By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
There are only four races left in the 2026 NASCAR season and of the 16 drivers who started the Chase, only six remain within 100 points of Kyle Larson. Larson leads Hamlin by 49 points and Denny needs a win and top-5’s or his first CUP championship will go the way of the Do-Do if he does not get going. The Championship winds from Phoenix to Talladega, Martinsville, and Miami Homestead.
NASCAR National Series –
Toyota looks to clinch manufacturer title in Phoenix… With the 17th victory of the season, Toyota looks to clinch its fourth Cup Series manufacturers’ championship in Phoenix. Toyota just needs a driver to finish 15th or better to clinch its first manufacturers’ title since 2019. Seventeen wins is also the most in a single season since 2019, where Camry drivers crossed the finish line in first place 19 times.
Briscoe Looks to Continue Momentum in Phoenix… With his win in Charlotte last weekend, Chase Briscoe earned his first back-to-back victories in NASCAR’s top series. The Indiana native will head to Phoenix this weekend to a track that holds a special memory for him as he brought home his first career Cup Series victory back in March of 2022. As the postseason is heating up, Briscoe is the hottest driver in the series over the course of the last three races with consecutive wins at Las Vegas and Charlotte, and a near victory three weekends ago at Kansas where he led 23 laps before settling for a fourth-place finish. During his hot streak, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver has vaulted up the standings from eighth to his current fourth with four races to go in this year’s Chase.
Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe eye points lead … After Charlotte, three out of the top-four spots in the Chase standings are being held by Toyota Camry XSE drivers from the JGR stable. Denny Hamlin sits in second, 49 points out of the lead, with Christopher Bell third 51 points out, and now Briscoe is just 65 points behind the Chase leader Kyle Larson. In total, five Toyota’s are inside the top-10 in the standings with Tyler Reddick in seventh and Ty Gibbs in ninth, with just four races left in the season.
Bell seeks third Phoenix win … Bell returns to Phoenix Raceway looking for his third Phoenix win after finishing in the runner-up spot there in the spring to add on to terrific performances the last two seasons. In the spring of 2024, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver led 50 laps on the way to victory and then followed it up by leading 105 of the 312 laps last season in a dominant win in March. The one-mile short oval has been one of Bell’s best tracks during his Cup Series career, with four top-fives and eight top-10s, along with those two victories, in 13 previous starts.
| Chevrolet’s Cup Series History at Phoenix Raceway:Chevrolet has been a part of Phoenix Raceway’s story since Dale Earnhardt, Sr. delivered the Bowtie brand’s first win in just the series’ third appearance at the track (Nov. 1990). Over the Cup Series’ 60-race history at the one-mile oval, Chevrolet has recorded a series-leading 27 victories. That total includes a record-setting streak of 10 straight, earned by six different drivers between 2005 and 2010, and a sweep of the 2023 events with William Byron (March) and Ross Chastain (November). The desert has also been a place of championship celebrations for the brand with three title-clinching performances alongside Chase Elliott (2020) and Kyle Larson (2025 & 2021). |
 LARSON CONTINUES TO LEAD THE WAY Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team will return to the site of their title-earning campaigns, Phoenix Raceway, with the points lead intact after yet another impressive postseason performance. Though a sixth-place finish at Charlotte snapped his run of top-five finishes, it was still a strong day for the reigning champion. He drove to a points-earning run in both stages, including the Stage One win, and led a race-high 97 laps to build onto his points lead once again to now sit at a 49-point advantage heading into the final four race stretch of The Chase. Through six Chase races, he’s maintained a record-setting 2.8 average finish. Larson has one Cup win at Phoenix, the 2021 victory that clinched his first championship. He’s strung together four-straight top-five finishes at the desert oval, including a pair of third-place results that came in last season’s championship race and the series’ spring stop in March. |
| CREED ATOP TIGHT TOP-SIX BATTLE Just 59 points separates the top-six drivers in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase standings, all of which come from the Chevrolet camp. Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed still leads the way, though his advantage has shrunk to two points over the reigning champion, Jesse Love. While Creed faced early-race woes at Charlotte after wall contact led to extended time on pit road for repairs, the No. 00 team rebounded to finish third. The West Coast native has found a sense of consistency at Phoenix Raceway, earning top-10 finishes in eight of his 10 O’Reilly Series starts at the track. |
 Love Returns to a Special PlaceJesse Love returns to the track where he clinched his first O’Reilly Series championship, and he arrives in a position to take a shot at the points lead. The reigning champion earned a runner-up finish and a 54-point race at Charlotte to close the gap to just two points behind leader Sheldon Creed. Phoenix has been a key part of Love’s career. He clinched his two ARCA Menards Series West titles there in 2020 and 2021; earned his first career top-five finish in the O’Reilly Series there in March 2024; and made the trip to victory lane to collect the title in last year’s championship race. He has posted a top-10 in all five of his O’Reilly Series starts there, most recently tallying a second-place finish in the spring event after leading a race-high 114 laps. |
FORD DRIVERS IN THE CHASE5th – Ryan Blaney (-85 behind leader Kyle Larson)6th – Joey Logano (-92)8th – Austin Cindric (-145)15th – Chris Buescher (-216)16th – Ryan Preece (-227) BLANEY GOING FOR PHOENIX SWEEPRyan Blaney passed Ty Gibbs for the lead with 10 laps to go and went on to win the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway earlier this year. The win was Ford Racing’s first triumph of the season and the second straight for Blaney at the track where he won the 2025 season finale. Blaney was the only Ford in the top 10 when the final restart took place with 12 laps to go, starting on the outside of the second row behind Gibbs. He moved into second when Kyle Larson drifted up the track going into turn one and then stalked Gibbs for a lap before finally making the decisive pass. The last driver to sweep both races in the same season at Phoenix was Kevin Harvick in 2014. |
