Brad Keselowski toasts No. 2 crew for final time: ‘A lot of great friendships’

Posted on November 8, 2021November 8, 2021 by Terrin Waack

AVONDALE, Ariz. — One last cheers for the No. 2 crew.

After Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway, Brad Keselowski toasted his Team Penske mates on pit road in honor of their last race together. Instead of just lifting a can of beer, like everyone else, Keselowski filled and hoisted the large glass he notoriously chugged out of while celebrating his 2012 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Two coolers stocked full of Miller Lite sat next to their Ford, ready to refill or replenish for as long as nostalgia flowed.

“Definitely feels like the last weekend,” Keselowski said. “I’m trying to soak up what there is to soak up. But it’s going to be a different world for sure.”

Terrin Waack | NASCAR Digital Media

After 12 full seasons with Team Penske, Keselowski heads over to Roush Fenway Racing in a driver-owner role. He’ll pilot the No. 6 Ford in 2022, while Austin Cindric takes over the No. 2 car at Team Penske. Both moves were announced back in July.

Keselowski joined Team Penske on a full-time basis in 2010 after three part-time races the prior season. Thirty-five of Keselowski’s 36 career victories came in the No. 2 car, including that 2012 championship.

“It’s still hard,” Keselowski said. “There’s a lot of great friendships I made. I couldn’t have picked a better time to do it. There’s a huge workforce transition with the Next Gen car and all that stuff happening at the same time to where next year is going to be a culture shock for the entire garage. I kind of feel like I’m playing even there.”

The Next Gen car is set to debut when the 2022 season kicks off with the Busch Light Clash exhibition event Feb. 6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In his final season, Keselowski had one win (Talladega Superspeedway), 10 top fives and 17 top 10s. His last race result for Team Penske was an 11th-place finish. He checked in sixth in the championship standings.

“It’s a little bit surreal,” Keselowski said. “It felt like the last day of school. You’re on the next chapter.”

WATCH: No. 2 crew toasts with 2012 championship beer glass

Another notable farewell at Team Penske:

— Crew chief Todd Gordon is retiring from atop the No. 12 pit box. He closes out his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career with 25 victories and the 2018 championship with driver Joey Logano. Gordon’s latest wheelman, Ryan Blaney, finished fourth Sunday at Phoenix Raceway and seventh in the championship standings for his final race and season. Said Blaney: “It was a really good last run for Todd before he hangs it up. I wish it was a win. I can’t thank him enough for the last couple of years and I can’t thank this whole group enough for this year. It has been a lot of fun.”

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Staff Report

Every 2021 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 of the postseason.

Through Phoenix playoff race
Note: Does not include points earned for Bluegreen Vacations Duel races at Daytona International Speedway

Rank	Driver	Stage wins	Stage points
1	Kyle Larson	18	402
2	Denny Hamlin	10	384
3	Chase Elliott	6	294
4	William Byron	4	288
5	Kyle Busch	7	258
6	Ryan Blaney	4	236
7	Joey Logano	5	231
8	Martin Truex, Jr	6	217
9	Brad Keselowski	2	210
10	Kevin Harvick	0	187
11	Kurt Busch	3	171
12	Tyler Reddick	3	166
13	Alex Bowman	0	145
14	Austin Dillon	0	113
15	Christopher Bell	0	108
16	Ross Chastain	0	63
17	Chris Buescher	2	57
18	Bubba Wallace	2	56
19	Matt DiBenedetto	1	49
T-20	Michael McDowell	0	40
T-20	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	0	40
22	Aric Almirola	0	37
23	Ryan Preece	0	35
T-24	Daniel Suarez	0	30
T-24	Chase Briscoe	0	30
26	Corey Lajoie	0	15
27	Erik Jones	0	14
28	Ryan Newman	0	9
29	Cole Custer	0	8
30	Anthony Alfredo	0	1

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Terrin Waack

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The defender was defeated.

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, entered Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway as the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion. The 2020 title holder exited the Arizona desert as the 2021 fourth-place finalist.

