Posted on by Pat DeCola

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of four stories examining why each Championship 4 driver could win the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship. For more on Elliott and the Championship 4, tune in to the “Race for the Championship” docuseries at 10 p.m. ET Thursday on USA Network or set your DVRs.

Tuesday: Joey Logano
Wednesday: Christopher Bell
Thursday: Ross Chastain
Friday: Chase Elliott

• • •

Chase Elliott will win the 2022 championship because …

… he’s been the guy to beat for most of 2022, and not much has changed in that department.

What’s been truly revelatory about the debut of this year’s Next Gen racer was exactly what it was designed to do — leveling the playing field a bit and increasing parity across the NASCAR Cup Series field. That’s exactly what we saw, with a near-record 19 different winners, drivers getting hot for a few races then disappearing for months at a time and non-playoff drivers coming out of nowhere to do things like sweep the entire Round of 16.

We also saw exactly one driver seem to overcome that better than anybody — Chase Elliott.

While not as dominant as his teammate Kyle Larson’s double-digit win season that resulted in last year’s title, Elliott’s 2022 campaign was as close as anybody else came to touching that with a series-best five wins — four of which came before the playoffs — en route to the Regular Season Championship. The 2020 champ has turned in the best average finish of the season as well at 12.0, a figure that’s been dragged down some by unfortunate postseason hiccups that weren’t necessarily of his own doing. Elliott’s top-10 count (20) was tied with Ross Chastain for most in the series, and his 857 laps led pace the field as well.

So why aren’t people talking about him as the slam-dunk favorite? Well, recency bias.

(And to be fair, he technically is the favorite at 2-1, according to BetMGM as of Thursday.)

RELATED: Odds to win 2022 championship

Perhaps you didn’t hear about it, but Chastain did a thing at Martinsville, a race that Christopher Bell won to get into the Championship 4 in dramatic fashion. And Joey Logano, also looking for his second title and as polished/experienced as they come, had more weeks to prep than any of the other three. This trio is garnering all the attention, and understandably so, especially given Elliott has turned in an unremarkable 16.33 average finish (lowest of the four) in the playoffs with just three top 10s, earning the fewest points of the title contenders and kind of by a not-so-small margin.

That just speaks to his relative dominance in the regular season, however. Elliott and the No. 9 team earned their way into the Championship 4 by virtue of points … because he had so many more of them from the regular season than anybody else. And when you consider that most of his playoff woes, again, have not really been self-inflicted, well, there’s not much reason to think this driver and team are any worse than they were just nine short races ago.

The Championship 4 was always the destination for this group and anything short would’ve been a disappointment. Thus, there’s no chance crew chief Alan Gustafson — who has the most career Cup wins of the four pit bosses, with 38, not to mention his four Phoenix wins — won’t have a dialed-in No. 9 Chevrolet to put in Elliott’s hands on Sunday, along with a championship-capable and well-prepared pit crew.

Elliott won his first title in his inaugural Championship 4 appearance in 2020 and is the only driver in this year’s field to make it each of the last three seasons. This stage is nothing new for him, and he’s about as unflappable under the pressure as any driver we’ve seen in years.

He’s got the best average finish at Phoenix (10.69) of the four, and sports a Kevin Harvick-like eight top 10s in 13 starts there.

If it weren’t for a string of bad luck in the playoffs, the Georgia native would be an obvious choice to become the second-youngest driver ever with multiple titles (only Jeff Gordon’s 1997 title was won at a younger age) and the first to do it for Hendrick since Jimmie Johnson in 2008.

But this is still Chase Elliott we’re talking about, and he’s more than just a popular name.

He’s as bonafide championship material as they come.

MORE: Chase Elliott through the years


Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

PHOENIX — Chase Elliott refused to select a favorite from among his Championship 4 colleagues during Thursday’s NASCAR Media Day press conference, insisting that after a 35-race season to date if you qualified for this weekend’s championship race, you could be the champion.

Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will compete against Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Team Penske’s Joey Logano for the season trophy Sunday and both Elliott and Logano are racing for their second championship. Chastain and Bell are making their Championship 4 debut this weekend.

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Championship race odds

Elliott has a strong record at Phoenix Raceway – winning the 2020 title race from pole position to claim his first championship. He has scored eight top-10s in 13 starts and led 546 laps at the one-mile track but comes into the championship finale with only a pair of top-10 finishes in the nine playoff races – a win at Talladega Superspeedway and a runner-up result at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“Personally, being a part of it the last couple years and as this format has kind of progressed and changed, I think if you make it to that last race, I think you have a shot,” Elliott said. “If you’re in the final four, I think you have a chance.

