Friday 5: NASCAR Cup title contenders ready for championship weekend at Phoenix

The NASCAR Cup season comes down to this final weekend. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Tyler Reddick will race for the Cup title Sunday (coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock).

Here is what the drivers had to say Thursday at Phoenix Raceway in their final media session before they get on track for Friday’s practice session.

1. William Byron ready for another pressure moment

William Byron called the nearly 30-minute wait after last weekend’s race at Martinsville “excruciating,” saying the longer it went before NASCAR made a decision on the finish, the more he felt he would not advance to the Championship 4.

Christopher Bell beat Byron for the final spot, but Bell rode along the wall on the final corner of the last lap. NASCAR eventually ruled that a safety violation. Series officials dropped Bell in the finishing order, which put Byron in Sunday’s title race at Phoenix.

Byron was numb after the announcement. He started to feel better on the drive back to Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The drive home was really peaceful,” said Byron, who spent about 90 minutes on the phone with his sister.

“When I got home, I was excited,” he said.

The only Hendrick Motorsports driver left with a title chance, Byron looks to give the organization its first crown since Kyle Larson’s championship in 2021.

Last year, Byron was in the title race with Larson. This year, Byron notices differences since he’s the only team car left.

“We have worked super closely on the setup this week with all the other teammates that we have at (Hendrick),” Byron said. “I just feel like the hands on the car, we don’t have the dilemma Penske has where we’re trying to prepare two cars. It’s just all focused on the 24, so I feel like there were a lot of hands on deck this week at the shop, which is really cool to see.

“Then we’ll have simulation going on back at the shop all the way up till the green flag. I think that’s what’s different, is just the fact that we don’t have really any other focus but this race.”

Byron says his win at the start of the season in the Daytona 500 can help him in Sunday’s race.

“I feel like our team has just been through a lot of big moments, like no bigger than the 500 this year, lining up on the front row with a shot to win that race,” he said. “I feel like those moments really prepare you for moments like this weekend and moments like Martinsville, just kind of putting yourself in those pressure situations.

“There was no more pressure than the 40th anniversary race at Martinsville in the spring. Just feel like those moments definitely prepare us.”

2. Beau time

Five years ago, Tyler Reddick’s second Xfinity championship came with a bonus.

He got to name his unborn son. Alexa, now Reddick’s wife, was pregnant with their son. She liked the name Ryker. Reddick liked Beau. She bet him that if he won the Xfinity championship, he could name their son.

Beau Reddick is 4 years old and starting to understand all the excitement around his dad’s first trip to the Cup Championship 4.

“My kid is so excited,” Reddick said. “I’m looking ahead. There’s a lot of racing to be had this weekend, a lot of things left to be done. But my kid has just been so excited for the past two weeks about getting to come here and getting to race for a championship here.

“He was jumping up and down and screaming, excited, when I said, ‘Hey, it’s time to go to the airport.’ He’s ready to go. Absolutely.”

A championship not only would be Reddick’s first in Cup but the first for 23XI Racing. So is that pressure or incentive?

“I think it could be both, honestly,” Reddick said. “Yeah, as a competitor, these are the moments you live for, being able to be in this situation, in this position to go fight for a championship. But certainly when I think of Michael (Jordan), Denny (Hamlin), the rest of the owners, when I think of everyone back at Airspeed, those that travel on the road, dedicate their lives to this goal, certainly it’s good pressure, but you say ‘incentive’, yeah, there’s a lot of that as well trying to get the job done.”

Reddick’s championship run comes as 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have filed a lawsuit against NASCAR and had a preliminary injunction hearing Monday. That doesn’t matter to Reddick at this moment.

“I haven’t really had to try to block it out,” he said. “It pretty much just came naturally with what lies ahead for us. They’ve got a team of people that are taking care of that. I’m taking care of what I can do as the driver.”

3. Focus is on 3 not 2 for Ryan Blaney

Yes, Ryan Blaney can become the first driver to win back-to-back Cup titles since Jimmie Johnson’s record streak of five in a row from 2006-10, but Blaney is focused on another number.

He notes a win by him — or teammate Joey Logano — would give car owner Roger Penske his third consecutive Cup title.

“I’ve always thought internally to myself … ‘How do you make Roger proud?’” Blaney said. “That’s my only goal in my racing life for the last 12 years, is how do I make Roger proud because he’s given me my life really.

“Bluntly, at the end of the day, it’s win races and win championships, bring him things that he hasn’t done before. It’s a very small list of things that he hasn’t done in motorsports. We have a chance to do it for him.”

Blaney has driven for Penske since 2012.

“He and Brad (Keselowski) were a huge part of wanting me to get over there,” Blaney said. “I owe them a lot.

“But yeah, Roger stuck with me through thick and thin. He could have canned me whenever he wanted to, especially early when I wasn’t probably performing how I should. It just means a lot that when someone sticks with you like that, just wants you to grow and learn.”

Blaney won last year’s title in his first appearance in the Championship 4. So what will change this time after going through that experience?

“I feel like the only thing that I currently would change from last year is how I handled the first two-thirds of the race,” Blaney said. “I was in such a hurry to get to the front, like ‘now, now, now, got to get to the lead.’ We didn’t start great. I think I started, like, 15th or something.

“I was pretty wound up. ‘Need to get to the front right now.’ Even in some situations with (Ross Chastain), looking back on it it’s easy to say, I wish I would have handled that a little bit differently.

“That’s the only thing I feel like I would have changed, just be a little bit more patient in getting there. You have over 300 laps to get there, so if it’s not going great in the beginning, there’s time.”

4. Will history repeat for Joey Logano?

Joey Logano can become only the 10th driver in series history with three or more Cup titles if he wins the crown Sunday.

Both times Logano has won the championship, he won the opening race in the Round of 8, giving his team two extra weeks to prepare for the season finale while others raced to earn a spot in the Championship 4.

Could it happen again for Logano?

“It just gives you more time, right?” Logano said. “Give this team time, we become pretty dangerous pretty quickly. I think that’s our advantage coming into this weekend, is that we’ve had two weeks while everyone else has had their tongues hanging out trying to make it. We’ve been going through things methodically, got our batteries recharged and are ready to go.”

Logano also sees crew chief Paul Wolfe as another advantage for the No. 22 team.

“I feel way more prepared than I have before, which is a great feeling,” Logano said. “I felt really prepared in ’22 (when he won his second title), as well. I think Paul really helped me with that. … I think Paul’s leadership has grown for one piece of it. He’s just a detail guy.”