“All you can do is the best you can do, right?” No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson told NASCAR.com. “You do it every week. Certainly, when there’s circumstances like this, you find a little extra motivation. But we try hard every week, we try to win every week.”

Sunday was no exception.

Elliott ultimately finished fifth, the lowest of the Championship 4 contenders. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson won the race and therefore the Bill France Cup trophy. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin placed second and third, respectively, on the results sheet and in the season standings.

Larson led a race-high 107 laps, including the last 28 to the checkered flag. Elliott had the second-best tally out of the 312 total with 94 leading circuits.

“You get a caution with 20 laps to go, it’s going to be very difficult to run down and pass the guy that jumps out front in the restart,” Elliott said. “But yeah, proud of our team. Felt like we had a nice game plan coming into the week, felt like our car did a lot of things we wanted it to do. No major mistakes, just needed to be a little better in those first few sequences of restarts and pit stops there at the end.”

With 29 laps remaining, debris on the track drew a yellow and the field pitted. The No. 5 crew performed the fastest stop that allowed Larson to gain three spots off of pit road, jumping from fourth to first. Elliott, meanwhile, lost a spot and settled in fourth.

Larson chose the top lane for the restart, and Hamlin took the bottom next to him. Elliott lined up behind Hamlin, alongside Truex.

The final green-flag stretch lasted 24 laps. Larson held off his competition and wound up with a 0.398-second margin of victory.

“All those cars were so good, whichever one was out front was probably going to be the only one who was going to win,” Gustafson said. “I was pretty happy we could pass the leader. We did that a few times. Just disappointed we didn’t keep up with it again at the end.”

Elliott last held the lead with 62 laps remaining. He had taken it from and lost it to Larson. Actually, every time Elliott moved into first – four total occurrences – it required passing Larson.

The No. 9 group won two races in 2021. Both came at road courses – Circuit of The Americas (NASCAR’s debut) and Road America (series’ first race there since 1956). That gives him 13 career victories since his first in 2018.

This marked Elliott’s second Championship 4 appearance overall.

“I’m happy to be here, I’m not happy right now,” Gustafson said. “I mean, it’s hard two minutes after the race to sit here and find the good.”

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Staff Report

Kyle Larson received major accolades from motorsports legends after capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

NASCAR Hall of Famer and three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart as well as Mario Andretti were among the heavy hitters to applaud the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver for his triumph. Stewart even recognized him as the best race car driver he has ever witnessed.

Congratulations to the best race car driver I’ve ever seen. @KyleLarsonRacin

— Tony Stewart (@TonyStewart) November 8, 2021

Superb drive Kyle @KyleLarsonRacin well deserved Chmpionship!!So happy for you and @TeamHendrick #NASCAR

— Mario Andretti (@MarioAndretti) November 7, 2021

During his championship press conference, Larson shared his thoughts on Stewart’s message.

“If I really had a true racing hero, I would say it’s Tony Stewart, who I’ve always believed to be the best race car driver ever,” Larson said. “That means a lot to me.”

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Holly Cain

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Stewart-Haas Racing driver Chase Briscoe officially earned the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors Sunday. It marks the second consecutive year the SHR team has fielded the top series newcomer. Cole Custer won it last year.

Briscoe, 26, driver of the No. 14 SHR Ford, finished out the season with a 35th place finish at Phoenix – crashing out after a tire problem while running 12th. He finished 23rd in the final championship standings.

A nine-time winner while racing full-time for the team in the Xfinity Series last year, he had three top-10 finishes in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, including a best of sixth place at both the Austin and Road America road courses. He led 18 laps with a single day best of 12 laps led at the Indianapolis Road Course.

The series other Rookie of the Year contender, Front Row Motorsports driver Anthony Alfredo, 22, finished 30th in the standings with one top-10 finish, a 10th place at the fall Talladega Superspeedway race. He closed out the year with a 34th-place finish following an accident at Phoenix.

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Zack Albert

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin may have entered Sunday’s championship race as underdogs. So said Wally Brown, the team’s competition director, in the week’s run-up to the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Cinderellas or not, Truex and Hamlin chased the No. 5 Chevrolet of eventual champion Kyle Larson down the stretch before coming up short in Sunday’s season-ender. Their Toyotas held the advantage in long-haul speed in a race that threw two short runs at them late, playing into the strengths of Hendrick Motorsports teammates Larson and Chase Elliott.

