Posted on by Staff Report

Three NASCAR rookies — one each in the NASCAR Cup Series, Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series — brought home awards for their respective teams after a thrilling weekend of championship races at Phoenix Raceway.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric started the 2022 year with a victory in the season-opening Daytona 500, and he took the season’s final checkered flag on Sunday, having earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Year.

Cindric, 24, has the Daytona 500 victory alongside five top-five and nine top-10 finishes this season and advanced to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

He said securing that all-important early season victory allowed him to essentially learn the ropes of NASCAR’s major league as a rookie with the security of knowing he’d already earned a playoff position.

“It does change the regular season in the fact I’m able to go through the regular season without the pressure of having to win a race as well as figure everything out,” Cindric said. “And that was probably more of an advantage than I gave it credit for, not having to put pressure on yourself, your team or have to be desperate.

“From that standpoint, I think it was something that made me be able to be patient or aggressive in areas I needed to be.”

Following Cindric in the rookie standings are fellow Ford drivers – Wood Brothers’ Harrison Burton and Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland. Burton’s best finish was third place at the Indianapolis Road Course this summer. Gilliland’s top effort was fourth place at the Indy Road Course.

RELATED: Cup Series standings | Full list of ROTY winners

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Austin Hill wins Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors

Austin Hill has won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year title – earning a pair of victories in his first season driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Hill, 28, of Winston, Ga., had an especially strong first full season in the series, winning the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and then again at his home track in Atlanta this summer – the only rookie to win a race in 2022.

He scored a ninth-place finish in the Phoenix finale and wraps up the rookie title with 11 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes. Hill’s RCR teammate Sheldon Creed finished second in the rookie points, followed by Kyle Sieg and Jesse Iwuji.

RELATED: Xfinity Series standings

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Corey Heim wins Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors

Kyle Busch Motorsport’s driver Corey Heim’s seventh-place finish Friday night at Phoenix capped an impressive Sunoco Rookie of the Year run in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The 20-year-old Georgia driver finished 211 points ahead of Lawless Alan for the rookie title.

Just for good measure, the part-time driver of the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota finished the season with a seventh-place finish, leading five laps on the night.

It was the exclamation point on a highly-impressive debut in the series that included a pair of victories – at Atlanta Motor Speedway and then from the pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. In only 16 starts this season, he posted 10 top-10 and six top-five finishes.

Next season, Heim will move to the TRICON Garage team – formerly known as Team DGR – driving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra full-time as a championship entry.

RELATED: Truck Series standings

Posted on by Staff Report

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Sunday afternoon that team co-owner Coy Gibbs, father to Ty and son to Joe, had passed away overnight at the age of 49.

Gibbs was the vice chairman and chief operating officer for Joe Gibbs Racing. He was in attendance Saturday at Phoenix Raceway as Ty Gibbs claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

MORE: Coy Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, dies at 49

Many members of the NASCAR and larger sports community posted their condolences on social media.

Posted on by Staff Report

Every 2022 race, except the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, is comprised of three stages — Stage 1, Stage 2 and the Final Stage. The Coca-Cola 600 added a fourth stage. Drivers who finish in the top 10 in Stage 1 and Stage 2 earn additional race points, with the winner of each stage earning 10 points, second place earning nine points, third place earning eight points, etc., down to one point for 10th place. Stage 3 of the Coca-Cola 600 awards points in the same manner as Stages 1 and 2 in the other races.

The Final Stage produces the race results and awards points across the field.

Below is a cumulative running tally of how many stage points drivers have earned this year, as well as their stage wins — a stage win will provide an additional bonus point per win in the postseason.

