Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell ready to take duel to the desert

Posted on November 2, 2023November 3, 2023 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson holds an important opportunity in his run for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Should the 2021 champ win the title Sunday, he’d join two-time champions Kyle Busch and Joey Logano as the only active drivers with multiple titles.

“I think you can make a case for all of us,” Larson said of his title competitors. “And I think whoever wins Sunday is a very deserving champion.”

MORE: Projected race results | Phoenix 101

Even at only 31 years old, the Californian is the veteran of this year’s championship-eligible quartet. With four wins – five if you include the All-Star Race – Larson has topped the 1,000-miles-led mark for the third time in his career. His 1,127 total laps led is the most in the series. He has 14 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and, along with Denny Hamlin, leads the series with eight stage wins on the season.

Phoenix has been a particularly good place for him. His championship win in 2021 came from pole position, and he led the most laps (107 of 321) in the race. He has 11 top-10 finishes in 18 starts at the one-mile track and led 201 laps this spring, only to finish fourth in a race won by teammate William Byron.

Even with his success at Phoenix – and success in general – the 23-time NASCAR Cup Series winner refuses to consider himself the odds-on favorite this weekend – even as the most experienced and winningest NASCAR Cup Series driver among the four.

“I don’t view us as having a leg up on the others because we have a championship at all,” Larson said. “That was a couple of years ago, totally different race car, pit stops are different, restarts are different, the race is different. It’s all different. All of us have a fairly equal shot.

“I came into the Championship 4 a couple of years ago with no experience in the round of four and really had been in the Round of 8 only one other time before then. It does not make a difference. If your team executes right, any of us could win.”

WHY THEY COULD WIN: Christopher Bell | Kyle Larson

At long last, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson go head-to-head in Cup cars

Those who have been following the respective careers of Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have been waiting for this moment since both drivers graduated to the NASCAR Cup Series.

For years, Bell and Larson fought for Midget racing supremacy at the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., with Bell winning three straight titles from 2017-2019 and Larson claiming the next two.

They have dueled in 410 Sprint Cars. They have raced against each other and as teammates in international competitions on the dirt tracks of New Zealand.

For the first on NASCAR’s biggest stage, they will go head-to-head on pavement with a title on the line in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

Yes, there are two other drivers who can claim the series trophy — William Byron and Ryan Blaney — but Larson and Bell are the only two who have been there before—just not at the same time.

Larson won the Cup championship in his first attempt in 2021, his debut year with Hendrick Motorsports. Bell qualified for last year’s title race with a dramatic victory at Martinsville and finished third in the final standings, but Larson didn’t make the final four.

This year, they’re in it together.

“I hope we’re able to do this for many years into the future,” Bell said. “I hope that we’re able to do this many more times, and it’s certainly not the last.”

Don’t expect the rivalry to turn bitter, though. The four drivers in the Championship 4 are unusually compatible, for being playoff contenders.

“We definitely have a good, respectful group that, I guess, doesn’t have any history of having wrecks or anything like that,” Bell said. “So that’s good. But I honestly think it’s a great final four. It’s definitely Next Gen and probably a final four you wouldn’t have seen five years ago.”

Posted on November 2, 2023November 3, 2023 by Zach Sturniolo

AVONDALE, Ariz. — For the first time in his eight-year career, Ryan Blaney has advanced to the Championship 4. William Byron makes his simultaneous title fight debut, too, making rooting interests complicated for some.

Well, really just one in particular: Erin Blaney. Erin is caught in the middle with a personal emotional investment if either her brother Ryan or longtime boyfriend Byron is able to win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).

Byron and Blaney — the racer, that is — are no strangers to racing close on the track. But the stakes have never been as high as they will be on Sunday afternoon.

“I told Erin, I was like, ‘You’ve got the best percentage of anybody of someone you care about winning this thing,’ ” Blaney said with a laugh during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at the track. “I was like, ‘You’ve got a better chance than us, all four of us sitting up here!’ So yeah, it is a funny dynamic, but at the end of the day, he and I both understand we’re still competitors. But we’re gonna race each other with respect, too.”

MORE: Breaking down Champ 4 at Phoenix | Phoenix 101

In that regard, both drivers anticipate business as usual come time to strap into their machines. With a NASCAR title on the line, Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford simply become obstacles on their respective routes to what would be the greatest accomplishment in either driver’s career.

A familial dynamic is hard, if not impossible, to ignore though. Time spent getting to know each other outside the race track has been vital to establishing better relationships both in and out of the car.