That factor, plus a slight performance deficit on pit road at the end, left Truex second in his bid for a second Cup Series title and Hamlin third in his long-running quest for a first.

“That’s racing, as they say, and sometimes you’re just not on the right end of things,” said Truex, who led 72 laps but ended up .398 seconds behind at the checkered flag. “We were on the right end of things to get the lead there and weren’t able to hold onto it. If we could have had the lead, I think it would have been over, but that’s kind of how the 5 did it, too. So they had a hell of a season and congrats to them. Gosh, second sucks. I hate it.”

Truex nearly benefitted from a decision by crew chief James Small to be the first Championship 4 contender to make their final scheduled pit stop, forcing the other title hopefuls to follow suit. When the caution flag flew for Anthony Alfredo’s hard hit with 66 laps remaining, Truex was already committed to pit road and after the No. 19 team’s stop, he left with the lead

Truex held serve up front for the next 33 laps before another yellow flag for debris prompted a final round of stops. The No. 5 crew vaulted Larson to the lead with speedy service, while Truex slipped to third for the final restart — which shifted to Hendrick’s favor with just a 24-lap run to the end.

“It wasn’t what we needed,” said Small, who described the team’s over-the-wall performance as “a little bit messy” on Sunday. “I think if it went green there, we would’ve just kept pulling away there. We had a great fight there with the 11. They had a strong car as well. Yeah, we just struggled just a little bit on pit road all day, to be honest, compared to the Hendrick cars. That 5 car crew’s been strong all year and that really won them the race. Martin did a great job on that last restart to get into second and he gave a hell of a fight.”

The title-eligible drivers ran in 1-2-3-4 formation for significant portions of Sunday’s 312-miler, but Hamlin was the only one of the four that didn’t lead a lap. The prospects of a caution-free stint to the end would have aided the No. 11 team’s hopes, but Hamlin still lined up alongside friendly rival Larson on the front row for the final restart.

“You and your buddy on the front row may not be buddies after this,” No. 11 crew chief Chris Gabehart told Hamlin before the final green flag. “Go get this.” But Larson pulled away to a lead that he wouldn’t give up, leaving Hamlin’s title cupboard empty in his third consecutive Championship 4 appearance.

“I have to live with the result because I can’t change it,” Hamlin said. “Disappointed, absolutely, for sure. But I knew kind of going into today I was going to need the race to go a certain way. If it goes the way it did last year, it goes green out, we’re probably winning. But it didn’t. We knew that our percentage was low, and that was the case. Many of these races come down to green-white-checkers or shootouts at the end, and that just wasn’t our strength and hasn’t been ever.”

Said Gabehart: “The short-run speed of the 5 and the 9 were evident on Friday and yesterday, but it became evident in the race that they were going to taper off enough to make us easily able to contend or be better than them. Certainly once we worked on our cars and it cooled off a bit, they really weren’t in the game as much any more. But it comes down to cautions and circumstances and that caution wasn’t what we needed. You put Kyle Larson out front with a bit in his mouth and kind of hand him that advantage, he’s going to be hard to beat and that’s what it was.”

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Reid Spencer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — At the end of an almost mythical season came the quintessential story of redemption.

Taking advantage of an opportune caution and a blazingly fast pit stop by his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew, Larson held off Martin Truex Jr. during a 24-lap green-flag run to the finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.

The victory — Larson’s 10th of the season and the 10th at a track where he had never won before — made a deserving series champion of the 29-year-old Californian, who honed his racing skills in open-wheeled cars on dirt.

As Larson slowed his car for the cool-down lap, the tears started flowing.

“I can’t … I cannot believe it,” Larson said after climbing from his car. “I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year and a half ago. To win a championship is crazy. I’ve got to say first-off thank you so much to (team owner) Rick Hendrick, Hendrickcars.com, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, every single one of my supporters in the stands, watching at home and my family.

