NASCAR Cup Series Championship Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer AVONDALE, Ariz. – Martin Truex, Jr. was again denied a second NASCAR Cup Series championship. Instead of hoisting the Bill France Cup, Truex had to settle for second in Sunday’s Cup Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. When the laps were winding down, Truex appeared to have the title in the bag. That’s when debris from David Starr changed the outcome of the race, bringing out the caution flag on Lap 282. Erasing Truex’s lead, the caution flag would bring the field down pit road for theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – Long runs were Denny Hamlin’s superpower on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix, but instead he just got kryptonite. Coming into the weekend as fired up as ever to finally win a NASCAR Cup Series championship of his own, Hamlin knew that if he was going to make that happen, he needed a long run for his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to come to life and propel him to the front of the field. Just as Hamlin started closing ground on the leaders and lookedRead More

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 2021 season finale, bringing this season to a close and crowning a champion. After being held at Homestead-Miami Speedway from 2002 to 2019, the championship race moved to the Arizona desert starting last season, giving the four drivers competing for the title a whole new challenge in their pursuit of the Bill France Cup. Heading into this year’s championship race, it willRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor PHOENIX – After winning his first NASCAR Cup Series championship last year at Phoenix, Chase Elliott is hoping he’ll be able to hit repeat this weekend on the one-mile oval in the Arizona desert. As one of two drivers in the Championship 4 that have previously won a championship, Elliott noted that having the experience of winning the title last season will help his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team improve their performance this time around as they once again look to end the day atop theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor PHOENIX – Embrace the chaos. Denny Hamlin has found himself wrapped up in a social media firestorm after his actions following last weekend’s race at Martinsville, but as he heads into the NASCAR Cup Series championship weekend in Phoenix, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is enjoying being the bad guy, turning the hate into motivation. “I live in chaos,” Hamlin said. “My life is chaos and I thrive under chaos. I mean, honestly, you can probably ask Kyle (Busch), the moreRead More