“We’re both gonna be going for it on Sunday and trying to win, so nothing changes there,” Byron said. “But yeah, when we get off the track, I mean, we spend time together and hang out. And so I’d say it’s like two different dynamics, but at the same time, I think that off-the-track relationship allows us to race with good respect and also good trust and race hard.”

Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Their situations are unique. Brotherly racing is by no means a new phenomenon in NASCAR (see: Busches, Waltrips, Labontes, Wallaces, Bodines, etc.). But two brother-type figures inside the championship hunt with a scheduled 312 laps standing between them? That we haven’t seen, particularly at the sport’s highest level.

“William and I have always raced really well together personally. He and I are buddies,” Blaney said. “He’s a good guy. I’ve gotten the pleasure of getting to know him, kind of more in-depth with him, the relationship side of that piece. Yeah, he comes from a great family. He’s a good kid. Awesome race car driver. Him and I have a lot of respect for each other. But at the end of the day, yeah, it is kind of funny we’re both going for a championship.”

In different ways, either driver could be framed as the favorite heading into Sunday’s finale. Byron is the most recent winner at Phoenix, one of a series-high six 2023 wins. Blaney had an incredible Round of 8 with finishes of sixth at Las Vegas, second at Homestead-Miami and a dominant win at Martinsville last weekend after leading 145 laps.

Blaney had led scores of laps in other races previously: 13 times in his career, Blaney has led 100 or more laps in a single event. He’s only won two of those. Both have come this year, with the other coming in May’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“The way we were able to do it last week was great because we had to come from the middle of the pack after all the pit stuff was kind of jumbled,” Blaney said. “Being able to work our way through and be patient for the first 100 laps of that run really, I think, kind of slowly started us moving forward. I thought the discipline we all had, whether it was on the pit box, Josh (Williams, spotter) up top, me behind the wheel just understanding you’re in it for the long haul, let’s just inch our way forward and close this race out. That was great.

“I feel like we executed really good. I think it’s everyone getting better. Like I talked about earlier, everyone is syncing up at the right time of doing the best job they can do, in the pits, at the wheel, at the race shop. Everything is just kind of clicking. Like I said, you work a long time to try to get all that stuff synchronized. Last week was a perfect example of it, perfect storm. It ended up with us winning the race.”

James Thomas | NASCAR Studios

Byron is the one driver in this year’s Championship 4 who didn’t win to advance into the title-determining round, with Kyle Larson victorious in Vegas and Christopher Bell the winner at Homestead. But Byron is simply not as worried heading into Phoenix as he was through the penultimate round of the playoffs.

“I feel like the nerves for us in the Round of 8 were way worse than they are now,” said Byron, the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion. “I feel like for us to try to get to the championship race was the goal all year and I feel like now we’ve got a one-in-four chance to win it. So no more counting points. No more thinking about scenarios. It’s just go out and be the best we can be. So I feel a lot of comfort in that. And I feel like it kind of brings me back, to like I said, my Xfinity days when I won a championship and how that felt in the final four.”

Byron and Blaney each have 10 career wins. Byron has 90 fewer starts.

At the checkered flag Sunday, though, one of them could leave with a NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Posted on November 2, 2023November 3, 2023 by Pat DeCola

AVONDALE, Ariz. – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Regular Season Champion Corey Heim insisted Thursday morning at Phoenix Raceway there is no absolute clear-cut championship favorite among the four drivers racing for the big trophy Friday night. But of course. … he certainly likes his chances.

Despite one fewer start than the rest of the full-time field – Heim missed the Gateway race because of illness – the driver of the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota leads the series in top fives (12), top 10s (19) and stage wins (seven). He brings a streak of 15 consecutive top-10 finishes to Phoenix. And his 564 laps led is double that of any other full-time competitor.

The 21-year-old Georgia native – who is competing in his first full-time season – has only a single previous Phoenix start; leading five laps and finishing seventh last year driving for Kyle Busch. But he’s been preparing for this race since locking himself in early in the final round of the Playoffs.

“I’ve heard it go both ways, so I don’t know, but I think we’ve earned that (favorite) label,” Heim said. “I guess it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day until you win it. I feel like we have just been so rock solid and consistent since the springtime. We’ve done a good job of executing every week and we show up with fast Toyota Tundra TRD Pros.

“I feel like ever since around Martinsville when our first win happened, we kind of knew that we were capable of it. It was just a matter of executing from that point.”

