NASCAR Race Recap - 2025 Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway

Despite all the drama about the NASCAR playoff format, the Cup Series championship 4 was actually a pretty solid group. There's a solid argument to be made that each of them deserves a championship this season. However, we can only have one champion, so let's recap the 2025 championship race and all the drama within.

Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, and Kyle Larson would make up our championship 4 drivers. Tire issues plagued practice before the race and set the tone for the race. In qualifying, Hamlin came up with the pole, with Byron starting alongside, and Larson starting third. Briscoe, who was never really able to recover from his tire issues, would start back in 12th.

Stage 1

Hamlin got a solid start and ran off to a lead of almost a second. However, either by design or due to Byron's speed, he was never able to extend the lead beyond that. The 11 certainly had a strong short-run car, but Byron seemed to have good long-run speed. As they began cutting through lapped traffic, Byron managed to cut the gap and take the lead from Hamlin.

Further back, Larson slipped back to third off the start and was never really able to pick up ground. He faded a little bit as the stage went on, falling as far back as fifth. Similarly, Briscoe had trouble making up ground, making it as far up as ninth, but ending up tenth as the run continued.

The shortest stage of the race was a quiet one, with very little movement or drama. Hamlin clearly seemed to be the best car on the short run, but the question remained if he could figure out how to convert that into long-run speed, especially as the afternoon turned to evening.

Stage 2

Non-playoff driver Ryan Blaney made out the best on pit stops, leading when stage 2 went green. Byron and Hamlin held their relative positions to each other, starting second and third. Hamlin would also report clutch issues on this round of stops. Larson would start fourth, and Briscoe would make up spots on pit road, starting stage 2 in sixth.

Blaney would retain the lead on the restart, with Hamlin jumping up to second. Byron and Larson would remain third and fourth, respectively, and Briscoe would lose a spot, falling back to seventh. Hamlin would once again show off his short-run speed, easily keeping pace with Blaney and pulling a gap on Byron behind.

Our second caution of the day and first for incident would come on lap 73 as John Hunter Nemechek would spin before the entrance of turn 3 after a four-wide moment. With only three green-flag laps completed, this caution would have little effect on strategy, as the leaders would choose not to pit for tires this early into the stage. Several cars toward the back of the field, however, would take the opportunity to go off-strategy.

The race would restart on lap 80. Blaney and Hamlin once again got good starts, but Blaney would end up losing position as they went into turn 1, falling back to fifth by the end of the lap. Hamlin would run away with the lead, and Larson would get past Byron for second.

At lap 90, the 23 car of Bubba Wallace would lose pace with a throttle sensor issue, quickly putting him out of contention. Wallace stayed on the track for several laps before he was eventually given warnings by Race Control for not maintaining minimum speed and was finally forced to pit. He would eventually go to the garage.

Hamlin would continue to charge, building a lead of over 3 seconds. Briscoe, too, would find speed, rallying as high as fifth. Larson and Byron would hold serve, not able to cut into Hamlin's lead on this run.

The third caution of the day would come out on lap 106, as Shane Van Gisbergen would spin on his own. At the same time, Briscoe would blow a right rear tire. While he would manage to stay on the lead lap after a pit stop, he would drop to the rear of the field for pitting too soon.

Once pit road opened, everyone else would come to pit road for a fresh set of tires. The 11 would take advantage of the first pit stall to maintain the lead, with Larson and Byron holding on to the second and third spots. Briscoe's penalty would drop him back to 32nd.

The race would restart on lap 116. Hamin was able to retain the lead from Larson. Briscoe, who had reported a vibration throughout the entire race, continued to report issues, although he rallied to 21st. Hamlin would once again jump to a big lead, although he would continue to report clutch issues. Blaney would make up ground, passing Byron for third and eventually tracking down Larson for second.

AJ Almendinger would bring out the next caution on lap 149 with a flat tire. Once again, all the leaders would pit for fresh tires. The top four would maintain position, while Briscoe would jump for 14th. Toward the back of the pack, Kyle Busch, who was forced to pit under green for a flat tire, would take the wave-around to get back on the lead lap.

The race would restart once again on lap 156. Hamlin and Blaney would get good restarts, while Byron was able to jump his teammate for third. Briscoe would also take advantage of the restart, cutting into the top 10 within a couple of laps.

This time, Hamlin wasn't able to jump to a big lead, with Blaney continuing to hound him. However, Larson and Byron still weren't able to keep pace with the top two. Hamlin would put on a masterful display of defense, keeping Blaney behind him.

On lap 180, Austin Dillon would have a tire issue, although he would make it safely to pit road without causing a caution. Shortly after, his brother Ty would also blow a tire. The 10 car would hit the wall, bringing out the caution and ending the stage under yellow.

Hamlin would win stage 2 in front of Blaney. Byron and Larson would remain in third and fourth, while Briscoe would rally up to seventh.

Both by virtue of being a much longer stage and thanks to the handful of cautions, stage 2 was more interesting than stage 1. Even on the long runs, no one besides Blaney seemed to be able to keep up with Hamlin, although the clutch issues remained a dark cloud over his head.

Stage 3

The caution was fortunate for Hamlin, who had a left rear tire going flat, which he was able to change under caution without issues. However, as all the leaders pitted, his crew would have issues changing the left-side tires thanks to the flat, costing him valuable track position. Larson would also have a disastrous pit stop, losing a lug nut and dropping him to the back of the Championship 4. Blaney would win the race off pit road, with Byron coming in second and Briscoe leaving in fifth. Hamlin would restart 11th, and Larson would drop to 18th. Of the non-playoff drivers, Ross Chastain would start third, and Chase Elliott, who was one of the cars that went off-strategy on the second caution of the day, would restart fourth.

