NASCAR.com's Alex Weaver breaks down what you need to know ahead of the race that will decide the NASCAR Cup Series champion at Phoenix.
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00:00 It all comes down to this.
00:02 A duel in the desert to crown our 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
00:06 champion.
00:07 Hello, I'm Alex Weaver, and welcome to Phoenix Raceway,
00:10 one of the most iconic views in all of motorsports.
00:13 And there is a lot on the line for one
00:15 of our drivers in today's race.
00:17 And let's set the stage for this championship four.
00:20 Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell both
00:22 know the pressures as they've been in the championship
00:24 four before.
00:25 But the newcomers of William Byron and Ryan Blaney,
00:28 this is their first time going after a title.
00:31 Now, it was a tale of two halves in qualifying
00:33 for our championship four drivers.
00:35 Unfortunately, Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell
00:38 failed to make the second round of qualifying.
00:41 So they have some work left to do in today's race.
00:44 It's hard when you don't qualify in the top 10.
00:46 And I think we snuck in at homestead at 10th,
00:51 but we've been outside the top 10 in Vegas and Martinsville
00:54 and was able to drive our way forward.
00:56 So hopefully, we have that kind of race pace tomorrow.
00:58 But yeah, we got to work cut out for us tomorrow.
01:00 Hopefully, our car is good enough to where
01:01 we can drive through it.
01:02 But long race, we can get there.
01:05 I'm probably more optimistic because I've never
01:07 won a race from the pole.
01:08 So obviously, the pit stall is a great advantage.
01:14 And we gave it to William.
01:15 So congratulations on that.
01:17 Yesterday in practice, my car showed great pace.
01:20 And that leaves me feeling very optimistic.
01:24 And certainly, the whole weekend has gone a lot better
01:27 than it did 12 months ago.
01:29 I'm not counting out Blaney or Bell at all.
01:31 And it's a long race.
01:33 So they'll overcome wherever they start.
01:35 We all saw the practice sheets yesterday.
01:37 I think the 12 and the 20 looked a step better than especially
01:42 me and even William a little bit.
01:44 So I was honestly surprised that they didn't
01:47 make the final round there.
01:49 And I think they'll find their way to the front pretty quickly.
01:52 And on the flip side, the two teammates
01:54 from Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson and William Byron,
01:57 will be starting inside the top 10.
01:59 William Byron will have the best seat in the house.
02:01 He's your bushlight pole sitter and said
02:03 that the extra time on track this weekend
02:05 gave his team an opportunity to make some much needed changes.
02:09 We improved the balance of our car.
02:11 We were right there in the mix.
02:12 I thought the 12 and the 20 looked really strong
02:14 off the truck.
02:14 And I thought we kind of inched our way forward to them.
02:17 So made a lot of improvements overnight.
02:19 Definitely leaned on Kyle Bush, fellow Chevy teammate,
02:23 and some of the setups there.
02:25 So it was awesome.
02:26 It's a battle all day long.
02:28 It's really all about the last round.
02:30 It's about today, and then it's about the last round tomorrow.
02:32 So it's going to be one of those old fashioned battles
02:36 between the four of us.
02:36 I can't wait.
02:37 Let's go.
02:38 The Cup Garage has been a very busy place
02:40 here at Phoenix this weekend.
02:42 And teams were allowed a little extra time
02:44 to tweak the car in a 50 minute practice session on Friday,
02:47 and then a qualifying session on Saturday.
02:50 Crew chiefs for the championship four
02:51 know the importance of unloading fast here at Phoenix.
02:56 I think the stock I'll take in to that
02:58 is that Ryan Blaney gets around Phoenix really, really well.
03:02 There's never been a time here that we haven't had speed,
03:05 at least short run speed, in our car.
03:07 So I think the challenge for us as a team
03:08 is to put a car under him that'll hold on
03:10 through a long run.
03:11 I mean, you're really giving William a shot
03:13 to see the strengths and weaknesses of his car.
03:16 And you don't know that could be a bad run.
03:18 It could not be--
03:19 they could have made a change that was bad,
03:20 and they're still making laps.
03:22 But anyways, the characteristics of the car
03:24 generally transfers over throughout the weekend.
03:26 So I think that part's good.
03:28 Certainly the track conditions are a bit different today
03:31 than what we'll see on Sunday.
03:34 It's going to be really hard for any of us
03:35 to predict exactly how to pinpoint what
03:38 that needs to be for our cars.
03:39 But we'll keep working on it and give it
03:42 our best shot for Sunday.
03:44 Every day of every year, we've worked
03:46 to put ourselves to be in this position
03:48 that we're in right here today.
03:50 And that's true on races that we're winning,
03:52 and that's true when we're getting our asses kicked.
03:55 We're trying to make it to race for a championship.
03:57 And how could you not enjoy yourself when you get here
04:00 is the question I would ask.
04:01 The drivers know what's on the line in today's race.
04:04 The first one of our championship four contenders
04:07 to cross the start/finish line will
04:09 be crowned the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
04:13 Make sure and tune in to the grand finale of the season.
04:15 We're racing at Phoenix Raceway, and we're
04:17 going to crown a champion today, 3 PM Eastern on NBC.
04:22 (upbeat music)