By ZECH YODER
NASCAR Championship weekend heads to Phoenix this week with four championship races: The Arca Menards Series West, Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series.
The Craftsman Truck Series will have been decided by the time this column is published. My favorite for that race is Carson Hocevar. On Saturday evening, Xfinity Series will begin at 7 p.m. Although Justin Allgaier got in with a walk-off win at Martinsville and has historically run very well at Phoenix, I believe John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing will prevail. He has been the class of the field the entire year. He was denied the champion in the Truck Series last year. I expect him to win the race and the championship.
The Cup Series runs on Sunday at 3 p.m. The four drivers running for the title are Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and William Byron. Larson, Blaney, and Bell locked in by winning races in the Round of 8.
Blaney is coming off a dominant performance last week at Martinsville and is arguably the driver with the most momentum entering Phoenix. Moreover, he has finished in the runner-up position at the last two Phoenix races. Just a few weeks ago Blaney was a long shot to even make it to the Championship 4. He is now in a strong position to take the title.
My favorite, however, is Kyle Larson. Larson is a former champion and has been in this position before – in 2021. More important, by locking into the Championship 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he and his team have had three weeks to prepare for Phoenix. Given how close these NextGen cars are and the difficulty in finding a competitive advantage, three weeks is an eternity. We saw the advantage the winner of Las Vegas had the last two season with Larson and Logano capturing a championship. Kyle Larson was strong at Phoenix in the spring, winning the pole and Stage 2. If he can improve on his finishing position from the spring by three spots, he will be the champion.
Bell, like Larson, had multiple weeks to prepare for Phoenix, winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway two weeks ago. I have serious concerns with the troubles on pit road. Bell was hampered by pit road woes in last year’s championship race and his troubles continued throughout this year. There has been marked improvement over the last couple weeks, which should be encouraging to Bell chances. Bell has serious speed, especially in qualifying. Can his pit crew back him up?
Byron won the spring race in Phoenix, although it was on the back of a late pit call that got him to the front on older tires. His pit crew is exceptional and if he is near the front under a late race caution, his pit crew demonstrated they can gain him positions on pit road. Bryon has been mediocre over the last couple weeks so I believe pit strategy will need to be a factor in getting Bryon to the front.
Overall, it has been a great NASCAR season. NASCAR has continued to make progress on the problems of the NextGen car and the racing on the intermediate tracks continued to be great. I am going to be rooting for Christopher Bell but believe that Larson will dominate enroute to his second NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.