Ryan Blaney – Syndication Server

Blaney’s long-run gamble at Bristol pays off with fifth

Ryan Blaney and Jonathan Hassler tried something different to spice up an uneventful Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway. The move to run long on the final pit cycle didn’t net Blaney the victory, but he still felt it was worth trying to …

Ryan Blaney and Jonathan Hassler tried something different to spice up an uneventful Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The move to run long on the final pit cycle didn’t net Blaney the victory, but he still felt it was worth trying to steal one. Blaney cycled to the race lead on lap 392 under the green flag cycle and stayed on track for 48 laps before coming to pit road.

He was running fifth when the cycle began. He finished fifth.

“Running long right there was really our only play to win,” Blaney said. “We were running fifth before the cycle started, so why not take a shot? I thought I did a really good job of saving my tires to make sure I didn’t have a problem. We went really, really long. I had a lot of people lapped for a while and hung on pretty strong, and then we finally decided to pit and got back to fifth.

“I had third and fourth right in front of me, so it almost played out even better than what it did. It was a good weekend and a good call by Jonathan to have a shot to try to do something different, but it just didn’t work out.”

Blaney was the only other driver on the lead lap on lap 427. He was one of just four leaders during the afternoon.

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Race-dominating Kyle Larson cycled back to the lead and led the rest of the way after Blaney pitted. Larson led 411 of 500 laps.

Cup Series teams were given an extra set of tires that weren’t needed because tire wear was not as high as it was Saturday or last spring. The field realized that, approximately 50 laps into the race, they could begin to push harder, and from then on it was clear that tires would not be a variable.

“Just kind of a learning thing all day,” Blaney said. “The first run of the race, nobody really knew what the tires were going to do, and everyone kind of just rode around there a little bit. We finally got going and we went so long. Then it was like, ‘Alright, we can go a little bit harder.’ The track widened out, which was good. I honestly don’t know if I really anticipated that with the track getting wide and really not having tire problems. I’m glad that’s the way it was.

“I think it put on a pretty decent race. There were a lot of comers and goers, except for the lead, I guess, but it was a pretty fun day and a really good finish. We kind of took a chance of running really long there, seeing if we’d get a caution, and then we finally bailed and had to make all the ground up and got back to fifth. Overall, it was a solid weekend.”

Blaney thought he had Darlington nailed, until he didn’t…

Ryan Blaney thought he had a NASCAR Cup Series win at Darlington Raceway within his grasp. The one thing no driver wants to see happen late in the day happened when the caution flew with four laps to go in the Goodyear 400. Blaney took the lead off …

Ryan Blaney thought he had a NASCAR Cup Series win at Darlington Raceway within his grasp.

The one thing no driver wants to see happen late in the day happened when the caution flew with four laps to go in the Goodyear 400. Blaney took the lead off Turn 2 from Tyler Reddick when Bubba Wallace spun Kyle Larson behind them. Larson appeared to slow in reaction to Reddick running wide and hitting the wall as Blaney passed him, which Wallace was not expecting.

Blaney then lost the lead on pit road. He came off behind Denny Hamlin, who went on to win the race, Reddick, and William Byron. Although he chose to restart on the inside of the second row, he faded to a fifth-place finish.

“If the caution didn’t come out, I thought we had it won easily,” Blaney said. “We were so much faster on newer tires. It was a great strategy call running long. Those guys short-pitted, and they were struggling real bad, and I thought if we could have just got off of [Turn] 2 with the lead and the caution didn’t come out, I thought I was going to kind of ride off into the sunset.

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“That’s just not how it worked, unfortunately. We lost the lead on pit road, lost a front-row starting spot, and never had a shot.”

Strategy calls put Blaney in position to win Sunday after Byron dominated the event. By running long, Blaney had about three laps of fresher tires than the leaders when the final green flag cycle was completed. He erased a 7.5s deficit from fourth position to catch and pass Reddick.

“I’m proud of the effort that we had,” Blaney said. “I’m obviously disappointed in the result. I thought we could have won the race and had a good shot at winning the race. We did the last run perfectly. I thought our pit call was fantastic, and our car was fast enough to stay. It had a lot of speed in it late, but a late yellow, and then lost the lead off pit road.

“We didn’t even get to start on the front row, and you’re not going to go from fourth to first in a green-white-checkered here, so it just wasn’t meant to be, but proud of the effort.”

