NASCAR.com dives into the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship race and bring you the keys to a successful weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
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00:00 All right, white flag, you're three to Blaney,
00:02 and then it's about 10 behind him.
00:04 Here he comes, final time off the end of the back straightaway.
00:07 Hell yeah.
00:08 Good job, man.
00:10 And two times, baby!
00:12 Yeah!
00:13 Yeah!
00:15 And Joey Logano is the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
00:21 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:25 [CROWD CHEERING]
00:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:31 What's up, everybody?
00:32 Welcome to the preview show delivered by DoorDash.
00:35 I'm Alan Kavanaugh alongside Kim Kuhn,
00:37 and we are here to crown a champion.
00:40 The championship race in Phoenix, we did it.
00:42 We made it, Kim.
00:43 It's hard to believe.
00:44 This is what race fans are waiting for.
00:45 Who is going to take home the title in the NASCAR Cup Series?
00:48 Four drivers, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell,
00:50 Ryan Blaney, and William Byron are vying for the title.
00:54 It's been 35 weeks.
00:55 It's been a long season, ups and downs for all of them.
00:58 What are these teams thinking with one to go?
01:00 Well, they've had great seasons, all of them,
01:02 but this one race is all that matters.
01:04 You've got to finish ahead of the other three championship
01:07 four drivers.
01:08 And for me, top of the list importance
01:10 is qualifying at Phoenix.
01:11 We know how important track position is there.
01:14 But not only that, pit stall selection.
01:16 If you look at the three championship Cup Series
01:18 races held at Phoenix Raceway, all three of them,
01:21 the champion has won the pole and picked that first pit
01:25 stall.
01:25 So that is such a huge advantage.
01:27 And then you talk pit road in general.
01:29 A championship can be, and we've seen it before,
01:31 has been lost on pit road.
01:33 You think about the mistakes crews can make,
01:35 the mistakes crew chiefs can make on what adjustments
01:37 they make to the car.
01:38 So pit road and pit stops are going
01:40 to be so important this weekend.
01:41 And let's not forget, we've had a race there this year.
01:44 It came down to strategy, four tires or two tires at the end.
01:47 Teams are thinking about that.
01:48 They have something of a notebook.
01:49 But I asked Rudy Fugel, how much has changed since March?
01:52 He says, this is the Cup Series.
01:54 Everything changes every week.
01:56 So who knows what kind of notes they have going in.
01:58 Yeah, you have to be flexible.
01:59 You have to have all those strategy
02:00 options in your pocket.
02:01 And to your point, that two tire call
02:03 won William Byron the spring race.
02:05 Will we see something similar this weekend?
02:07 Yes.
02:07 Speaking of that win, there are two distinct groups
02:09 among the four drivers vying for the championship.
02:12 Two drivers have won there before.
02:14 Two drivers have not.
02:15 Kyle Larson and William Byron have wins at Phoenix.
02:18 That's important.
02:19 Kyle Larson, of course, won his championship
02:21 at Phoenix in 2021.
02:23 And William Byron, back in the spring on a late restart,
02:26 actually beat his teammate Kyle Larson in sort of a duel.
02:29 Kyle Larson had more than 200 laps back in the spring.
02:32 But it was William Byron getting that victory.
02:35 I think that provides something of an advantage.
02:37 They have wins at Phoenix.
02:38 What about those other two?
02:39 Yeah, the other two don't.
02:41 So you look at Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell.
02:42 Neither has found victory lane at Phoenix Raceway.
02:44 But a little caveat, Ryan Blaney has finished second
02:48 in the last two races at Phoenix.
02:50 He arguably, I think, had the best car in last year's
02:52 championship race.
02:54 Maybe did his teammate a favor, Joey Lugano,
02:56 being able to get that win and get that championship.
02:58 And then you look at Christopher Bell.
03:00 He is the only returning championship four
03:02 driver from last year.
03:03 That has to bode well.
03:04 And then he won at Homestead.
03:05 So he's had an extra week to prepare for Phoenix.
03:09 He and crew chief Adam Stevens.
03:10 So that could work in their favor.
03:11 It's so tight amongst those top four.
03:13 That's why I love this championship format.
03:15 Every week we do it for you.
03:16 We bring you the playoff pulse.
03:18 This week, it just happens to deliver a championship.
03:21 The good, the bad, the wild card for the race coming up.
03:24 Who is your good for Phoenix?
03:26 I think I teased it already.
03:27 Ryan Blaney.
03:28 Again, he's got runner up finishes in the last two
03:30 races at Phoenix.
