AVONDALE, Ariz. — NASCAR’s president dismissed the sentiment that Sunday’s Cup Series finale, which will determine the 2023 season’s overall champion, lacks the pizzazz and star power of a major event.
The 10-race playoffs are down to the last event, and a 16-driver field is down to the final four contenders. The quartet of Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Kyle Larson is the youngest final four since the winner-take-all format began in 2014, and Larson is the only one in the group with a Cup Series title (2021).
Bell, the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, and Larson, behind the wheel of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet, are longtime dirt track rivals, but they have settled any simmering disputes. The other two might be even closer: Byron, who drives the Hendrick No. 24 Chevy, dates the younger sister of Blaney, who drives the Team Penske No. 12 Ford.
All four drivers have acknowledged Sunday’s showdown at Phoenix Raceway lacks the hype of years past, but NASCAR officials pushed back as the weekend arrived.
“We have a playoff system that I believe is the toughest in sports,” Steve Phelps, the stock car racing organization’s president, said Friday. “Think about the style of racing that we have, and the incredible competition that we have on the race track and the variety that our drivers had to go through.