On Thursday at Phoenix Raceway, Tyler Reddick began one of the biggest weekends of his career: his first true shot at a NASCAR Cup Series championship. Forty drivers showed up to Phoenix, yet all but the Championship Four — Reddick, William Byron, and past Cup champions Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney — were eliminated from title contention. The highest Champ Four finisher in the race on Sunday would win the title. 

Reddick’s title hunt came at the end of a tense week. He was the only Toyota left, since his 23XI team owner, Denny Hamlin, got eliminated on points at Martinsville Speedway, and his manufacturer teammate, Christopher Bell, was in the Championship Four for 27 minutes before getting removed for a safety violation. Byron took his place, despite allegations of race manipulation in favor of both of them. All the while, 23XI was in court with NASCAR, leaving the team’s future in jeopardy. 

After doing race promotion all afternoon, Reddick walked over to me for an interview about the championship. We got derailed, as we usually do, and spent 10 minutes talking about JDM cars instead. I ask about his season, he tells me about a recent meme he saw that said movie critics use “slow burn” when they mean “boring” (I saw it too), and I eventually get to my last interview question. 

“Don’t jinx yourself,” I said. “But how do you feel about Sunday?”

Reddick sat back, exhaled, and visibly relaxed.

“Really good,” he responded. “I feel really good about it.” 

The making of a champion(ship contender) 

NASCAR’s modern championship format for all of its national series (Cup, Xfinity and Truck) is an elimination playoff. In the Cup Series, the playoffs begin with 16 drivers. They span 10 races and four rounds; the first three elimination rounds have three races each, and the final round comes down to four drivers and one race. For this year, that race is Phoenix, and the highest finisher from the Championship Four there wins the title. A win in one round automatically sends a driver to the next, and the other spots are filled by points. 

Reddick made the eight-driver round this year and wrecked himself in its first race in Las Vegas. It tanked his points position and almost killed his chance at the title. But these days, Reddick told me he’s better at separating his home life from his performance on track.

“I feel like when I was a lot younger, I wouldn’t turn that off,” Reddick said. “If it was something bad, I would drag that back home or back to the bus. Over time, I’ve gotten better about being at peace with what has happened, good or bad. I move along and allow myself to be present with my family. 

“There is a point at which you can overthink yourself to death and not change anything, especially when it’s something negative. It’s important to learn from it and acknowledge it, but if you dwell on it, I just don’t think it’s healthy.” 

Champion Tyler Reddick, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro TAME the BEAST

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

But remember, Reddick is a two-time champ in the second-tier Xfinity Series, securing both by winning at one of his best tracks: the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway oval. While Xfinity isn’t the Cup Series, the experience brought him into this weekend well prepared. 

“It feels so similar to when I did this when I was racing in Xfinity,” Reddick told me. “I know it’s the Cup Series. I’m racing against Cup champions. It’s at Phoenix instead of Homestead. But just the feeling, the mindset, where I’m at internally going into it, all feels very aligned with those other Championship Four appearances. It just kind of came naturally.” 

Modern NASCAR: Win and you’re in

Reddick knew he had to win the next race at Homestead-Miami to make the Championship Four. He was third with two laps to go. Ahead were Hamlin and Blaney, both in the same situation: If they won, they automatically qualified for the Championship Four. 

On the last lap, Reddick slid by Hamlin in the low lane in Turns 1 and 2, then catapulted past Blaney in the high lane in Turns 3 and 4 to win. His last-lap speed defied logic, and It was a finish for the history books. But during it, Reddick’s mind was on another plane. 

“I just … I ended up there,” Reddick said. “I don’t know how to explain it. People talk about getting in the zone, and it felt like one of those types of things where you lock in, it happens, it’s over, and you’re like: ‘What just happened?’ That’s what it felt like, where time’s moving so fast, but at the same time, it’s not moving. It’s really trippy stuff.” 

Race winner Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry

Photo by: NASCAR Media

Reddick told me the hardest part of the NASCAR playoffs is on display once the field is down to eight drivers. Three playoff contenders won all three races in the Round of Eight, leaving one spot to qualify for the Championship Four on points. That final spot became such a dogfight that, a week later in Phoenix, everyone was still red-hot from the controversy.

