NASCAR President Steve Phelps defended the four drivers competing for the Cup Series championship this weekend, even though some other drivers had better stats than the finalists. He also stood by the playoff system during his State of the Sport address on Friday.
Reigning champion Ryan Blaney, his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, Daytona 500 winner William Byron from Hendrick Motorsports, and regular-season champion Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing will race for the title on Sunday in the winner-take-all finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Phelps acknowledged that NASCAR has heard fans complain that the most deserving drivers were eliminated from the title race. Fans pointed to Kyle Larson, who had six wins this season, and Christopher Bell, who was disqualified last week at Martinsville for riding the wall in a move considered unsafe.
As a result, Byron made it into the finale on points after Logano, Reddick, and Blaney had already earned spots by winning races. Drivers like Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin were eliminated.
“There’s a lot of chatter around the four that are competing on Sunday,” Phelps said. “I’ve heard some say, ‘They’re not deserving, you’ve got the wrong drivers, two, three, four drivers.’ All our drivers knew the format. All four of these drivers deserve to be here — full stop.”
Logano was knocked out of the playoffs after the second round but was brought back when Alex Bowman’s car failed inspection after the elimination race. He’ll try to become the only active driver with three Cup titles.
He will race against Blaney, who, along with Logano, aims to give team owner Roger Penske and Ford a third consecutive Cup title. Reddick, who didn’t have the strongest playoffs, used a last-lap pass at Homestead-Miami Speedway to win and send Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s team to the championship for the first time in its history.
Byron made it to the finale on points once Bell’s wall-riding move was ruled illegal.
Penalties and Race Manipulation
This week, NASCAR handed out $600,000 in fines and suspended nine crew members from three teams over race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway. NASCAR’s chief operating officer, Steve O’Donnell, called the actions completely unacceptable.
NASCAR penalized 23XI Racing for helping Bell by interfering with other drivers, while Chevrolet teams Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing were penalized for aiding Byron.
“I would argue before what we saw, one of the best races we’ve seen in the playoffs, and it’s unbelievable that we’re sitting here talking about this topic,” O’Donnell said. “I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this, but I’ll say it anyway… what I saw in Martinsville pissed me off, and it pissed everyone off at NASCAR because we all know better, and we know what happens.”
NASCAR considered suspending drivers Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Austin Dillon but instead issued heavy fines. A meeting will be held on Saturday to discuss the penalties.
NASCAR has also already met with the manufacturers to discuss the role they played in instructing their teams to assist aligned teams.
“We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear in what our intentions are going forward,” O’Donnell said. “It is true, do we have a rule right now where we could do something? We don’t. Will we have a rule next year? 1,000%. They’re aware of that, and they’re aware if anything happens this weekend, which it won’t, but we will react.”
O’Donnell also rejected claims that NASCAR is inconsistent with its officiating and stood firm that the playoff system isn’t going anywhere.
“Can you name one sport that doesn’t have officiating questions throughout the year?” he asked. “The format is one thing, but playoffs, we’re not going to go away from playoffs. We read fans and everything.
We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason. You always learn, but playoffs in and of itself, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered.”