“We’ve seen this, you don’t have to dominate all day to win [the title] . …  What Jimmie did in 2016 is a great example of not necessarily being the best car all day but when it came time to execute at the end of the day, put together some good restarts, some good pit stops and make it happen, they did.

“Our playoffs hasn’t been great but with this format, it really doesn’t matter now. If you’re part of the show, you’re part of the show. And if you have a shot this weekend, you have a shot to change the narrative and write the end of the story however you want.”

Both Logano (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and Bell (Martinsville Speedway) won races in the Playoffs’ Round of 8 to earn their title opportunity. Elliott and Chastain “pointed” their way into championship contention.

In a rather unusual twist, the Hendrick Motorsports team could capture both the driver and team championship but with different drivers. Elliott is racing for the driver’s title and Kyle Larson qualified the team’s No. 5 Chevrolet for the team owner’s championship.

“The best thing that could happen is one of us wins the race and the other runs second and you can check both boxes and we all go home happy,’’ Elliott said. “That would be choice number one for me, and I think that’s feasible.”

For Logano, nothing short of a championship will do

To say Logano is optimistic about the way circumstances have played out over the past three weeks would be a massive understatement.

First of all, Logano won the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 8 on Oct. 16 at Las Vegas. The certainty of advancement to the Championship 4 has given his No. 22 Team Penske team the luxury of extra time to prepare for Sunday’s title race at Phoenix.

At 32, Logano is the oldest of the four Championship 4 drivers. With 14 full seasons in the Cup Series and 506 races under his belt, he is by far the most experienced. He and Chase Elliott are the only two drivers vying for the title who already have won a championship.

For Logano, it’s an opportunity not to waste.

“I feel like we’re in a great spot right now,” Logano said on Thursday during Championship 4 Media Day interviews at the Phoenix Convention Center. “I feel like our team is in a great spot for a lot of reasons. For one, we’re not happy to be here. We’re not just happy to be in the Championship 4. This isn’t enough for us.

“I feel like that’s the number one driver for the 22 team to win this thing. I think with that mentality and the three weeks that we’ve had since Vegas to really focus in here, it’s going to give us a huge advantage to not only have a good practice plan and set our car up but also execute this race correctly, on top of the experience we’ve got.

“I’ve never felt more solid in this position than I do right now. With that said, I’m ready to go racing and get out there, because we feel prepared. We’re ready to go to battle.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

PHOENIX — Given the dramatic way Christopher Bell has advanced to the Championship 4, it might seem strange that the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota thinks of himself as completely under the radar.

In a win-or-bust situation at the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 9, Bell took advantage of a late caution, won the race and catapulted into the Round of 8.

After suffering two flat tires at Texas Motor Speedway and finishing 11th at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bell once again needed a victory to keep his championship hopes alive. He took control of the Round of 8 elimination race shortly after the halfway point and triumphed once again.

Bell comes to Phoenix with crew chief Adam Stevens on his pit box. Stevens is the only active crew chief in the Cup Series garage with more than one championship, having won titles with Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019.

RELATED: Crew chiefs to win titles with multiple drivers

But Bell thinks Stevens may be overlooked this season—because of his driver.

“I think that maybe has a lot to do with my role,” Bell said. “Nobody really realizes I drive race cars for a living, for the most part. I embrace that role. I guess I don’t do anything else to advocate for myself or anything like that. Any time it seems like people are teamed up with me, they’re off the radar.”

Bell says he doesn’t mind the perceived anonymity.

“It’s just kind of the way it’s unfolded over my… I don’t really know how long,” he said. “That’s fine by me. Maybe I’ll be the least famous Cup champion one day.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

PHOENIX — Ross Chastain’s Martinsville miracle continues to make rounds on the Internet days after a Hail-Mary move vaulted him into the Championship 4.

Chastain’s decision to throttle up at Martinsville Speedway and ride the SAFER barrier at full speed through Turns 3 and 4 was still the talk of the NASCAR community Thursday at the Phoenix Convention Center where the four title contenders gathered for media day.

MORE: Why Chastain will win title | Phoenix schedule

An improbable — once thought impossible — move launched the No. 1 Chevrolet from ninth to fourth in the final set of corners. But the question lingered: Is that a move that could have any success at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race on Sunday afternoon? (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

“I don’t think it’s a move that can have any success at Martinsville,” Chastain laughed Thursday. “I still don’t know why it worked.”

The eighth-generation watermelon farmer’s move transcended the sport of stock-car racing, rocketing him up the leaderboard at the final moment to score enough points to advance to the Championship 4 for the first time in his career — and the first time for his team, Trackhouse Racing.