“There were so many points in this race where I did not think we were going to win. Without my pit crew on that last stop (on Lap 285), we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race. They are true champions. I’m just blessed to be a part of this group. Every single man and woman at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us, and every one of you.

“This is unbelievable. I’m speechless.”

This was the Kyle Larson who watched last year’s Cup championship race from afar after drawing a suspension from NASCAR and losing his ride with Chip Ganassi Racing for using a racial slur during a non-NASCAR-related virtual race in April 2020.

But after Larson did yeoman work to earn reinstatement, team owner Rick Hendrick hired the virtuoso driver, who won 46 dirt races in multiple divisions during his absence from NASCAR.

Hendrick’s decision paid immediate dividends and culminated in the 14th series championship for the organization (series-most).

Until Lap 282 of 312, however, Larson’s chances of victory were all but nonexistent. He was fourth among the Championship 4 drivers and trailing Truex, the leader at the time, by more than four seconds.

But on the lap that changed the race, the brakes in David Starr’s No. 13 Toyota exploded and dropped a rotor in the low lane in Turn 3. Under the resulting caution, the ninth of the race, Larson’s crew performed its second-fastest stop of the year and got Larson off pit road in the lead from pit stall No. 1, which the driver had earned by winning the pole during Saturday’s qualifying.

Larson restarted from the outside on Lap 289 with Hamlin beside him. Truex, who lost two positions on pit road, lined up behind Larson, with defending champion Chase Elliott to his inside. Larson surged into the lead, and Truex followed, passing Hamlin.

Truex contested the lead early in the run before Larson established a more comfortable margin. But Truex was closing at the finish and was just .398 seconds behind when Larson crossed the stripe for the final time to earn the 16th victory of his career.

“I don’t know what the caution was for, but just untimely caution for us and lost two spots on pit road, and that was the race,” Truex said. “Twenty (laps) to go, you’re not going to pass one of the fastest cars out there. We just didn’t have the short-run speed all day, and then certainly with 20 to go, it’s going to be hard to pass anybody out front in clean air.

“I think if we would have had the lead, we could have held him off. But hindsight is 20-20, and we didn’t have the lead, so here we are. Really proud of our team and our season. Come in here once again as underdogs and had a shot at it, so that was fun.”

Before the Lap 282 caution Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota was closing on Truex, but the yellow flag foiled a well-executed game plan by Hamlin’s team.

“I really liked where we were at with about 25 to go,” said Hamlin, who came home third in front of Ryan Blaney and Elliott. “We were just exceptional in the long run, which wasn’t too surprising, but started running the 19 (Truex) back down there and got within a couple car lengths, and obviously that debris caution changed a lot.

“Special congrats to Larson and his team. Those guys, any time you can win 10 races in a year, you’re absolutely a deserving champion. They did a great job on the last pit stop and got him out there, and it was just set sail after that.”

Had he won, the 25-year-old Elliott would have become the youngest driver to win multiple Cup championships, but his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet didn’t have either the track position or the necessary speed in the final run.

“I felt like our NAPA Chevy was really good, and I thought our team did a really good job preparing this week,” said Elliott, who led 94 laps, second only to Larson’s 107. “I was really proud of our group. I thought we brought a really good car and did a lot of things that we were wanting to do today. Just didn’t work out, and the sequence of the way all that went certainly was unfortunate for us.

“But look, proud of our team, a lot to build on, and also congrats to Kyle and (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels). What an amazing season. Very, very deserving champions, and glad to see Kyle have success. When you’re a good driver and a good person, and you surround yourself with good people, success is warranted. It’s good to see that.

“But we’ll be back stronger next year and try to give them a run.”

MORE: Chase Elliott’s post-race interview

Notes: Post-race inspection as well as the vehicle and engine teardown confirmed Larson as the race winner and champion. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of driver Kyle Busch was found to have two lug nuts not safe and secure. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of driver Denny Hamlin, the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of driver Brad Keselowski, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford of driver Matt DiBenedetto, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of driver Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Larson each had one lug nut not safe and secure. Fines to those respective crew chiefs will be assessed on the NASCAR penalty report, which is typically released on Tuesdays.

