Relive the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway in this week's Race Rewind.
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00:00We are right here, right now, on Championship Day. Phoenix Raceway is ready to explode into
00:14life for Championship Day. Let's go!
00:18What a beautiful moment for martin Truex Jr. To lead this field in his final full-time
00:32cup ride. Big moment for the 1 of Ross Chastain. That
00:35Busch light Chevrolet, light blue and white, got loose underneath the 22, was able to save
00:40it. He'll fall in line in third. Austin Sendrik can't push his way through the
00:45middle as well. Logano. Elliott down low in that familiar blue and yellow.
00:51Somebody's in the wall! The 54 of Ty Gibbs. He had an issue in the middle of 3 and 4.
00:56I couldn't tell what it was. Then it looked like a mechanical issue that continued down
01:00the front straightaway. Then in the middle of the dog leg, a hard right turn. Heavy damage
01:05to the 54. That was a massive impact.
01:12This is in the middle of 3 and 4. They're 3 and almost 4 wide. The 54 is up. You see
01:17him slipping and sliding. I don't know if he has a tire down or breaks a toe link. Then
01:22right there, the car gets sideways. He corrects and gets into the wall. Ty Gibbs is a very,
01:27very talented race car driver. I find this shocking to think there's not a mechanical
01:32issue. There's no way at that point in the racetrack that is purely driver error. Something
01:36had to be wrong with the 54. He was able to get the car turned to the left a little
01:46bit. Watch this. The car turned to the right. It looks like it's headed at that really,
01:51really bad angle. He's able to get it turned left to get more of a side impact. That is
01:58a massive hit. Massive hit. Scary for the drivers behind. Wow.
02:07Looking to get some racing rhythm going. It's martin Truex Jr. In that throwback scheme
02:12alongside Joey Logano. Let's get back to racing. Let's get some rhythm going. And Logano is
02:25not hanging about. Four wide behind. Larson at the bottom. Chase Elliott involved. William
02:31Byron in that white car to his right side. The 20th belt. William Byron down on that
02:41low side in the 24. Predominantly white car. Right there. And there is a quiet ground swell
02:49of support for this guy. The only one not to win to get his way in here. Look at that.
02:53Four wide again. With Kyle Larson in the middle. Denny Hamlin down low. Austin Sindrick there.
02:58And the 45. One of the championship four. Tyler Reddick goes all the way around them.
03:04Final lap of stage one on championship day. And Joey Logano. He's LED 50. What a start.
03:13What a start. He was on martin Truex Jr.'s outside at the drop of the green flag. He
03:19went to the front really early. And he will win stage one. That is the perfect start to
03:25his championship day and his quest for a third cup series title. The XFINITY mobile onboard
03:30of Tyler Reddick. What happened here with the pace car? It has hit the barrels on pit entry.
03:40The pace car turning in late. Was there contact with the 9? Oh, my goodness. What has happened?
03:50They're going to have to fix. They're going to have to fix the end of these barrels. The
03:55barrels at the end of the wall. Those are there for safety in case a car would impact
03:59the end of the wall. He was not going to make it. Late decision. Chase Elliott saying that
04:09was a bit of a late decision. You never know what you're going to see. Just when you think
04:13you've seen it all. This is a new one for me. You heard him. Chase said he looked like
04:19the pace car made a late decision to come on pit road. That, too, is a game changer
04:24like today is going to be for the championship four. Okay. Situation clear and cleaned up.
04:31You got two round of eight drivers on the front row here. They could have easily been
04:36in this championship four. They're not. They're going to race for a win. We're back to racing.
04:40Stage two is on. Look at William Byron. Second car down. That exalted Chevy looking for a
04:46way through on his teammate. And Christopher Velgo sweeping up on the high line. Championship
04:57four drivers. There's three of them bunched together. The teammates are working. Byron
05:02down low. Reddick's behind his co-team owner, Denny Hamlin. This, folks, is what we wanted.
05:10To see the championship four group together duking it out.
05:13This is a great opportunity to gain track position, to get in front of someone that
05:17may never get you back. It's also an opportunity to learn what you can do at restarts. Truex
05:22jumping to the outside of Logano. Logano blocking it.
05:27Close call for the 22 of Joey Logano. Remember, penalized. Didn't get to pick his stall. Was
05:31assigned by NASCAR. As he turns in right here, he has to just wait for the 7 of Justin Haley
05:36to leave. Really nice job of not making this worse. Heads up. You hate to give up the time,
05:42but damage to the 22 would be a big issue. Those are always kind of a, you know, who
05:48has the right? We get asked that question all the time. In theory, the car coming in
05:52should have the right-of-way, but I always figured, Jeff, that if I can get out in front
05:55of you, I have to. I'm not going to sit in my stall and wait.
