NASCAR / ARCA Championship Race Weekend Recap (Phoenix Raceway)
Winners:
Ross Chastain (Cup)
Cole Custer (Xfinity)
Christian Eckes
(Trucks)
William Sawalich (ARCA West)
Champions:
Ryan Blaney (Cup)
Cole Custer (Xfinity)
Ben Rhodes
(Trucks)
Sean Hingorani (ARCA West)
NASCAR Cup
Ross Chastain dominates Phoenix Cup Finale; Ryan Blaney Wins First Championship
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| Ross Chastain |
Race Winner, Ross Chastain led a race-high 157 laps to the Phoenix race win. While Chastain was present, he wasn’t an active influence on the championship fight. However, Blaney did vent his frustrations at the Trackhouse driver over the radio to his team.
“I know he was mad, and I don’t care. I do not care. I did not care then; I do not care now. I’m here to race him. I am not going to wreck, Chastain stated.”
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| Ryan Blaney |
For the first time in 10 years of the elimination playoff format, the NASCAR Cup Series champion failed to win the title race—not that it mattered one bit to 2023 champion Ryan Blaney.
When he took the checkered flag in second place in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, the driver of the No. 12 Ford gave Team Penske its second straight title in NASCAR‘s premier series and gave Ford a sweep of Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
“Unbelievable year, unbelievable playoffs for us,” said Blaney, who won last week at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4 with Larson, Byron and Christopher Bell. “To win back-to-back Cup titles for (team owner Roger) Penske, that’s so special. Having my family here, winning my first Cup title, I got emotional in the car. I’m not a very emotional guy.
Pole: William Byron
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Next Race: The Cup Series will return on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024 8:00 pm ET for the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
NASCAR Xfinity
Cole Custer wins First Xfinity Series Championship on Wild Overtime Restart
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| Cole Custer |
The third time was the charm for twenty-five year old Cole Custer, who became a first-time Xfinity Series champion by winning the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway on a wild overtime restart.
The No. 00 Ford driver beat John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer to capture his elusive first title on the circuit. Custer had finished runner-up in the Xfinity championship race in 2018-19.
“I thought it was over,” Custer, who led a race-high 96 of 202 laps, told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “I went from first to third, and I was able to shift the car all night. And Doug Yates’ horsepower worked out (and) pulled me off the corner. I can’t believe we won that thing after going back to third on that restart.”
“Man, I can’t say enough about these guys,” Custer said. We started the year off, and it was a struggle, and we had to kind of dig deep with each other, really talk about how to get better and to see how much this group has grown through the year.
“I think these guys have just really always believed in me all year, and I just can’t thank them enough for giving me really fast race cars and still believing in me when things weren’t going great.”
Sheldon Creed finished second, followed by Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Mayer. Nemechek crashed on the final lap and finished 28th.
Pole: Sammy Smith
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Next Race: The Xfinity Series will return on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024 5:00 pm ET for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Spring Race at Daytona at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR Trucks
Christian Eckes Wins, Ben Rhodes Captures Championship
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| Ben Rhodes |
On a night where Truck Series drivers wrecked each other with regularity, it was a respectful move by another Championship 4 driver that sealed Ben Rhodes’ second title in three seasons.
Grant Enfinger chased down Rhodes on fresher tires in the fourth overtime. He pulled up to the bumper of Rhodes’ damaged No. 99 Ford on the final lap of the race. Enfinger chose to cut his fellow driver a break.
Enfinger avoided intentional contact, even though it cost him the championship in GMS Racing’s final Truck Series race. He crossed the line sixth and ended the season second in the championship standings.
“Grant almost got me,” Rhodes told FOX Sports’ Regan Smith after the race. “Hats off to him. He ran a great race. I wouldn’t want to race against anybody else for the championship. He raced me clean and I respect the hell out of him for it.”