Sunday was Blaney’s first top-10 finish since the second race of the season when he finished fourth at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Blaney bitten by Lady Luck once again at Homestead

A month of misfortune continued Sunday for Ryan Blaney. He saw a dominant day at Homestead-Miami Speedway go up in smoke early in the final stage, running third when the engine in his Team Penske Ford Mustang expired on lap 208 down the …

A month of misfortune continued Sunday for Ryan Blaney.

He saw a dominant day at Homestead-Miami Speedway go up in smoke early in the final stage, running third when the engine in his Team Penske Ford Mustang expired on lap 208 down the frontstretch, the extensive trail of white smoke eventually giving way to flames out of the right side of the car as he drove to pit road and parked in his pit stall.

It was the second time the No. 12 team experienced an engine failure in three weeks. Blaney has now failed to finish the last three consecutive Cup Series races. He finished 36th in the 37-car field in Homestead-Miami.

“I didn’t have any warning,” Blaney told Fox Sports. “It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front and that was all she wrote. Gosh, it just stinks.”

The first two stages of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 made him look untouchable. Blaney, who qualified sixth, led 124 of the first 165 laps and won the first stage. At times, he gapped the competition by as much as 8s. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson, both on slightly fresher tires, caught and passed Blaney for the win in the second stage.

On the subsequent pit stops, Blaney lost more track position when he was squeezed into the outside wall on pit road by Chase Eliott, who was exiting his pit stall. Blaney left pit road ninth and restarted seventh after the choose rule. He had climbed to third when the engine expired.

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“You have got to be [expletive] me,” Blaney radioed as he drove to pit road. “Sorry fellas. It’ll go our way eventually, I hope. I appreciate the fast car.”

Blaney went on to tell his team, “Good job all weekend, guys. A really fast race car; keep bringing these things, we’ll be good. Keep your head up.”

It is the first time in Blaney’s career he has had three straight DNFs. He started the season with two consecutive top-seven finishes but has finished no better than 19th in the last four races.

“We had a really fast Dent Wizard Ford Mustang,” Blaney said. “We led a lot of laps. We lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road but got back to third, and it was a great race between me and Bubba [Wallace] and [Kyle] Larson. I’m sure Denny was going to get back into it. It was going to be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so, but it just didn’t really work out for us.

“We’ll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the [No.] 12 guys for just giving me a hot rod. It was an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We’ll keep our heads up. It’s just one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars and that’s all you can ask for. We’ll keep on moving.”

Blaney’s charge through Clash field comes up one place short

Ryan Blaney had perhaps the second-most impressive drive in Sunday night’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium by finishing second after starting last on the field. Blaney got to the leader and eventual race winner Chase Elliott in the final stint of the …

Ryan Blaney had perhaps the second-most impressive drive in Sunday night’s Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium by finishing second after starting last on the field.

Blaney got to the leader and eventual race winner Chase Elliott in the final stint of the exhibition race after it went green for the final time on lap 120 but didn’t have enough to challenge or move Elliott. And the harder Blaney tried, the more he wore out the tires on his Team Penske machine and eventually burned off the right-rear tire.

“I got to 10th before the break and got to the top five relatively quick — a couple of restarts went my way — and by the time I got to second, I saved a pretty good bit even to get to second because I knew it might go the whole way,” Blaney said. “Then it was just kind of like a game between (Elliott) and myself, like who can save more right-rear tire. I just didn’t quite have enough to lean on there at the end.

“I started pushing with 25 to go, and I just didn’t have enough. I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I needed some help by lappers and I just never really could get there. I didn’t have enough to lean on, but it was fun coming from the back. Just not quite having enough, but it’s always fun when you can move forward like that.”

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Blaney and the No. 12 team started last, 23rd, after taking the provisional to make the field. He did not lock in a spot through his Saturday night heat race. Sunday afternoon, when the garage opened, the team discovered a hole in the water cooler and opted to change the water cooler and radiator, which put them at the rear for the Last Chance Qualifying race.

But having the provisional in their pocket, Blaney’s group opted to run 23 laps of the Last Chance Qualifying race (75 laps) to ensure everything was in order and then parked the car. The provisional went to the driver highest in the 2024 championship standings who had not locked into the Clash through their heat race or the Last Chance Qualifying Race. Blaney finished second in the championship and teammate Joey Logano, the champion, locked up his Clash spot in his heat race.

