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Well, here we are. The stage is finally set, and our final four drivers are buckled up for the Bill France Cup showdown in Phoenix. But before that, let's talk about Martinsville, the race that kept Team Penske at bay, to set up a JGR vs HMS showdown.
To decode the drama and excitement, we figured a regular recap just wouldn’t cut it. So today, we’re mixing things up but rewinding the wild 35-race rollercoaster that got us here, looking ahead to what’s waiting in the desert, and tossing in a few bold takes for good measure.
Oh, and Lucky Dog’s not flying solo. Our guest editor is jumping in to bring some extra spark before the big weekend.

A little over a decade ago, William Byron was competing for the NASCAR Cup championship – the online version, that is. But faced with a must-win real life situation in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the Hendrick Motorsports driver delivered with a victory and will now race for the real Cup title this Sunday in Phoenix.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner overcame the adversity of his finishes in the first two races of the Round of Eight in the previous two weeks – finished 36^th at Las Vegas (crash) and 25^th at Talladega to win Sunday at the .526-mile Martinsville paperclip. He came into the race 36 points below the cutoff line, leaving him pretty much in a must-win situation.

“All these guys work so hard,” Byron said on the frontstretch. “You put everything into Sundays. Sometimes you don't get anything in return. That's been the last couple weeks.”

Ryan Blaney (who had won the two previous Fall races at Martinsville to advance to the Championship Four round) was second, followed by Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Larson.

But more importantly, the four drivers who will battle for the Cup crown are Byron and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, against Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.

Only Larson has won the Cup crown before (2021).

Three of the four drivers in the Phoenix finale will be bidding for their first Cup crown: Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. But for the first time in the Next-Gen era, we won’t have a Penske car racing for the championship.

The four drivers who ultimately fell short Sunday of advancing to Phoenix are three-time and defending Cup champ Logano and Blaney (won the championship in 2023), as well as JGR’s Christopher Bell and Team Hendrick’s Chase Elliott (won the title in 2020).

Sunday’s win was Byron’s third of the season, starting with his second straight victory in the season-opening Daytona 500, along with his win at Iowa.

It wasn’t an easy win for the HMS star as he had to beat Blaney to his game at the Paperclip. Byron nudged Blaney aside on Lap 441 and then held on for the remaining 59 laps to clinch the win. It was a desperate attempt by Byron to fulfill his objective, and while some eyebrows were raised at his tactics, Blaney didn’t bat an eye. Here, have a look at the race-winning move by Byron if you haven’t already.

The way Byron drove Sunday’s race, taking home his first Martinsville Grandfather’s Clock for the win, was very similar to the man who preceded Byron in the Team Hendrick No. 24 Chevrolet, that of Jeff Gordon, who is now No. 2 at Hendrick Motorsports.

The championship contenders for the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series were also decided over the weekend at Martinsville, the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit (opened in 1947).

In an all-Chevrolet final, Connor Zilisch is the man to beat in the Xfinity Series, facing Carson Kvapil, Justin Allgaier, and Jesse Love. Next Saturday’s race in Phoenix will be the last under the Xfinity brand. Starting next season, it will be known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Corey Heim leads the Truck contenders, along with defending champ Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, and Kaden Honeycutt.

It was a season of outstanding triumphs and bitter losses, excitement and anxiety for the four drivers who will battle for the NASCAR Cup championship Sunday in Phoenix.

Let’s break down the route each driver took to get to the final championship race weekend in Phoenix (for now, more on that later):

Denny Hamlin: The veteran led all Cup drivers this season with six wins (Martinsville 1, Darlington 1, Michigan, Dover, St. Louis, and Las Vegas 2), as well as 14 top five and 17 top ten finishes, along with four pole positions. … The three-time Daytona 500 winner automatically advanced through two of the first three playoff rounds with wins at St. Louis and Vegas. This was his third-winningest season (won a career-high eight races in 2010 and seven in 2020).

 However, he’s NEVER won a Cup championship, and this could be his last chance. This will be the fifth time the Chesterfield, Va. native has reached the Championship Four (finished third in 2014, fourth in 2019 and 2020, and third in 2021). He also finished third in 2003 and second in 2010, prior to the playoffs being expanded in 2014. After reaching the 60-win mark this year, a championship win will complete Hamlin’s trophy case.

Chase Briscoe: A change of scenery was definitely to the Mitchell, Indiana native’s liking. When Stewart-Haas Racing folded at the end of last season, Briscoe was in the right place at the right time, joining Joe Gibbs Racing to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr. And what a debut season with JGR it has been for Briscoe, who earned career-high single season bests in wins (3, Pocono, Darlington 2 and Talladega), top five (15) and top ten (16) finishes, as well as led all Cup drivers this season with seven pole positions. Arguably, the most pivotal race for Briscoe was last week at Talladega: he was below the cutoff line coming into the race; his win gave him an automatic berth into the Championship Four race. 