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| Christian Eckes |
As for his victory, the 22-year-old Christian Eckes tried to reconcile the championship race win with having just been eliminated from Playoff contention. He had a win (at Kansas) and a pair of runner-up finishes (Indianapolis Raceway Park and Bristol, Tenn.) during the Playoff stretch but was eliminated after finished of 19th and 20th in the two races leading into the championship finale.
“Those two races that killed the whole Playoffs pretty much and that’s just kind of the nature of it,” Eckes said. “I didn’t do my job last week and really the week before either. That gets us out and that puts us in this situation, but it’s motivating for next year and it was motivating for this race too. This one kind of stings, I know it’s a win, but the stupid mistakes the last two weeks of a near perfect Playoffs cost us a championship. This one kind of stings, I know it’s a win, but the stupid mistakes the last two weeks of a near perfect Playoffs cost us a championship. It’s kind of hard to be happy right now, but overall, just super proud of everybody for the year that we’ve had and just ready for 2024.”
Pole: Corey Heim
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Next Race: The Truck Series will return on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 7:30 pm ET for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race at Daytona at Daytona International Speedway.
ARCA
Sean Hingorani Wraps up West Series Championship; William Sawalich Earns Win at Phoenix
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| William Sawalich |
The debut race for Sawalich on the ARCA platform nearly saw him claim a victory at Phoenix until he was turned on a late-race restart by Bradley Erickson. No such problems plagued the 2023 ARCA Menards Series East champion on Friday, who executed a near-flawless race to end his great season on a positive note.
“This was very special,” Sawalich said. “We finished where we should have left off in the first race of the year [at Phoenix]. We capitalized on every opportunity and had a couple of good restarts. I worked on a few things myself and I think I’m ready for next year.”
The final race on the ARCA platform in 2023 featured two of its three champions inside the Top 3 with Sawalich in first and Hingorani in third.
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| Sean Hingorani |
With their recent dominance on the ARCA Menards Series platform, it only made sense for Venturini Motorsports to expand their empire westward.
The driver Venturini Motorsports tasked for this quest was 17-year-old Sean Hingorani from Newport Beach, California. Hingorani more than proved himself in a Venturini Motorsports car with a stellar debut season that saw him take the ARCA Menards Series West championship crown.
Even though he did not grab a victory in the season-ending Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 at Phoenix Raceway, Hingorani was elated to see the hard work put in by himself and Venturini Motorsports culminate with a West Series title.
“This was such a great season with Billy Venturini,” Hingorani said. “We fought so hard today and really wanted to win this race, but these guys brought me a fast car everywhere. This was such a great opportunity over here [at Venturini Motorsports] and I’m so thankful for it.”
Pole: William Sawalich
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Next Race: The ARCA Series will return on 02/17/2924 for a 200 mile clash at Daytona International Speedway.
Superstar Racing Experience
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| 2023 Camping World SRX Series Champ Ryan Newman |
The 2023 Camping World SRX Series was the third season of the Superstar Racing Experience, a stock car racing series in the United States. The six-race season began at Stafford Motor Speedway on July 13 and ended at Lucas Oil Speedway on August 17.
NASCAR Star Ryan Newman won the 2023 Superstar Racing Experience Championship, following Marco Andretti 2022 Champ and Tony Stewart 2021 Champ.
Newman never won a championship in either NASCAR Cup or Xfinity Series competition, with his career high point being a win in the 2008 Daytona 500. But he was not to be denied of his first SRX championship.
“It means a lot, no doubt, any kind of championship (like) the SRX series,” Newman said while celebrating in victory lane. “The Superstar Racing Experience, what can you say? Guys like Tony Stewart, Jonathan Davenport, who has won just about everything there is on dirt, racing against Kenny Schrader and Kenny Wallace, Helio Castroneves, all that stuff, it’s pretty special. It’s just a whole lot of fun to be doing what I’m doing.”
Next Race: The Superstar Racing Experience will return on July 11, 2024.
source: NASCAR Media