The restart would come on lap 194, with Byron getting a great jump and taking the lead. Chastain would take away second, while Briscoe would make up a spot and jump to fourth. Hamlin and Larson would both begin trying to make up for lost time, with Hamlin making it back up to sixth, and Larson getting to eighth. Chastain would attack Byron for the lead, but would fall back into the clutches of Briscoe, who would take away the second spot. Briscoe would have to fight off an attack from Blaney, who would make it up to third.

Larson would be the next victim of a flat tire, losing a right front on lap 214. Briscoe would lose another right rear shortly after, forcing him out of the fight for the lead and giving Byron some breathing room. Both would end up a lap down, but both would catch a break as Carson Hocevar blew a right front on lap 220, this time bringing out the caution. Briscoe would receive the free pass, while Larson would be forced to take a wave-around.

As all the leaders pitted, Elliott would win the race off pit road, with Blaney coming off second. Byron and Hamlin would start next to each other, re-entering the track third and fourth, respectively. By virtue of the free pass and wave-around, Briscoe and Larson would restart 28th and 31st.

As the race restarted on lap 227, Byron would jump to second behind his teammate Elliott as they came out of turn 2. Elliott was able to pull a gap to a comfortable lead. Josh Berry would make it to third, with Hamlin stuck in fifth behind Blaney. Berry would quickly drop positions to both Blaney and Hamlin, however. Blaney would put an attack on Byron, but wouldn't be able to make it past as the run continued. At the back of the pack, Briscoe and Larson would make it as high as 14th and 22nd.

The 48 of Alex Bowman would be the next flat tire victim, on lap 244, although he made it to pit road without causing a caution. Meanwhile, Hamlin made it past Blaney for third, within striking distance of Byron. Noah Gragson would lose a tire on lap 249, once again managing to keep the track green.

While Hamlin was trying to chase down Byron, Byron was chasing down his teammate. Eventually, the 24 was able to take the lead of the race, putting a buffer between himself and Hamlin.

As Hamlin made the pass for second, Austin Cindric would crash on lap 259 with yet another flat tire. This brought the leaders down for a pivotal pit stop. Byron would be the first off pit road. Hamlin would lose a spot to Elliott, but the 9 would be penalized for speeding, elevating Hamlin back up to second. Briscoe would come out in 10th, while Larson would be stuck back in 18th.

As the race started to come down to the end, the restart came on lap 266. Hamlin and Byron would make it out of turn 2 side by side, and they would continue to battle on the next lap. Hamlin would finally be able to get clear and would finally get a chance to show off his short-run speed yet again. Blaney continued to hound Briscoe, forcing him to play defense more than offense. However, the next caution would come out for a flat tire for JJ Yeley on lap 278, neutralizing the race and erasing Hamlin's lead yet again.

Despite only 12 laps run, all the leaders decided to pit again for fresh tires. Briscoe and Larson decided to gamble on two tires, while Hamlin and Byron took four. This put the Championship 4 in the top four positions on the track.

Briscoe got a good jump on the restart on lap 285. However, coming to the next lap, all four went four-wide. Hamlin came out with the lead, with Byron chasing behind. Larson and Briscoe ended up fourth and fifth behind Joey Logano in third. Hamlin began to pull a gap again, hoping to build enough of a lead on the short run to hold position once the tires wore out. Larson and Briscoe, meanwhile, lost positions to a charging Blaney, keeping Team Penske well in the mix.

Hamlin was able to pull away massively from Byron, building a lead of almost 3 seconds. Byron, meanwhile, fell back into the clutches of Blaney yet again, once again forcing him on the defensive. It seemed that Byron's long-run speed had fallen off as the race continued on, while Blaney continued to be strong deep into a run.

Of course, the one thing Hamlin didn't want to see happened: a late-race caution with 4 laps to go. Fortunately, it was Byron, putting Hamlin's strongest competition out of the race. It did, however, bring Larson and Briscoe back into the mix for a green-white-checkered finish. It meant that all three had to decide to either pit or gamble on old tires.

All three remaining championship contenders decided to play it safe. However, Blaney led a host of two-tire gamblers off pit road, including Larson, who came out second. Hamlin came out in 10th on four tires, and Briscoe restarted back in 15th. Mixing things up even further, three cars also chose not to pit: Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, and Alex Bowman.

While Hamlin got a good jump on the restart, he got stuck in traffic into turn 1, giving Larson the advantage. Blaney's two tires got him to the lead and the win of the race, with Keselowski hanging on to second and Larson making it to third to claim the championship. Hamlin would finish sixth, Briscoe would drop to 18th, and Byron would finish back in 33rd.

Conclusion

This was a good race sullied by the finish, in typical NASCAR fashion. The overtime rules do nothing other than take wins away from the most deserving driver (a lot like the playoff system itself), and we really need to go back to letting races finish under caution again. It's really hard to be positive about a good race when the finish is utterly mismanaged by the series. Unfortunately, I know GWC is never going away, but I can dream that one day the sanctioning body will come to its senses.

Regardless, up to the finish, the racing was quite good, with the playoff drivers constantly shuffling throughout the field and impressive performances from even the non-playoff drivers. I also appreciated Goodyear bringing a tire that needed to be managed and taken care of throughout the race, although they may have gone too far in the wrong direction given the number of tire failures. If the race finished at its advertised distance, there would be no question that this was a good race. Unfortunately, it didn't, and I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth.