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Over the past three months, a chaotic string of losses in the NASCAR playoffs has pushed one major contender to the sidelines. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick dropped out of the Round of 16. Kyle Larson was eliminated in Round of 12. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin were eliminated last week, with Hamlin being dropped out of contention by Ross’ Chastain’s Miracle Wall his ride. final corner of the race. That left a Championship Four with a variety of potentially bizarre outcomes, including potential split-owner and driver titles between two separate Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
Instead, the former series champion ran away with it.
Joey Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney dominated today’s season finale at Phoenix Raceway, leading 296 of the day’s 312 laps. In his non-championship four, while his teammate was leading for a good part of the race, Logano was an effective championship his leader for nearly the entire race, being challenged by another contender on the track. It was rare. His closest call came after the last scheduled stop of the day. This is the cycle Christopher Bell’s number 20 left right behind him on the track.
Logano appeared to be in control of the fight when Michael McDowell crashed into Alex Bowman to call the final caution of the day.In the subsequent cycle of additional tire stops, Bell’s tire changer A finger caught in the stopped wheel hub structureThe team recorded an unusually slow stop of nearly 20 seconds, knocking out the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing machine.
Chase Briscoe led the final restart but was quickly passed by Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney to run 1-2 on the track. Ross His Chastain worked his way up to third place, squeezing the lead to less than two seconds behind him, but never quite the bumpers of Blaney or Logano, and a career-best second in the championship. had to settle for the finish of Logano won the finale race to claim his second championship of his career.
Christopher Bell recovered to finish 10th and 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship. Chase Elliott spun at the mid-race restart after contact with his rival Ross Chastain, but fell off the pace for the rest of the day, coming home 28th and 4th in the drivers’ standings. Became. Kyle Larson, who had a chance to win the Owners’ Championship in two rounds after dropping out of the Drivers’ Championship due to a strange twist in the rulebook, came home in ninth.
After 40 weekends of 38 races and only one weekend off after the Daytona 500, NASCAR is finally entering its short offseason. Next year’s schedule is similarly packed, but at least the team won’t have to worry about the sheer amount of extra work in the many off-season tests to develop the next-generation car. NASCAR will return to racing in his second annual crash at the LA Coliseum on February 5 next year before starting the entire season championship at the Daytona 500 on February 19.