In the first 100 laps before the halfway break, Blaney went from 23rd to 10th. It was on merit as the race’s first half had only two caution flags.

Blaney felt he was evenly matched with Elliott, but was never in a position to make a move. Sean Gardner/Motorsport Images

The charge continued after the break. Blaney was second with 50 laps to go and gained on leader Elliott before ultimately falling short.

“I think he just had better drive off than me that whole last run,” Blaney said. “I turned better and he had better drive off, so it was kind of a trade-off, I feel like. Honestly, I felt like our cars were evenly matched. My car was better in one area and his car was better in another, but I felt like if you just swapped our two cars, I don’t think we would have passed each other. If I was in front of him or if he was in front of me, I think we were pretty evenly matched, but when I started to go, I just didn’t have enough right rear.

“I was not going to make that pass and couldn’t just bulldog into him and get chased out of here with pitchforks, so when it was time to go, I just didn’t quite have enough. I could turn really good, but I paid the penalty on exit to where he could just keep the power down a little bit longer and the right rears seemed to wear out more than right fronts, so it just helped him out a little bit more at the end.”

Elliott wasn’t surprised to see his friend and rival in the rearview mirror. Despite the track being a quarter-mile and Blaney having to come from the rear, Elliott praised Blaney’s racecraft and how Bowman Gray had enough tire fall off to help as well.

“When I saw him, I was, like, ‘Man, didn’t he start last?’” Elliott said. “Then I thought about it a little more (and) I thought, that’s really not all that surprising at all as good as he was at Martinsville in the fall. This isn’t super different from that. It is different, don’t get me wrong, but there are a lot of similarities. I was not super surprised to see him up there by the end.”

Ryan Blaney discusses losing near second NASCAR Cup Series title in 2024

Ryan Blaney discusses losing a near second NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2024. Check out what Blaney said about his defeat at Phoenix!

[autotag]Ryan Blaney[/autotag] had 15 laps to pass Joey Logano, but it simply wasn’t meant to be for the No. 12 team. Blaney caught Logano with a faster race car but couldn’t find a way around his teammate. The driver of the No. 22 car put together consistent and competitive laps as the defending Cup Series champion tried his best to make ground.

Following the event, Blaney climbed out of his No. 12 car exhausted as the safety workers checked on his health. The 2023 Cup Series champion talked about the end of the race and coming up short of winning his second straight title in 2024.

“Yeah, just worn out really and just couldn’t quite get there,” Blaney said. “And tried really hard to do so, just restart didn’t really work out and just got too far away from me and took me a while to pass a couple guys and just could never get by [Joey Logano]. Yeah, ran out of time. But congrats to him, congrats to the No. 22 team and Pennzoil and Ford. They put together a great playoffs, and we’re happy. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy to be one-two for [Roger Penske], three in a row for Roger, super amazing, and Ford.”

JOEY LOGANO DOES IT! ‍ pic.twitter.com/k06vXoW8DZ

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 10, 2024

“But on my side, I hate it for Menards, Advance Auto Parts, Body Armor, Dex Imaging, Wabash, the Wurth group, everybody who really puts a lot of effort into our program. Just super-fast, just didn’t quite have enough there at the end. At least a Penske car won it, but heck of a battle. I hope the fans enjoyed it, and hopefully we come back even stronger next year.”

It is a disappointing result for Blaney, who appeared to have the best car in the final green-flag run. Blaney and Logano traded speed throughout the entire race at Phoenix and were the class of the field alongside Christopher Bell, who led the most laps. Instead, Blaney will go home thinking of what could have been his second Cup Series championship.

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Blaney used up everything he had to hunt down Logano at Phoenix

Ryan Blaney was physically spent after Sunday’s Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway – wiped after trying to chase down and overtake his teammate. The 2023 champion handed the torch back to Joey Logano when he couldn’t get there. Blaney …

Ryan Blaney was physically spent after Sunday’s Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway — wiped after trying to chase down and overtake his teammate.

The 2023 champion handed the torch back to Joey Logano when he couldn’t get there. Blaney could see Logano’s bumper, but there was no serious challenge for the lead in the final laps. The Team Penske drivers finished first and second in the race and the championship — the third straight for team owner Roger Penske.

