Kyle Larson leads the NASCAR Cup Series by 49 points with four races left. Of the top six drivers in the standings, none has a better average start or finish at Phoenix Raceway, Sunday's track, than Larson: 6.8 and 10.0 in 24 starts. He has finished third four times and fourth twice in his last seven races there.
What Larson hasn't done much at Phoenix is win. His one victory there came in 2021, the year he won his first championship. Joey Logano has won at Phoenix four times. Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin have each won there twice.
The Freeway Insurance 500 starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on USA, with coverage beginning at 2:30, and on MRN radio. It is 312 laps on the 1-mile oval, and the first two stages, the segments that pay bonus points before the finish, end on laps 60 and 185. It is one of the last four races of the Chase, the 16-driver playoff that decides the championship. After Phoenix come Talladega on Oct. 25, Martinsville on Nov. 1 and the finale at Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8.
The standings
Larson, in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, has 2,367 points. Hamlin is second, 49 behind, and Bell is third, 51 behind. Chase Briscoe is fourth, 65 back, Blaney fifth, 85 back, and Logano sixth, 92 back. Tyler Reddick, seventh, is 114 back. The full standings are here.
Larson led Hamlin by 26 points after winning at Kansas Speedway on Sept. 27. He has added 23 since, and he finished sixth at Charlotte on Oct. 11.
What happened at Phoenix in March
Blaney won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 on March 8, his 18th career Cup win. Bell was second, Larson third, Ty Gibbs fourth and Hamlin fifth.
Logano started from the pole and finished 31st, completing 253 of the 312 laps. Briscoe finished 37th after 131 laps.
Briscoe, going for three
Briscoe, in the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, won at Las Vegas on Oct. 4 and at Charlotte a week later, and has moved up to fourth. His first Cup win came at Phoenix, in the spring of 2022.
"Phoenix is where I've been able to at least win my first Cup race, so I feel confident going there," Briscoe said in NASCAR's race-week preview. He said his team had been fast there even when the results didn't show it: "I think we've blown five tires in two races there."
On Sept. 27 at Kansas, after he finished fourth, Briscoe was asked about being 123 points back. He said it was still possible, but he would have to win "five or so of the next six races. Yeah, a little Tony Stewart 2011 run or something." He has won both races since.
He is the only driver with more than one win on 1.5-mile tracks this season, with three, according to NASCAR.
The Penske pair
Logano and Blaney both drive Fords for Team Penske, Logano the No. 22 and Blaney the No. 12. Logano's four Phoenix wins are the most of anyone in the top six. Blaney won there in March.
A change to the brakes
After brake problems for some teams at World Wide Technology Raceway, the track near St. Louis known as Gateway, in September, NASCAR told teams that at Phoenix they may replace their front brake rotors and pads after practice and qualifying on Saturday. No other brake parts may be changed. Rear rotors can be inspected during Sunday's pre-race adjustment period, and any problem found then will be handled case by case.
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