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The championship contenders took the top three spots in the starting lineup with Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Kyle Larson.<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson, who starts third, won three of the first 12 races of the season, had a dip in results in the summer and has picked up his performance again. While he\u2019s winless in the last 23 races \u2014 his longest streak since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 \u2014Larson has three top-five finishes in the last four races.<\/p>\n
William Byron, the regular season champion, will start next to Hamlin on the front row. He had to win at Martinsville to reach the Championship 4 and came through. The two-time Daytona 500 winner has the chance open the season with a win in that race and end it with a victory today.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron and Kyle Larson will battle for the title on the 1-mile oval in Avondale, Arizona.<\/p>\n Who can avoid the mistakes?<\/p>\n A slow pit stop. A mistake with the setup. A wrong decision on track. Any one of those can lead to someone losing a championship<\/p>\n Pit road often plays a key role in this race with track position at a premium. Restarts will be key, especially with how cars can go five wide in the dogleg \u2014 the Trucks went seven wide on a late restart this weekend \u2014 before they need to get in line for Turn 1.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is trying to predict where each other is going to go,\u201d Hamlin said of restarts at Phoenix. \u201cSometimes you see us merging into lanes together.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Briscoe had some fun in their joint media session Saturday at Phoenix. <\/p>\n Will the champion win the race?<\/p>\n Only once since this one-race championship race format debuted in 2014 has the champion not also won the season finale.<\/p>\n Could that happen again today?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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