“It’s hard to win in the Cup Series, and it pretty much was something you had to do to give yourself a decent shot at being here,” Reddick says. “You look at how William [Byron], Denny [Hamlin], and Bell performed at these races we had, and they were very, very strong. Kyle [Larson], you look at all the playoff points he had, right? You’d think, ‘Okay, he’s good to go all the way through.’ 

“But in the Round of Eight, it can get out of your control so fast if you don’t win.”

The win gave 23XI an extra week to prepare for Phoenix. After Homestead, Reddick thought about the big picture: his chance at a career-defining first Cup championship. 

“I allowed myself to think about it, take it in,” Reddick says. “I absorbed that information, to then be ready to focus back in on what I need to do on the preparation side. It all felt like it happened really naturally. I didn’t have to force myself to think about this or not think about that. Everything’s just kind of falling in place. It feels as it should.” 

Other factors in Phoenix: The car, strategy, and pit performance 

But a championship is about more than a driver’s mindset; it’s also about the team and car. I asked Reddick’s crew chief, Billy Scott, what this weekend is like for him. He kept it practical.

“Normally, we only go through tech [inspection by the NASCAR officials] one time,” Scott said. “Our cars are basically impounded, which means there are very limited adjustments we can make throughout the weekend. We go through a 20-minute practice session right into qualifying, then it’s overnight until the race. 

“This weekend, since it is the final playoff race, we go through tech when we get here, but the cars are not impounded yet. It’s just for us to get a read on where everything is. Then, we have a full practice session: 50 minutes, multiple sets of tires, and you can pretty much change anything on the car that you want to or have time to. It’s just a lot more time in the garage, a lot more opportunity to adjust on stuff, and more trips to tech.” 

Scott prefers a shorter weekend format. It rewards 23XI’s pre-race preparation, he said, and it gives others less time “to science things out” based on practice speeds. But in Phoenix, 23XI had three cars in the lab: Reddick’s No. 45, Wallace’s No. 23, and Hamlin’s No. 11. 

JR Houston, a friend of mine and an engineer on Wallace’s car, told me the primary goal for 23XI at Phoenix was a championship. To do that, all three cars arrived with similar setups, letting the team work as a hive mind on adjustments and driving techniques for Reddick. 

“I would say 90% of our weekend is focused on making sure they’re getting everything they need,” Houston said. “If we find something that makes the car faster, we tell them about it, then we both get faster. If they get everything they need, we are going to perform well, and vice versa.” 

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

NASCAR teams use off-track time to debrief, discuss adjustments, and analyze data. A lot of data comes from a system called SMT, which shows graphs and animations of the speed, revs, shifting, braking, throttle, steering, delta time, and driving line run by any car. Each weekend, Reddick’s team can see where other cars gain and lose time relative to him, and other teams can see the same for Reddick. 

But the car’s speed is only part of the race. Another is pit road, where teams of five change tires and add fuel in the 8- to 10-second range. A pit-crew member’s sole job is going as fast as possible, and before the race, they spray sticky traction compounds in their pit boxes to help drivers launch.

Pit road itself is like a long, nose-to-tail parking lot, with a few empty spots. Teams choose pit boxes in order of performance, and pitting near empty spots causes less stress.

“The biggest thing for us is having an opening,” Scott tells me. “If you have an opening on the way out, you control your own destiny the most. And as long as you’re running in front of the car [pitted] behind you, it should make it to where it’s easy to get on and off pit road.” 

Scott is also responsible for race strategy, which can change depending on car performance and the timing of cautions. NASCAR teams can take two tires, four tires, no tires, scuff tires, new tires — a bunch of combinations — during a race. They can also pit early or late, depending on how it’ll impact speed and track position when they exit pit road. 

The season finale in Phoenix is 312 laps, and Cup cars can run 95 laps on a tank of fuel. A “short run” in the Cup car at Phoenix maxes out at about 30 laps due to tire degradation: Tires wear more harshly during that time, then plateau and degrade much more slowly for the long run to 95. 