RELATED: Stage lengths for the 2022 season

Through Phoenix Raceway, Race 36 of 36
Note: Does not include points earned for Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona International Speedway

Rank Driver Stage wins Stage points
1 Denny Hamlin 8 310
2 William Byron 9 294
3 Kyle Larson 8 277
4 Tyler Reddick 6 259
5 Martin Truex Jr. 6 250
6 Christopher Bell 4 240
7 Ryan Blaney 6 219
8 Brad Keselowski 6 214
9 Ross Chastain 5 204
10 Kevin Harvick 1 157
11 Joey Logano 3 146
12 Kyle Busch 2 135
13 Bubba Wallace 0 134
14 Chase Elliott 2 116
15 Chris Buescher 2 110
16 Daniel Suárez 0 108
17 Alex Bowman 0 105
18 Ty Gibbs 0 101
19 Michael McDowell 2 98
20 Austin Cindric 1 63
21 AJ Allmendinger 0 61
22 Austin Dillon 0 55
T-23 Chase Briscoe 0 54
T-23 Ryan Preece 1 54
25 Erik Jones 0 40
26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 0 38
27 Aric Almirola 1 37
T-28 Shane Van Gisbergen 0 15
T-28 Justin Haley 0 15
T-30 Ty Dillon 0 14
T-30 Noah Gragson 0 14
32 Corey LaJoie 0 13
33 Todd Gilliland 0 8
34 Harrison Burton 0 6
35 Jimmie Johnson 0 4
36 Jordan Taylor 0 3
37 Jenson Button 0 1

Posted on by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – It was the perfect ending to a season Joey Logano started with a win.

Dominating the action in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Logano started on the pole, won the first stage, led a race-high 187 laps, won the race and claimed his second series championship (2018, 2022).

Logano joins two-time champion Kyle Busch as only the second active driver in the series to hold more than one title. The victory was his fourth of the season, his third at Phoenix and the 31st of his career in his 507th Cup start.

Back in February, Logano won the competitive debut of NASCAR’s Next Gen car in the exhibition Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. On Sunday, in a sprawling desert city some 370 miles to the east of LA, he put the finishing touch on a dream season.

RELATED: Race results | More on Logano’s second title win

Logano finished 0.301 seconds ahead of Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Championship 4 contender Ross Chastain was closing fast in the final laps and came home third, 1.268 seconds behind Logano on the track and one spot behind the driver of the No. 22 Ford in the final standings.

“We did it,” exulted Logano, the first Ford active driver to hold two championships since David Pearson in 1968-1969. “We’re champions again—yes. Oh, my God, I’m so excited. Thank you to everybody, my team. You guys are amazing. Gave me a good race car, good pit stop there at the end, got us up in front. Boy, that was just intense there at the end.

“It’s all about championships. That’s what it’s all about, and we worked so hard the last couple weeks trying to put ourselves in position.”

Logano restarted third on Lap 280 after hard contact between the cars of Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell caused the sixth and final caution of the day. Three laps later, he passed Chase Briscoe for the lead and opened a lead of nearly three seconds over Chastain, who pursued him from third place.

Chastain had the faster car in the final 20 laps but ran out of time.

“I had a car fast enough to chase him down at the end,” Chastain said. “I think we did everything we could. That was a heck of a drive for us.”

A disastrous 19.8-second pit stop under caution on lap 271 cost Championship 4 driver Christopher Bell an opportunity to contend for the win. Bell restarted 16th with 33 laps remaining and worked his way up to 10th at the finish.

“We fought hard, and at the end of the race… (until) the last pit stop, or what we thought was going to be the last pit stop, we were right there battling for it,” Bell said. “I’m just proud to be in this position, proud to be at Joe Gibbs Racing and race this No. 20 car. We were there, and hopefully, we can come back here next year.

“The 22 (Logano) was lights-out all weekend. The best car definitely won the championship.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, wasn’t in position to race for the title after Lap 205. In a wild restart, Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet spun off the nose of Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet and slammed sideways into the interior SAFER barrier in the dogleg of the one-mile speedway.

MORE: Elliott, Chastain make contact

Elliott lost a lap in the pits under repairs and lost another on the track on Lap 230. He finished 28th, two laps down, but he scrupulously avoided laying blame for the incident after the race.

“Yeah, just disappointed, obviously, ended our day and ended our chance at a win or a championship,” Elliott said. “Just disappointing.”

On the other hand, Chastain provided his in-depth analysis of the wreck.

“William (Byron) didn’t get going quite as well as he wanted to, and I got to the left of him,” Chastain said. “And I saw an erratic move he (Elliott) made to cover it, and I was already there. Yeah, it’s not how I want to race him or those guys.”

