On Sunday, the celebrities of the NASCAR Cup Sequence head to the Arizona desert to cap off the 2025 season within the Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports activities App).
Here’s what you could know forward of the ultimate race of the season:
Favourite: Denny Hamlin (+400, per DraftKings)
Hamlin has had extra time to organize for the title race than both of his opponents after winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas three weeks in the past, and is arguably in the very best place he has been in to win that elusive Cup Sequence title.
As a two-time winner at Phoenix and the runner-up within the spring to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell, the pace is there for Hamlin to ship. If the execution matches, the 44-year-old may turn out to be the third-oldest Cup champion all-time, solely behind Corridor of Famers Bobby Allison and Lee Petty, who had been each 45.
Underdog: Josh Berry (+2500, per DraftKings)
Berry may simply disrupt the championship battle on Sunday as somebody who has a knack for shorter and lesser-banked tracks. He was tenth at Martinsville one week in the past, runner-up at New Hampshire and eighth at Richmond earlier this season.
The general physique of labor at Phoenix just isn’t nice with only a pair of top-10s in 4 begins, however Berry was fourth within the spring and scored factors in each phases, so he’s undoubtedly price keeping track of outdoors the title contenders.
All of it comes right down to this
After 35 races and a grueling playoff stretch, the Championship 4 drivers are prepared for battle out west. Along with Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and William Byron received their solution to Phoenix with wins at Talladega and Martinsville, respectively, whereas Kyle Larson pointed his approach in over Bell.
It has been a six-year title drought for JGR, one thing the season wins chief Hamlin and top-fives chief Briscoe can change. On the opposite aspect is Hendrick Motorsports, a company that wants this championship really “bad” after its personal four-year wait since Larson’s 2021 crown.
Both approach, each organizations are hungry for an additional title and three of the 4 drivers, except for Larson, are on the lookout for their first, which ought to make for a dramatic end result to the 2025 season.
Non-playoff drivers trying to play spoiler
If a Championship 4 driver doesn’t win the race on Sunday, look no additional than Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano of Crew Penske, who had been simply eradicated from title rivalry at Martinsville however have received every of the previous three titles within the desert.
Elsewhere, Bell has received every of the final two spring races at Phoenix and Ross Chastain received the title race two years in the past regardless of not being among the many Championship 4. The primary focus is on the title contenders, however do not forget about the remainder of the drivers within the discipline who need to finish the season on a excessive word.
Championship Race on the transfer after Sunday
After internet hosting Championship Weekend because the 2020 season, Phoenix Raceway will lose its title races to Homestead-Miami Speedway subsequent season because the 1.5-mile facility returns for the primary time since being the host web site from 2002-19.
The choice is finally the right one given the present 1.5-mile bundle and the multi-groove racing there. Phoenix will nonetheless maintain its second date on the schedule, however it’ll actually be a change of tempo after a six-year run for the one-mile monitor.
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