“I was tired, man,” Blaney said. “I was driving hard and huffing and puffing and felt like I was going to pass out after the race. I was working hard trying to close the gap down. There were a lot of similarities to last week, and I just didn’t quite get there this week.”

Blaney restarted sixth when the race went green for the final time with 54 laps to go. He did not make up ground quickly and spent a lot of time having to battle Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson. It wasn’t until 35 laps to go when Blaney prevailed for third position.

Already, though, Logano was driving away. The No. 22 took the lead one lap after the restart. Blaney took the second position from William Byron, another championship contender, with 22 laps to go. There was a 2s deficit Blaney had to erase to get to Logano.

“Everybody put on defensive clinics today,” Blaney said. “Everybody I tried to pass. Everybody did, so props to them for that. They did a great job. It’s just what you have to do. I mean, [Larson] did it to me, [Byron] did it to me, [Logano] did it to me. It’s just what you’ve got to do if you’re struggling, and it just buys you time. It’s just part of the sport because it’s so powerful.

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“The defensive line is so powerful [with] dirty air. You have to do it if you have a faster car behind you coming down in these moments. I don’t blame them for doing it. Is it the funnest thing in the world? No, because I’ve lived that story many, many times. I had to work … to get by the No. 5, and I had to work … to get to the No. 24 and pass him, and I had to work my tail off to run Joey down from a long ways back. As I’m doing it, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I think I’m going to get there — get close — but I don’t know if I’m going to have anything to pass him. I can’t save because I’m never going to get there if I save.’

“Martinsville was a little bit different because I had more laps left. Here, I really just had to use my [expletive] up really hard to get close, and then I just didn’t really have anything left there, so it was a little bit of both. My tires were spent, and he did a good job of placing his car where he needed to be.”

The teammates were the class of the championship field. Blaney finished sixth in the first stage and won the second stage. He led a total of 12 laps and, at times, was in control of the championship. Logano won the first stage and finished second in the second stage.

Sunday’s run to the finish saw Blaney and Logano among a handful of drivers who pitted under the final caution. The field had already started a green flag pit cycle when the final caution occurred. Byron stayed out to inherit the lead, having pitted only one lap before the yellow.

Blaney and Logano restarted in the third row.

“I just got bottled up,” Blaney said. “I took sixth [because] I thought the top was probably the better row, personally, and got put in kind of a weird aero spot. A lot of guys washed up in front of me there through [Turns] 1 and 2, and Joey got clear, and then I only got to fourth. That was the outcome.

“Joey got to the lead pretty quickly with how the restart went, and it worked out for him. By the time I settled in, I was fourth and had to work my [tail] off to try to get by the No. 5 and the No. 24 and run Joey down, and then I had nothing left. Everything was spent on that car. … Yeah, just the restart, if I would have just been closer, if I would have come out second or so, I wouldn’t have had to work as hard and come from as far back and maybe would have had a little bit better shot.”

2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race odds, picks and predictions

Looking at the odds for Sunday’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race with NASCAR expert picks and predictions.

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The NASCAR season wraps up at Phoenix Raceway Sunday with the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. The green flag drops at 3 p.m. ET (NBC) for the final start of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s NASCAR odds around the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race odds, and make our expert NASCAR picks and predictions.

NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race: What you need to know

After 9 playoff races, including 3 elimination races, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and William Byron make up the final 4 as they’ll compete to win the Cup title Sunday.
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney aims for a 2nd consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship. He had the best practice time with a 132.480 mph top speed heading into Sunday’s race, in which he’ll start 17th.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was also sharp in practice, posting a best speed of 132.004 mph, as he vies for his 1st Cup title. He’ll start 8th.
Penske’s Joey Logano qualified 2nd with a time of 134.69 mph. He’s aiming for his 3rd NASCAR Cup Series championship, all since 2018.
23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick qualified 10th as he looks for his 1st series title. He was just 21st in practice with a best speed of 130.795 mph.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr., who is retiring from full-time NASCAR competition after this race, won the pole with a speed of 134.741 mph. He has 1 win in 37 career starts in Phoenix with 6 top-5’s out of his 16 top-10’s.
Blaney has never won at Phoenix, but he leads all Championship 4 drivers with a 10.9 Average-Finish Position (AFP) in 17 career Cup starts at the flat track. He has finished inside the top 5 on 8 occasions, leading 431 laps with 2 DNFs.
Byron has a checkered flag in his 13 Cup races at Phoenix, while posting 7 top-10 finishes and 186 laps led with 0 DNFs and a 93.6 Average Driver Rating.
Logano leads all Championship 4 drivers with 3 checkered flags in Avondale, while posting 8 top-5 runs and 16 top-10 finishes with 908 laps led and 3 DNFs with a 13.5 AFP in 31 career Cup starts.
Reddick has just 9 Cup starts in his career at the Arizona flat track, going for only 2 top-5 finishes and 3 top-10 runs with 1 DNF and a dismal 82.6 Average Driver Rating.
JGR driver Denny Hamlin has a 10.8 AFP in 38 career Cup starts with 16 top-5 finishes and 936 laps led at Phoenix. He’ll start 14th.
Hendrick’s Kyle Larson has a win and 8 top-5 finishes in 20 career Cup starts with 382 laps led and a 97.2 Average Driver Rating. He’ll start 4th.

