Joey Logano Clinches 2nd NASCAR Championship Win in 2023

For the third consecutive season, the NASCAR Cup Sequence season concluded with its championship race at Phoenix Raceway. And, for the third yr in a row, the Cup Sequence Champion received the winner-take-all season finale en path to the title. Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott all had completely different routes to the Championship 4, but it surely appeared like Logano was destined to safe his second championship.

Previous to the race begin, Joe Gibbs Racing introduced the demise of Coy Gibbs. The group said that Gibbs handed away in a single day in his sleep on the age of 49. Coy Gibbs, son of group proprietor Joe Gibbs, was the Vice Chairman and Chief Working Officer for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs’ sudden demise was a shock to many throughout the storage particularly after his son Ty Gibbs received the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence Championship on Saturday. Ty Gibbs understandably didn’t compete within the Cup Sequence finale as scheduled.

JGR additionally had a driver within the Championship 4, Christopher Bell. Bell appeared to be in the perfect place to dislodge Logano from his stranglehold on the lead within the title combat inside the race till the ultimate warning. Nonetheless, through the closing rounds of pitstops, Bell’s rear tire changer acquired his finger caught between the left rear tire’s spindle and nut. The prolonged cease plummeted Bell down the order to fifteenth, taking him out of competition.

Hendrick Motorsport’s Chase Elliott, the common season champion, fought by way of the playoffs to succeed in the Championship 4. Although, Elliott wouldn’t see the checkered flag on the race’s lead lap. Throughout a restart, Elliott dove onto the apron to shortcut the dogleg and pull alongside the automotive forward. Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain did the identical behind Elliott. Chastain didn’t enable Elliott extra space. Elliott minimize throughout Chastain’s nostril and was pitched right into a spin straight into the within wall.

Ross Chastain was left as the one different driver to combat Penske’s Joey Logano. Chastain was in a position to maintain inside arm’s size of the 2018 Cup Sequence Champion however completed third. Penske completed 1-2, with Joey Logano first and Ryan Blaney second. There was solely a single lap of the race in Phoenix the place Logano was the provisional champion. With this title win, Joey Logano has grow to be Ford’s first multi-time Cup Sequence Champion since David Pearson in 1968.

The inaugural season with the NextGen Cup Sequence automotive had its highs and lows. There was thrilling on-track motion and a record-tying variety of completely different race winners. Nonetheless, the brand new automotive has been plagued with persistent technical and questions of safety. Hopefully, NASCAR can iron out the issues with a automotive that has been in a position to enhance the on-track racing product drastically.