“It’s important to have long-run speed,” Scott told me. “If you’ve got that, you’ll be okay.” 

The ups and downs of championship weekend

On Friday, Reddick ran the 21st-fastest lap in practice — the fourth of four championship cars. Blaney led, Byron ran fourth, and Logano ninth. Hamlin and Wallace, in similar cars to Reddick, ran eighth and 11th, respectively. They spent the night working to close the gap.

“Throughout practice, if the driver’s fighting a certain handling condition, we’ll mark down laps,” Houston told me. “When we debrief, we’re not sitting there looking through 60 laps of data. We’re looking for this very specific example of when they did something either similar or different and how it affected their corner.

“In practice, Bubba was a little more comfortable with the car. We debriefed for an hour about how the cars felt different, and because they’re so similar, we know that it’s the drivers making the difference. By being similar, we can teach each other.” 

The next day, Reddick clocked 10th in qualifying — a massive improvement. Logano qualified second, Byron eighth, and Blaney 17th. 

“We know what we need to work on, and we’ve been talking about it and coming up with a plan for Sunday,” Reddick told the media after qualifying. “I have a good sense of what I need to be focused on, and how we as a team need to keep up with the race car. But obviously, we have to wait and see how the race goes.”

On Sunday’s pre-race grid, minutes before the cars rolled off pit road, Reddick’s friends and family hugged him and wished him luck. That’s normal in NASCAR: Drivers are swarmed, with no time alone, until they step into the car.

Reddick fired off 10th, then spent the first part of the race there. He was strategically aggressive on restarts, and his pit stops were consistent all day. By normal standards, it was a great performance. But by championship standards, Reddick lacked the long-run speed the other Championship Four cars had. 

There were only four cautions in the race: one for an early wreck, two planned ones for stage breaks, and one for a crash on lap 251 of 312. The final green-flag run lasted more than 50 laps, and during it, Blaney charged from several seconds behind his teammate, Logano, to Logano’s back bumper. Logano held Blaney off to win a third Cup championship, while Byron finished third in the race and Reddick sixth. 

On a normal day, sixth is great. In the championship, it’s not enough. 

“We did all that we could, I think,” Reddick told the media in a post-race press conference. “But it’s tough when they just get further and further away over time. We put up a good fight. We didn’t make any mistakes that took ourselves out of it. We fought as hard as we could. We made the car better throughout the day. We did what we needed to do. 

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t quite have the speed or restarts we needed to get ahead and hold those guys up, or really put up a fight there at the very end.”

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing

Photo by: NASCAR Media

Advertisement

Reddick stepped off the press-conference stage, walked by, and gave me a half-smile that says: “I tried my best.” I nodded — “I know you did” — and remembered what he told me about the championship on Thursday. 

“You just have to come to terms with it, whatever the outcome,” Reddick said. “If you win the championship, it’s a great thing. But there’s a three-in-four chance that it doesn’t happen, and you have to be able to come to terms with that. I think you can do that if you go into this weekend knowing you’ve prepped all you can prep, covered all your bases, and made sure all the details are where they need to be. 

“Yes, it’s hard to walk away from a weekend if it doesn’t work out. But it’ll allow us to digest it better knowing that we have no regrets. We did everything that we could do to win it.”

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

NEW YORK — Joey Logano had no problem lifting the NASCAR Cup Series trophy and posing for as many photos as possible Tuesday in Manhattan.

Whether on the observation deck of the Empire State Building or other notable locations, Logano has been through this drill before as he became just the 10th driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to own three of those trophies.

Logano won the championship Sunday by holding off hard-charging Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in the final laps at Phoenix Raceway. 

The 2024 Cup champion talked with FOX Sports following the Empire State Building photo shoot with the conversation taking many turns, from the wild pace-car wreck into the pit road barrels to the chatter that the playoff format should change as Logano was just 15th in the regular-season standings, to where the championship race should be held.

How’d you celebrate?