03:31 I think he can hopscotch that.
03:33 Finish P1, win the race to get the championship.
03:36 And you think about the momentum he has from Martinsville.
03:39 That win just sweeping into Phoenix weekends.
03:42 I'm going with William Byron.
03:44 I love what he did in the spring.
03:45 Not only the speed, not only the position he was in,
03:48 the calls they made, but the moxie he had.
03:50 The grit that he had to take the race away
03:53 from Kyle Larson, who was probably the best in that race,
03:56 doesn't matter.
03:57 William Byron finished it out and got the win.
03:59 I think that winning matters because every time we've
04:01 seen it, the winner of the race, you
04:03 have to win to win the championship.
04:05 I like William Byron's six wins.
04:06 That's why he's my good.
04:08 Those are our goods.
04:09 How about the bad pick?
04:10 I hate to say bad because these drivers are so damn good.
04:13 Who's the iffy pick for Sunday?
04:14 They've earned their spot in the championship four,
04:16 so how can you even say there's a bad?
04:18 And I had a really hard time with this one,
04:20 but I would go with Christopher Bell.
04:21 Again, he's got the worst of the stats of the championship
04:24 four, specifically at Phoenix and what he's been able to do
04:27 or hasn't been able to do.
04:28 And the thing he hasn't done at Phoenix that the other three
04:30 had is lead laps.
04:31 Zero laps led for Christopher Bell at Phoenix.
04:34 So that's why he's in the bad category for me.
04:36 I had to go with C. Bell as well.
04:37 Again, not because I wanted to, just because the stats say so.
04:40 But if you go back to the spring,
04:41 the worst among the four drivers in terms of finish
04:43 was Christopher Bell in sixth place.
04:46 Sixth place wasn't good enough.
04:47 That shows you how tough this is.
04:49 All right, good, bad, wild card for Sunday.
04:52 Wild card.
04:52 Well, your good is my wild card, and that's William Byron.
04:55 Yes, they got the win in the spring,
04:56 but their race at Martinsville was so bad.
04:59 In fact, both Rudy and William said
05:01 it was the worst race of the year for them.
05:03 So how do they reset, refocus, and find
05:06 some sort of spark or momentum headed into Phoenix?
05:09 So that's kind of why they were my wild card.
05:11 All right, I'm going to turn it up on you.
05:13 Kevin Harvick is my wild card.
05:15 Kevin Harvick, forever.
05:17 It's his last race ever.
05:18 He's won nine times at Phoenix, was in position
05:21 to win back in the spring again.
05:23 Maybe the wrong pit call at the end.
05:25 But if there was ever a driver I would
05:27 like to see upset the apple cart a little bit
05:29 with the championship four, it would
05:30 be Kevin Harvick at Phoenix.
05:32 What a way to go out with a victory.
05:34 I hope he is going full blast to the end.
05:36 That would be my only wild card.
05:38 And we know how much Phoenix means to him.
05:39 So what a cool thing if he does get the win in Phoenix.
05:42 Love talking old school.
05:43 Every week here on On Preview Show,
05:45 we do our NASCAR 75 flashback.
05:47 Where are we going today?
05:49 Well, we are going back to November 8, 2020.
05:53 It was the first championship race held at Phoenix Raceway.
05:57 Lap 269, Joey Logano is in the lead with Chase Elliott
06:01 in close pursuit.
06:02 Then lap 270, Chase makes the pass on Logano for the lead.
06:06 Chase hangs on for 43 green flag laps
06:10 to get his first Cup Series championship.
06:13 So I know the fact that we dropped in a little nine talk
06:16 here will make the Chase Elliott fans happy.
06:18 But that was his first Cup Series championship.
06:20 And we're looking at a possible new Cup Series
06:22 champion this year.
06:23 Three of the four drivers on Sunday
06:25 have never won a championship.
06:26 We'll see what they can do.
06:27 We always see history get made at Phoenix.
06:30 We'll see it again on Sunday.
06:31 Make sure you tune in.
06:33 It's the NASCAR Championship Race, Sunday, November 5.
06:36 3 PM on NBC.
06:38 We will crown a champion.
06:41 And then the season's over.
06:42 It's so sad to say.
06:43 I know.
06:43 It's so sad.
06:43 But we want to thank you for tuning into the preview show
06:46 all year long.
06:47 We've had so much fun.
06:48 And Alan and I will both be out in Phoenix.
06:50 So we hope to see some fans out there.
06:51 Enjoy the off season.
06:54 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:01 (upbeat music)