Ford drivers Chase Briscoe and Kevin Harvick finished fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by William Byron, Kyle Busch (in his final trip for Joe Gibbs Racing), Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Bell.

Before the race, Bell received the news that Coy Gibbs, vice chairman of Joe Gibbs Racing, son of team owner Joe Gibbs and father of NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs, had died in his sleep hours after seeing his son wrap up the title.

“All of a sudden, you wake up this morning, and you are racing for a championship, and you are happy, you are elated, and then your world comes crashing down,” Bell said. “Whenever you get news like that, it puts it in perspective that there is more to this than racing. The whole Gibbs family is in all of our prayers. I’m thinking of them.”

NOTE: Inspection is clear in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Logano as the race winner and 2022 Cup Series champion.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Joey Logano is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford earned his second career title with the win on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, collecting the third title for team owner Roger Penske. Logano outlasted the other Championship 4 contenders of Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott.

“We did it!,” Logano screamed after exiting his car. “We’re champions again, yes! Oh, my God, I’m so excited.”

In the end, perhaps there was no more fitting driver than Logano to claim the first championship behind the wheel of the Next Gen vehicle. Logano stormed to victory in the car’s first competition in the exhibition Clash at the LA Coliseum in February. Nine months later, Logano is triumphant again in the Western sun.

RELATED: Race results | Joey Logano driver page

Logano quietly enjoyed one of the best seasons on the circuit, rolling to victory three times ahead of the championship race and entering Phoenix with the third-best average finish in the series (13.8). Those efforts were rewarded in the form of the Bill France Cup.

Logano enters rarified air with his second Cup title, joining former teammate Kyle Busch as the only active multi-time champions on the circuit. The 32-year-old Connecticut native celebrates his second title in the past five seasons and places this year’s trophy alongside his 2018 title.

“I guess the greed in me feels like I should have four or five at the moment, so I guess the feeling is it’s about time,” Logano said post-race. “But that’s just how I am and how I work, I guess. This one is special for a lot of reasons, and one thing that I think probably stands out most to me is just the way (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) did it and we all did it together all the way through.”

Joey Logano celebrates in Victory Lane.
Getty Images

This year was met with more change for Logano than just a new vehicle. He and his wife Brittany welcomed their third child, Emilia, to the world less than 48 hours after Logano won the Clash in Los Angeles, all while Logano moved into a more veteran role at the team he’s called home for the past 10 seasons.

Brad Keselowski, the 2012 champion, departed Team Penske for a different challenge at RFK Racing for the 2022 season. Long viewed as the new kid on the block, Logano shifted into the leadership role alongside teammates Ryan Blaney and rookie Austin Cindric. That experience paid dividends as all three drivers made the playoffs, and Logano clinched another title.

RELATED: More on title race

Logano locked his way into the postseason in May, collecting his first points-paying win of the year at Darlington Raceway. The victory didn’t come without ruffled feathers after he roughed up William Byron with a lap and a half remaining. Their contact drew the ire of Byron and Hendrick Motorsports, but Logano continued his championship run with another victory just three weeks later in the inaugural Cup race at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway in St. Louis.

The road to another title was anything but smooth for the No. 22 team. Its summer featured a four-race stretch with consecutive finishes of 20th or worse. That rockiness wasn’t left in the regular season, either. Kansas and Bristol saw Logano finish outside the top 15 in consecutive races during the opening round of the playoffs, along with a 27th-place finish at Talladega in the Round of 12.

But his win in mid-October at Las Vegas was enough to clinch his way to the Championship 4 for the fifth time in nine years, rendering his results at Homestead-Miami (18th) and Martinsville (sixth) irrelevant as the first driver to lock up his spot in the title round. That led to a swell of confidence evident at Phoenix.

Joey Logano wears goggles and sprays champagne in Victory Lane
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

“It wasn’t meant to be mind games,” Logano said. “You just asked me how I felt and I was honest, and I really felt like we were in a spot to win this thing. I truly believe that attitudes are contagious, good or bad. And when you’re able to bring that attitude to your race team in a moment like this, as a driver there, that just carries through it.

