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Joey Logano was fading late and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was closing fast in a dramatic showdown at Phoenix. Blaney battled his way by the Hendrick Motorsports drivers of Kyle Larson and William Byron before slicing away at the 2.3-second margin to Logano.
He almost got to his back bumper, but never got quite there as Logano captured the checkered flag and his third NASCAR Cup Series title. For Penske, they remain undefeated in the current era of NASCAR, winning the last three titles with the Gen-7 car.
“I love the playoffs,” declared Logano. “I love it, man. What a race! What a Team Penske battle there at the end. Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. And he had a lot of long run speed there, and it was all I had there to hold him off.
“Man, three of them, that’s really special to get that. What a team. To fight through today, we went through a little bit of adversity throughout the race.”
“I’ve got the best team. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team, and together we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We’ve got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters.”
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photo by: NASCAR Media
The margin was 0.330s at the finish line with Blaney just missing out on back-to-back Cup titles. William Byron finished third while Tyler Reddick was the lowest of the title combatants in sixth.
The AMR safety team tended to Blaney after the race and he appeared exhausted after the fight.
“Yeah, just worn out really and just couldn’t quite get there,” said Blaney. “And tried really hard to do so, just restart didn’t really work out and just got too far away from me and took me a while to pass a couple guys and just could never get by Joey. Yeah, ran out of time.
“But congrats to him, congrats to the 22 team … They put together a great playoff,s and we’re happy. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy to be one-two for Roger [Penske, owner], three in a row for Roger, super amazing, and Ford.
“Just super-fast, just didn’t quite have enough there at the end. At least a Penske car won it, but heck of a battle. I hope the fans enjoyed it, and hopefully we come back even stronger next year.”
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing
Photo by: NASCAR Media
The final stage
Blaney and Logano each took a stage win at Phoenix, but no stage points are awarded to the Championship 4 drivers. At the start of the final stage, Reddick made a bold four-wide move in a desperate attempt to gain some ground. He made it stick on the outside, but contact was made and it nearly ended in tears. Reddick made contact with Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott, who nearly crashed but somehow sorted it all out. The daring move vaulted Reddick into the top five.
What followed was a lengthy green-flag run with most of the leaders pitting with about 75 laps to go. Byron waited, pitting over ten laps later. However, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect as Zane Smith crashed, forcing a caution.
Byron inherited the race lead as the rest of the field pitted for fresh tires, and he had two Hendrick teammates directly behind him. However, Christopher Bell made quick work of them after raging against Chevrolet’s race manipulation at Martinsville earlier this weekend. He got alongside Byron, battling side-by-side for the lead.
This presented an opening for Logano, who was able to pass them both with a three-wide move across the dogleg. Blaney was not as fortunate and got bogged down in traffic. It took him a while, but finally fought his way around Larson with 35 laps to go and Byron with 22 laps left.
Clearly the fastest car on track, the 2023 champ rapidly closed the gap to Logano, but the No. 22 defended masterfully to keep him at bay.
The race, while rather tame, was also briefly halted by a bizarre incident between the first two stages when the pace car crashed into the sand barrels at the entrance of pit road.
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