It’s time to crown another NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Phoenix Raceway will host the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race to wrap up the 10-race playoffs this weekend, with four drivers set to battle for the title.
The 312-lap race will air live on NBC and Peacock at 3 p.m. ET, with pre-race coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
Who is competing for the Bill France Cup? And how do the four competitors stack up? Here are the answers to all your questions about the Championship 4, with help from NBC Sports writer/editor Dustin Long to break it all down:
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Who is in the NASCAR Championship 4 and how does it work?
Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and William Byron qualified for the Championship 4.
There will still be 40 drivers competing in the race at Phoenix – but only those four are championship-eligible. Whoever crosses the finish line first among them after 312 laps will be crowned the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
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How did those drivers qualify for the Championship 4?
Logano was the first driver to make the Championship 4 after winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 20. The victory secured his sixth title race appearance, as he’s made it in every even-numbered year since this format debuted in 2014.
Reddick was the second driver to qualify after winning the Round of 8 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 27. In his fifth full-time season, Reddick will be making his first Championship 4 appearance.
Blaney joined Logano and Reddick as winners in the Round of 8, taking the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway on Nov. 3. Fresh off winning the title last season, Blaney will make his second Championship 4 appearance in 2024.
Byron was the fourth and final driver to clinch his spot in the Championship 4. He did so based on the standings, finishing four points ahead of Christopher Bell after a controversial finish at Martinsville saw Bell get penalized for a safety violation and several other drivers later disciplined for on-track moves. It will be Byron’s second straight Championship 4 appearance.
Joey Logano: Phoenix stats, championship outlook
Logano’s stats at Phoenix Raceway: 31 starts, 3 wins, 8 top-fives, 16 top-10s, 10.9 average start, 13.5 average finish, 908 laps led
Logano’s last Phoenix start (March 2024): Started 23rd, finished 34th, 0 laps led
Logano’s championship outlook: The 2018 and 2022 Cup champion is looking for a third title. While he’s having one of his worst seasons ever statistically, Logano will be confident entering Phoenix. He won at Las Vegas, which gave crew chief Paul Wolfe two weeks to start looking ahead to Phoenix without worrying about the last two races in the Round of 8.
“Joey Logano, his two championship (seasons), 2018 and 2022, both times he won the opening race in the Round of 8 and had those two weeks off,” Long said. “Two weeks to prepare for the championship race.”
That extra preparation could be invaluable for a team that hasn’t quite clicked this season, aside from a pair of clutch playoff wins. Logano will finish 2024 with his fewest top-fives since 2012 and his worst average finish since 2011.
“I think going into it, (Logano) maybe needs a little bit more help,” Long said. “I certainly would look at the two with him and (his teammate) Ryan Blaney. Blaney's had a lot more success at Phoenix. And so of those two, I would keep an eye on (Blaney). At Phoenix in March earlier this year, Logano struggled, got caught up in a wreck running in the back of the pack and finished 34th. And it just was not a good day.
Despite the relatively disappointing overall season for Logano, Long was quick to point out that you can never count this team out. In a winner-take-all event, Logano is always dangerous.
“This is a one-race situation, just like a one-game situation,” he said. “How many times have we seen in sports, whether it's a one-game playoff in baseball or basketball, the player that maybe is not the star athlete or the high performer is the one that comes through in the clutch and delivers the performance that is needed to win the championship.
“Now look, Joey Logano is a clutch performer because he's won two championships, but again, you look at the performance and you think, maybe this is not the strongest of the four teams. But, hey, all they need is one race. And if they hit it right or some things happen to the other competitors, or if they do everything right on pit road, make the right pit calls, they win the race.”
Tyler Reddick: Phoenix stats, championship outlook
Reddick’s stats at Phoenix Raceway: 9 starts, 0 wins, 2 top-fives, 3 top-10s, 16.0 average start, 17.9 average finish, 72 laps led
Reddick’s last Phoenix start (March 2024): Started sixth, finished 10th, 68 laps led
Reddick’s championship outlook: In just his fifth Cup season, Reddick will make his Championship 4 debut – but that doesn’t mean he is inexperienced. The 28-year-old California native is a two-time champion in the same one-race format for NASCAR’s second-tier series.
“Well, he's a two-time Xfinity Series champion, so he's got that experience in the one-game playoff and the one-game pressure situation,” Long explained. “It may be a little bit different in what he'll go through with the Cup side and everything that takes place even away from the track leading into the week and so forth. But again, he's a professional.
“Denny Hamlin has called him a generational talent, so I'm not as worried about, ‘Hey, this is Tyler Reddick's first time.’”
Hamlin, who co-owns Reddick’s car along with Michael Jordan and drives for Joe Gibbs, has first-hand experience racing against the young star.
