Joey Logano held off a late charge from Team Penske team-mate Ryan Blaney to win a dramatic season finale at Phoenix and become a three-time NASCAR Cup champion.
Reigning champion Blaney found himself 2.3 seconds down on Logano entering the closing stages having battled past Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and William Byron but despite slashing the deficit, he never got close enough as Logano took the chequered flag.
The result means Team Penske has won all three NASCAR Cup titles since the arrival of the Gen-7 car in 2022.
"I love the playoffs," said Logano. "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 [Blaney]. 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."
Blaney ultimately finished 0.33s adrift at the finish, with Byron third and the lowest of the Championship 4, Tyler Reddick, finishing in sixth.
Blaney, who appeared exhausted, was tended to by the AMR safety team after the race and he said: "Just worn out really and just couldn't quite get there and tried really hard to do so, just the restart didn't really work out and [Logano] just got too far away from me and took me a while to pass a couple guys and just could never get by Joey. I ran out of time.
"But congrats to him, congrats to the #22 team. They put together a great playoffs, 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 a heck of a battle. I hope the fans enjoyed it, and hopefully we come back even stronger next year."
The final stage
With no stage points handed out in the finale, Blaney and Logano's stage wins were largely irrelevant.
At the start of the crucial final stage, Reddick made a desperate bid to gain ground by trying to go four-wide at the restart. Around the outside, he made the move stick before contact was made with Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott - the trio somehow coming out the other side unscathed.
A lengthy green-flag period followed, leaving racing speed pitstops for most of the leaders with around 75 laps remaining.
Byron bided his time, however, and hit pitroad over 10 laps later - the timing perfect as Zane Smith forced a caution by crashing.
This left Byron in the lead as the others again pitted for fresh tyres, with his two Hendrick team-mate behind. But Christopher Bell, angry over the race manipulation controversy at Martinsville a week prior, made short work of them to go 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 Turn 1 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 champion rapidly closed the gap to Logano, but the #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 pitroad.
The Toyota Camry was herding the field ready for the start of the second stage when the driver misjudged the entry to the pits.
It turned abruptly towards the pits, just in front of then-leader Elliott, before hitting the sand barrels at the start of the pitwall whilst spinning sideways. This triggered a red flag period as clean-up work began to clear the sand and debris.
NASCAR Cup Phoenix - Results
| Cla | Driver | # | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Interval | Pits | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | J. LoganoTeam Penske | 22 | Ford | 312 |
2:56'16.284 |
7 | 40 | ||
| 2 | R. BlaneyTeam Penske | 12 | Ford | 312 |
+0.330 2:56'16.614 |
0.330 | 8 | 35 | |
| 3 | W. ByronHendrick Motorsports | 24 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+5.119 2:56'21.403 |
4.789 | 7 | 34 | |
| 4 | K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports | 5 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+7.169 2:56'23.453 |
2.050 | 7 | 39 | |
| 5 | C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Toyota | 312 |
+9.752 2:56'26.036 |
2.583 | 8 | 49 | |
| 6 | T. Reddick23XI Racing | 45 | Toyota | 312 |
+11.068 2:56'27.352 |
1.316 | 8 | 31 | |
| 7 | B. Wallace23XI Racing | 23 | Toyota | 312 |