Why it proved successful is lost on Chastain, but the why doesn’t matter now.

“I look back at it. I look at the physics of it,” Chastain said of the move he perfected in “NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup” on the Nintendo GameCube. “I have people explain to me what happened and what I felt and why that car did not slow down, why it kept air in the tires. Why the suspension — the right-front suspension broke. The right-front upper control arm is broken. But I was able to get across the line before I really could feel it. And then down into Turn 1, I just kept it pinned on the wall because it was broken.

“So why it worked? I don’t know, but I have no ideas or plans to ever do that again because it was not pleasant.”

Whether another moment like that comes to fruition remains to be seen. But so rarely can something be seen for the first time in 74 years of stock-car racing at the sport’s premier level. From immense engagement on social media to gracing the top spot on “SportsCenter’s” top-10 plays, Chastain’s last-ditch effort has been seen everywhere.

“Ross should be really credited because only those unique things can really take you outside of your own bubble and your own world,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., a NASCAR Hall of Famer and analyst for NBC Sports. “And for a moment this week, we were in a lot of places we typically don’t exist. So that was incredible for us and hopefully there’s some momentum and ripple effects and that lasts for quite a while.”

While the move has received its praise, other drivers have voiced their hesitance surrounding the move in future scenarios.

Joey Logano, the 2018 champion, admitted “it was an awesome move to see.” But he cautioned whether a move so daring — where more could have gone wrong than went right — is a long-term positive.

“I don’t know if it’s the best for a few reasons,” Logano said. “One, it’s really, really risky — not only for the driver, but for the fans. There’s a lot of risks there. I don’t know if we should be willing to take that kind of risk. Two, I think the integrity of the sport’s a little bit interesting with this one because let’s be honest — like Ross did it. It’s awesome. Right? It takes big guts to do that. Like that takes a lot.

“But it’s also the move you make in the video game when you can’t get around the corner fast enough. Isn’t it? Like so? And what’s it look like when there’s 10 of us doing the same thing at the same time? And it happens race after race after race. Well, eh. It’s not that cool any more, is it, when you say like that, right? So I think yeah, it was awesome and made top-10 plays as it should. Like all that was really neat. I just don’t think it’s the greatest thing.”

Chase Elliott, the 2020 title winner and this year’s Regular Season Champion, lauded Chastain for taking the risk but echoed Logano’s sentiment regarding potential future wall rides.

“I think there’s a few factors to that in my opinion on it, but certainly commendable for a guy to do what he had to do to get the job done,” Elliott said. “I totally respect that, and I think that that deserves some respect. But from just a global landscape of our sport, when you kind of step back and look at it, I think it is a bit embarrassing, really, when you step back and look at it. It’s like cutting the track at a road course isn’t acceptable, either.

“NASCAR has put a lot of time and effort into making these cars equal, we’re suspending crew chiefs for weeks for pieces of vinyl being in the wrong place, you know, and then you go break the track record and run two seconds faster than everybody. You know, it’s just like from an integrity standpoint of what we do, is that proper? I don’t know, maybe not for me to say, but it certainly is interesting.”

While the legitimacy or future legality of the move remains in question, one thing for sure was the fever pitch surrounding the move. Trackhouse co-owner Pitbull reached out to Chastain to talk about it, but he was one of many. Chastain said he received over 1,000 text messages in the wake of Sunday’s daredevil antics.

“There wasn’t much common sense in this,” Chastain admitted. “And I think the difference in it being — Travis Pastrana said the difference between stupidity and brilliance is success. And this one is brilliant because we succeeded. Now why it worked? I don’t know.”

Chastain also remained adamant this was not a decision he ever practiced in the simulator. At the white flag, Chastain was notified he needed to pass two cars in order to transfer. The idea sparked in his mind, and after confirming he heard them correctly, planted the throttle pedal and sped through the corner some 60 mph faster than his competitors.

“There was a lot of luck involved. I’m not going to shy away from that,” Chastain said. “But I did have it — like from the time we took the white flag, I had it in my mind like you cannot leave the wall. Once I’m on the backstretch, I have to follow it. And it actually has more of a kick out and like a pocket, I’ll call it, in the [Turn] 3 than I even thought.

“And I thought when I hit the wall, I hit it pretty hard on entry, which surprised me. I thought I could just kind of lay into it. And then when I walked the track on the way out that night I realized, kind of like Darlington Turn 3, … the wall goes away six or eight inches that I had never noticed before.”

