Ryan Blaney talks to the media before attempting to defend his NASCAR Cup Series title. Blaney could become the first Cup champion to win two in a row since Jimmie Johnson in 2010. (Photo by Natalie Lopez/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – After 35 grueling races, the NASCAR season comes down to just one race Sunday, as Phoenix Raceway hosts championship weekend for the fifth consecutive year.
Although 36 cars will be on the track Sunday, only four drivers will be eligible to win the championship:
Joey Logano: Logano is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut. Logano won the 2017 and 2022 NASCAR Cup Series titles. He won at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to advance to the championship four.
Ryan Blaney: Blaney is the defending Cup Series champion. He is the son of NASCAR legend Dave Blaney and hails from Hartford Township, Ohio. Blaney advanced to the championship four following last weekend’s victory at Martinsville Speedway.
Tyler Reddick: Reddick is making his first career championship four driving for 23XI Racing. His car is co-owned by fellow driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. Reddick advanced to the championship four following his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He hails from Corning, California.
William Byron: Byron is making his second consecutive championship four appearance. Last season, Bryon finished third in the championship race. He advanced to the championship four based on points. Byron will look to capture his first career NASCAR Cup Series title Sunday. He comes from Charlotte, North Carolina.
(Graphic by Cooper Burns/Cronkite News)
Although only four drivers who are competing can win the championship, that does not mean that only four cars will be found on the track. All 36 drivers will be competing whether they can win the championship or not. The reason this is allowed is so that points standings spots 5-36 can be finalized and each driver and team can get their end-of-season bonus depending on where they finish.
For the four drivers who are championship-eligible, their path to win is very simple. Finish ahead of the other three eligible drivers and you win the title. For example, Blaney could finish in 11th place, but as long as he finishes ahead of Logano, Reddick and Byron, he wins the championship.
The other 32 competitors who are not racing for a title normally let those four pass them to duke it out. Last year, Ross Chastain ended up winning the race but was not eligible for the title, the first time that has happened since the current playoff structure was introduced in 2014.
Another item to consider this weekend is teammates. In NASCAR, each team has a select number of drivers and the drivers within the team consider themselves teammates. This weekend, two of the four drivers eligible to win the championship are teammates as Logano and Blaney both drive for Team Penske.
Having teammates race one another is not a rare occurrence in the championship race. Over the last 10 championship races, seven of those have had teammates fighting one another to win the championship.
While some see racing your teammate for the championship as a negative, Blaney and Logano don’t.
“Being able to lock in early means there’s more resources to where we can try to get the 12 (car) equally as prepared as the 22,” Logano said.
Blaney added that “I don’t think there’s any challenges. I feel like that’s made up from the outside. It has just doubled the effort of giving two opportunities to bring a championship to Team Penske.”
Coming into this weekend, no clear favorite separates himself. As it sits, most betting markets have defending champion Blaney as the favorite at anywhere from +175 to +250.
When asked about the competition this weekend, the drivers were fairly diplomatic.
“I can cheat the questions on this one because I have a teammate and we kind of got the same stuff, so I would say Joey because hopefully it makes my stuff good, too,” Blaney said.
Byron believes it’s “going to come down to execution and being there at the right time. This race is freeing because it is all about the finish.”
Sunday broadcast coverage can be found on NBC and Peacock starting at 1 p.m. MST and radio coverage on Sirius XM channel 90 and mrn.com.