Since his maiden national series victory at the Martinsville half-miler in April, Heim has led laps in all but one race (Talladega) and finished outside the top five only three times. It’s the kind of track record that has helped generate confidence and expectation.

Heim said he’s got plenty of family coming in from all over the country to support him this week, and he’s been relying on other Toyota Racing Development (TRD) drivers such as fellow national series title contenders John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell, who have had championship experience, for tips on the sim and what to expect this weekend.

“It was nice to be able to kind of spread out some of my studying and really just sit on it and study on it for six weeks and show up and knowing what I need to do, and that has been really big for me,” Heim said. “I understand the circumstances and with this being my first full-time season and my first playoffs, being able to sit on it under the circumstances and the pressure has really let me just come here and feel a lot better about it.

“It would be a lot different if I just won my way in at (the last race) Homestead or something and had a week and a half to think about it. But I feel like I’d be more unprepared and coming in with a lot of pressure on me.

“But to be able to sit on it and study on it for six weeks and show up, kind of know what I need to do, was really big for me.”

Carson Hocevar won’t be unprepared for Truck Series Championship race

Carson Hocevar doesn’t consider his flat tire an omen. He’d prefer to think of it as bad luck that’s now behind him.

“A few days ago, I hit a curb with my truck and got a flat,” Hocevar said during a question-and-answer session with reporters during Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix Raceway.

Hocevar wasn’t referring to the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet he’ll drive in Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship race at the 1-mile track in the Sonoran Desert (10 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The 20-year-old driver was happy the flat tire happened with his personal truck and not on the race track.

“We got it out of the way, hopefully,” Hocevar said.

The incident with the truck was a minor inconvenience during a week in which Hocevar has been running simulations to prepare for Phoenix, not only for his own Truck Series effort but also for the NASCAR Cup Series teams at Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron qualified for the Championship 4 on the Cup side.

“We’ve done at least a hundred runs of sim just on Phoenix alone from the start of the playoffs till now,” said Hocevar, who will graduate to the Cup Series in a Spire Motorsports car next year. “I’ve done hours and hours. I’ve done Cup sim these past few weeks for Phoenix, with Hendrick to run for the final four.

“I’ve done days with (trainer) Josh Wise where we don’t even work on the race car — we just work on myself. And obviously, with Niece, we’ve worked since the beginning of the year even, just working on Phoenix alone …

“I think we’ve gotten it a little bit better just in the last two days.”

Now, if Hocevar can just keep all four tires up, he expects to be a contender for the Truck Series title before he makes the jump to Cup. He’ll find out Friday night.

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Cole Custer’s car sat dormant during a long red-flag period in last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Six laps remained in regulation and his working margin relative to the elimination line at the time was a slim plus-two in the points, with a Championship 4 berth in the balance.

Overtime loomed, and the specter of late-race chaos seemed like more of a promise than a threat. Jonathan Toney, a Stewart-Haas Racing veteran in his first season as a crew chief with the No. 00 Ford group, keyed the team communications to fill in the lull.

“Bud, I’ve been sitting here trying to find something inspirational to say,” Toney told his driver. “I don’t guess I really can, so I’m just gonna tell you: No matter what, I’m proud of you, I’m proud of this team. We’ve come a long, long way this year, so let’s go finish this thing off, so we can go race ’em at Phoenix.”

Custer’s margin held in the most spectacular of ways, as he jammed his battered, fire-flashed car into reverse and backed across the start/finish line after the final-lap fracas that came to fruition.

“I’ve never done that before,” Custer said Thursday during NASCAR Championship Weekend Media Day. “That was a new one for me, but you’re gonna do whatever it takes to try to get in the Championship 4.”

Custer will compete for his first Xfinity Series championship in Saturday’s season finale (7 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App), squaring off against Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek and JR Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer. The 25-year-old Californian has made the most of his return to the Xfinity circuit this season, scoring two wins, six poles and surviving the playoff gauntlet run.

Custer came back to the Xfinity Series this year with SHR after three full Cup seasons with the organization, a term that yielded a breakthrough victory as a rookie in 2020 but that also produced finishes outside the playoff running the next two years. From the step down the ladder has come a measure of rejuvenation. Custer’s car still wears the No. 00 that he carried during his previous stint in the series, but it’s a new group led by Toney that surrounds him. Their mission will continue into next season, with SHR announcing Thursday morning that Custer will return to the No. 00 ride for 2024.