That’s because no one had ever run the wall like Chastain did before Sunday at Martinsville.

Now, he faces Logano, Elliott and Christopher Bell in a battle for the NASCAR Cup Series championship this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on by Zack Albert

PHOENIX — A remorseful Ty Gibbs rolled into the NASCAR Xfinity Series portion of Championship 4 Media Day on Thursday, saying that his selfishness and over-aggressive move last weekend left his family’s racing organization with one fewer chance for a series title. Indeed, he’ll face three JR Motorsports teammates intent on shutting him out in Saturday’s finale.

But before a lap has been turned in Saturday’s Xfinity Series curtain-closer, the war of words has already ramped up, led by old foe Noah Gragson, who derisively called the title-eligible quartet “three and a half men.”

RELATED: Weekend schedule: Phoenix

“Just voicing my opinion, I don’t like him,” said Gragson, who spoke candidly and at length about his disdain for his rival.  “It’s just speaking what everybody doesn’t want to say, but they feel it.”

Championship 4 Media Day included the return of trash-talking and gamesmanship to the pre-race festivities Thursday at the Phoenix Convention Center, with Gragson carrying the primary baton. Gragson will join teammates Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry in taking on Gibbs in Saturday’s Xfinity Series Championship race (6 p.m. ET, USA, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM) at Phoenix Raceway.

The issue burbled up last Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, when the 20-year-old Gibbs bounced teammate Brandon Jones from the lead on the final lap of the series’ penultimate race. Gibbs had already locked into the Championship 4 field, but his bump of Jones’ No. 19 Toyota cost Joe Gibbs Racing another slot in the title-eligible field.

Jones will actually be leaving the organization at season’s end to join the JR Motorsports roster as Gragson’s replacement in the No. 9 Chevrolet. But Gibbs’ crash-inducing push had ripples and repercussions beyond the Martinsville moment, with fan opinion swaying far out of favor, and Coach Joe Gibbs – the team owner and young racer’s grandfather – saying that there would be consequences for the on-track actions.

Noah Gragson during the Xfinity Series portion of Championship 4 Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center
Zack Albert | NASCAR Studios

“You know, going back if I could redo it multiple times, I would,” Gibbs said. “I’ve thought, I guess this scenario over millions of times, you know, and it’s hard for me because I have to live with it now. And it’s really hard, but we could have had two JGR cars, I guess, in the Championship 4, and I took that out. I took 50% of Toyota’s championship and ours, JGR’s championship away for my selfish actions. So I have to move forward and do the best I can to work and to fix these things.”

Gibbs said he had spoken with Jones after the incident, saying that he gained an understanding of Jones’ position while opting to keep other details of their conversation private. As for the potential consequences, Gibbs said he wasn’t aware of what that might entail but would accept whatever the team deemed necessary.

Dealing with that fallout has added another facet to Gibbs’ compelling pursuit of a championship in his first full year of Xfinity competition, and the specter of whether his aggression might rare up again with the title on the line.

“It’s definitely a great question to ask, but I just don’t want to be known as a dirty racer,” Gibbs said. “I want to be known as a class racer, and somebody who’s going to race hard, but not going to be dirty. And you know, I’ve been dirty and made my mistakes. But the only thing I can do now is work forward to changing that perspective.”

For Gragson, the repentance has been part of a pattern for Gibbs – show on-track aggression, apologize, vow to learn a lesson, rinse, repeat. The two rivals – one bound for the Cup Series next year and the other seemingly so – have locked horns multiple times in their head-to-head battles over the last two seasons, and Gragson said he confronted him face-to-face in June to let him know where the two stood.

Gragson didn’t hold back in expanding on that ahead of the season finale.

“I just think like, I’m just sick and tired of the ‘I’m sorry, I’m trying to learn’ deal,” Gragson said. “Like it’s been two years. … Definitely over being – I think all of us – the pinball of this series from him.”

The thought of Gibbs being potentially less aggressive in the final race, with his recent actions being top of mind? “He doesn’t care,” Gragson said. “He lives in fantasy land.”

And on Gibbs’ supposed lack of situational awareness: “I have no clue honestly what goes through his mind,” Gragson said. “God, it would be badass just to live in that kind of world where you just have no real consequences or anything.”

Asked why he doesn’t just pre-emptively crash Gibbs to prove his point, Gragson offered an alternate route: “I want to beat him straight up. It pisses him off a lot more.”