Posted on November 7, 2021November 7, 2021 by Staff Report

Kyle Larson, the season’s most dominant driver in the NASCAR Cup Series from start to finish, completed his run to the top by winning the 2021 championship Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson held off Championship 4 contenders Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott during the final restart on Lap 288 of the 312-lap event at the 1-mile Arizona oval. But it was the pit stop during the caution flag that won him the title. In a power move off pit road during the final round of stops, Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team used the first pit stall selection to his advantage, gaining the lead over Hamlin after entering pit road in fourth — the last of the Championship 4 drivers.

RELATED: Race recap | Race results | SHOP: Kyle Larson gear

“There were so many points in the race where I did not think we were going to win,” Larson said during his championship celebration. “Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here. They’re the true winners of this race. They’re the true champions. I’m just blessed to be a part of this group.”

Truex made a valiant effort to catch Larson in the closing laps, but came up just short of his second career championship by finishing second. Hamlin completed the podium spots with a third-place finish in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, while 2020 champion Chase Elliott finished fifth.

“I knew the only way we were going to pull it off is if our pit crew got us off as a leader, and damn, they did,” Larson said. “That was just crazy. I tried to do as good of a job as I could down pit road without speeding, getting my sign as good as I could, and those guys nailed the pit stop and got us out the leader.

“I still had to fight through,” he added. “Martin was really fast behind me. Our car was just gripped up enough for that length of a run that we could hold them off.”

Larson, 29, from Elk Grove, California, took his career to a new level in 2021. The veteran driver more than doubled his career wins total this season, entering ’21 with six since his first full-time season.

By essentially every measure, 2021 marked Larson’s best season — and one of the best in modern NASCAR history. He’s one of just 11 drivers and holds of one of 17 instances where a driver has won 10 or more times in a year at the top level, joining a host of NASCAR Hall of Famers to do so.

Larson started out the 2021 season with a 10th-place finish at the Daytona International Speedway before picking up his first win since 2019 just three races later at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. From there, it quickly became evident he would be a force this season.

The No. 5 driver put together the best three-race stretch of anyone this year from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Nashville Superspeedway, winning a crown jewel, his first road-course victory at Sonoma Raceway and the inaugural Cup race at the Music City track. He added another over the summer, holding off Hendrick teammate Elliott for another road win at Watkins Glen International before scoring another four in the playoffs (Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Roval, Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway) leading up to Phoenix. Larson also won at Texas earlier this year in the All-Star Race.

Larson’s race win at Phoenix to earn the title was his 10th of the 2021 season.

“I think just thinking about the journey and how tough of a road it’s been to get to this point for so long, but especially the last year and a half, and too,” Larson said. “I think just the atmosphere, I haven’t felt an atmosphere like this maybe ever. With the pressure of this race and everything that was on the line, to win this championship — every one of these fans made me feel it. I was trying to tell myself to just chill out, stop tearing up. I make fun of my dad all the time for crying, and I’m worse than he is.

“It’s just so cool. So cool. So thankful. Thank you to Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon. We have so many people from Hendrickcars.com here, Hendrick Motorsports. This is just awesome, an awesome day.”

Larson is signed on again to drive for Hendrick next year, along with his three ’21 teammates, positioning the longtime organization to once again compete for the title as NASCAR enters its Next Gen era.

The championship comes a year and a half after Larson used a racial slur while competing in an iRacing event during the pandemic shutdown in April 2020. Larson was suspended from NASCAR, lost his job driving Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 42 Chevrolet and did not race in NASCAR again until this year after being reinstated in October 2020.

The championship is Larson’s first at the national series level, though he also has a 2012 title in what was then the K&N Pro Series East. He has 12 wins in 108 career Xfinity Series starts, with two victories in 14 races in the Camping World Truck Series.

Posted on November 7, 2021 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 NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Nov. 8
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon, FS1 (re-air)

Tuesday, Nov. 9
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Phoenix, FS2 (re-air)
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 150, FS2 (re-air)

Wednesday, Nov. 10
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Nov. 11
5 p.m., ARCA Menards Series West Arizona Lottery 100, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (tape delay)
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Friday, Nov. 12
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Saturday, Nov. 13
Noon, IMSA Auto Racing: Petit Le Mans, NBC/NBC Sports App
3 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing: Petit Le Mans, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Terrin Waack

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Respect is not lacking among the Championship 4 teams.