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

“It’s been an extremely proud year for me because I think we’ve built something,” Custer says. “I think we started the year off and we weren’t exactly where we wanted to be, but we were a young team with a lot of young guys and I think we were able to really build it through the year and make sure to just communicate well, and through that, we turned ourselves into a championship-competing team.”

The team took some time to realize its performance goals. Custer didn’t notch his first top-five finish until April, but that fifth-place result at Richmond Raceway — his first since the season-opener at Daytona — was the start of an 11-race streak of top 10s that cemented his place in the higher reaches of the standings.

That resurgent run came together under the guidance of Toney, one of the senior-most members of the organization. The North Carolina native got his start there in December 2003, when the team was still under the Haas CNC Racing banner and years before Tony Stewart’s involvement as a co-owner.

Toney’s background and know-how have been a boon to SHR for years, and he served as the engineer for Stewart’s efforts for 14 Cup Series victories over four seasons, including the 2011 championship. Since then, Toney has served in research and development capacities and as the Xfinity program’s head of engineering, before his transition to crew chief this year.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview: Phoenix

Calling the shots from atop the pit box has been a new act for the 49-year-old Toney. So has scratching around for a motivational team-radio speech, then sweating out the final nervous but fulfilling moments at Martinsville.

“We’ve just got such an uncommon group of guys. I mean, they are just a special, special group,” Toney told NASCAR.com post-race at Martinsville. “I’ve done this a long time and have been with some championship race teams, and I’m gonna put this one at the top. I’m so proud of them, so proud of our little race car driver. He’s an awesome little wheelman.

“I don’t think Phoenix will be this stressful. I hope not. I don’t know if I can take it.”

Custer has been through the Xfinity Series’ elimination-style format before, advancing to the final four in consecutive years (2018-19) and finishing second to eventual champ Tyler Reddick each time at Homestead-Miami Speedway – the former site of the finale. Reaching this stage of the playoffs again, Custer says, has him prepared for how Saturday’s 200-miler could play out.

“I think it just comes with experience knowing what to expect, knowing not to get too riled up through the weekend,” Custer said. “You’re gonna be up at times and you’re gonna be down at times, but knowing that you just have to put it together that last run, and I’m confident that we’re gonna have a fast car and should be able to compete for a win there.”

Posted on November 2, 2023November 4, 2023 by Dustin Albino

After 32 races, it all comes down to this.

Exactly 4,900 laps have been completed in the 2023 Xfinity Series season. Only 200 laps at Phoenix Raceway remain before a first-time champion is crowned.

This year’s Championship 4 is contested by series veterans, young hot shots with great potential and returning drivers after stints in the Cup Series. Three of the four championship-eligible drivers have tested the waters at NASCAR’s top level on a full-time basis. Sam Mayer is the only outlier, as he has fewer than 100 national series starts in total. His JR Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier, has more top fives in the Xfinity Series than Mayer has started races alone.

Then, there’s Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek.

Ah yes, a moment more than seven years in the making after their memorable post-race scuffle at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in the Craftsman Truck Series. Both have significantly matured since, however, and stand as polished veterans now, each vying for their first NASCAR championship.

Let’s preview each driver’s chances.

MORE: 2023 Xfinity Series winners

John Hunter Nemechek
By all measures, Nemechek has been the most consistent in 2023 of the four championship drivers. The No. 20 team leads the series in wins (seven), top-five finishes (17), top 10s (24), laps led (1,017) and average finish (8.9). Each week, Nemechek finds himself in contention, whether the team struggles throughout the race or not.

Nemechek came up empty-handed in his championship vow at Phoenix in the Truck Series in 2021, running for powerhouse Kyle Busch Motorsports. He’s with another powerhouse this year in Joe Gibbs Racing, which has won 13 of the last 22 Xfinity races contested at Phoenix. For the last two years, it was a JGR driver celebrating the championship (Daniel Hemric 2021; Ty Gibbs 2022).

There’s also this: Nemechek has never finished worse than ninth in six Phoenix starts. In March, he finished sixth, the best of the four Championship 4 drivers.

“I like the race track,” Nemechek said on Championship 4 Media Day at Phoenix Raceway. “I’ve yet to win here, so hopefully, we can accomplish that this weekend. It’s been a good race track to me.”

Sam Mayer
JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on this week’s “Dale Jr Download” podcast that he told Mayer he was the favorite to win the championship this weekend. Since winning his first career race at Road America in late July, the No. 1 team has won four of the last 13 races contested. The caveat is that only one of those came on an oval – Homestead – which locked him into the championship race. He has zero stage wins and has led the fewest laps of the four championship drivers.