+11.372 2:56'27.656 |
0.304 | 8 | 30 | |
| 8 | C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports | 9 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+11.824 2:56'28.108 |
0.452 | 7 | 38 | |
| 9 | C. BuescherRFK Racing | 17 | Ford | 312 |
+15.567 2:56'31.851 |
3.743 | 7 | 33 | |
| 10 | D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing | 99 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+21.531 2:56'37.815 |
5.964 | 7 | 27 | |
| 11 | D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Toyota | 312 |
+21.541 2:56'37.825 |
0.010 | 7 | 35 | |
| 12 | N. GragsonStewart-Haas Racing | 10 | Ford | 312 |
+22.466 2:56'38.750 |
0.925 | 6 | 25 | |
| 13 | A. CindricTeam Penske | 2 | Ford | 312 |
+22.754 2:56'39.038 |
0.288 | 7 | 25 | |
| 14 | A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports | 48 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+25.034 2:56'41.318 |
2.280 | 7 | 23 | |
| 15 | B. KeselowskiRFK Racing | 6 | Ford | 312 |
+25.111 2:56'41.395 |
0.077 | 7 | 22 | |
| 16 | H. BurtonWood Brothers Racing | 21 | Ford | 312 |
+25.629 2:56'41.913 |
0.518 | 7 | 21 | |
| 17 | M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing | 19 | Toyota | 312 |
+25.863 2:56'42.147 |
0.234 | 7 | 31 | |
| 18 |
C. HocevarSpire Motorsports
|
77 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+27.274 2:56'43.558 |
1.411 | 7 | 19 | |
| 19 | R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing | 1 | Chevrolet | 312 |
+29.068 2:56'45.352 |
1.794 | 6 | 18 | |
| 20 | T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports | 38 | Ford | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'21.001 |
1 Lap | 6 | 17 | |
| 21 | K. BuschRichard Childress Racing | 8 | Chevrolet | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'30.003 |
9.002 | 7 | 16 | |
| 22 | E. JonesLegacy Motor Club | 43 | Toyota | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'36.898 |
6.895 | 7 | 15 | |
| 23 | D. HemricKaulig Racing | 31 | Chevrolet | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'40.617 |
3.719 | 7 | 14 | |
| 24 | J. BerryStewart-Haas Racing | 4 | Ford | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'45.364 |
4.747 | 6 | 13 | |
| 25 | D. KrausKaulig Racing | 16 | Chevrolet | 311 |
+1 Lap 2:56'45.548 |
0.184 | 5 | 12 | |
| 26 | J. JohnsonLegacy Motor Club | 84 | Toyota | 310 |
+2 Laps 2:56'23.735 |
1 Lap | 7 | 11 | |
| 27 | A. DillonRichard Childress Racing | 3 | Chevrolet | 310 |
+2 Laps 2:56'24.585 |
0.850 | 6 | 10 | |
| 28 | J. HaleySpire Motorsports | 7 | Chevrolet | 310 |
+2 Laps 2:56'27.644 |
3.059 | 7 | 9 | |
| 29 | C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing | 14 | Ford | 310 |
+2 Laps 2:56'31.144 |
3.500 | 6 | 8 | |
| 30 | J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club | 42 | Toyota | 310 |
+2 Laps 2:56'35.619 |
4.475 | 8 | 7 | |
| 31 | M. McDowellFront Row Motorsports | 34 | Ford | 309 |
+3 Laps 2:56'19.010 |
1 Lap | 7 | 6 | |
| 32 | C. LajoieRick Ware Racing | 51 | Ford | 309 |
+3 Laps 2:56'20.300 |
1.290 | 7 | 5 | |
| 33 | R. Stenhouse JrJTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | Chevrolet | 309 |
+3 Laps 2:56'44.841 |
24.541 | 7 | 4 | |
| 34 | K. GralaRick Ware Racing | 15 | Ford | 308 |
+4 Laps 2:56'45.200 |
1 Lap | 5 | 3 | |
| 35 | J. YeleyNY Racing Team | 44 | Chevrolet | 306 |
+6 Laps 2:56'18.350 |
2 Laps | 6 | ||
| 36 | C. FinchumPower Source | 66 | Ford | 302 |
+10 Laps 2:56'23.638 |
4 Laps | 7 | ||
| 37 | R. PreeceStewart-Haas Racing | 41 | Ford | 302 |
+10 Laps 2:56'25.534 |
1.896 | 7 | 1 | |
| 38 | J. BurtonTeam AmeriVet | 50 | Chevrolet | 294 |
+18 Laps 2:54'27.096 |
8 Laps | 11 | ||
| 39 |
Z. SmithSpire Motorsports
|
71 | Chevrolet | 247 |
+65 Laps 2:20'29.870 |
47 Laps | 6 | 1 | |
| 40 |
T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing
|
54 | Toyota | 1 |
+311 Laps 29.724 |
246 Laps | 2 | 1 |
