And then there were four.
Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron.
No Denny Hamlin or Martin Truex, Jr. No Kevin Harvick, who is heading to the broadcast booth in 2024. No Chase Elliott, Joey Logano or Kyle Busch.
This final race at Phoenix will feature a bunch of young drivers, veterans all, with only one of them having won a championship before.
Chris Buescher had to win this race to advance and he had a miserable day yet ended up P8.
Denny Hamlin looked to be the class of the field early on but after a pit stop on lap 323, Hamlin couldn’t do what Blaney did – drive to the lead. Hamlin finished a respectable P3 but when every point matters, his DNF last week cost him a chance at advancing. As I said last week, Hamlin could advance on points but he would need help from Blaney and that just didn’t happen.
Martin Truex, Jr. looked like he had a contending car but a speeding penalty on pit road mired him back in the field and he never recovered, finishing P12.
Now it’s on to Phoenix where Blaney is the highest rated driver of the final four. But hold your horses, since 2020, Kyle Larson and William Byron are the only two to have won at PIR. Byron won the spring race while Blaney ran P2, Larson P4 and Bell P5. Byron led 64 laps and Larson 201. Byron won Stage 1 Larson Stage 2.
So it is looking like one heck of a battle for the title if history even comes close to repeating itself.
If you are looking for a spoiler, look no further than Joey Logano with two wins and is the top ranked driver. Kevin Harvick used to be lights out at Phoenix and would love to be nothing more than being the spoiler by finishing off his career with a win.
Hope your favorite driver has a good finish and let’s hope the race winner is also the champion.
My other past columns can be found here.
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images/NASCAR Media)
