From a NASCAR Fan’s View
There is always something interesting about the last race of the season. This season, it starts with what happened last weekend and how the last laps went down at Martinsville. Even though the race was won by Ryan Blaney which put him into the final four, the intrigue and the drama for the fourth driver to qualify for the Championship race was a nail biter as NASCAR had to make a decision between Christopher Bell and William Byron. Finally, after about twenty to thirty minutes, they decided that Bell had broken the rule about riding the wall and gave the spot to Byron.
Why do I even bring up what happened at Martinsville. Well, the biggest reason is it was received as a contentious decision and for good reason. It appears there was a lot of manipulation going on by the Chevys of Chastain and Dillon to keep Byron from losing any more spots to Bell and they ended up tied in points. In normal circumstances, Bell would have broken the tie by a previous win and moved on to the Final Four. Now, the two will be starting next to each other in the fourth row. One of them is running for the Championship and the other is running to make a point.
All of that just really adds to what is really going on in every NASCAR Cup Championship race. We all know it is really two races in one. One for the Championship and the other for the race win. There is no guarantee that the winner of the race will be one of the four contenders although it usually is. The Final Four are really only racing against each other and the one that finishes ahead of the other three is declared the 2024 Cup Champion.
You can bet that Christopher Bell would like nothing better than to win the race and make a statement about how he was denied being able to contend in the Final Four. I believe he could possibly win today’s race and prove that, if he were in the Final Four, he would be the 2024 Cup Champion.
Of course there are a bunch of drivers that could win today and not all of them are in contention for the championship. Martin Truex Jr. qualified on the pole and would like nothing better than to close out his full-time Cup racing career with a win today at Phoenix. Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson start in the second row and both are quite capable of winning the race. In fact, this fan thinks they could and it isn’t that far-fetched of an idea.
There are others that could play spoiler and they qualified in the top ten also. Chase Elliott and Ty Gibbs start on the third row. Both are capable and have fast cars this weekend. Chase is looking to make up for a couple of bad races in the round of eight and take momentum into the 2025 season. Ty Gibbs has been on the brink of winning his first regular Cup race and could surprise us all taking the win today.
I’ve already mentioned Byron and Bell in the fourth row and rounding out the top ten are Harrison Burton and Tyler Reddick. Ryan Blaney had a disappointing qualifying lap and starts seventeenth, not exactly where he wanted to start from but, judging from his recent performances, he will likely move toward the front and be in contention when it comes down to crunch time.
So, let’s see… we have one playoff driver of the Final Four, Joey Logano, starting second next to Martin Truex Jr. Another one starting eighth, one starting tenth and one starting seventeenth. Joey Logano seems to have the best advantage since he is starting on the front row and he could end up as the Champ. Not saying he will, just saying he could. William Byron and Tyler Reddick have shown they can move through the field and in to being in contention for the win and either of them could end up as the 2024 Champ. Ryan Blaney has his work cut out for himself but starting in the middle of the pack hasn’t stopped him in the past and he could be the one.
This Championship race at Phoenix could be one of the more dramatic and interesting races for the Championship in recent times. As for which of the drivers this fan thinks will end up as Champ, well, I have narrowed it down to four but I’m totally undecided as to which of the four…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© November 10, 2024 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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