05:59Just nine laps to go in stage 2, and look at this at the front.
06:04Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney. Blaney had just been chipping away at Bell's advantage,
06:09and now predominantly we've seen his moves made on the inside. He's going up high.
06:15That Menards Ford is trying to round up the JGR Toyota, and here we go again.
06:21Christopher Bell putting up a good fight, but too much more momentum for the 12.
06:26Christopher to the bottom of the racetrack, right there. You can see Ryan Blaney able to accelerate.
06:34Even though he won the championship last year, it was a source of frustration that he didn't win the race.
06:38Ross Chastain was just kind of hanging out there in front and making it difficult to Blaney.
06:43Blaney wanted to win the race and win the title. He got the second part, so maybe this year he's like,
06:48I'm not going to do that again. Remember, first pit stop, Joey Logano, after he led 54 laps,
06:52he lost four positions on that first stop. They were on the back foot. They've lost their jackman to illness.
06:58Had to do a personnel swap, and then he has worked, and Paul Wolfe told us that from the pit box.
07:05It's okay. We'll settle back down. We'll settle into a rhythm, and Joey knows what to do.
07:09The pit crew knows what to do. We're not going to hit the panic button.
07:14Meanwhile, look at Blaney trying to weave through the traffic. Briscoe in that red 14.
07:19LaJoy in the 51 for Rick Ware. Cazgrala up ahead.
07:27Final lap of stage two. Ryan Blaney's going to get it.
07:31He had to do it the hard way in traffic. That was thick.
07:35It was pretty intense.
07:38I'm sure they're like, why are you lap guys fighting us like this?
07:44All right. There is just one stage left in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
07:50How's it going to shake out? How is this championship going to be decided?
07:55We'll remember this one as stage three is on.
08:06Bell's got a mirror full of the charges. Logano, here goes Redick.
08:10Here goes Redick. We said that he needed to do something special.
08:13He's on the high side of four wide. Larson is up on the wall ahead of him.
08:17He jinxed a little. They're moving around. There's contact.
08:19Buescher got tagged from the back and hit the wall.
08:22Keeps going. That was Redick on a full court press.
08:26Those are the moves Jeff talked about. The 45 had the momentum in the final stage.
08:31He knew he wasn't clear of the 17, Jeff, but he hung a left.
08:34It was time for his championship opportunity in front of him.
08:38He had to be a taker in that moment.
08:40Fifth on board with Redick. The three cars ahead.
08:43The other three of the championship four.
08:45That was a crazy save from Buescher.
08:47That could have been a big wreck.
08:52Watch this.
08:54Essentially it's four wide. Redick says, all right, guys, here I come.
08:57Up against the wall, then moves down.
09:01What an aggressive move. Now I'm going to tell you, Chase Elliott, he isn't happy.
09:06Chris Buescher to 17. He isn't happy.
09:10I think Redick thinks he needs to get left because he's going to have a run on the 5.
09:13That's exactly what it was.
09:17Watch the blue Napa car of Chase Elliott.
09:19Look how sideways he got.
09:22How that wasn't a multi-car wreck is incredible.
09:26Truex, one row behind, was thinking, okay, so this is how my last full-time race is going to end.
09:30Because he was sure they were wrecking.
09:32Oh, got him loose.
09:35He said he was stuck in dirty air.
09:37And now he draws alongside his teammate Blaney.
09:40Pressing as hard as he can and clears his teammate.
09:44Yeah, it was a terrific move to be the first of the championship four.
09:47You see the crews getting ready here.
09:49And Blaney knew time was running out.
09:51And he said, I need to make a move now.
09:54And the 22 makes the move.
09:56They come to pit road here, Parker.
10:03Parker's having some technical difficulties.
10:05Let's look at this pit stop for the 22.
10:07Paul Wolf on the bottom right, lean forward.
10:09We'll look to his right and call him in.
10:113, 2, 1, on the mark.
10:13Clean so far on the right side.
10:15Remember, replacement Jackman, medical issue for the first Jackman on the 22.
10:19He woke up today thinking he was pitting Cedric.
10:23Instead, he pits Logano.
10:25Perfectly clean from Logano in and out.
10:27We will see how quickly Blaney counters.
10:29Who's on pit road now?
10:31That was slick.
10:32That was slick for the 22 team.
10:34And now the sister team answers.
10:36Here come the champs.
10:38Gently move, counter move.
10:40Jonathan Hassler, who learned under Paul Wolf,
10:43immediately answers that call.
10:45Blaney did say, the car is definitely better,
10:48and I can run the bottom if I need to.