During Thursday’s Media Day at the Phoenix Convention Center, there was no trash talking – at least not about any of the title-eligible drivers (sorry, Alex Bowman). Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott had nothing negative to say about Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. And vice versa.

And yet somehow, despite the obvious teammate pairings, the competitive spirit remains at an all-time high.

“I definitely think it’s us versus the other three guys, for sure,” Larson said. “Obviously if I can’t win, I want Chase to win. But I’m going to race Chase just as hard as I’m going to race Denny and Martin.”

PHOENIX: Betting odds | Weekend schedule | Paint schemes

Sunday’s showdown at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App/Peacock, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is a straight-up battle for the title. Whichever Championship 4 driver posts the best result wins the whole shebang. Technically, he doesn’t even need to finish in first place.

Since the NASCAR Playoffs’ elimination format was installed in 2014, though, the season-finale winner has always been a championship contender. For that reason, all four of the title hopefuls are looking at Phoenix as a must-win situation.

This season, Larson boasts the most wins with nine. Truex owns four. Hamlin and Elliott each hold two.

“We haven’t won as many races as they have,” Hamlin said. “The championship is decided on this race track, not any of the others.”

At Phoenix, Hamlin leads the way with two career victories in Cup. Elliott and Truex have one apiece. Larson has weathered a drought in the desert.

The 750-horsepower package will be in play Sunday. Excluding dirt and road-course events – because Phoenix is a 1-mile asphalt oval – there have been 11 instances where this package has been used in 2021. Truex won a series-best four of those. Larson received the nod twice, Hamlin once. Elliott did not; albeit a very different layout and therefore a technicality, both his wins did come on road courses with this package.

“If it doesn’t make us go faster, I’m not concerned about it,” Elliott said. “We have a motivation amongst our team to go get the job done, and that’s where our focus is.”

Hendrick Motorsports boast the most championships (13 compared to Joe Gibbs Racing’s five), but the current field is evenly split when it comes to titleholders.

Elliott is the defending champion. Truex is the 2017 champion. Neither Hamlin nor Larson has captured a Bill France Cup Trophy.

A second for Elliott or Truex would mean just as much as a first, regardless of alliances.

“Sunday morning, that’s it, it’s over,” Truex said. “They’ll talk pit strategies during the race or whatever is happening like they always do, I would say, but on the race track, we’re racing. There’s no teamwork. We’re not helping each other. We’re racing to win.

“I’m sure the other team is the same way. That’s just the way sport is. It’s every man for themselves once Sunday rolls around.”

WHAT THEY SAID: CHAMPIONSHIP 4

— Chase Elliott: “I feel like it’s a good group. I think we can all go race really hard and put on a good race and race clean and all the things. Yeah, I don’t have anything bad to say about anybody.”

— Kyle Larson: “I can’t speak on how they feel about me. I mean, I respect the heck out of the three competitors and their talents. I’m really looking forward to battling each of them. I feel like it’s the best four teams that are in the final four.”

— Denny Hamlin: “They’re all going to be fast. The HMS guys, pit crews have been really, really fast this year. JGR has been really good on the shorter tracks. It all kind of weighs out to however the race plays out.”

— Martin Truex Jr.: “A high level of respect from me towards all those guys. Chase has been a champion already, even as young as he is. Larson, amazing driver, obviously what he’s done this season. And then Denny, I’ve raced with him since 2003. I’ve run a lot of laps with these guys, never had any issues, raced very clean.”

STATISTICAL TEAM NOTES AMONG THE 2021 CHAMPIONSHIP 4

— Championships: Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are tied.

— 2021 stats: Hendrick Motorsports leads in wins, top fives and top 10s.

— Phoenix stats: Joe Gibbs Racing leads in wins, top fives and top 10s.

— 750-HP tracks: Joe Gibbs Racing leads in wins, top fives and top 10s.