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Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Jim Utter

NASCAR Cup Phoenix: Logano beats Chastain to claim 2022 title

Approaching the tense last laps of the finale, Alex Bowman, in his first race back after suffering a concussion, collided with Michael McDowell on the back straight on lap 268, which brought out the sixth caution of the race.

All the lead-lap cars duly pitted, with Chase Briscoe first off pitroad. During the caution, a fire erupted under the #Ford of Brad Keselowski as it rounded Turn 4. He was able to safely exit the car as the fire was extinguished.

When the race returned to green on lap 280, Briscoe led the way followed by Ryan Blaney and Logano, with Ross Chastain seventh, the highest of the chasing title contenders.

Logano ran down Briscoe and passed him for the lead with 29 of 312 laps remaining, and then held off his Penske team-mate Blaney by 0.301 seconds to win the race and his second Cup title to go with his first from 2018.

It caps an incredible 2022 for Penske, after Will Power gave the organisation its 17th IndyCar title back in September, while Logano’s second NASCAR championship, both scored with the team, is Penske’s third overall.

Chastain – the fastest car on the track at the end – finished third, 1.2 seconds behind Logano. Without a late caution, Chastain did not have enough time to catch Logano or Blaney to attempt a pass.

Logan notched up his fourth win of the 2022 season, with two of them coming in the playoffs.

“We did it! We’re champions again, yes! Oh, my God, I’m so excited,” Logano said. “Thank you to everybody, my team. You guys are amazing. Gave me a good race car, good pitstop there at the end, got us up in front. Boy, that was just intense there at the end.

“It’s all about championships. That’s what it’s all about, and we worked so hard the last couple weeks trying to put ourselves in position. And everything that happened in 2020, I knew we just wanted to have a solid run and do this today.

“It’s such a big deal to win these championships. It impacts so many people’s lives.”

Logano also addressed the death early Sunday morning of Joe Gibbs Racing vice chairman Coy Gibbs, father of 2022 Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs and son of NASCAR and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs.

“Obviously the news this morning with Coy, too, I don’t know what to think. But obviously my condolences go to the Gibbs family,” he said. “But just an incredible day for us, and kind of mixed emotions at the moment.”

Despite having looked a likely contender for the win, Briscoe ended up finishing fourth just ahead of Kevin Harvick fifth.

The other two title contenders, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, endured a tough season finale, with Bell down in 10th place while Elliott finished 28th having been involved in an early crash.

That put Chastain as championship runner-up ahead of Bell and Elliott.

NASCAR Cup Phoenix results - 312 laps

Cla Driver Manufacturer Laps Gap Interval
1 United States Joey Logano Ford 312    
2 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 312 0.301 0.301
3 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 312 1.268 0.967
4 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 312 3.206 1.938
5 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 312 3.436 0.230
6 United States William Byron Chevrolet 312 4.494 1.058
7 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 312 5.133 0.639
8 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 312 6.463 1.330
9 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 312 7.011 0.548
10 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 312 7.311 0.300
11 United States Austin Cindric Ford 312 8.830 1.519
12 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 312 9.215 0.385
13 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 312 10.406 1.191
14 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 312 11.572 1.166
15 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 312 12.513 0.941
16 United States Cole Custer Ford 312 12.622 0.109
17 United States Daniel Hemric Toyota 312 15.210 2.588
18 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 312 19.754 4.544
19 United States Harrison Burton Ford 312 22.171 2.417
20 United States Aric Almirola Ford 312 23.181 1.010
21 United States Chris Buescher Ford 312 24.655 1.474
22 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 311 1 Lap 1 Lap
23 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 311 1 Lap 3.021
24 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 311 1 Lap 3.249
25 United States Michael McDowell Ford 311 1 Lap 1.147
26 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 311 1 Lap 4.804
27 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 311 1 Lap 1.027
28 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 310 2 Laps 1 Lap
29 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 309 3 Laps 1 Lap
30 United States Cody Ware Ford 308 4 Laps 1 Lap
31 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 307 5 Laps 1 Lap
32 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 307 5 Laps 8.939
33 United States Garrett Smithley Ford 304 8 Laps 3 Laps
34 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 304 8 Laps 5.061
35 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 270 42 Laps 34 Laps
36 United States Landon Cassill Chevrolet 84 228 Laps 186 Laps

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