“I believe confident people win. If you don’t believe in yourself, who else is ever going to believe in you? How are you ever going to win? But I also think you can’t fake that. I think of my first Championship 4 appearance, was I confident? No, I was a nervous wreck. Are the nerves still there? Yeah, the nerves are still there. You don’t want to screw it up because you got this far. But I truly felt ready as a driver, and I felt like as a race team we went through everything we can possibly go through.”

Logano becomes just the third driver to score multiple championships in the last 10 seasons, joining Jimmie Johnson (2013, 2016) and Kyle Busch (2015, 2019). His journey to the sport’s peak featured plenty of challenges and infamous run-ins on the track since making his first Cup start in 2008, but his talent has been unquestioned, particularly since joining Team Penske in 2013.

Before that he was with Joe Gibbs Racing, competing full-time in Cup from 2009-12. He scored his first career win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — his home track — in his rookie year in a rain-shortened race. An impressive duel with mentor Mark Martin in June 2012 at Pocono found Logano back in Victory Lane and propelled him to the No. 22 car the following season.

Once he and Team Penske joined forces, the climb to the top was underway.


Posted on by Staff Report

The tire carrier for the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford was involved in an incident with a vehicle on pit road during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway, the team announced on social media during the race.

Contact was made between another competitor’s car and the tire carrier, resulting in the pit-crew member being transported to the local hospital for further evaluation.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

As a result of the incident, the team confirmed that a crew member from the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing team joined the No. 17 team to fill that position for the remainder of the race.

The team updated the crew member’s status after the race, identifying him as tire carrier Justin Edgell and revealing that he had been released from the hospital and will travel home with the team.

Posted on by Staff Report

Chase Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion and 2022 Regular Season Champion, saw his championship hopes take a significant hit and eventually fade following a spin during a restart of the Championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

With 113 laps to go, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet came down the “dogleg” just after the start/finish line and spun off the nose of fellow Championship 4 competitor Ross Chastain.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“I felt like I got position on him, to the left side, the dogleg, and he turned left,” Chastain said after finishing runner-up in the title hunt.

Elliott ran inside the top 10 before the spin in the Final Stage. Joey Logano, who was also seeking his second Cup Series Championship, remained the frontman of the Championship 4, leading 187 of 312 laps and eventually claiming his second career Cup title (2018). The No. 9 Chevrolet, meanwhile, fell a lap down while on pit road and could not muster any late magic. Elliott finished the race in 28th.

“I felt like we just kind of peaked right there before we crashed,” Elliott said. “And I felt like we got our car driving pretty good, we just had our best pit stop of the day, so that was all really solid. And heck, we were right there next to the [No.] 22.

“I thought we had a shot at it all the way up until we didn’t, and that’s unfortunately the way it goes sometimes.”

Among Championship 4 drivers, Elliott finished the lowest. Logano finished first to win the 2022 Cup championship, while Chastain and Christopher Bell crossed the checkered flag in third and 10th, respectively.

“Just disappointed, obviously, ended our day and ended our chance at a win or a championship. Just disappointing.”

MORE: Elliott: ‘We should be proud’ after five-win season

Posted on by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find USA Network | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | Watch on USA Network | Get the NBC Sports App | Watch on Peacock | FloRacing | How to watch NASCAR International

Monday, Nov. 7
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
11 p.m., Race for the Championship: Bonus Lap — Welcome to My World Pt. 2, USA
11:08 p.m., Race for the Championship: Dawn of a New Era (re-air), USA

Tuesday, Nov. 8
12:08 a.m., Race for the Championship: David vs. Goliath (re-air), USA
1:08 a.m., Race for the Championship: Old School versus New School (re-air), USA
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, Nov. 9
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Nov. 10
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, Peacock

Friday, Nov. 11
10 a.m., ARCA Menards Series at Phoenix Raceway (tape delay), USA
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Posted on by Staff Report

Stewart-Haas Racing veteran Kevin Harvick reached yet another milestone in his distinguished career Sunday when he took the green flag in the 2022 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

With 790 NASCAR Cup Series starts to his name, Harvick now has started every Cup race in a season for 20 consecutive years. Only six other drivers have accomplished that feat, making Harvick the seventh in this heady group.