It’s been hit or miss for Mayer in the playoffs, too. He has two clutch wins, including winning the Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval to advance into the Round of 8. The No. 1 car has finished 25th or worse in three of the six playoff races, however

This is Mayer’s first crack at a championship at Phoenix. And it’s a track he hasn’t excelled at in four starts this far, posting an average finish of 20th. In last year’s season finale, he finished 34th, five laps down. That won’t get it done this year, and JRM and Chevrolet will need to have the upstart driver as prepared as can be for this weekend.

“I’m locked in this week,” Mayer said. “I’ve put so much effort into this weekend over the last couple of weeks to make it happen that I’m not going to let anything get in my way from being my best. I’m going to put it all out there and do my best. I’ve put my best into this week, last week as well, and it all comes down to Saturday.”

Justin Allgaier
It took a last-lap pass to win at Martinsville, and Allgaier will now make his sixth Championship 4 appearance this weekend. He leads the series with 13 stage wins this season. His previous two Championship 4 opportunities at Phoenix ended in disappointment, finishing runner-up to Austin Cindric in 2020 before more heartbreak came just last season when he lost the lead late to Gibbs.

Allgaier doesn’t sugarcoat it, though. Phoenix is among his favorite tracks on the schedule and he expects to win this race — and the championship — outright, provided his team does what they’re all capable of. The 13-year veteran has a pair of wins at the track, with the last of those coming in 2019. He has 17 top-10 results in 26 starts and an impressive 9.5 average finish.

“It’s going to be a difficult battle,” Allgaier said of Saturday. “But when we come here, I feel like I have this peace with this race track, and I have a lot of peace with how the year has gone and where we’re at. This race is so important to have good practice, qualify well, and execute the stages properly. Anything here can and will happen. It literally takes everything perfect to walk out of here hoisting the trophy.”

Come Saturday afternoon, there’s a strong chance the No. 7 Chevrolet is pacing the field at some point, as Allgaier has led laps in 11 of the 15 Phoenix races that he’s been with JRM. He won both stages in the spring but was involved in a late wreck and finished 36th.

Cole Custer
Custer is coming off three years in the Cup Series, where he won as a rookie at Kentucky. His lack of consistency wound up with Stewart-Haas Racing dropping him back to the Xfinity Series for 2023 — and, just announced, 2024 as well — where he has tallied the second-most top 10s of the playoff drivers remaining.

Custer has two previous Championship 4 appearances, though both came when the championship was fought at Homestead. The California native finished runner-up in the standings to Tyler Reddick in both 2018 and 2019.

Throughout Custer’s Xfinity tenure, he has always been solid at Phoenix. He’s yet to visit Victory Lane but did finish second in the penultimate race of the 2019 season. In five of his seven starts, he’s finished inside the top 10. Custer will need to excel this weekend on an oval, while his two wins this season have come on road courses at Portland and the inaugural race on the Chicago Street Course.

“I’m confident about it,” Custer said of his Phoenix chances. “I’ve won a race here in K&N and ARCA, which is different, but I know how to go fast here and know what I need in the car. I think we can go out there and compete with anybody; I’m not too worried about it.”

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Moments before the final green flag of NASCAR’s 75th anniversary season flies, a distinguished group of past Cup Series champions will pair with four young racers to deliver the most famous words in motorsports ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, Nov. 5.

Representing nearly every decade of NASCAR racing history are four Cup Series champions who were each named to NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list earlier this year: Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch.

With the current Cup Series Championship 4 drivers emblematic of NASCAR’s present, four aspiring youth racers will serve as a representation of NASCAR’s future: 8-year-old Brexton Busch of Mooresville, North Carolina; 7-year-old Easton Cambensy of Tucson, Arizona; 9-year-old Giselle Hicks of Mooresville, North Carolina; and 10-year-old Grayson Walcott of Chicago.

These “Diamond Anniversary Dignitaries” will deliver the command for drivers to start their engines alongside executives from NASCAR’s Premier Partners, who are serving as the official Grand Marshals for the championship race.

“The entire 75th anniversary season has been a celebration of not only where NASCAR has been, but where the sport stands today and the bright future that lies ahead,” said Pete Jung, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at NASCAR. “Seeing young racers who dream of becoming NASCAR stars side-by-side with some of the most legendary drivers in history as we prepare to crown a new Cup Series champion will be a powerful manifestation of that spirit. We hope it serves as a moment of recognition for all those who contributed to NASCAR’s rise and inspires anyone eager to join the ride from here.”