William Byron: Including this year, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has made the NASCAR Cup playoffs for the last seven seasons, including now reaching the Championship Four final round for three straight years. While Sunday’s win at Martinsville was his third this season (Daytona, Iowa, and Martinsville 2), along with 11 top five and 16 top ten finishes and three poles, the Charlotte, N.C. native ranked at or near the top of the standings much of the season. 

However, he also suffered through several episodes of inconsistency or misfortune, including a five-race stretch in the middle of the season that saw him with finishes of 28^th, 27^th, 37^th, and 40^th. His hopes to advance to the Championship Four took a big hit when he crashed two weeks ago at Las Vegas (finished 36th), and was 25^th last week at Talladega. Heading into Martinsville, Byron was at a 36-point deficit; nothing but a win would ensure his progress, and win he did. 

Kyle Larson: Larson is the only driver in this year’s Championship Four who is a former Cup champion, having won the top spot in 2021. The California native came into Sunday’s race at Martinsville with a very insecure 10-point edge above the cutoff line. But he earned his spot in the Phoenix finale by finishing fifth, taking the final Championship Four spot on points, besting closest challenger Christopher Bell by a mere seven points. Larson earned three wins this season, along with 14 top five and 21 top ten finishes, along with one pole position.

Continue Reading: Joey Logano Admits Costly Error That Ended His Championship Hopes

It’s always hard to say goodbye, and Sunday at Phoenix is no different, as it marks the sixth and final year that NASCAR has completed all three of its championship weekends – Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks – in the Valley of the Sun.

NASCAR will return to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the 2026 Championship Weekend. HMS (not to be confused with the abbreviation of Hendrick Motorsports) hosted the season finale for 18 years from 2002 through 2019 before the championship weekend for all three top-tier series moved West.

However, folks who like Phoenix’s one-mile flat track have a reason to be optimistic. NASCAR announced that Homestead will only host the championship race for 2026. Future season finales are expected to be part of a rotating format among a variety of tracks, which means Phoenix could be back in the mix of hosting the final race as soon as 2027.

Phoenix has seen four different winners in its five Cup Championship events: Joey Logano won twice to clinch his second and third career Cup crowns (2022 and 2024), as well as single wins that clinched the Cup titles for Chase Elliott (2020) and Kyle Larson (2021), and one win for a driver who still came up short in the championship battle: Ross Chastain (2023, but had been eliminated early after the Round of 12).

Other tracks reportedly under consideration to host future Championship Weekends include EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), Charlotte Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.

The weather in early November will obviously be a consideration of where the season finale will ultimately be held. For the longest time, NASCAR preferred Homestead-Miami because of its summer-like weather even into the late Fall.

But given how millions of fans still go out to NFL and College Football games on weekends in less-than-ideal weather in November and into December, NASCAR  might be tempted to try its luck at other tracks like Darlington or Nashville.

It’s hard to see NASCAR end the season on a drafting track like Talladega or Daytona. Also, do not expect a mystery road course track to be in the mix.

Continue Reading: NASCAR Could Return to Mexico City by 2027

The half-mile paperclip (or more precisely, .526 miles around) known as Martinsville Speedway had a “normal” finish Sunday, compared to some other recent Fall races there.

Here are several other memorable outcomes at the Little Track That Could:

• Who can forget Chastain’s wall-ride on the final lap of the 2022 Cup race? Borrowing from a video game move that he had practiced in the past, the Florida watermelon farmer pulled off his “Hail Melon” pass in real time, sending him to the Championship Four race the following week in Phoenix (finished second of the four finalists, behind champion Joey Logano).

• Logano was also involved in another of Martinsville’s most memorable Fall moments, this one coming three races before that year’s Cup championship in 2015. Avenging an incident when he was wrecked by Logano at Kansas two weeks earlier, Matt Kenseth intentionally took out Martinsville race leader Logano, ultimately eliminating him from the Championship Four and finishing sixth in the final standings. 

• With three laps left in the 2017 Fall race at Martinsville, Denny Hamlin and race leader Chase Elliott were involved in a wreck that ultimately led to both of them falling short of making the Championship 4 and prevented Elliott from earning his first career Cup win.

• Entering the final corner of the last lap in last year’s penultimate race, Christopher Bell tried to do a partial “Hail Melon” move like Chastain did two years earlier, thinking he could sneak it by NASCAR officials. Nope, the eagle-eyed officials replayed Bell’s move and penalized him for a “safety violation,” knocking him out of the Playoffs.

• Sadly, no one in NASCAR will ever forget the 2004 Subway 500 at Martinsville, the 32^nd race of the 36-race season. Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag, but there was no victory lane celebration or post-race interviews as it was learned that a Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying 10 individuals crashed a few hours earlier on approach to Blue Ridge Airport, about 15 miles west of the track. There were no survivors.

Continue Reading: Jeff Gordon Shares His Honest Take on Hocevar’s Martinsville Antics

— Jerry Bonkowski