Once we got done with the media stuff, I met the team at a restaurant. All of us hung out, had a good time, talked about the race a lot and really just had fun together. The 12 guys [of Ryan Blaney] were there, too, so everyone stayed back from after the race. We enjoyed that. I haven’t been home yet, so I’m looking forward to going home.

Any different celebration (he also won in 2018 and 20220) with three kids? 

It gets better. Each championship has kind of been its own thing. When I think about it, this last one, you’ve worked with your team longer, the relationships are stronger, and it means more. And as you get older, you start to care more about other people and seeing them enjoy the moment of what this championship is all about — how it’s so hard to accomplish it, but celebrating all together is really neat. And obviously, having my kids there, my wife there, that moment of going to get the checkered flag, is something that I’ll never forget. And there’s no way you can ever replicate that moment outside of winning the championship again. So it’s something that at the end of the day, you can have the trophy, you can have all the other stuff, but those memories will be mine forever — and it’s something I will always be very grateful for.

FINAL LAPS: Joey Logano secures his third NASCAR Cup Series title

You talked about how important the tire test (with two other drivers) was at North Wilkesboro early in the year. Does that mean you want more testing?

As long as it’s just for us, yeah. It’s funny, because we used to do that stuff every week. That used to be a grind. Now you get excited for a test because you don’t get to do it often. So you get to actually work on your race car a little bit. It’s actually fun.

During the race, did you see the pace car hit the barrels?

I didn’t see it.

So they just told you, and you’re like…?

They said, “The pace car hit the barrels.” And I was, “What?” I’ve never seen anything quite like that. I’ve seen it now. I know how it happened, but I don’t know why that would have happened. But I’ve never been red-flagged [in a race] for a pace-car cash before — it was a new one. You know what was the best part about it? They had to get an F-150 to take care of what the pace car couldn’t do.

Not that Blaney downplayed what you did, but he said something like everybody put on defensive clinics there at the end. So do you feel like that was one of your best drives ever, or other people in your position could have been able to do what you did?

Probably. You don’t know unless they were in that scenario. Because everybody’s different. Because not only did we have the good restart, which was key, but to be able to hold off the 12 [of Blaney], who was charging pretty hard there at the end, he was pretty fast. That’s a lot of pressure. We know what’s coming down to the line — it’s the championship. It’s everything. I know his game plan. I know what was making him good. I raced him earlier in the day, so I knew where his strengths were. I knew where mine were. And Coleman [Pressley spotting] on the roof did a good job of telling me where he was and what he was doing, where he was making the speed. It was no easy thing. But it took all of us to make sure it happened.

Obviously, you were asked questions after the race about the title and not having a great regular season, but I’m curious, have you been on social? Have you read any of the stuff? Have you avoided it? 

I haven’t had a whole bunch of time. And the moments I’ve had, I’ve looked at a lot of the pictures and stuff of our celebrations, Outside of what was brought up to me in the media center, and a couple times through media stuff today, I haven’t heard much of it. But the part I don’t understand is we’ve been doing this for 11 years, and everyone thought it was awesome, and now we don’t. What happened? Like nothing changed. I don’t get it because, as a race fan. If I take myself out of the car or I’ll just watch the Xfinity race and the truck stuff, the same format, I think it’s awesome. I love it. The regular season guys [who are on top], do they get an advantage? Absolutely. It’s a pretty big one, too. Does that mean that you could just go on cruise control throughout the playoffs? No, obviously. Can you go in cruise control in any other sport through the playoffs? No — you won’t make it to the end. Why do we need to change that? It makes no sense to me when I hear all this. But whatever. I’ve got the trophy. I don’t really care.

You said you grew up dreaming of winning a Cup championship. Do these things go the way you dreamed them to go as far as what winning feels like?