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NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race – Expert pick

Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of NASCAR odds. Lines last updated at 3:11 a.m. ET.

RYAN BLANEY (+250) is the safe play. He won the championship last season, finishing as the runner-up in the season finale to Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, who wasn’t in the final 4 picture. In fact, Blaney and Chastain made contact after a late-race restart last season.

There is safety in numbers here, too. Team Penske has won the past 2 championships. Blaney has his teammate Logano to work with. Now, if it comes down to those 2 in the final lap, obviously all bets are off. But they can each help each other get into a better and safe position during the early to middle laps.

NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race – Contender

TYLER REDDICK (+1300) didn’t get into the Championship 4 by accident. He is a good driver, even though his results at Phoenix Raceway over his career haven’t been great. In practice, Reddick was just 21st with a 130.795 mph, so he has work to do.

In 9 career Cup starts at the flat track in Phoenix, Reddick has managed just 2 top-5 finishes, 3 top-10 runs and only 5 placements inside the top 20, posting 72 laps led, 1 DNF and a mediocre 82.6 Average Driver Rating.

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Cup Series title contenders spread throughout field for Phoenix start

There will be 16 grid spots separating the Championship 4 when the green flag waves for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series title-decider at Phoenix, but all of them feel good about their chances. “I do,” said Team Penske’s Joey Logano when asked if he felt …

There will be 16 grid spots separating the Championship 4 when the green flag waves for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series title-decider at Phoenix, but all of them feel good about their chances.

“I do,” said Team Penske’s Joey Logano when asked if he felt like the championship was his for the taking. “I feel like our car is strong. We did a good job in qualifying, feel strong about our team, and we feel really solid about these type of pressure situations. We’re just executing our plan. We’ve had two weeks to put our plan together; just have to execute it the best we can now.”

Logano’s confidence in the homework the No. 22 team has done ahead of this weekend was reinforced by his being the highest qualifier among the title contenders. He will roll off from second on the grid after being edged out by Martin Truex Jr.

“I’ve said all week, I feel like we’ve had the upper hand,” he said. “I feel like we’re in a great spot. Obviously a lot of things can happen from here, but when you look at what we accomplished today, getting a solid starting spot, that’s something we should be proud of, but it’s also exactly what we were trying to do. We feel confident. This race team’s been doing this a long, long time. We feel solid about where we’re at. When you prepare for what’s coming your way, it’s easy to feel confident.”

Logano is chasing his third Cup Series crown, while Penske teammate Ryan Blaney is looking to add a second to the one he earned last year. Blaney triumphed last year from 15th on the grid – an experience that he can lean on this time around after qualifying the No. 12 Ford 17th.

“Our lap didn’t go well, just got really free into Turn 1 and kind of ruined it all and couldn’t really make it back up,” Blaney said. “I was surprised, honestly, that it ran what it did for how loose I got.

“I think the car is pretty good. Still nice to have a decent pit stall and things like that. We’ll just take it how we can get it tomorrow; try to work through the first handful of laps and then start marching forwards. Pretty similar to last year – hopefully it will end the same and we can charge through the field. I think the race car is good enough to where hopefully we can make that happen.”

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Starting roughly halfway between the two title-contending Penske entries are their two rivals, led by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in eighth.