Furthering the fusion of past, present and future, in partnership with the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the first-ever NASCAR premier series championship trophy will be displayed along with the current Bill France Cup championship trophy during this anniversary tribute.

Fans watching at home can catch the special anniversary moment live on NBC before the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 5 (NBC, Peacock, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

More details about the four NASCAR Cup Series champions representing the sport’s past:

Richard Petty: Richard Petty is called “The King” for good reason. A member of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2010, Petty has racked up the most wins (200), most poles (123), tied for most championships (seven), most wins in a season (27), most Daytona 500 wins (seven), most consecutive wins (10) and most starts (1,185) in NASCAR premier series history.
Rusty Wallace: A member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2013, Wallace’s first NASCAR Cup race resulted in his first top-five finish: second at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1980. He came to the series full time in 1984 and won Rookie of the Year honors, embarking on a full-time Cup career in which he won the 1989 series championship and 55 total races (11th all time).
Bobby Labonte: A member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame class of 2020, Labonte captured the 2000 Cup Series championship and 21 total Cup Series wins in his career. That portfolio includes three crown-jewel triumphs — a Coca-Cola 600, a Southern 500 and a Brickyard 400. He is also a 10-time winner in the Xfinity Series, claiming that tour’s championship in 1991.
Kurt Busch: The first champion of the Cup Series’ Playoff era, the recently retired Busch established a long and impressive career with wins in 19 of his 22 seasons as a Cup regular. Among those 34 victories were a Daytona 500 triumph (2017) and a Coca-Cola 600 win (2010). Busch also added nine victories combined in the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series.

More details about the four youth racers representing NASCAR’s future:

Brexton Busch: Brexton, 8, is following the racing path forged by his grandfather Tom, his uncle Kurt, a NASCAR champion, and his dad Kyle, a two-time NASCAR champion and the winningest driver in NASCAR history. The third-generation driver began his racing career in 2020 at the age of 5 in the Beginner Box Stock division at Millbridge Speedway and Mountain Creek Speedway. Brexton picked up his first victory at Mountain Creek Speedway just a month into his career and hasn’t slowed down since, racking up the Saturday Millbridge Beginner Box championship (2022), the Mountain Creek Beginner Box championship (2022) and the Tuesday night Beginner Box Millbridge championship (2023).
Easton Cambensy: Easton Cambensy, 7, is a second-generation race car driver from Tucson, Arizona, and a current driver in the NASCAR Youth Series. At the young age of 7, he claimed his first quarter-midget track championship at his home club of Tucson QMA. He has since won two more, including the prestigious Triple Crown that includes track championships in the Junior 160, Junior Animal and Junior Honda divisions.
Giselle Hicks: Giselle Hicks, 9, is a fourth-generation race car driver eager to carry on her family’s legacy in NASCAR. Her great-grandfather is the late Glenn Wood and her dad, Michael Hicks, is a rear tire changer on Christopher Bell’s No. 20 pit crew closing out his 19th year of changing tires in the sport. This year marks Giselle’s third year in wing kart racing, in which she took home 10 wins and finished fourth in the 2023 points standings at Millbridge Speedway.
Grayson Walcott: Grayson Walcott, 10, of Grayson Dean Racing, is a fast-rising go-kart racer from Chicago who just completed his rookie year on the pro circuit with Pole Position Motorsports. Grayson has raced all over the United States and was nominated for Rookie of the Year in Mexico. He starred in the limited run television show on Discovery+, “Baby Drivers,” which followed his journey in the world of motorsports. Grayson made his debut as a junior sports commentator this summer at the NASCAR Chicago Street Race weekend.

Posted on November 2, 2023November 2, 2023 by Cameron Richardson

The 75th NASCAR Cup Series champion will be crowned Sunday at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the milestone season comes to a close underneath the desert sun.

Kyle Larson looks to become the latest multi-time Cup champion while Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and William Byron all seek their first title.

Before the action gets underway this weekend, let’s set the stage for the championship race with a short outlook for the four title contenders, trends to watch for Sunday’s showdown and a closer look at the special Goodyear tire that will be raced at Phoenix.

RULE CHANGES/GOODYEAR TIRE NOTES 🛞

Goodyear will run a special sidewall design for the Phoenix tires. A 75th anniversary logo will be included on all tires for Championship Weekend. 2023 also marked a milestone year for Goodyear as it was the 125th anniversary of the tire company.

