All eyes were on the Championship 4 drivers this Sunday. Denny Hamlin was the favorite, with a 6-win season and a two-decade career bearing down heavily on his title hopes. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe, was tasting his first-ever Final Four appearance. Then the Hendrick Motorsports stars, Kyle Larson and William Byron, were hoping to finish a rollercoaster season on a good note. However, by the end of it, another team’s driver, Ryan Blaney, stole these four title contenders’ spotlight.

Team Penske was contending for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship – until the Round of 8. Both Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano could not advance with poor Talladega results. Nevertheless, the former champions ensured they dominated the Phoenix storyline.

Ryan Blaney and Co. celebrate anyway

Denny Hamlin dominated for most of the NASCAR Cup Series championship finale. He led seven times for 208 laps, with rival William Byron constantly hounding his rear bumper. However, another driver was right behind him through the race – Ryan Blaney. The No. 12 Penske Ford showcased its signature short-track prowess, starting from 5th place. When Hamlin lost the lead to Byron at the end of stage 1, Blaney snatched second from the veteran racer. Then, in Stage 2, Blaney also beat the No. 11 team on the pit road.

These multiple instances of speed built up a victorious narrative for the No. 12 team. When William Byron brought out the last caution with 3 laps to go, it reshuffled the lead ferociously. Not only did Denny Hamlin move back, but Ryan Blaney also got the chance to move ahead. Hamlin could not overtake Larson, yet Blaney climbed from 4th to 1st by the time the checkered flag waved. If Blaney had cracked the Final Four, he would have extended Penske’s championship streak. Nevertheless, he celebrated with teammate Joey Logano on Victory Lane. “Teammate love 😂,” Sirius XM NASCAR posted on X.

Ryan Blaney reflected on his race win and candidly admitted to having a good car. “It’s just cool to end it on a good note. It’s just cool, and obviously, we had a fast car all day. Those other guys were just kind of faster getting going, and I could never retain the lead. Those guys were just really good, and it took my car a while to come in, but it was a really good call for two there, and keeping track position. I got a decent restart and I was able to kind of roll the bottom in three and four and eek the 6 out at the line.”

Kyle Larson never led a lap during the entire race, and yet that lap 309 caution set him up for the 2025 Cup Series championship. Ryan Blaney congratulated Larson on his second career title. “It’s a shame we weren’t in the Championship 4. Congrats to Kyle and that whole team,” he said. “You don’t want to be the storyline to mess up a guy’s championship, so it was good that we were able to just run our race and run it clean to the end.”

Meanwhile, his teammate, Joey Logano, also washed up not far from him. Logano had some interesting insights to share as well.

Debunking his rivals’ struggles

Well, the Phoenix finale faced a multitude of technical gremlins. Topmost among them was a slew of Goodyear tire issues. On lap 108, Chase Briscoe cut his right-rear tire, and subsequently complained of vibration as well. Non-playoff drivers like Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Dillon also experienced the same dilemma. Then it reached the playoff grid as well – soon after winning Stage 2, Denny Hamlin got a flat left-rear tire. Bizarrely, both Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe had tire failures simultaneously.

While this chaotic tire episode played out, the Team Penske drivers looked untouched. And Joey Logano adamantly warned his rivals not to take Goodyear to task for their troubles. “No one should be blaming Goodyear or anything like that,” he said. “It’s not on them, it’s on the teams and the settings that they put in their cars. The more aggressive you are, the faster it goes and the more likely it’s gonna blow out. All of us are just trying to figure out where that edge is. When they’re four-wide across the line in front of you, what more could people want?”

Joey Logano finished fourth and lamented losing a shot at the win. “Overall, we had a shot at it, but didn’t position ourselves far enough forward for the last green-white-checkered there. We just had a little hiccup on pit road leaving. It was close. You see the leaders right there in front of you and you think you’ve got a shot at it, but just couldn’t quite pull it off.” 

Nevertheless, Team Penske seems to be in a good mood for spoiling the playoff grid’s Phoenix battle. Now they will wait for next year to resume their title streak.