Regardless of the volume of the pre-race noise, a first-time champion will be crowned in the Xfinity Series this year from this intriguing four-driver composite. Gragson and Gibbs are young prospects aiming to cap impressive seasons as they near their Cup Series futures; in Allgaier and Berry, two veteran 30-somethings have a long-awaited national-series title in their reach – Allgaier after a journeyman’s career in Xfinity, and Berry after years of dominating at the local and regional short-track level.

Allgaier was the benefactor of Gibbs’ last gasp at Martinsville, claiming the final Championship 4 spot that belonged to Jones until the final lap. Berry said he was more outspoken than usual about the late-race move last weekend, but that he has respect for Gibbs from having competed against him first on the Late Model level and now in Xfinity.

He also made a point to say that Gibbs was not solely to blame.

“If he could do everything over again last week, I’m sure that he would do things a little bit different,” Berry said. “I don’t completely put all the blame on him for what happened. I mean, there was people watching from afar that had radios that could have made decisions and helped push him and help him maybe make a better decision in that moment. So I don’t think it’s fair to completely put the fault on him in that moment. I know that they could have been more proactive during the race to say, ‘hey, this guy’s got a lot going on the line.’

“Yeah, he roughed you up. I mean, we’ve all seen it, right? I’ve raced short tracks my whole life. People run over each other for the win and the lead, but there’s just … the playoffs create a different dynamic there, that there was a lot going on amongst all that. And you know, somebody from afar could have stepped in and helped make his life a lot easier in that moment.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The Championship 4 is set, and the only thing left to do now is crown this year’s NASCAR Cup Series title winner.

Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain are prepared to battle in the desert in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Prepare for title weekend with everything you need to know below:

RELATED: Weekend schedule | Cup Series standings

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Unlike most weekends throughout the 2022 Cup schedule, teams will have a full 50-minute practice session Friday evening (8:05 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN). The session will be open to all entries, and teams will be allowed to work on their cars in advance of qualifying.

Qualifying to set the starting lineup will take place on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Championship 4 drivers and teams will be ordered by their previous race metrics and assigned to Group A or B by the usual odd/even metric procedures. Playoff teams will be the final cars to qualify in their respective groups.

This week, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain will be the final qualifiers in Group A. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Christopher Bell will qualify last in Group B. Every driver will post one timed lap during their time trial. The fastest five drivers from each group will advance to the final round of qualifying, where those 10 drivers will set one more circuit to fight for the Busch Light Pole Award. The driver who sets the quickest lap in the session will start first on Sunday.

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview | Qualifying order

PHOENIX STORY LINES

— For the first time since 2018, four different organizations are represented in the Championship 4. This is the fifth time it’s happened since the elimination format was introduced in 2014. Joey Logano represents Team Penske; Christopher Bell represents Joe Gibbs Racing; Chase Elliott represents Hendrick Motorsports; and Ross Chastain represents Trackhouse Racing.

— The average age of the 2022 Championship 4 is 29 years, 3 months, 19 days — the youngest ever.

— The top four drivers in average finish in the 2022 season are the Championship 4 drivers.

— Kyle Larson’s Homestead-Miami win locked the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team into the Championship 4 for the owners’ championship. Only twice in Cup have there been a separate owners champion and driver champion: In 1963, Joe Weatherly won the drivers’ title, and Wood Brothers won the owners’ championship; in 1954, Lee Petty won the drivers’ championship, and Herb Thomas won the owners’ championship.

— Logano (2018) and Elliott (2020) are each seeking their second career Cup title, while Bell and Chastain eye their first, respectively.

— 19 different drivers have won this year, tied for the most all time.

— Christopher Bell’s Martinsville victory was also Joe Gibbs Racing’s 200th win, making it the third organization with at least 200 wins.

— Three of the last six champions won the opening race in the Round of 8, including Joey Logano in 2018. Logano won this year’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas.

— Chastain advanced to the Championship 4 for the first time in his career, taking Trackhouse Racing there for the first time as well. This is Trackhouse Racing’s second season, and it locked both of its drivers into the playoffs (Chastain, Daniel Suárez).

Source: Racing Insights

GOODYEAR TIRES

Teams will have familiar tires to work with Sunday in the Arizona desert.

Goodyear returns to the 1-mile tri-oval with the same tire setup utilized in the Next Gen’s inaugural Phoenix race back in March. Since then, teams have also run these tires at Richmond, Worldwide Technology Raceway and New Hampshire. Two of this year’s Championship 4 contenders have already won with this Goodyear configuration — Joey Logano was victorious at WWT Raceway, and Christopher Bell won at New Hampshire.

“This is an important weekend for the sport as we crown our 2022 champions,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “In the Cup Series, we’ve had an exciting season with the introduction of the Next Gen car. As has always happened, the learning curve with a new car is steep, and teams work hard at improving their performance as the season goes on.