 LOGANO AND PHOENIXJoey Logano has made 35 starts in his NASCAR Cup Series career at Phoenix Raceway and more than half of them have ended with the Team Penske driver in the top 10. Logano has four victories (2016-2, 2020-1, 2022-2, 2024-2), 10 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes. Those four wins are tied with Las Vegas Motor Speedway for most victories at one track and, coincidentally, have all come in even years, just like his three championships. Logano sat on the pole, but finished 31st in the race at Phoenix earlier this year after getting involved in an accident. |
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FORD DRIVERS IN THE CHASE2nd – Layne Riggs (-17 behind leader Kaden Honeycutt)3rd – Chandler Smith (-77)7th – Ty Majeski (-116)8th – Ben Rhodes (-136) DOUBLE DIGIT NCTS WINSFor the first time since 2000, Ford has won at least 10 races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after Layne Riggs captured last week’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Riggs has been the main reason for the manufacturer’s success this year with seven wins while Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith has two. Jake Garcia owns the other after capturing his first career win last month at Bristol Motor Speedway. The record for wins by Ford in one NCTS season is 12 (2000). |
JGR AT PHOENIX: Joe Gibbs Racing owns nine NASCAR Cup Series wins at Phoenix Raceway. In 171 combined starts at the track, the organization has tallied 51 top-five finishes, 90 top-10s, nine pole awards, and 3,570 laps led. Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, and Martin Truex Jr. have all driven JGR entries to victory lane at Phoenix.
| CHASE BRISCOE- No. 19 Columbia Bank Toyota Camry XSE |
| CHARLOTTE WIN NOTES: Chase Briscoe earned his third victory of the 2026 season last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the eighth win of his NASCAR Cup Series career and his sixth since joining Joe Gibbs Racing last season. Briscoe earned stage points with a second-place finish in stage one and a seventh-place finish in stage one. He led 62 laps during the race before having to fend off a late charge by teammate Christopher Bell to win by a mere .029 seconds. The victory was Joe Gibbs Racing’s 10th win on the 1.5-mile oval and the team’s 10th points-paying victory of the 2026 season.BRISCOE AT PHOENIX: Briscoe captured his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway in 2022. That day, Briscoe led 101 laps en route to his first win in his 40th Cup Series start. He became the 200th Cup Series winner with his victory at Phoenix. Overall, Briscoe has 11 Cup Series starts at the track with two top-five finishes and four top-10s. Earlier this year, Briscoe was running fourth before a blown tire ended his day early with a 37th-place result.2026 CHASE: Briscoe has gained four position in the points standings in the past two weeks and now sits fourth, 65 points behind points leader Kyle Larson. JAMES SMALL: 2026 is crew chief James Small’s seventh season leading the No. 19 team and his second year with Briscoe behind the wheel. The first five years of his tenure as crew chief were spent with Martin Truex Jr. Small has led his drivers to 14 wins across those seven seasons. Small has one win at Phoenix with Truex in 2021. |
| In 31 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix Raceway, Spire Motorsports has two top-10 and seven top-20 finishes. Michael McDowell owns both of the team’s top-10 finishes (eighth in 2025 and ninth in 2026). Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the Cup Series with Daniel Suárez, McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.The NASCAR Cup Series will contest the seventh race of The Chase Sunday at Phoenix. Hocevar and Suárez sit 10th and 14th, respectively in the championship standings. McDowell is 20th in points following last week’s race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.The Freeway Insurance 500 from Phoenix Raceway will be televised live on USA Network Sunday, Oct. 18 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The 33rd of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Driver Spotlight  |
Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Daniel Suárez will sport a special Freeway Insurance livery on Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in honor of the brand’s entitlement sponsorship for Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 at Phoenix Raceway.Freeway Insurance was established in 1987. Freeway Insurance is one of the largest and fastest-growing personal lines insurance brokers in the United States, offering coverage through a “click, call, or come in” approach that connects customers nationwide. The company continually researches, grows, and diversifies its product offerings to stay responsive to the evolving insurance market. Freeway provides a wide range of options—from basic to premium coverage—in auto, truck, commercial vehicle, homeowners, renters, small business, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, fire, and flood insurance. In 2008, Freeway Insurance became part of Confie, the nation’s leading personal lines insurance distribution company. Customers can access Freeway Insurance through neighborhood offices, online at www.freeway.com, or by calling (800) 300-0227.Spire Motorsports and Daniel Suárez have agreed to a contract extension that will see the veteran driver return to the team’s No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 next season. Through 32 races, he has earned one win, three top-five, seven top-10 and 25 top-20 finishes, with an average starting position of 14.3 and an average finish of 15.2. Entering the seventh of 10 Chase races, Suárez sits 14th in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship standings with 2,152 points, 215 markers behind the leader, following last weekend’s race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.The three-time NASCAR Cup Series winner has made 19 starts at Phoenix, earning four top-10s and nine top 20s. He holds an average starting position of 21.2 and an average finishing position of 19.1 at the one-mile track. In his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Phoenix in 2017, Suárez powered from 27th to seventh to his first career top-10 finish and post his best career Cup result at Phoenix. |