The tire setup is different from the Phoenix spring race. This will be the setup that was used at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July to introduce more lap-time fall-off at the 1-mile Arizona track.

Teams will be allotted three sets of tires for practice, one set for qualifying and an additional eight sets for Sunday’s race.

(Via Goodyear Racing)

RELATED: See rules changes for 2023

PHOENIX RACEWAY HISTORY 🌵

Phoenix Raceway was built in 1964, and the first NASCAR race was held in 1978 with Richard Petty taking the checkered flag. The first Cup race was held in 1988 and won by Alan Kulwicki, who celebrated with his first ever “Polish Victory Lap.”

Lights were installed at the track in 2004, leading to two races hosted at the track every season in 2005.

Phoenix has undergone two reconfigurations. The first in 2011 introduced the widened dogleg and added progressive banking in Turns 3 and 4. The second configuration moved from the flat straightaway off Turn 2 to just before the dogleg in 2018.

(Via Racing Insights)

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS 🏆

Byron, Blaney, Bell and Larson will battle it out for the championship. Byron may enter as the consensus pick given his win in the spring race and that he’s amassed six victories this year, but momentum matters and Blaney is entering Sunday’s race one week after taking the checkered flag at Martinsville.

Blaney also owns four consecutive top-five finishes at Phoenix and has an average finish of 2.7 at the track in the Next Gen era.

Sunday has all the making of a highly-competitive affair as Byron, Bell and Larson all have top-10 finishes at Phoenix in the last two trips to the desert. Qualifying will be a must-watch on Saturday (4:35 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the four vie for pole position and the all-important No. 1 pit stall.

MORE: Racing Insights’ projections for Sunday

📉 TRENDS TO WATCH 📈

— Six different drivers have won the last six Phoenix races.

— The Stage 1 winner went on to win the last two Phoenix races.

— Toyota has only one win in the last seven Phoenix races.

— Hendrick Motorsports drivers won three of the last six Phoenix Races.

(Via Racing Insights)

CLASSIC FALL PHOENIX RACEWAY RACES 🎥

1988: Alan Kulwicki wins first Cup race at Phoenix | WATCH

2012: Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer wreck, brawl | WATCH

2017: Matt Kenseth wins final race; Elliott, Hamlin rivalry continues | WATCH

2020: Chase Elliott wins first championship race at Phoenix | WATCH

ON-TRACK SCHEDULE 🗓️

Friday, Nov. 3

— 8:05 p.m. ET: Practice (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

Saturday, Nov. 4

— 4:35 p.m. ET: Qualifying (USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Sunday, Oct. 22

— 3 p.m. ET: Cup Series Championship (NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App)

MORE: Full schedule at Phoenix Championship Weekend

FAN REWARDS 🫵

Fans can get in on the action all season long with NASCAR Fan Rewards, a free program that rewards fans for participating in the action when they watch races and play NASCAR Fantasy.

There’s no cost to join. Fans must be 18 years or older to participate in the program.

Earn points by checking into a race from home or at the track, setting your Fantasy Live lineup, making purchases on the NASCAR.com shop, and more. Points can be redeemed for race tickets, merchandise, and VIP experiences at the track, including pace car rides and waving the green flag at qualifying.

JOIN TODAY

FOLLOW THE RACE 📲

NASCAR Mobile has now added support for fans to “Follow the Race” and access live leaderboard and race information from Live Activities in the current app release (v13.2.0), available now. Android users, we didn’t forget you — the same functionality has been custom-built for Android devices, as well.

How to access Live Activities on iPhones:

Make sure your iOS device has been updated to 16.1 or higher.
Available on the leaderboard of all NASCAR Series races.
Click on the three-dot menu near the top right of the screen.
Select “Follow the Race.”
Swipe up to access the home screen, and you will see the Live Activities at the top.
Lock the device, and you will see Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
To turn it off, simply visit the leaderboard, click the three-dot menu, and “Unfollow the Race.”

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM 💻

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week, a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.

NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement to the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter, and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Press Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 2, 2023) — NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran has been announced as an inductee in the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The Toronto native has spent more than 30 years in motorsports as a competitor, track owner and official.

Moran joined NASCAR in 2008 to oversee NASCAR’s Touring Series, including the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in Canada. He moved to the helm of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in July 2016, guiding the series through its first season of the playoff format. Moran was named NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director prior to the 2022 season and was instrumental in the implementation of the Next Gen car.

