Ryan Blaney gained the 2023 NASCAR Cup Sequence championship at Phoenix Raceway forward of Kyle Larson and William Byron after passing Larson for second place with 20 laps to go.
Blaney and Larson engaged in a fierce battle for second as race-winner Ross Chastain drove away from each of them. Blaney stalked Larson for a number of laps earlier than lastly clearing the 2021 champion and step by step constructing a spot.
The race was the primary time since NASCAR instituted its winner-take-all remaining race championship format in 2014 that the winner of the ultimate race of the season was not a driver racing for the title. The circumstance resulted in dueling burnouts on the end line as Chastain celebrated the race win and Blaney celebrated the primary Cup Sequence title of his profession.
Blaney, 29, was forward of each Larson and Byron when a warning got here out on lap 274 of the 312-lap race for Kyle Busch’s spin. Blaney entered pit street in second and exited in sixth after Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin every took two tires on pit street and Larson and Byron had sooner pit stops than Blaney’s.
However Blaney bought previous Byron rapidly on the restart and set his sights on Larson as Hamlin pale from view.
Blaney was racing Larson, Byron and Christopher Bell for the title on Sunday. Whereas Larson and Byron ran within the prime 10 together with Blaney for everything of the second and third phases, Bell did not make it to the end. His race ended within the second stage when his right-front brake rotor exploded and his automobile hit the wall.
The championship is the second straight for Crew Penske after Joey Logano gained his second profession title in 2022.
Blaney gained two playoff races
Blaney clinched a spot within the playoffs with a win within the Coca-Cola 600 in Could and had a summer season with extra downs than ups. Blaney didn’t end within the prime 5 over the ultimate 12 races of the common season and had 5 finishes of thirtieth or worse between his win and the beginning of the playoffs.
One thing clicked within the postseason, nonetheless, particularly within the remaining six races. Blaney crashed out of the fourth race of the playoffs at Texas and adopted it up with a win at Talladega that superior him to the third spherical. He then completed sixth and second within the first two races of the third spherical earlier than main 145 laps and profitable at Martinsville to make sure a spot within the Championship 4.
“You by no means wish to rely your self out,” Blaney mentioned. “I imply, I feel in the summertime we have been struggling slightly bit. However we by no means gave up. We simply went to work. I’ve mentioned that each one week, like, this group goes to work they usually determine issues. That is why they’re such a tremendous group to be with, with the Crew Penske people, ‘trigger they only put their head down and do the work, settle for the problem.
“That is what we did. It isn’t happenstance we began working good by way of the playoffs. It was a number of onerous work by a number of wonderful women and men on the store. I am unable to thank them sufficient for that.”
Blaney had the perfect automobile of any title contender over the second half of the race on Sunday, too. Byron led the primary 92 laps however led simply three laps the remainder of the race. Larson by no means led a lap and Blaney merely moved his method to the entrance.
Blaney’s frustration with Chastain
Blaney gapped Larson and Byron by three seconds whereas working second to Chastain with greater than 50 laps to go and appeared to have a a lot sooner automobile than Chastain did.
Nevertheless, Blaney couldn’t get previous Chastain and was getting agitated about the way in which Chastain was taking his line away. At one level, NBC’s in-car digital camera confirmed Blaney giving Chastain the center finger and a short while later Blaney used his entrance bumper to attempt to transfer Chastain out of the way in which.
The onerous racing between the 2 let Martin Truex Jr. slip previous Blaney into second and allowed Larson and Byron to shut the hole to Blaney for the championship. Had Busch not spun, it may have nonetheless been a captivating end with Blaney trying to get previous Chastain as Larson and Byron chased him.
Kevin Harvick caps his profession with a Seventh-place run
Kevin Harvick climbed from a NASCAR Cup Sequence automobile for the ultimate time after ending seventh on Sunday.
Harvick led twice for a complete 23 laps and had a top-10 automobile all day. Had he gained, he would have been the primary driver to ever win in his remaining Cup Sequence begin.
The 47-year-old has been the final full-time driver remaining who raced when it was the Winston Cup Sequence within the early 2000s. Harvick was thrust into the Cup Sequence unexpectedly the week after Dale Earnhardt’s loss of life within the 2001 Daytona 500 and he morphed into some of the revered veterans in NASCAR for his driving skill and his perception.
Harvick is a surefire NASCAR Corridor of Famer with 60 wins in 826 begins and the 2014 Cup Sequence title. Harvick completed within the prime 10 in a outstanding 443 of his 826 races from 2001-23 and his excellence within the 2010s is deserving of a number of titles.
After transferring to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, Harvick gained 37 races over an eight-year stretch by way of 2021 and completed within the prime 5 of the factors standings in 5 straight seasons. His greatest non-title season got here in 2020 when he gained 9 races and had 20 top-five finishes in 36 begins.
Race outcomes
1. Ross Chastain
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Kyle Larson
4. William Byron
5. Chris Buescher
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Michael McDowell
10. Bubba Wallace
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Austin Dillon
13. Aric Almirola
14. Ryan Preece
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Chase Elliott
17. Alex Bowman
18. Joey Logano
19. Carson Hocevar
20. Erik Jones
21. Ty Gibbs
22. Tyler Reddick
23. Chase Briscoe
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25. Kyle Busch
26. Harrison Burton
27. JJ Yeley
28. Ty Dillon
29. Justin Haley
30. Todd Gilliland
31. Corey LaJoie
32. AJ Allmendinger
33. BJ McLeod
34. Ryan Newman
35. Austin Cindric
36. Christopher Bell