MORE: Harvick through the years | All of Harvick’s Cup wins

Ricky Rudd holds the all-time record by starting every Cup race for 25 consecutive years, followed by Jeff Gordon (23 years), Rusty Wallace (22), Dale Earnhardt (21), Terry Labonte (21) and Bobby Labonte (20).

Harvick, 46, will pilot the team’s No. 4 Ford for the 10th consecutive season next year and look to tie Earnhardt and Labonte next.

Posted on by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Coy Gibbs, who followed his father’s path to success in NASCAR and football, has died. He was 49.

Gibbs was the vice chairman and chief operating officer for Joe Gibbs Racing, which confirmed his death in a statement Sunday. He was in attendance Saturday at Phoenix Raceway as his son, Ty, claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

“It is with great sorrow that Joe Gibbs Racing confirms that Coy Gibbs (co-owner) went to be with the Lord in his sleep last night. The family appreciates all the thoughts and prayers and asks for privacy at this time.”

23XI Racing said Sunday that Ty Gibbs will miss Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale. He was scheduled to drive the No. 23 Toyota in Sunday’s season-ending race at the Phoenix-area track. Daniel Hemric, last year’s Xfinity Series champion with JGR, was named as a replacement driver.

Coy Gibbs had been a fixture with Joe Gibbs Racing, joining his father’s racing business after finishing his college football career at Stanford. Coy Gibbs was a standout linebacker for the Cardinal and Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh, and later served as an assistant coach with his father’s return to the football sidelines in Washington.

Gibbs worked in the front office of Joe Gibbs Racing alongside his brother, J.D. Gibbs, who died after a long battle with a degenerative neurologic disease in 2019. He was also 49 years old.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Coy Gibbs,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. “On behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I extend my deepest condolences to Joe, Pat, Heather, the Gibbs family and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing on the loss of Coy, a true friend and racer.”

David Wilson, president of TRD Racing said in a statement: “Racing is a family and the relationships within the entire garage go so much deeper than on-track competition. Today, we lost a dear part of our family. The loss of Coy Gibbs is devastating to everyone at Toyota and TRD. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with Joe, Pat, Heather, Ty, Case, Jett and Elle and the entire Gibbs family and Joe Gibbs Racing family.”

Coy Gibbs spoke of his son’s accomplishment in a post-race news conference Saturday, marking the culmination of a turbulent week for the 20-year-old driver. Ty Gibbs’ bump of teammate Brandon Jones from a spot in the championship-eligible field last weekend had brought a measure of scrutiny and criticism, which his father had tried to help him weather leading into the finale.

“Watching it today, yeah, just to see his determination,” Coy Gibbs said. “I think he’s got skills and he’s determined. It definitely made me proud. I think it made my wife — we were both proud, just because he just hammered down and did his job. If he wants to do this for a living, he’s going to learn how to do that.”

Coy Gibbs also raced for his father’s NASCAR organization, finishing second in the Xfinity Series’ Rookie of the Year standings to David Stremme in 2003. Gibbs made 39 Xfinity starts and 58 Truck Series appearances from 2000-2003, netting a best finish of second place in a Truck event at Texas Motor Speedway in September 2002.

Ty Gibbs was born three weeks after that runner-up result. Coy Gibbs was asked two months earlier by the Portland (Maine) Press Herald if the son he was expecting with his wife, Heather, would follow the family’s influences and play football or race.

“I don’t know,” Coy Gibbs said then at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “Football is brutal. I played it and I saw what it did to my dad. You can’t talk to your family before the game, you can’t hold your kids. You’ve got to get ready to beat the crud out of another man. Here, family is all around.”

Coy Gibbs was a lightly recruited defender, until Stanford saw the grit and talent in the slightly undersized player and offered him a scholarship. He graduated with a degree in history, a journey he completed after battling through bouts with childhood dyslexia. Gibbs carried that flinty determination into his sports careers.

“After playing football, I know I’m physically tough, mentally tough, too,” Coy Gibbs said in 2002. “You take a big beating on and off the track in this sport. But I like challenges. As a kid, the funnest thing I ever did was being the ball boy for my dad. Now it’s driving a race car. What can beat that?”