Ryan Blaney won the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway ahead of Kyle Larson and William Byron after passing Larson for second place with 20 laps to go.
AVONDALE, ARIZONA - NOVEMBER 05: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 05, 2023 in Avondale, Arizona.
Blaney and Larson engaged in a fierce battle for second as race-winner Ross Chastain drove away from both of them. Blaney stalked Larson for multiple laps before finally clearing the 2021 champion and slowly driving away. The race was the first since NASCAR instituted its winner-take-all final race championship format in 2014 that the winner of the final race of the season was not a driver racing for the title.
Blaney was ahead of both Larson and Byron when a caution came out on lap 274 of the 312-lap race for Kyle Busch’s spin. Blaney entered pit road in second and exited in sixth after Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin each took two tires on pit road and Larson and Byron had faster pit stops than Blaney did. But Blaney got past Byron quickly on the restart and set his sights on Larson as Hamlin faded from view.
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