NASCAR Category

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. — 35 races down, one to go. Sunday afternoon, the NASCAR Cup Series will hit the track at Phoenix Raceway for the 2023 season finale, bringing this season to a close and crowning a champion. Heading into this year’s championship race, it will be a battle between a former champion in Kyle Larson and three other drivers making their first appearance in the Championship 4 to see who will be hoisting the Bill France Cup when the checkered flag falls. Joining Larson in theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. — For the second straight year, Christopher Bell will have a chance of winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway. In fact, Bell is the only driver who has made the Championship 4 a year ago and return to the big dance. Similar to last year, coming in clutch was the name of the game for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Only this time, he didn’t need to win the cutoff race as he punched his ticket to Arizona by winning atRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Cole Custer’s return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series after a three-year stint in the Cup Series may have been a “demotion,” per se, but the driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford took the move in stride and now can call himself a champion. “You get knocked down a little bit and you just want to prove that you can go out there and do it,” Custer said. “I think these guys have just really always believed in me all year and IRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – The field is now set for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway, with title contender William Byron on pole for Sunday’s season finale. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and most recent winner on the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert jumped to the top of the board with a lap of 27.150 seconds, 132.597 mph mid-way through the final round and held off the remaining drivers to bank a crucial championship pole. “We were right thereRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – When the checkered flag waves on Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship finale at Phoenix Raceway, it will mark the end of one chapter for Kevin Harvick and the start of another. After hanging up the helmet this weekend, Harvick will be moving into the TV booth in 2024 to join the NASCAR on FOX broadcast team during the first half of the season. Barring a win on Sunday, Harvick will leave with an impressive resume with 60 wins to his name since climbingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. — From backing up his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the Championship 4 to confirmation that’ll he’ll be back with the Xfinity team next year, life has been pretty swell for Cole Custer. Last Saturday, with a ravaged Mustang and on fire, Custer did his best Tow Mater (Cars) and Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) impression by limping his machine backwards to the start/finish line at Martinsville Speedway. Well aware that every position is up for grabs and can make a difference on who’llRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Day two at Phoenix Raceway will be highlighted by NASCAR’s second highest division, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series wraps up its 2023 campaign by crowning its newest champion – all of which would be a first-time champion. Twelve championship hopefuls started the six-week march to the Valley of the Sun, with only four drivers left standing to duel it out in the Arizona desert on Saturday night. It all comes down to a battle between the JR Motorsports duo of Justin Allgaier andRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – It may have taken four overtimes to get there, but for the second time in the last three years, Ben Rhodes is a champion in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. As the laps wound down in regulation, it was shaping up to be a race between Grant Enfinger and Rhodes to see which of the two would walk away with the title, but with three laps to go, everything changed. Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar, who had been involved in an incident earlierRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney has struck the first blow of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway by timing in the fastest of the four title contenders in the lone practice session of the weekend. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford put up a lap of 27.602 seconds, 130.425 mph early in the 50-minute session, putting him third on the overall leaderboard and he would not be moved for the remainder of evening. Christopher Bell followed Blaney in practice at fourth-fastestRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. – In the annual state-of-the sport press conference on Friday at Phoenix Raceway, NASCAR president Steve Phelps anticipated the two questions of greatest interest to the broad range of NASCAR stakeholders and fans. Phelps gave an update on negotiations for media rights, with current agreements with FOX Sports and NBC ending after the 2024 season. NASCAR already has secured a stand-alone deal for its Xfinity Series broadcasts with the CW Network. “Our media rights, the amount of interest in attaining our mediaRead More