“We got up to speed fairly quickly at Phoenix after an organizational test at the track in January and then a race in March. Coming back with this same tire setup at four more races at three different tracks throughout the spring and summer, Cup teams have been able to remove that variable as they developed their car setups. Everyone should know what to expect from this tire setup, and that helps the teams as they prepare for Championship Weekend.”

PHOENIX HISTORY

— Phoenix Raceway opened in 1964 with hopes of becoming a western beacon of open-wheel racing and held its first race on a road-course layout. AJ Foyt won the track’s first oval race in March 1964.

— Richard Petty won the venue’s first NASCAR-sanctioned event, a Winston West Series victory in 1978.

— In 1988, three years after Buddy Jobe purchased the track from Dennis Wood, Phoenix held its first Cup Series event, won on Nov. 6 by Alan Kulwicki, who celebrated with the first “Polish Victory Lap” by driving the opposite direction around the track.

— International Speedway Corporation purchased Phoenix in 1997.

— The track was first reconfigured and repaved in 2011, widening the then-frontstretch by 10 feet while extending the backstretch dogleg by 95 feet and tightening its radius. Progressive banking was also added in Turns 1 and 2.

— The track was again reconfigured and renovated in 2018 as part of a $178 million project that saw the start/finish line move to the exit of what was previously Turn 2. Enhancements were made to provide a new pedestrian tunnel as well as upgrade the media center, Victory Lane and garage area.

— Sunday marks the 53rd race at Phoenix and third championship race, with the first coming in 2020.

Source: Racing Insights

BET IT ON THE HOUSE?

Since the elimination-style format was introduced in 2014, the season finale has been won by the champion, a streak that’s lasted eight years.

Naturally, this year’s Championship 4 are the favorites to win this year’s race at Phoenix as well. Chase Elliott enters as the preliminary favorite at 5-2 odds, according to BetMGM. Elliott, who won a series-high five races in 2022, leads the league in average finish (12.0) and drove to the 2020 championship at Phoenix. Hendrick Motorsports has won each of the two title races held at Phoenix.

Behind Elliott on the odds board is Christopher Bell at 13-4 (+325) odds. Bell is a four-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, but no one has been more clutch in the 2022 season than Bell. The third-year driver for JGR found himself in must-win situations to advance from the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course and again to advance from the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway and delivered both times. Factor in that he has a win on this tire package at the 1-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Bell could prove to be a wise pick.

At 4-1 odds sit Joey Logano and Ross Chastain. The duo find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum — Logano was the earliest to lock himself into the Championship 4 thanks to his win at Vegas while Chastain needed a desperate Hail Mary in the final corners at Martinsville to propel past Denny Hamlin and advance to the championship round. Logano’s advantage is that his No. 22 team had ample time to prep for Phoenix. But Chastain has proven he’s never out of it with a series-leading 14 top-five finishes this year.

MORE: Complete list of odds for Sunday

FANTASY LIVE

Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which reset for the playoffs. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 2, and there is a $10,000 prize for the playoff winner.

The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (1,186), Joey Logano (1,087) and Ryan Blaney (1,078).

In addition to Fantasy Live, NASCAR.com is offering the Playoffs Grid Challenge presented by Ruoff Mortgage during the playoffs.

How to play: Fantasy Live | Set up a team today!

ALSO ON NASCAR.COM

Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week, the full field 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 by Reid Spencer

ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes hasn’t been front-and-center lately, but runner-up finishes in each of the first two rounds of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs (at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively) were enough to propel him into Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 title event at Phoenix Raceway (10 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Accordingly, Rhodes will try to defend the championship he won with a third-place finish in last year’s title race at Phoenix. If he’s successful, Rhodes will be the second driver to win back-to-back championships in the division. Teammate Matt Crafton (2013-14) is the only driver to have accomplished the feat so far.

RELATED: Weekend schedule for Phoenix | Ranking the Championship 4 drivers

Rhodes claimed his only victory of the season on the Bristol Dirt Track in April. Teammate Ty Majeski, on the other hand, arrives at Phoenix with considerably more momentum, having won two of the last three races, at Bristol (pavement) and Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In the title race, the ThorSport Racing drivers will face off against two Smiths — Zane and Chandler (no relation).

Zane Smith will be trying to break out of the runner-up rut on Friday. He has finished second in the final Truck Series standings for two straight seasons, he enters the Phoenix race second in points, and he has collected five second-place finishes without a win in his last 11 Truck Series starts.