It’s way better than you think. The first 20 minutes from when you cross the start-finish line to you getting out of the car, you drive into victory lane afterwards, and you see everybody there. The first, maybe an hour, it’s electric. There’s not many people at all that understand what it’s like to reach the pinnacle of their sport. And it hits you like that [snaps his fingers]. In business, it’s amazing to do a lot of great things, but it doesn’t hit you like that. It slowly builds. And it’s a slow build to a championship, but it hits you really fast because you cross the start-finish line, you don’t know you’ve got it until you get there. So the emotions are just so real, so big, and you see the people you love and the people you care about, There’s no better feeling that I can think of than that. It’s the best.

You’ve won one championship at Homestead and two at Phoenix. Do you care where the championship is held?

No, I don’t care. It’s cool that we did it at both. But I don’t think it matters where the tracks are in the playoffs, how you got to the Championship 4. It’s just the fact that you won the championship. Everyone knows the rules when the season starts. Everyone knows the schedule when the season starts. It’s up to you to put together a plan to win it all. And we were able to do that. So that’s what I think about it.

Finally, should I pick you to be in the playoffs next year after not picking you to make the playoffs this year?

No. Because it worked good this year.

All right. I still might pick you to be in the playoffs to help my credibility.

You might now? That’s good stuff.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

To the big teams go the spoils… or something like that. Close and competitive racing has been a common theme in the IndyCar Series for years, but the end-of-year results always favor the usual suspects. 

Chip Ganassi Racing wrapped up its seventh title over the last 12 years in North America’s premier open-wheel championship, with Team Penske having captured it the other five times over that span. The last time a team other than those two dominant forces won the championship was in 2012 when Andretti Global (then known as Andretti Autosport) won it all with Ryan Hunter-Reayat the helm. And, excluding the Champ Car era that was dominated by Newman/Haas from 2004-07, the most previous title won by a team not named Andretti, Ganassi, or Penske happened over two decades ago in 2002, courtesy of the long since-defunct Panther Racing. 

The combination of elite drivers, personnel and resources are obviously all a large part of why the same powerhouse teams are constantly fighting for wins and titles. However, another element that comes into play is how much testing they are provided compared to the smaller teams.

Alex Palou at Sebring test

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

Advertisement

Gavin Ward, Team Principal for Arrow McLaren, widely considered the other member of the ‘Big Four’ alongside rivals Andretti, Ganassi and Penske due to its depth of resources, shared his thoughts on the current testing situation that exists in IndyCar.

“It is ridiculous,” Ward told Motorsport. “IndyCar needs to take a look at itself with regards to competitiveness, as they claim to be a great competitive series. We can put on competitive races, but you can’t deny the last 20 years that three teams have won championships, and only one outside of Penske and Ganassi. In that time, every time there’s a new aero package, every time there is a tire test, who gets favorability? The teams that are winning.”

And that was certainly the case during the early phases of the hybrid unit. When the current 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine was initially paired with hybrid power in August 2023, it was Penske and Ganassi leaned on heavily by respective manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda. Andretti and Arrow McLaren received their turns in October of 2023. Over the introductory three months, the four teams, stretched across 13 drivers, logged a total of 15,256 miles. 

It wasn’t until late March of 2024 the remaining teams of AJ Foyt Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Ed Carpenter Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Meyer Shank Racing and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, were provided the first on-track outing with the hybrid — ending up with nearly 2,000 miles combined over two days of running.

“We’re somewhere in the middle because we got to do some testing that other teams didn’t get to do but we certainly didn’t get to do near what Penske and Ganassi were able to do,” Ward said. 

Rahal Milwaukee test

The benefits also extended to tire testing, with Penske and Ganassi getting the chance to log laps at Milwaukee in October 2023. How it played a vital part, according to Ward, is in allowing the teams to return with data to bolster setups when there was a series-wide hybrid test back in June.

“Even this year, Penske and Ganassi got to test at Milwaukee last October, so they showed up at the Open Test having done a 7 post session, built the track, optimized the dampers and they’re one test ahead of everybody else because they could do that,” Ward said. 

“Now, the rules say they can only do one tire test burned. We go to Nashville. Arrow McLaren and Andretti go to Nashville. I have a tire failure (with Pato O’Ward), come back to Nashville and who do they invite? Penske and Ganassi. So, where’s our advantage? Where’s the equalization? It doesn’t make any sense. Invite Coyne. Invite Carpenter. Invite Rahal for crying out loud. 