“I think we do [have a car that’s good enough to win],” he said. “It sucks; just didn’t quite get the second lap I wanted to in the second (qualifying) round, so bummed about that. I feel really good about our race car, getting first pit pick, which is huge. Excited about all those things, and just [have to] put together a good start to the race. It’s such a long race; it’s just going to be about getting to the finish and having what you need there.”

Tyler Reddick will be immediately behind him on the starting grid after qualifying the No. 45 23XI Toyota in 10th. He endured the most nerve-wracking trip through qualifying of the four contenders after narrowly hanging on to a top five spot in the opening round.

“Round one, obviously we just barely got in; did just enough there,” he said. “That second run, I wasn’t expecting it to lose that much lap time from round one, and when you’re first car out you’re kind of going off what you need to do, and the last thing I thought was that it would lose that much across the board. Definitely wish we could have had that one back.

“We’re right there with William; Joey’s a little further ahead obviously, but we had a pretty solid day.”

Reddick came into qualifying off the back of a disappointing run in practice on Friday, but is optimistic that the team is gotten the car to where it needs to be.

“There were moments in practice where our car was doing what we wanted it to do,” he said. “Just across the board, the fire-off speed wasn’t really there. We’ve been talking about it and coming up with a plan for Sunday. Going into the race, I have a good sense of direction for what I need to be focused on, and what we as a team need to keep up with on the race car.”

Blaney tops final Cup Series practice session of 2024 at Phoenix

Ryan Blaney paced NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday at Phoenix Raceway, leading the way for the four title contenders in the process. Blaney, the defending series champion, put down a fast lap of 132.479mph (27.174s). While most of the fast laps …

Ryan Blaney paced NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday at Phoenix Raceway, leading the way for the four title contenders in the process.

Blaney, the defending series champion, put down a fast lap of 132.479mph (27.174s). While most of the fast laps were set early in practice, he went to the top of the leaderboard on his 21st lap before running a total of 46 laps in practice.

Martin Truex Jr. was second fastest at 132.324mph and Kyle Larson was third at 132.193mph. William Byron, another title contender, was fourth at 132.004mph. He ran 50 laps total.

Austin Cindric rounded out the top five at 131.989mph. Corey Lajoie was sixth at 131.858mph; Ty Gibbs, seventh at 131.848mph; Denny Hamlin, eighth at 131.791mph and Joey Logano, the third title contender, ninth. Logano’s fastest lap was 131.757mph. He ran 43 laps.

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Chase Briscoe completed the top 10 at 131.738mph.

Tyler Reddick was the slowest of the four championship contenders, ending up 21st at 130.794mph and ran 24 laps.

There was one caution during practice. Jimmie Johnson briefly halted proceedings when he spun off Turn 2 early in the session. He did manage to kept his car off the wall and ran 35th.

There are 40 drivers entered in the season finale.

Blaney was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. Logano was second in the category followed by Hamlin, Larson, and Byron. Reddick was the 10th fastest of the drivers who clocked 10 consecutive laps.

NEXT: Cup Series qualifying at 5:05 p.m. ET Saturday.

Why Ryan Blaney will win the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship

Check out why Ryan Blaney will win the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway this weekend!

[autotag]Ryan Blaney[/autotag] did it again. On Sunday afternoon, Blaney powered by Chase Elliott in a must-win situation and won his way into the Championship 4 at Martinsville Speedway. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion will join teammate Joey Logano, William Byron, and Tyler Reddick at Phoenix; however, why will the driver of the No. 12 car win the championship?

Blaney is arguably the “King of Flat Tracks” when it comes to the NASCAR playoffs and showed incredible speed in last year’s season finale at Phoenix. The Team Penske driver should be the favorite to repeat as the Cup Series champion, but Logano could play a role. The NASCAR organization has been lights out with the NextGen car at Phoenix in the championship event.

Yet, the driver of the No. 12 car is rated as the best Phoenix driver among the four remaining Championship 4 competitors. In the NextGen car era, Blaney has led the most laps (254), earned the best average-finishing position (3.0), and by far the most points (216). In terms of average finishing position, Byron ranks fourth (9.4), Reddick ranks sixth (12.6), and Logano ranks 10th (14.4).

Blaney has also never finished outside of the top 5 spots at Phoenix in the NextGen car era, which spans five races. There will be a lot of talk about who should be the favorite among Team Penske, Byron, and Reddick; however, the answer is clear. Blaney is undoubtedly the favorite and should be very strong once again at Phoenix on Sunday.

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