Both Smiths have posted three victories this season. Though he didn’t qualify for the Championship 4 last season, Chandler won the season finale at Phoenix from the pole.

“I feel like last year, the last three quarters of last year, we showed what we were going to have in store for this year,” Chandler said. “We were really good at the end of last year—started getting wins and running up front every single week and were the truck to beat almost every other week—where the year before we were hit-or-miss.

“We ended up getting our stuff together, we were more consistent, winning races and I told the guys next year we are out for blood—we’re going to go get them next year. And look, we’re sitting here talking about running for a championship, and it has just been an amazing experience.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The Championship 4 of Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott will all join NASCAR Studios host Alex Weaver for a live discussion together on Thursday afternoon from Championship Media Day.

NASCAR.com will stream the conversation live from the Phoenix Convention Center at 5 p.m. ET. Tune in here or watch via the NASCAR YouTube channel.

Logano, Bell, Chastain and Elliott will battle for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Logano and Elliott eye their second career Cup titles, respectively, while Bell and Chastain are in the Championship 4 for the first time.

Logano was the first to clinch his spot in the championship round thanks to an Oct. 16 win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bell claimed his place with a second walk-off win in as many rounds, scoring the upset at Martinsville Speedway last weekend.

Chastain’s Hail Mary through Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville rocketed him into position at the checkered flag, while Elliott found himself above the elimination line in the closing laps.

Posted on by Brandon White

A thrilling and competitive 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season is in the books with veteran driver Jon McKennedy having scored his first championship.

The Chelmsford, Massachusetts, native was competing in his second full-time Tour campaign, and he managed to hold off Ron Silk, Eric Goodale and Justin Bonsignore in points while driving for a new team led by Tim Lepine.

McKennedy’s championship was one of many highlights from a year that featured one of most compelling title fights in the history of the series. Many different drivers also managed to find success across the 16-race campaign that spanned from the Northeast all the way to Florida.

Below are some of the defining figures from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour’s 38th season of competition.

RELATED: Final NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings

Jon Mckennedy celebrates after winning the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 200 for the Whelen Modified Tour at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/NASCAR)

1: The amount of races Jon McKennedy won during his championship season. McKennedy’s lone victory came at Claremont Motorsports Park on July 29.

3: The number of drivers who won a race for owner champion Tommy Baldwin Jr. Those drivers were Doug Coby (Riverhead Raceway, Lee USA Speedway and Langley Speedway), Jimmy Blewett (Wall Stadium Speedway) and Mike Christopher Jr. (Jennerstown Speedway).

3: The final position for veteran Eric Goodale in the Tour point standings. It was his best result across 14 full-time seasons in the series. Goodale’s previous best points finish was fifth, which came during the 2017 season.

4: The number of drivers who had a chance to win the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship ahead of the season finale at Martinsville Speedway. They were Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Eric Goodale and Justin Bonsignore.

Justin Bonsignore celebrates his win during the Eddie Partridge 256 at Riverhead Raceway on September 17, 2022 (Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

4: The amount of races Justin Bonsignore won during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, more than any other driver this year. His victories took place at Richmond Raceway, Monadnock Speedway, Oswego Speedway and Riverhead Raceway.

4: The number of drivers who scored their first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victories in 2022. Mike Christopher Jr. won at Jennerstown Speedway, Kyle Soper won at Riverhead Raceway, Anthony Nocella won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Corey LaJoie won at Martinsville Speedway.

4: The number of poles Justin Bonsignore scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, more than any other driver. Of the races he started on pole, (Richmond Raceway, Monadnock Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Riverhead Raceway), the only one he did not win came at New Hampshire, where he placed 12th.

5: The number of drivers who recorded double-digit top 10s during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. That list includes the four championship contenders in Jon McKennedy (13), Ron Silk (12), Eric Goodale (11) and Justin Bonsignore (11), as well as Doug Coby (11).

5: The final position for 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour rookie of the year Austin Beers in the point standings. Beers was the only Rookie of the Year candidate to compete in all 16 races on the schedule, scoring a season-best finish of third at Langley Speedway on Aug. 27.

Tommy Baldwin Racing team celebrates their NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour owner’s championship at Martinsville Speedway on October 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/NASCAR)

6.1: The average finish owners champion Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7 Modified recorded during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season with Doug Coby, Jimmy Blewett and Mike Christopher Jr. sharing driving duties.

7: The number of top-five finishes by Matt Hirschman in as many NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour starts in 2022. His worst finish in Tour competition came at Oswego Speedway, where he finished fifth.