10:50I can also run the top of the racetrack if I need to.
10:53And they have that long run speed black for Ryan Blaney,
10:56hitting here with 75 to go.
10:58This is where it's all going to happen.
11:00Blaney off pit road.
11:02The 22 of Logano on the racetrack.
11:04Blaney has a ways to go because of where he's pitting.
11:07Just now getting to pit road speed.
11:09You see track left.
11:11That bright yellow shell for the 22 of Logano.
11:15It's going to be close.
11:16He should be able to take the momentum by.
11:18I would imagine Blaney can't get downshifted in time.
11:21Oh, he can't.
11:22They're going to rejoin right as they started on this pit exit.
11:26But does Blaney fire?
11:27He's right behind Bell.
11:29He has one lap less lap on his tires.
11:31He should fire out really good right here.
11:33He should have an advantage.
11:35Yeah, the 24 stays on the racetrack.
11:37Way too early.
11:39Way too early.
11:4073 to go.
11:41They just pitted with 45 laps on their tires.
11:43What Rudy Fugel is saying, we are not going to be pulled into this strategy.
11:47We're going to run 15 or 20 more.
11:49We're going to pit, and we're going to use two sets of Goodyear tires,
11:52the exact same amount of laps, make this road trip exactly equal.
11:57All right, here it is.
11:58We went to the break saying, is this the championship winning call?
12:01We will see.
12:02Here comes William Byron for Hendrick Motorsports,
12:05the final one of the championship four to pit.
12:08Kimi Kuhn, he's coming your way.
12:10Yeah, and Lee, this crew is the only one of the championship four
12:13that pitted yesterday in the XFINITY race.
12:15And while the cars are different, the crew told me they felt like working
12:19yesterday was an advantage to them to get their mindset on being race ready.
12:24William said we needed just way more grip on exit.
12:27The crew going to work right now under green,
12:29taking those four fresh Goodyear tires.
12:31Slight air pressure adjustment for William Byron.
12:33Looks like a clean stop, and he is out of the way under green.
12:36The unfortunate part for this strategy,
12:38or at least the concern for the strategy,
12:40is these extra laps, these 12 extra laps that William Byron has run
12:44on the racetrack after Blaney and Logano have pitted,
12:48are going to put the 24 way back on the physical racetrack itself,
12:53almost a half a lap behind.
12:55The new tires for Logano and Blaney work so well.
12:58Oh, and he pits a lap too early, or maybe perfect,
13:02because now he has fresh tires.
13:04The 71 in the wall, but that looks like a right rear flat.
13:07Zane Smith for Spy Motorsports.
13:14My point of that, what a difference a week makes.
13:16Last week, Byron was in a tiebreaker situation and may be out.
13:20This week, he has the opportunity to win,
13:22and win his first cup title. Here we go!
13:28Contact early on that restart.
13:30Look at Reddick, he's going on that high line again.
13:33The 12 right in the middle, Blaney tucks him behind his teammate.
13:37Reddick gets blocked by the 9.
13:39Logano through to third, Blaney battling with him in the 5.
13:43Bell, though, side by side with Byron.
13:46Now here comes Logano, watch that bright yellow shell.
13:49Pennzoil, Ford, Logano, extreme to the driver's left.
13:53Down low, and that's a race change lead move.
13:58And he gets a little squirrely. Byron's coming back.
14:03Restart, we knew it was going to be aggressive.
14:06Reddick trying to get to the outside.
14:09I said Blaney was going to be in a little bit of defense mode.
14:13He looks right here.
14:15Tries to put a block on, but Reddick was there.
14:17Now he knows he's in for a fight.
14:19Now the aggression's going to have to get even higher.
14:22Byron showed that he wasn't going to get pushed around.
14:25He may not have a choice.
14:28The champ runs him a little high.
14:30Blaney has his nose in second for now.
14:332.2 seconds behind his teammate and race leader, Joey Logano.
14:37Byron's coming back now, not satisfied with sitting in third.
14:48It's going to come down to one mile, one lap, two teammates.
14:55Who have we got?
14:57Logano or Blaney.
14:59One to go, presented by Credit One Bank.
15:05This has been an extraordinary season of motor racing.
15:08The NASCAR Cup Series is alive and well.
15:11And it's given us thriller after thriller after thriller.
15:18This is Blaney's final shot at it.
15:20He goes up high. There's traffic low.
15:23Joey Logano steps into history.
15:26He's a three-time Cup Series champion.
15:32Nobody better. Nobody.
15:38Paul Wolfe, the architect, up on the pit box.
15:42At the end of the Charlotte Roval, Logano was out.
15:47The Bowman disqualification put him back in.
15:50And he never missed a spot.