Written by: Julia Garner
Photos by: Caleb Ingram
On Sunday, November 10th, fans from across the country came together at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race to watch drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney on Team Penske for Ford, Tyler Reddick on Team 23XI Racing for Toyota, and William Byron on Team Hendrick Motorsports for Chevrolet.
The race was 312 laps, and several celebrities made appearances including Michael Phelps as the honorary pace car driver, and Nelly, who did the pre-race concert. Nelly got the crowd excited with his high-energy act, and performed some of his most popular songs, one being “Ride Wit Me”.
Throughout the race, Joey Logano had a pretty consistent lead, as well as non-qualifying drivers Christopher Bell, and Ross Chastain.
Pit stops can be detrimental to a driver’s lead if not done efficiently. Kyle Larson (#5, driver for Team Hendrick Motorsports) suffered the cost of this on the 125th lap, and struggled to make it back on the leaderboard once back on the track.
Joey Logano took home his 3rd NASCAR Championship win after being toe to toe with his teammate Ryan Blaney with a lead of just 0.33 seconds.