Reddick has had a breakout season with three wins and career-highs in top-fives (12), top-10s (20), laps led (597) and average finish (13.4) – and he won the regular season championship by scoring the most points over the first 26 races of 2024.
“He's not going to not have a chance to win because he hasn't been through this before,” Long said. “He's won races. He's won championships in another series. So, he's a very talented driver.
“If he can keep everything together and run a smart race and his team and his crew does everything that they can, he could be the one celebrating the championship after the end of the Phoenix race.”
Ryan Blaney: Phoenix stats, championship outlook
Blaney’s stats at Phoenix Raceway: 17 starts, 0 wins, 8 top-fives, 12 top-10s, 6.7 average start, 10.9 average finish, 431 laps led
Blaney’s last Phoenix start (March 2024): Started 16th, finished fifth, 0 laps led
Blaney’s championship outlook: For the second straight year, Blaney enters Phoenix as the hottest driver in the field. He won his way into the Championship 4 by winning Sunday – catching fire similar to how he did last season en route to his first title.
Considering his current form, his championship experience and his Phoenix history, Long sees Blaney as the favorite heading into the weekend.
“For as good as Ryan Blaney is at Phoenix, I think you have to look to him as the favorite, even though he comes in after just winning at Martinsville and doesn't have all the preparation time that his teammate Joey Logano has,” Long said.
Even though he doesn’t have the preparation, Team Penske is widely known for working together better than most teams. Long expects plenty of information to be shared between Blaney and Logano throughout this week before they part ways for the race.
“Anything that Joey Lugano and his team has figured out in the last couple of weeks in preparing and focusing on Phoenix, that information is going to Ryan Blaney and his crew chief, Jonathan Hassler,” Long said. “For Team Penske, they're trying to get one of their cars to win the championship – which would be a third consecutive year to win the championship after Logano winning in 2022 and Ryan Blaney in ‘23.
“Because Logano's had that preparation time and the information sharing that takes place at Team Penske and what Ryan Blaney has been able to do at Phoenix the last several races, I think you look at him as the favorite.”
William Byron: Phoenix stats, championship outlook
Byron’s stats at Phoenix Raceway: 13 starts, 1 win, 2 top-fives, 7 top-10s, 10.0 average start, 11.8 average finish, 186 laps led
Byron’s last Phoenix start (March 2024): Started fifth, finished 18th, 0 laps led
Byron’s championship outlook: Just like last year, Byron will enter Phoenix as the only final four driver who didn’t win a race in the Round of 8. He finished sixth at Martinsville, and he’s had a consistent playoff run through nine weeks (9.3 average finish).
While his playoffs have been steady, they have not been spectacular. Byron has six straight top-six finishes, but he hasn’t won a race since April 7. It could take another victory to earn his first championship.
“William Byron just has to be William Byron, and be the William Byron particularly that we saw earlier in the season when he won three of the first eight races, including the Daytona 500,” Long said. “He comes into this race having six straight finishes of sixth or better.
“He hasn't got the victories, but he's been very consistent and very strong. And if they can just continue to do that, and then just raise their level a little bit more, they've got to step it up a little bit with going up against Blaney and against obviously the other two drivers as well.”
At 26 years old, Byron is the youngest of the four contenders. He also started driving the latest in his life, as he started off driving virtually before finally hitting some real tracks in his teens.
“It would be a remarkable, great story for him,” Long explained. “This is a guy who came up through iRacing, did not race when he was 5, 6, 7 years old like a lot of these guys did. So, he got a later start and went from a non-traditional way through the iRacing, computer racing simulation type of stuff until he was like 13 or 14 before he really started racing cars.
“And so here's an opportunity to win a championship at the highest level in American motorsports that he can get to at this point. So, that would be another great story. And it's something that's certainly within reach for him.”
NASCAR Championship Race predictions, picks
All four drivers could realistically be the 2024 champion. Three of them won their way into the title race, while the fourth (Byron) is experienced and fast.
When picking a champion in this format, it often comes down to one question: What have you done for me lately? While Byron was the best driver to begin the year, he hasn’t won in months. Logano has essentially taken the last two weeks off to prepare for Phoenix, but the No. 22 hasn’t been consistent enough. And while Reddick was strong at Phoenix in March, his playoff run has been largely disappointing compared to the regular season.
That leaves us with Blaney, who is looking to become the first repeat champion in this format. No driver has won back-to-back titles since Jimmie Johnson rattled off five straight from 2006 to 2010. Still, this is the time for that drought to be broken. Blaney is the pick to make history in the desert.
You can watch the 2024 NASCAR Cup Championship Race on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