“Meanwhile, you look at last year with the hybrid system, we got the advantage of doing some testing. You know where we tested? Sebring and Homestead; two places we don’t race. You know where Penske and Ganassi tested in addition to those places? Gateway, Barber, Road America. IndyCar has a testing equality problem. And I’ve told them that before.”

Will Power participating in Indianapolis 500 Hybrid Testing

Photo by: IndyCar Series

Chris Simmons, Director of Performance at Chip Ganassi Racing, had his own counterpoints on why the smaller teams should not be the ones leaned on, specifically for tire testing.

“To be honest, what we see with this is those teams show up to do a tire test and not push the tires as hard to the point there could be reliability problems,” Simmons told Motorsport.com.

“I think you want the teams that are pushing the tires to the limit during the test, otherwise you end up showing up to a race weekend and they’re not in the load range that was predicted for the tires and then you end up with problems across the board from the aero-spec, tire-spec, everything.” 

Simmons stressed the testing is “very limited as it is” and noted it is part of the reasons first-year drivers have a tendency to struggle in IndyCar. 

“Even for the rookies, it might be a way for them to have a chance of catching up,” Simmons said. “We don’t have enough tires to run. It’s tremendously difficult to come in as a rookie and be on pace, whether that’s the team or the driver. The teams that have the resources to do those tire tests have the drivers to push the cars are probably the ones that should be setting what spec compound it should be. … Everybody who doesn’t get to test is always going to be upset, I get that. Everybody is always pointing fingers at everybody else thinking they got the advantage. I think the really important thing  is that we end up with the right tire-spec and the right aero-spec to put on the best show we can and let the teams go race for it.”

The season finale is not just for crowning the series champion, but it also signifies the end of careers, partnerships and in some cases, race teams. The 36th and final points-paying race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup season at Phoenix Raceway was no different. While all the focus was on the championship showdown, several other storylines were quietly tying up their own endings in the background.

MTJ is going fishing

There was Martin Truex Jr., making his final start as a full-time driver. MTJ hasn’t missed a Cup race since 2005 in an impressive streak totaling nearly 700 consecutive races. Truex was given a round of applause by his fellow drivers in the pre-race meeting, who then took a group picture with the future NASCAR Hall of Famer.

Martin Truex Jr, Joe Gibbs Racing, Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry

Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images

Anyone who has been watching NASCAR for long enough would have immediately recognized the DEI-esque paint scheme — a throwback scheme honoring his Cup debut from nearly two decades ago — leading the charge of his final full-time race. And while race itself didn’t pan out perhaps the way Truex would have wanted to end things, which has been a theme for him this year, he crossed the finish line in 17th.

Later, on pit road, he was approached by legends such as Michael Jordan and Jeff Gordon who simply wanted to shake his hand.

“Yeah, it means a lot to have the respect of guys like that and what they mean to the sport,” said Truex. “Absolute legends, right? It makes me feel good that I’ve earned that respect over the years, and it means a lot. From here forward, I’m just going to go have some fun and do a little bit of racing here and there just for fun. Hopefully, it will be less stressful than days like today.”

A NASCAR giant calls it quits

For Truex, it was his choice to finally walk away from the weekly grind, but for others, this was the end and not exactly by choice. Stewart-Haas Racing, co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, are shutting their doors now that the season is over. They were one of just three four-car Cup operations in the sport, and a constant presence on the grid since 2009. On Sunday, the No. 4, No. 10, No. 14 and No. 41 raced under the SHR banner for the final time with 323 employees cheering them on. Noah Gragson was the best of the bunch ending the race in 12th place.

Some of the drivers organized a victory lap of sorts on the cool-down lap and later, Stewart himself directed the last hauler out of the track. 16 seasons, 70 wins, 62 poles, nearly 20,000 laps led later, the journey has come to an end. 

