The Story, quotes and Bobby Allison passes away
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
The Cup playoffs are becoming more intense and drivers and teams are willing to bend or break rules in order to win or help their teammates do the same. NASCAR took steps against three teams and driver Christopher Bell after Martinsville this week and they are monitoring team radios and on track action. The Championship four drivers ran in the top most of the day and took turns outside of a Christopher Bell run out front. Here is how it played out.
The Betting Favorites
The betting favorites at Draft Kings had Ryan Blaney 1st, Joey Logano 2nd, William Byron 3rd and Tyler Reddick a distant fourth to take home the championship.
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Champion and the Checkered Flag
Joey Logano was down and out after the Charlotte Roval but Alex Bowman was disqualified and then Logano won the following week in Las Vegas. Logano ran strong all day and led the race twice for 107 laps. His low apron move in the third stage restart with 54 laps to go took him from 5th to first and never gave up the lead after that. Penske is one of six NASCAR drivers with three championships, good for a tie for fourth place in Cup History. This is his third victory at Phoenix.
Logano on the Win
“I love the playoffs. I love it, man. What a race. What a Team Penske battle there at the end. I had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. He had a lot of long run speed there and that was all I had there to hold him off. We have three of them. That’s really special. What a team to fight through today. We went through a little bit of adversity in throughout the race. I can’t thank Ford enough and Shell and Pennzoil and Hunt Brother’s Pizza. Paul Wolfe, what a crew chief I have. 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.”
Stage One
With Truex Jr. taking the green flag, Ty Gibbs 54 careened off track and hits the wall hard on lap one. Gibbs season is over. Joey Logano passes Truex Jr. after a dozen laps and now, all four Championship drivers are in the top seven. Gibbs on the wall hit. “It was definitely a big hit. I made contact with the wall, but I didn’t think it was necessarily too bad, and I went off into the dogleg. We’ve been really hard on the track there all week and I think I just caught it at a bad angle, and it just took off from me. I had no control there. It was a really, really big hit though.” Logano leads 48 of the 60 first stage laps. The final four after the stage are Logano (1st), Byron, Blaney and Reddick.
Jockeying for Position between Stages 1-2
With drivers starting the stage pitting, William Byron takes advantage of earning the first pit stall. Byron improves by one position and Logano loses several spots. Byron’s pit crew is ranked second on the Cup circuit, Joey’s 19th. The pace driver turned so late getting into the pits, that he nearly drove 90 degrees to get back in and was bumped by Chase Elliott. 23XI Co-Owner Michael Jordan was seen laughing his butt off. It was a new one for most fans.
Stage Two
Christopher Bell leads the race starting on lap 78. Blaney is now leading the final four in third place with Bryon 45h and Logano 5th. Reddick has fallen off to 10th place. Its an open secret that non final four drivers give the drivers running for the championship a break and let them settle the race among themselves. Truex Jr. ran out of patience with Logano and said he had enough. Lap 116 begins the green flag pit stops. Hamlin comes in. Bell pits a few laps later and Kyle Larson takes the race lead. Alex Bowman takes over as Larson pits and Bell once again takes over. Blaney, Byron, and Logano are 2-3-4 after the drivers pit under a green flag. Reddick is 9th. Bell builds a 3 second lead midway through the stage, but Blaney whittles it down to 3/100 of a second. Only 20 of 40 machines remain on the lead lap. Blaney catches Bell on lap 178 and takes the lead. Blaney and Bell finish 1-2 with Blaney winning the stage by .15 of a second. Logano is third. Byron is fourth and Reddick 10th.
Logano continues to lead Byron by 1.8 seconds. Blaney finally passes Larson with 30 laps to go and does the same to Byron with 23 to go for second. Blaney is faster than everyone including Logano by .10 and 21` laps to go. It’s on. The teammates Logano and Blaney are racing over the final 16 laps as fellow drivers move over to let them race.
Final Stage Final Race Standings
Bell gets off of pit road first and takes the inside spot of row one. Blaney is right behind and Logano once again loses racing position as Byron passes him for third and the 22 is now fourth. The green flag flies on lap 195. Reddick moves around multiple drivers with a power move and now Bell leads with Blaney, Logan, Byron, and Reddick run 2-5. Logano goes around Blaney for second and Bell’s lead is reduced to under a second. Blaney sizes up Logano for second place but with green flag pit stops coming up with about 77 to go, both elect to pit at the same time. Blaney has the superior pit stop and takes second to Logano’s third. Byron takes the lead as the drivers are cycling with tire strategy fueling team decisions. Zane Smith goes into the wall on lap 251 with a flat tire.
