Joey Logano was fading late and Group Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was closing quick in a dramatic showdown at Phoenix. Blaney battled his means by the Hendrick Motorsports drivers of Kyle Larson and William Byron earlier than slicing away on the 2.3-second margin to Logano.
He virtually received to his again bumper, however by no means received fairly there as Logano captured the checkered flag and his third NASCAR Cup Collection title. For Penske, they continue to be undefeated within the present period of NASCAR, profitable the final three titles with the Gen-7 automobile.
“I like the playoffs,” declared Logano. “I like it, man. What a race! What a Group Penske battle there on the finish. Had a very good restart and was in a position to get in entrance of the 12. And he had quite a lot of long term pace there, and it was all I had there to carry him off.
“Man, three of them, that is actually particular to get that. What a group. To battle by way of at the moment, we went by way of just a little little bit of adversity all through the race.”
“I’ve received one of the best group. I do not know if I am one of the best driver, however I’ve received one of the best group, and collectively we’re very well-rounded and may present up when it issues essentially the most. We have a mentally powerful group that may make issues occur when it issues.”
Joey Logano, Group Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photograph by: NASCAR Media
The margin was 0.330s on the end line with Blaney simply lacking out on back-to-back Cup titles. William Byron completed third whereas Tyler Reddick was the bottom of the title combatants in sixth.
The AMR security group was tended to Blaney after the race and he appeared exhaustion after the battle.
“Yeah, simply worn out actually and simply could not fairly get there,” mentioned Blaney. “And tried actually onerous to take action, simply restart did not actually work out and simply received too far-off from me and took me some time to go a pair guys and simply might by no means get by Joey. Yeah, ran out of time.
“However congrats to him, congrats to the 22 group … They put collectively a terrific playoffs, and we’re completely happy. If we will race someone, I am completely happy it was him for the championship, and completely happy to be one-two for Roger [Penske, owner], three in a row for Roger, tremendous superb, and Ford.
“Simply super-fast, simply did not fairly have sufficient there on the finish. A minimum of a Penske automobile gained it, however heck of a battle. I hope the followers loved it, and hopefully we come again even stronger subsequent yr.”
Champion Joey Logano, Group Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photograph by: Sean Gardner / Getty Photographs
The ultimate stage
Blaney and Logano every took a stage win at Phoenix, however no stage factors are awarded to the Championship 4 drivers. At first of the ultimate stage, Reddick made a daring four-wide transfer in a determined try to realize some floor. He made it stick on the skin, however contact was made and it practically led to tears. Reddick made contact with Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott, who practically crashed however in some way sorted all of it out. The daring transfer vaulted Reddick into the top-five.
What adopted was a prolonged green-flag run with many of the leaders pitting with about 75 laps to go. Byron waited, pitting over ten laps later. Nonetheless, the timing could not have been extra good as Zane Smith crashed, forcing a warning.
Byron inherited the race lead as the remainder of the sector pitted for contemporary tires, and he had two Hendrick teammates straight behind him. Nonetheless, Christopher Bell made fast work of them after raging towards Chevrolet’s race manipulation at Martinsville earlier this weekend. He received alongside Byron, battling side-by-side for the lead.
This offered a gap for Logano, who was in a position to go them each with a three-wide transfer throughout the dogleg. Blaney was not as lucky and received bagged down in visitors. It took him some time, however lastly fought his means round Larson with 35 laps to go and Byron with 22 laps left.
Clearly the quickest automobile on observe, the 2023 champ quickly closed the hole to Logano, however the No. 22 defended masterfully to maintain him at bay.
The race, whereas fairly tame, was additionally briefly halted by a weird incident between the primary two levels when the tempo automobile crashed into the sand barrels on the entrance of pit highway.
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