“Man, this is just such a special group and I can’t say thank you enough to everyone at SHR for all they did this season,” said Berry, who is heading to Wood Brothers Racing in 2025. “We had some really tough circumstances and a lot of uncertainty, and the No. 4 group still showed up and gave it their all and I am just so thankful.”

Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas Racing, Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang

Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images

Chase Briscoe, who earned SHR’s final win with a dramatic victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington, was probably about as happy as you’ll ever see someone after running near the back all day.

“I mean, this is probably the most smiling and laughing we’ve ever had after a 29th-place finish,” noted Briscoe. “So, yeah, we obviously would’ve loved to have a better result, but at the end of the day, it was all about just enjoying each other and the people and everything that makes Stewart-Haas so special. It’s been a place I’m so thankful to have called home for the last seven years. I knew, honestly, it was going to be a little bit emotional but, I mean, I was crying before we rolled off pit road. Just appreciative of the opportunity Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) gave me. My dream was to make it to the Cup Series and the 14 car was the car I always cheered for, so the fact that I got to drive it and do it for my childhood hero was pretty cool. Definitely something I never took for granted.”

Nearly 20 years of shipping it to P1

Elsewhere, the sun was quietly setting on another partnership dating back to 2006. FedEx has stood beside Denny Hamlin since he made his Cup debut almost two decades ago and was one of the longest driver/partnerships remaining in the sport — perhaps only beaten by Bass Pro Shops and Truex. However, FedEx has gradually disappeared from the No. 11 Toyota, sponsoring fewer races every year. Hamlin posted a somber video on race morning, thanking FedEx and essentially confirming their exit. Hamlin won his very first race with those colors on his car, taking the checkered flag in the 2006 Clash at Daytona as a 25-year-old rookie. 47 of his 54 Cup wins over the years came with FedEx as the primary sponsor.

“Thank you FedEx for being there from the start,” a voiceover from Hamlin began in the video. “All the wins, and all the losses … thank you for letting me be me. For always making a difference. For helping make this kid from Virginia’s dream come true. Thank you FedEx for everything.”

The end of a record win streak

Lastly, an impressive statistic also came to an unceremonious end. Kyle Busch held the record for most consecutive years with a race win at 19 total. While 2024 was perhaps the worst year of his career, he still came agonizingly close to extending that win streak with runner-up finishes at Darlington and Daytona. He also crashed from the lead at Kansas, and lost Atlanta in the closest three-wide photo finish in NASCAR history.

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro , Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet Camaro and Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, BodyArmor Zero Sugar Ford Mustang race to the checkers

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Advertisement

The streak certainly did not end without a valiant fight from KB, but it did ultimately end with a 21st-place finish at Phoenix. Taking up the mantle with the longest active win streak is the sport’s newly crowned three-time champion Joey Logano, who has won at least one race for 13 consecutive seasons.

These are just the major storylines that played out in the shadow of the main event on Sunday. To add, there were retirements of highly-respected industry figures, while several drivers still face uncertain futures in the sport. But like every season finale, some stories will conclude with happy or bittersweet endings in some kind of bow, as the rest will ready themselves to add another chapter — next year.

Continue reading with advertising …

… or with a subscription

Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.¹

Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.

Accept and continue

More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.

Already a subscriber?

Log in here

When Aleix Espargaro steps off his Aprilia RS-GP for the final time at this weekend’s Barcelona Grand Prix finale, he will be able to look back at a long and ultimately successful MotoGP career that few – including the man himself – are likely to have predicted unfolding the way it did.

In fact, celebrating his career path in grand prix racing as one no rider has traversed before him and probably never will is arguably the greatest tribute one can pay to the 35-year-old.

Set to retire with 255 premier class grand prix starts to his name, in terms of longevity at least, only Valentino Rossi can lay claim to having started more races once Espargaro bids adios to the grind of 20 international events a year.

And – cliche though it may be – if Espargaro’s career was a cheese, it certainly went on to mature into a fine blue. Indeed, with one round still to go, Espargaro will depart having tallied at least three MotoGP victories, plus two sprint race wins, 11 podiums and seven pole positions.

