Joey Logano fended off a charge from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney to win Sunday’s (Nov. 10) NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway, earning his third career title.
Logano took the lead away from fellow Championship 4 contender William Byron on the lap 259 restart, going from fifth to first to take the top spot. It looked like the race was tilting his way, the other contenders hampered by poor track position.
While Logano held serve up front, it was Blaney mounting a late-race charge, first passing Kyle Larson before getting around Byron for second with 23 laps to go.
Blaney chopped a previous 3.3-second deficit down to just car lengths in the closing laps but was unable to find away around his teammate.
The championship is the third in a row for Penske.
“I love the playoffs,” Logano told NBC Sports post-race. “What a race. What a Team Penske battle there at the end. Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the No. 12, he had a lot of long-run speed. That was all I had there to hold him off. Three of them, that’s really special.”
On the other side of the coin was Blaney, who had to be attended to by medical personnel after his late-race charge came up short.
“Just worn out,” Blaney said. “Restart didn’t work out, he got too far away from me and (I) had to pass a couple guys. Just couldn’t get by Joey and I ran out of time.”
Behind the Penske duo was Byron, whose strategy of running long during the final green-flag cycle nearly paid off due to a well-timed caution for Zane Smith. Following Logano’s excellent restart, however, the No. 24 was relegated to second place and was forced to watch Logano drive away.
“We just needed a little bit more,” Byron said. “I felt like we have it all we had. We just didn’t have enough to go fight with the Penske guys. At times I could inch up on them, but I felt like on the long run they were better. Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made a great call, that was cool to give us a shot. Just not quite enough.”
Tyler Reddick finished sixth on a day where the No. 45 lagged behind its Championship 4 competitors for much of the race. Reddick never seriously threatened for the championship lead, running in the back half of the top 10 for most of the day.
“I think we definitely got our Beast Camry better throughout the day,” Reddick said. “There was that one time there we were right near the Championship 4 cars and they were just able to pull away over time. It was a good year for us and everyone at 23XI [Racing] to get to the Championship 4. We gotta get a little bit better here at Phoenix.”
Blaney, Byron, Larson, Christopher Bell, Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top 10.
Bell was the non-playoff driver who provided the most challenge to the championship contenders on Sunday, as the No. 20 was out front for 143 circuits before fading in stage three.
The race itself had only a handful of incidents, for Smith and then Ty Gibbs. Gibbs’ second Cup season ended on a sour note, as a hard hit into the outside wall on lap 3 put the No. 54 out of the race. It was one of just two cautions for wrecks.
Logano was the first Championship 4 driver to lead, taking the top spot from Truex on the lap 10 restart.
Logano went on to win stage one, with Byron finishing the stage fourth, Blaney sixth and Reddick seventh.
A poor stop by Logano’s pit crew after the stage gave Blaney the advantage over his Penske teammate for the championship lead, with Elliott winning the race off pit road. A red flag was thrown during the caution period due to the pace car hitting the sand barrels while pulling off the track.
The first round of green-flag pit stops saw Bell keep the lead over Blaney, who continued to lead the championship. However, Blaney took the lead back with six laps to go, winning stage two after a fierce side-by-side battle.
He appeared to be in the driver’s seat from there until the Smith yellow turned the race – and strategy – upside down. That’s where Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe were there to pounce.
Polesitter Martin Truex Jr., making his final Cup start as a full-time driver, won the pole but was never in serious contention to win. He finished 17th in his final start behind the wheel of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Cup Phoenix Results
The Cup Series returns next year with the Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium on Feb. 2, 2025 followed by the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.
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Mark Martin knows sliced bread…
Joe Gibbs doesn’t. His grandson finished last.
The Gibblet.
That’s usually what will happen when you smoke the wall on lap 2.
Randy Lajoie said that, not Mark. Mark said he will be somebody to watch in Cup, he was very impressed with him as a young driver.
Another boring Phoenix race, for Nascar’s championship. Man sponsors have been getting ripped off but it’s their own fault.
Poor Hamlin. Joey broke his back in 2013, and his heart with 3 championships to Denny’s none. You know it eats him up lololol
Champion*
Only 4 drivers in Nascar history have more championships than Joey. Joe Gibbs looks pretty stupid.
Was I imagining things or was it the 45 who hit the 54 in the left rear and then the 54 had his car go into the wall. It looked like a black car with yellow paint on the hood and he started behind the 54.
When will NA$CAR admit Phoenix is the wrong venue for the final farce of the season and move it to Miami?
That was a really boring race. As much as Leigh Diffey wants to yell and try to get us excited, the race was over with 10 to go.