Tire Strategy Dominates the racing late
William Byron has far fresher tires than the other 3 Championship drivers and they call come in after the Smith caution. Byron takes the race lead. Blaney is now 5th, Logano 6th and Reddick 7th with 54 laps to go. Reddick takes the high line and Logano goes below the white line and takes the lead. Logano takes off as Blaney tangles with Larson and Elliott and Larson throws a block on Blaney for the aggressive move. Logano drives off with Byron one competitive second behind. The Captain Roger Penske owns the team of his 1-2 drivers. Blaney catches Logano with seven laps to go but cannot clear him. Blaney tries to go low on the apron with three to go like Logano did earlier but the 22 is still in the lead. Logano heads off Blaney on the final lap and takes home his third NASCAR Cup championship.
Pole Winner- Martin Truex Jr.
Truex Jr.’s last pole as a full-time NASCAR driver happened in back to back races as he finishes up being a full-time driver. The driver of the 19 did not fare too well last week, but he hopes this week will be the elixir to his career. Truex Jr. has one win in his last seven trips to Phoenix with three more finishes in the top ten. Truex ran a quality race but the 19 faded as the day progressed.
In the Mix 1
Ryan Blaney won his only championship last year and was worthy of winning on Sunday. He was raced hard by both Larson and Byron late in the race and it prevented him from giving Logano problems in the final ten laps. For the season, Blaney won three times including at Martinsville last Sunday.
In the Mix 2
William Byron finishes third and Tyler Reddick sixth. Byron led four times for 19 laps at Phoenix. Reddick never led the race and was the fourth car among the top four for all but a few laps on Sunday. These two drivers will take their playoff experience to heart this offseason and be ready to start strong in 2025. Byron on the late pit stop call. “I know that our No. 24 Axalta Chevy team worked really hard all day, and I feel like we maximized the most part of what we had. We just didn’t quite have enough. Those guys were just faster than us. We would have a short, little surge there in the middle part of the run, and then they would start to drive away on the short and long runs.”
He Said It… Denny Hamlin on Tyler Reddick this weekend
What will you be watching or saying to Tyler Reddick as a team owner as he competes for a championship on Sunday?
“Just for him, I think it’s just taking a breath, going day by day, right? Not getting too wound up over one practice session or one qualifying session. The Championship is a long way from being crowned, right? We’ve got lots of laps around this place and I certainly think that he’ll have a great shot when it’s all said and done. But, just enjoying it. Truthfully, I think that my first time having a shot in the last race I didn’t enjoy the moment quite as much as I should have because I was nervous and certainly, it’s hard not to get nervous. But I certainly think that he was probably wound a little bit tight yesterday, and I think today is a new day.”
He Said It… Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda… Christopher Bell
Do you feel like you should be in the Championship 4? Do you feel like Bryon should be penalized?
“I feel like I should be in the Championship 4 – yes. So, in the race, when the manipulation happened – it was clear that I needed a position. With the 23 (Bubba Wallace) falling back, we got that position and whenever we crossed the finish line, the 20 car was in. So, with the cards that were dealt, the 20 car was in position to make the championship event, and we are not in it.” No words on Byron. Good for him.
2025 Cannot come soon enough
Kyle Busch did not step in the winners circle for the first time since early in his career. It is very strange to see one of the best drivers ever struggle so mightily. Will he make it back with Richard Childress Racing?
Bobby Allison dies at age 86
Bobby Allison, founder of racing’s “Alabama Gang” and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, died Saturday. He was 86.
NASCAR released a statement from Allison’s family that said he died at home in Mooresville, North Carolina. A cause of death wasn’t given, but Allison had been in declining health for years.
Allison moved to fourth on NASCAR’s Cup Series victory list last month when chairman Jim France recognized him as the winner of the Meyers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina in 1971. The sanctioning body updated its record books to reflect the decision, giving Allison 85 wins and moving him out of a tie with Darrell Waltrip.
France and longtime NASCAR executive Mike Helton presented Allison with a plaque commemorating the victory. With it, Allison trails only fellow Hall of Famers Richard Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93) in Cup wins.
Allison was inducted into NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class, in 2011. He was the 1983 NASCAR champion, finished second in the series title race five times, and a three-time winner of the Daytona 500.
“Bobby was the ultimate fan’s driver,” Allison’s family said in a statement. “He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his fans and would stop to sign autographs and have conversations with them everywhere he went. He was a dedicated family man and friend, and a devout Catholic.”
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net