Moreover, not just for himself, but that maiden success at the 2022 Argentinian GP will rank as one of the series’ most memorable modern-era successes destined to be raised in fondness long after his final chequered flag.

Granted, while there is some backhanded cynicism to go with the addendum of his first victory coming at the 200th attempt in the premier class, the belatedness also speaks of a rider whose dogged attitude towards development and an ability to rally a team around him succeeded in keeping him on the grid when many more decorated contemporaries came and went.

Espargaro belatedly broke his duck at the 2022 Argentina GP, reaping the rewards of his lengthy relationship with Aprilia

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Espargaro made his 125cc debut in 2004 and ascended to 250cc in 2006 before a full MotoGP debut came in 2009. Save for a season of Moto2 in 2011, he has remained on the MotoGP grid for an impressive 15 years. Indeed, there is some butterfly theory you could apportion to Espargaro being somewhat fortunate that a MotoGP career was even possible at all, even if being in the right place at that right time preceded a lengthy stint in the wrong one.

Grappling for grip on a junior development path that counted the likes of Marco Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista, Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama among him in the quarter-litre division, Espargaro’s results in both 125cc and 250cc were solid, if not sparkling. Though a regular top 10 finisher, a personal best of fifth after four full seasons didn’t present him as a future MotoGP race winner, so much so that he was left without a 250cc seat altogether coming into 2009.

But being consigned to a Moto2 development rider role would go on to work in his favour. Espargaro was called up when Pramac Racing required a substitute for the injured Mika Kallio at short notice ahead of August’s Indianapolis GP.

Espargaro’s legacy is a reminder of what perseverance and loyalty can achieve

The limitations of what was then a modestly competitive Ducati machinery notwithstanding, Espargaro acquitted himself well during a four-event stint, finishing and scoring in each. It led to a full-time deal for 2010 that set him on a long-term MotoGP career path that may not have ever come had he not been sidelined in the first place.

Leaving MotoGP with victories to a name will always be a credit to any rider. But by achieving his on an Aprilia package that for many years prior had been battling for relative scraps, Espargaro’s legacy is a reminder of what perseverance and loyalty can achieve.

Scouted by Aprilia for 2017 MotoGP season for his experience, Espargaro arrived at a team still finding its feet two years on from its return to the top flight after an absence of more than a decade. While Espargaro’s entry route from Suzuki – which also beat the comeback trail to MotoGP in 2015 – ensured he was familiar with a native project, at Aprilia he’d inherited one making only modest progress by comparison.

The combination of Aprilia splitting its project between being partly in-house, partly choreographed by Gresini Racing, machinery that had evolved awkwardly from a WorldSBK platform and questionable reliability would send it down several erroneous paths of development.

Espargaro was in the right place at the right time to get his MotoGP shot on a Pramac Ducati in 2009, and parlayed it into a lengthy career

Photo by: Martin Heath / Motorsport Images

It was a credit then to Espargaro for keeping morale high during what would become a loyal eight-season stretch with Aprilia, for better and for worse. Having Espargaro grow with the project would prompt Aprilia to retain faith in the Spaniard to see it through, a vote of confidence that helped him return incrementally better results with each passing season.

So while Espargaro might not have been the obvious candidate to become a contender for race wins for much of his MotoGP career, by the time Aprilia had fettled the RS-GP into a competitive package, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Espargaro achieving the best results on it.

A run to fourth overall during a 2022 season that delivered six podiums, including that popular maiden victory at Rio de Termas Hondo, is a crowning achievement in itself. But for Espargaro it comes with the thick slab of pride that comes from not only proving his credentials as an elite MotoGP rider, but doing so on a machine he’d curated from years of lengthy and often difficult development work.

In a series where most riders set out to traverse an upward trajectory towards a well-established front-line team in their pursuit of success, what sets Espargaro apart is that he’d take an entire manufacturer and team with him too.

As a new chapter as a development rider for Honda awaits, Espargaro will look over at Aprilia knowing he was the one to lay the foundation from which successors Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi will springboard from in 2025. And that is something to be especially proud of.

Espargaro can bow out this weekend feeling rightly proud of his career

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images