Everything you need to know ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race from Phoenix
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race
The Place: Phoenix Raceway
Track Length: 1 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, Nov. 2
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $12,394,135
TV: NBC & Peacock, 2 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 312 miles (312 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 185), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 312)
On Track:
Friday, Oct. 31: NCS Final Practice (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM at 5:30 p.m. ET)
Saturday, Nov. 1: NCS Busch Light Pole Qualifying (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM at 5 p.m. ET)
Sunday, Nov. 2: NCS Race: NCS Championship Race (NBC & Peacock, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)
Phoenix Raceway Storylines and Insights:
· This weekend marks the 59th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
· 2025 is the sixth season that Phoenix hosted the Championship round (2020-2025)
· Kyle Larson is the only former Cup champion in the Championship 4
· William Byron is the only Championship 4 drivers who also raced for a Championship at Phoenix last year
· Chase Briscoe is the only driver in the Championship 4 for the first time
· Kyle Larson is the only Championship 4 driver without a Playoff win, twice the Champion won the Championships without a playoff win in the first nine races of elimination style playoffs (Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019 who won both the race of the Championship)
· Tony Stewart in 2005 is the only Champion who went winless in the Playoffs
· This is the second time two teams had multiple cars in the Championship 4 – Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing had two cars each in 2021 with Hendrick Motorsports winning the Championship with Kyle Larson
· Denny Hamlin finished 2nd at Phoenix in March, Kyle Larson 3rd, William Byron 6th & Chase Briscoe 35th
· 15 of the 35 races in 2025 were won by the four Championship 4 drivers, all four have at least three wins and Denny Hamlin has a series-best six
· Each of the Championship 4 drivers has a Cup win at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin is the only driver with multiple wins but hasn’t won there since 2019
· William Byron leads all drivers in laps run in the top-five at Phoenix in the Next Gen car (1,618), and laps run in the top-10 at Phoenix in the Next Gen car (1,975)
· Denny Hamlin would become the third-oldest Cup champion at 44 years, 11 months, 15 days old, and the oldest since Bobby Allison in 1983
· Kyle Larson’s 10 top-five finishes at Phoenix are his most at a track, his 14 top-10 finishes are tied for his most at a track with Las Vegas
· Kyle Busch will become the 14th driver to make 750 Cup starts this weekend, the best finish for a driver in their 750th start was 2nd by Mark Martin at Dover in September 2009
· Ricky Stenhouse Jr will make his 400th consecutive Cup start this weekend, the 3rd longest active streak