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Logano holds off Blaney to become three-time NASCAR Cup champion

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 Hendrick Motorsports drivers 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 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 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. Christopher Bell made quick work of them after raging against Chevrolet's alleged 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 dog leg. 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.

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
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