7.2: The average finish champion Jon McKennedy recorded in 16 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races this year, which ranked higher than any other driver who ran the full schedule. Ron Silk was second of the full-time competitors with a 7.3 average finish.

8: The amount of top-five finishes Ron Silk scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which led all other drivers.

Ron Silk makes a lap around Riverhead Raceway during practice for the Eddie Partridge 256 on September 17, 2022. (Mike Lawrence/NASCAR)

9: The final position for Doug Coby in the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings despite not running the full schedule. In 12 starts, Coby tallied three victories — at Riverhead Raceway, Lee USA Speedway and Langley Speedway.

9: The number of drivers who earned a pole during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Justin Bonsignore led the way with four poles, while Matt Hirschman followed closely behind with three. Ron Silk and Jake Johnson each earned two poles while Doug Coby, Tyler Rypkema, Timmy Solomito, Ronnie Williams  and Jimmy Blewett all tallied one each.

11: The number of drivers who scored a victory during the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Justin Bonsignore led the list with four wins, followed by Doug Coby’s three victories. Nine other drivers scored one victory each, including Jon McKennedy, Eric Goodale, Craig Lutz, Matt Hirschman, Mike Christopher Jr., Kyle Soper, Jimmy Blewett, Anthony Nocella and Corey LaJoie.

Anthony Nocella reacts after winning the Whelen 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 16, 2022 (Nick Grace/NASCAR)

13: The amount of top-10 finishes champion Jon McKennedy recorded during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which led all drivers.

13: The number of points that separated the four championship contenders ahead of the season finale at Martinsville Speedway.

26: The number of drivers who led at least one lap on the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season. Doug Coby led the way (573), followed by Matt Hirschman (384), Justin Bonsignore (377), Ron Silk (232), champion Jon McKennedy (229), Timmy Solomito (131), Craig Lutz (119), Corey LaJoie (110), Tyler Rypkema (108), Eric Goodale (103), Tommy Catalano (75), Andrew Krause (70), Donny Lia (44), Kyle Soper (39), Patrick Emerling (33), Mike Christopher Jr. (28), Ryan Preece (26), Jimmy Blewett (19), Kyle Bonsignore (18), Max McLaughlin (10), Chuck Hossfeld (5), Jake Johnson (5), Walter Sutcliffe Jr. (4), Anthony Nocella (4), Ryan Newman (2) and Ronnie Williams (2).

Eric Goodale poses for a photo after winning the Phoenix Communications 150 at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park on October 9, 2022 (Rachel O’Driscoll/NASCAR)

27: The number of drivers who scored at least one top-five finish during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

38: The number of drivers who scored at least one top-10 finish during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season.

67: The number of drivers who competed in at least one NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race during the 2022 season.

573: The amount of laps Doug Coby led during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which ranked higher than any other driver despite Coby missing four races on the year.

Austin Beers looks on during the Toyota Bud Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway on September 3, 2022. (Bryan Bennett/NASCAR)

597: The amount of points Jon McKennedy scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season to claim the driver championship.

633: The amount of points Tommy Baldwin Jr. scored during the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season to claim the owners’ championship.

2,746: The amount of laps Eric Goodale completed on the 2022 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, which ranked higher than any other driver. Rookie of the Year Austin Beers followed closely behind Goodale by completing 2,745 laps.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: Tune in live or set your DVRs for Episode 10 tonight at 10 ET on USA Network. The previous nine episodes are currently available for streaming on Peacock.

The 10th episode of USA Network’s unscripted series “Race for the Championship” airs tonight at 10 ET, and it provides an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the field throughout the three-race Round of 8 — including the incredible finale at Martinsville Speedway that saw Ross Chastain haul the wall to clinch a spot in the Championship 4.

Chastain’s last-gasp, last-lap bout of ingenuity is among the highlights in Episode 10. Although fans may have watched his final dash to the checkered flag on replay countless times since Sunday, the “Race for the Championship” crew captures an alternate angle of Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks celebrating. He’s mic’d for sound, too, when he rushes onto pit road to greet Chastain, who is bound for the Championship 4 this weekend alongside Joey Logano, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott.

The “Race for the Championship” docuseries debuted Sept. 1 with an episode dedicated to the beginning of the NASCAR season. As the series and season have both evolved, it’s caught up to real-time now with tonight’s episode.

NBC Universal previously announced that the entire season so far of Race for the Championship will be available on Peacock starting Oct. 7. Episodes 7-10 of Race for the Championship will still debut on USA Network before being available on Peacock the next day.

So after watching tonight’s Episode 9, be sure to stream previous episodes or any you may have missed on Peacock.

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