tri-oval a quarter-mile short of the finish line.

Those two incidents set up a must-win situation for Byron at Martinsville, a circumstance that allowed him to race without attention to points. That’s similar to the situation he’ll face Sunday at Phoenix, where the driver who finishes highest among the Championship 4 will claim the title.

“I did look at the board during the race, and I’m like, ‘It’s so nice not to be worried about this BS,’” Byron said of his Martinsville run. “It’s not necessarily winner-take-all per se (at Phoenix), but it definitely is a third stage [that] matters.

“You have to race the race, but the end is all that really matters.”

Posted on October 30, 2025October 30, 2025 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Denny Hamlin finished a reporter’s sentence, knowing full well how big of an advantage locking into the Championship 4 round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs early has been.

“Five out of nine,” Hamlin said, making an accurate statistical pull for just how many times the winner of the Round of 8’s first race has gone on to become the Cup Series champion.

Hamlin has the opportunity to make it six for 10 in Sunday’s championship race (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Phoenix Raceway, realizing a career-long dream after a banner season for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team. He reached the postseason’s final round with another career milestone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, landing his 60th Cup win and automatic title eligibility for Sunday’s season finale.

That early advancement three weeks ago may have fed Hamlin’s relaxed demeanor for Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day, where he fielded questions alongside fellow title contenders Chase Briscoe, William Byron and Kyle Larson. It’s Hamlin’s fifth Champ 4 appearance, but his first go-around with having that luxury, and he said that spreading out the prep work over time has helped to reduce his stress level.

“It has, simply from a preparation standpoint,” Hamlin said. “Obviously, when you prepare for a test, this is a big test coming up on Sunday, you either have a lot of time to prepare for the test or you have to cram at the last minute, and this is the first time that I’ve had significant amount of time to prepare for the test. So certainly it’s a little different this time around, which I think that’s probably why you’ve seen those kind of results.”

Extra prep should allow the No. 11 team time to dial in its approach in all aspects – racecraft, pit road, strategy. But the microscope that each team is under in a one-race championship places scrutiny on any flaws or unforced errors, no matter how minute.

JGR leadership, Hamlin said, will emphasize that detail-oriented approach in the days leading up to Sunday’s 312-lapper, but that each team member recognizes the magnitude of what’s at stake.

“I mean, that responsibility is primarily in the leader’s hands, whether it be (crew chief) Chris Gayle or it’s (competition director) Chris Gabehart in the general sense of how they want to relay that message to the team, but everyone understands the moment, right?” Hamlin said. “Bad luck or unfortunate things or self-imposed bad luck does happen in big games sometimes, and I’ve experienced it firsthand. But I know everyone’s going to put their best foot forward, and I have full faith in my team and hope it all works out. But if it doesn’t, I still would ride with this team over anyone.”

Sunday will mark Hamlin’s first championship-race bid since 2021, when he placed third in Larson’s victorious run to the title. His adversities and near-misses in all sorts of playoff formats have been well-documented, all against the backdrop of posting Hall of Fame-worthy numbers with enduring regular-season excellence.

MORE: Inside Hamlin’s heartbreaks | Paint Scheme Preview

The question was posed to Hamlin whether all those trials would make winning a championship even sweeter. He allowed himself to ponder what it might mean.

“Oh, a lot more. I mean, it is true,” Hamlin said. “It’s cliche, but it’s definitely true that the losses make you appreciate the wins more, and over the 700-and-some starts that I’ve had in this series, I’ve certainly lost a ton more than what I’ve won. And I’ve had opportunities to win championships and it’s not happened. That’s been a failed mission, and so it’s certainly if and when it does happen, it absolutely will be more gratifying.”

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Zach Sturniolo

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ty Majeski returns to Phoenix Raceway as the defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, back in the Championship 4 with a chance to repeat.

He has no plans to relinquish the title Friday night.

MORE: Phoenix schedule | Truck Series standings

The year has been dominated by Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim, winner of a series-record 11 races in 2025 and who sets his sights on his first Truck Series title on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But Majeski is waiting in the wings, winless this season but victorious in last year’s fall finale at Phoenix, leading 132 of 150 laps from pole position to claim the 2024 championship.

The highest finisher of the Championship 4 drivers Friday will win the Craftsman Truck Series title, leaving Heim with little advantage over his trio of contenders. After winning last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Heim acknowledged Majeski is likely his stiffest competition at Phoenix, but also expressed some discontent with the prospects of falling short after a record-setting campaign.

“He’s definitely the guy that I’m looking for, but at the end of the day, you really never know what next week will bring,” Heim said. “You can kind of suck all year and just bring your best truck to Phoenix and you can win the whole championship. It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been all year. Look at them; they’ve not been the best. I don’t think they have a win to their name, but they’re probably the truck to beat along with us next weekend.”

At Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix Raceway, Majeski offered his take as the reigning champion of the Truck Series. Suffice to say, Majeski returns to the 1-mile tri-oval confident.

“I caught an interview that (Heim) did after Martinsville and he was talking a lot about how it would be a shame if we were able to take it from him and how dumb the format is,” Majeski said. “So yeah, I think we’ve got him right where we want him. I think he’s worried about the 98. I don’t think he wanted to race us this weekend, and here we are with another shot at it.”

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

Majeski doesn’t say that with the intent to take away from what Heim has accomplished in 2025, giving credit to him and his No. 11 Tricon team for compiling an astounding number of wins, laps led and more. But he’s also ready to play spoiler to perhaps the most commanding campaign in Craftsman Truck Series history.

“It’d be great. I mean, social media would just explode, and I’m here for all of it,” Majeski smiled. “I think that would be fantastic. Obviously, there would be a lot of interesting comments, I think. So yeah, I love that. I love stirring the pot a little bit. And, yeah, I’d love to be the guy that did that.”

ThorSport Racing has found its niche at Phoenix, leading the organization to three of the last four Truck Series titles. Majeski typically thrives on tracks like Phoenix — flatter, 1-mile ovals — as he flexed a season ago. But that championship triumph marked his only top-10 finish at Phoenix in four starts. That hasn’t impacted the confidence with which he enters this weekend’s festivities.

“Everything changes year to year, right?” Majeski said. “There’s so many different rules packages, even from last year. The way they’re (inspecting) some of the body stuff, there’s a lot of differences that a lot of people don’t see from the outside looking in. So you’re always chasing. You’re always trying to come up with something new, come up with something better. And right when you think you’re the best is exactly when you get beat. And we’re digging for more.

“I mean, we’re coming back with a similar setup and a similar truck, but we have a lot of plans throughout practice later (Thursday) afternoon to deviate from our comfort zone. So we’re expecting the 11 to be better than last year, and we’re expecting to be better as well.”