The Cup season comes to a close Sunday at Phoenix.
Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe will race for the championship.
Sunday’s race is on NBC and Peacock. Countdown to Green begins at 2 p.m. ET. Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET.
With help from Racing Insights, here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers and teams heading to Sunday’s race at Phoenix.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick ranks first in the series in percentage of laps completed at 99.8%, having run all but 15 of the 9,261 laps this season. … Bubba Wallace has two top-10 finishes in the last four Phoenix races. Bad news: Riley Herbst has finished outside the top 30 in three of the last four races. … After winning three times last season, Reddick has yet to win this year.
NASCAR stated: “Our priority remains resolving this matter quickly so all parties can focus on Championship weekend and continuing to grow the sport.”
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Todd Gilliland followed his runner-up finish at Talladega by placing ninth last weekend at Martinsville, marking the first time this year he’s scored back-to-back top 10s. … Zane Smith finished ninth at Phoenix in March. Bad news: Noah Gragson has finished outside the top 20 in 19 of the last 22 races.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer has finished in the top 20 in back-to-back races, the second time he’s done that this year. Bad News: Cole Custer enters the weekend 33rd in points.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron and Kyle Larson will race for a championship this weekend. … Larson is going for his second Cup title and Byron his first. … Larson has four top-five finishes in the last five Phoenix races. … Larson has 10 top-five finishes at Phoenix, his most top fives at any track. … Larson’s pit crew ranks No. 1 based on Racing Insights data. …Byron has led a series-high 1,278 laps this season. … Byron has run the most laps (1,618) in the top five at Phoenix in the Next Gen era. … Byron ranks No. 1 on restarts this season, according to Racing Insights data. … Chase Elliott has back-to-back top 10s at Phoenix. Bad news: Alex Bowman has finished outside the top 20 in three of the last five races. … Larson is winless in 23 races, his longest winless streak since joining Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the 2021 season.
Says title contender Kyle Larson: “I really couldn’t tell you who would be the favorite.”
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his 400th consecutive start this weekend, the third-longest active streak in the series behind Joey Logano, who will make his 612th consecutive start this weekend and Brad Keselowski, who will make his 580th consecutive start. Bad news: Stenhouse has not finished better than 19th in the last eight Phoenix races. … Stenhouse has one top-15 finish in the last 17 races this season.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe will each race for a championship this weekend. … Both Hamlin and Briscoe seek their first series title. … Hamlin has the best average finish at Phoenix (10.6) among the Championship 4 drivers. … If Hamlin wins the title he would be, at age 44, the oldest to win a championship since Bobby Allison in 1983. … Briscoe has seven top-10 finishes, including two wins, in the nine playoff races this season. … Christopher Bell has won two of the last three Cup races at Phoenix. … Bell has a series-best 11.2 average finish this season. Bad news: Hamlin has had mechanical issues at times during the playoffs, including a blown engine last weekend at Martinsville and a throttle cable issue the week before at Talladega. … Hamlin has been passed for the final lead change in two of the last four Phoenix races, including on the last lap in March. … Bell has not led a lap in the last four races, tied for his longest steak of the season. … Ty Gibbs has failed to finish the last two Phoenix races due to accidents.
A winless streak last season led to offseason moves that have pushed Joe Gibbs’ organization forward.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon’s 16th-place finish at Phoenix in March was the organization’s best finish there in the last five races. Bad news: AJ Allmendinger has two top-15 finishes in his last 15 Cup starts at Phoenix. … Allmendinger has failed to finish three of the last seven races this season. … Dillon has finished 26th or worse in three of the last four Phoenix races.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones has started in the top 10 in four of the last five Phoenix races. Bad news: Jones has finished outside the top 30 in three of the last four races. … John Hunter Nemechek has started in the top 20 twice in the last 15 races. … Nemechek has finished 25th or worse in five of his six Phoenix Cup starts.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch has scored three consecutive top-20 finishes, tied for his most this season. … Busch will make his 750th Cup start, becoming the 14th different driver in series history to reach that milestone. Bad news: Austin Dillon has one top-15 finish in the last 10 races. … Dillon has finished 12th or worse in the last 13 Phoenix races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware finished 24th at Phoenix in March, his best finish in eight Cup starts there. Bad news: Ware has finished 30th or worse in the last six races.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has a series-high four consecutive top 10s at Phoenix. … Ryan Preece ranks second in the series in percentage of laps completed at 99.5% (9,211 laps run out of 9,261). … Preece has three top 10s in the last four races after his sixth-place finish last week at Martinsville. … Sunday’s race marks 17 years to the day that Brad Keselowski made his Cup debut, finishing 19th in a Hendrick Motorsports car at Texas. Bad news: The organization is winless in the last 43 races. … Keselowski has placed 15th or worse in six of the last seven Phoenix races.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Both of Michael McDowell’s two top-10 finishes at Phoenix have come in the last four races there. Bad news: Carson Hocevar has finished 29th or worse in four of the last five races. … Justin Haley has never finished better than 17th in nine starts at Phoenix.
Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney has seven top-five finishes in the last eight races at Phoenix. … Joey Logano has four wins at Phoenix. … Bad news: The organization’s streak of three consecutive Cup championships will come to an end this weekend. … Austin Cindric has not scored a top-10 finish in seven Phoenix starts. … Cindric has not had a top-10 finish in the last 10 races and only one top 10 in the last 18 races.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain’s fourth-place finish at Martinsville was his first top-five finish since his Coca-Cola 600 win in late May. … All four of Chastain’s top 10s at Phoenix, including a win, have come in the last seven races at the track. … Shane van Gisbergen has four top-15 finishes in the last five races. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has one top-10 finish in the last six Phoenix Cup races.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry finished fourth at Phoenix in March for his best Cup finish at that track. … Berry placed 10th last weekend at Martinsville, giving him four top 10s in the last 11 races this season. … Phoenix is one of three tracks (New Hampshire and Richmond are the others) Berry has multiple top-10 finishes in Cup. Bad news: Berry has finished 33rd or worse in five of the last nine races.