This weekend marks the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR season — and three champions will be crowned across the three different tiers of the sport.
Here’s how to follow all the action, and what to expect from the final round of the NASCAR championship.
How the NASCAR championship finale works
Several years ago, NASCAR implemented an elimination-style Playoff format to determine its championship. Every year, drivers compete to be one of four drivers eligible for the title, which is decided in the final race of each season.
This is a much different format when compared to other racing series. In Formula 1 and IndyCar, for example, the ultimate champion is decided by determining which driver scored the most points over the course of an entire season.
In NASCAR, the champion may not necessarily be the driver with the most points at the end of the season. Rather, the champion is instead one of four drivers who qualified for the playoffs by winning races or scoring well, and who lasted through multiple rounds of elimination.
That means that, at the end of the year, four drivers are equally eligible for the title. Coming into Phoenix, for example, the four competing Cup Series drivers all share an equal total of 5,000 points. The driver among those four who finishes highest on the track on Sunday will be crowned the victor.
Understanding the NASCAR Playoffs:
👉 NASCAR Playoffs explained: Format, rules, tracks, and schedule
👉 Meet the four NASCAR championship contenders ahead of the Phoenix finale
What the NASCAR finale at Phoenix will look like
NASCAR’s season finale takes place at Phoenix Raceway, a one-mile oval track in Avondale, Arizona.
The race will be run over a total of 312 laps — or, 312 miles, or just over 500 kilometers.
Every single Cup Series driver will be able to qualify for and race in the event, but only four of those drivers are eligible to compete for the title: Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron. The driver among those four who finishes highest on track will be crowned the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
NASCAR races are run over three “stages,” or periods of the race that are punctuated by mandatory caution flags. The first stage will end on lap 60. The second stage will end on lap 185. The final stage ends on lap 312, which also serves as the conclusion of the race.
How strong are the Championship 4 at Phoenix?
Of all four championship contenders, Joey Logano is both the most experienced and most successful. He’s contested over 570 Cup Series races in his career and has taken two Cup Series titles to his name, making him intimately familiar with the elimination format.
At Phoenix specifically, Logano has 31 starts, with three total wins and an average finishing position of 13.5.
If Ryan Blaney wins the 2024 title, he’d be the first driver in the short history of the elimination-style championship format to take back-to-back titles. However, when he took his title last year, he did so by finishing second.
That means that, of Blaney’s 17 starts at Phoenix, he has clocked no wins. However, his average finish sits at 10.9, giving him a bit of a leg up over his Penske teammate Logano.
Tyler Reddick, in his fifth Cup Series season, will make his Championship 4 debut at Phoenix. Reddick was crowned the regular series champion — or, the driver with the most points before the start of the playoffs.
In his nine starts at Phoenix, Reddick has no wins and an average finishing position of 17.9.
Last on the list is William Byron, who, like last year, is the only driver in the Championship 4 who failed to win a race in the Round of 8. He’s put together a decent, if unspectacular, 2024 season.
Still, he’s one of two drivers to have won at Phoenix in the Cup Series, taking one victory in his 13 starts. Byron’s average finish of 11.8 also makes him a strong candidate for a great performance — especially after a contentious end to last weekend’s cutoff race in Martinsville.
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