“Brad has been an incredible asset to NASCAR since joining our team and this honor is well deserved,” said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR Senior Vice President, Competition. “His work has strengthened NASCAR from the grassroots level to the NASCAR Cup Series, and his dedication to motorsports has improved the industry in Canada and the United States.”

Prior to joining NASCAR, Moran owned Barrie Speedway in Ontario for seven years. The track hosted both the NASCAR Pinty’s Series and NASCAR Advanced Auto Parts Weekly Series, which helped develop Moran’s relationship with NASCAR officials.

Moran is one of 15 inductees in the upcoming class that will be honored during the Canadian International Autoshow on Saturday, February 17, 2024 in Toronto. Joining Moran in the hall of fame class is long-time NASCAR Pinty’s Series competitor Mark Dilley. Dilley has 143 career starts, fourth most in series history.

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Staff Report

The Championship 4 of Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Kyle Larson will all join host Alex Weaver for a championship-worthy discussion Thursday live from Championship Media Day in Phoenix.

NASCAR.com will stream the conversation live from the Phoenix Raceway at 5;45 p.m. ET — you can watch here. The roundtable can also be seen on NASCAR’s YouTube and social channels.

Bell, Blaney Byron and Larson will square up for a showdown in the desert for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). This year, Larson has his eye on another Cup Series championship, while Byron, Blaney and Bell aim to become first-time champions.

Larson was the first to clinch his spot in the championship round after hitting the jackpot in the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a win. Bell punched his ticket to Phoenix after a late surge at Homestead-Miami Speedway, earning another clutch victory.

Blaney broke through, launching himself into the Championship 4 for the first time in his career after a dominant win last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

Byron, who has been the winningest driver this season with six, claimed the final spot on points.

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Chris Murdock

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of four stories examining why each Championship 4 driver could win the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Tuesday: Kyle Larson
Wednesday: Christopher Bell
Thursday: William Byron
Friday: Ryan Blaney

• • •

William Byron will win the 2023 championship because …

The second verse is the same as the first in 2023.

William Byron enters the season finale the youngest of the Championship 4, but age is just a number when it comes to performing at the top level in the NASCAR Cup Series, and Byron has done just that. Leading the series with six wins on the year, including the spring race at Phoenix, he’s proven to be a race-winning contender week in and week out in what has been a superstar-type of breakout season.

Byron showed up in the spring Phoenix race during the pressure-packed final restart, edging out his Championship 4 counterparts, who all finished inside the top 10. If and when it comes time to take the gloves off, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native can be one of the best at closing the deal.

Byron is one of the pioneers who came from sim to seat and didn’t take long to become one of the top names in the Cup Series. Team owner Rick Hendrick compares the 25-year-old to the former driver of the No. 24, Jeff Gordon; opening the door for the next generation of drivers.

“If you take a kid that didn’t grow up in the sport, that had no connections in the sport, that was able to go to college and do all the things he has done, learning how to race on a computer, I think that is kind of like when Jeff Gordon came on the scene and opened the door for a lot of open-wheel guys,” Hendrick said. “I think William is a great example for a lot of kids, young people, that have a dream of racing in this sport, seeing that you can put those tools to work and accomplish something pretty spectacular.”

The championship does not solely rest on the shoulders of Byron. The No. 24 pit crew, led by crew chief Rudy Fugle, has been simply the best out of not only the Championship 4 contenders, but the entire field. After 35 races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew remains in the top spot with the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 10.940 seconds, making them the team to watch should it come down to the final race off pit road as it has so many years in the past.

And while the driver comes into the Championship after a difficult showing at Martinsville, he’s still been the best driver of the postseason. No one can top his average finish of 6.3 in nine races — or his five top fives and seven top 10s.

For William Byron on Sunday, the story will be the same — to show that same consistency and late-race aggression that scored the team a victory at this track in the spring. Only this time, it’ll be for the title.

Key stats: 6 wins, 20 top 10s, 14 top fives, 4 poles, 921 laps led, 11.2 average start, 11.2 average finish.

Championship 4 history: This is William Byron’s first appearance in the Championship 4.

Defining 2023 moment: His 13th-place run at Martinsville Speedway to clinch his spot into his first Championship 4, the only driver to do so on points.

Watch out for: The split agenda in the Hendrick Motorsports shop. William Byron enters Sunday’s race with a teammate in the Championship 4 (Kyle Larson). Larson was able to focus on Phoenix before anyone else, given his win in the Round of 8 opener — the eyes aren’t solely focused on the No. 24 team for Hendrick Motorsports on Sunday.