NASCAR Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay

no more waiting it's time the engines are fired and the field about ready to take on this one-mile race track the starting grid brought to you by usaa up front qualifying yesterday but kyle larson the 29 year old from elk grove california on pole he will start next to chase elliott the 25 year old from dawsonville georgia you see back in row three denny hamlin the third of the championship four will start next to kurt busch a little bit farther back brad kozlowski making his final start for team penske he'll start next to our fourth championship competitor barton tricks jr in row six you mentioned drivers that are maybe making their final starts mata benedetto uh he's in row eights ryan newman in row 10. potentially making his last start ryan priest back there in row 16 also possibly making his final start not sure of their plans for 2022. we're going to take a little closer look at the championship four and a year and a half ago it would have been hard to imagine kyle larson being in this position in april 2020 used a racial slur during an esports event and was suspended by nascar larson apologized he worked for months to learn more about the impact of racial and justice he was reinstated by nascar for 2021 and given a second chance by rick hendrick who believed in larson's desire to become a champion both on and off the track now kyle has made the most of that second chance he's been dominant this year both in nascar and his beloved pastime of dirt track racing now he could be the favorite to claim his first cup series championship take a look at chase elliott we all know him the defending champion the sport's most popular driver the son of an icon at 25 years old the dawsonville driver has the opportunity to do something that his father awesome bill never did become a two-time cup champion he never lets the pressure get to him and he views just the opportunity to win a championship a privilege he's been winning championships and setting records since he came into the sport today he can add to that elliott legacy by winning a consecutive cup championship denny hamlin has done everything in his sport except win a championship 46 wins three daytona 500s even a win as an owner with nba mega star michael jordan he recently said he lives and thrives in chaos in the past this championship moment may have been too big for him but an older more experienced denny hamlin he says he's ready for it today if he gets it done it puts an exclamation point on his already hall of fame worthy career martin trex jr the 41 year old from mayada new jersey had a slow start to his cup series career with only four wins in his first 10 seasons but everything seemed to change around 2016 when his perspective both on and off the track as he supported his longtime girlfriend and cancer survivor sherrie pollock's with her battle troops would go on with 27 races in the last six seasons including the 2007 championship today he has the chance to join an elite list of drivers with multiple championships and an even smaller list to win with different crew chiefs and different organizations and we know this sport isn't just about the drivers it is a team sports let's talk a little bit about the guys who will help them out on pit road marty rick we always talk about the guys and the gals here at the racetrack well how about everybody back at the shop in the case of hendrick motorsports that is 600 employees a lot of them who are watching at a watch party today but i want to introduce you to brad eichenlaw brad is the only crew member left who won all seven championships with jimmy johnson there you see all those trophies and stands to win an eighth championship today with kyle larson brad told me i'm gonna be nervous i'm gonna be at home and i'm gonna be pacing but i'm gonna watch every lap of this race he's in charge of the setup plate a very important job kyle larson trying to win one for all 600 employees at hendrick kelly well the whole team for chase elliott has been phenomenal including the pit crew but i want to highlight tom gray he is the lead engineer on this number nine team he comes from indianapolis grew up right by indianapolis motor speedway comes from a racing family in fact his grandfather owned mario andretti's sprint car he and crew chief alan gustafson have worked together more than 10 years they joked that they've long lasted longer than most marriages and the key to their success they said look we respect each other we argue and debate all the time but because of that we come up with great discussions debates and have a combination of ideas that seem to work well on the racetrack tom gray lead engineer here on the nime team dave denny hamlin's pit crew has been top five in speed all day long so how'd they warm up for today's championship race well they won a championship last night they pitted the car for daniel henrik that won the xfinity series championship and there you see them joyful in victory lane now they told me they went home they went back to the hotel that is and went to sleep they promised me parker if they win a second championship tonight they will doubly make up for the celebration they couldn't have last night of course another driver going for a second championship would be mark trixx jr but i want to give a shout out to his crew chief james small who's in just his second season as a crew chief and his obsession to this point has literally taken him from the other side of the world he was born and raised in melbourne australia by a family very involved in motorsport through the australian v8 supercar series he started as a driver but eventually a lack of funds would force him in an engineering role where in 2013 he achieved his dream of winning australia's biggest motor race the back thirst 1000 but from that day onward he said he wanted to go to become a nascar troop chief and with the highest level so guess what today he has a chance to win nascar's biggest prize guys pretty cool as we see the drivers working their way around the track now they've been down pit road to check pit road speed steep let's break down this race well the big stars are behind the wheel but this racetrack is a star as well phoenix one mile and very oddly shaped as you see it has a funny looking front straightaway eight to nine degrees of banking down to terms one and two as you come to the other end of the racetrack 10 to 11 degrees a little bit more banking a little bit sharper corner and the dog leg very important it's just past the start finish line we're going to see drivers shortcut that goes straight across the flat all day long the race itself 312 laps 75 laps in stage one 115 laps stage two that final stage for the longest at 122 laps how competitive are these guys already before the green flag they're getting tight on pit road hey man what are you doing well now the nerves can go away they're in their comfort zone they're getting ready to take on this racetrack for 312 laps to determine a champion in the cup series side by side in the front row kyle larson on the outside chase elliot on the inside three flats in the air chase elliott using that bottom line pulls right back up to the inside of the five well they must fly at the racetrack and he handled way up the track back there battling for fifth the track gets really dirty out here in the desert sand blows all over it first few laps dory's pretty slick larson fighting back on the outside chase clears him off a turn two nine cars in the lead ryan blaney william byron 12-24 fighting for that third spot right now everybody's being really conservative with how deep they get in the corner how much they use the resin giving each other enough space trying not to have any kind of issue early it's a real battle back in the pack but up here in front everybody's pretty orderly see in that upper groove right along denny hamlin's coca-cola cam that black section up on the high part of the racetrack that's a resin material they put on the racetrack to try to give it a little more grip see right there denny hamlin getting his right size now his left side's into it trying to see if it makes his car drive just a little bit better created a great run for him down here down the back straight away looks to the inside of the 24. now the 24 will be up in the resin denny runs the bottom right off the edge of your screen you see william byron able to stay side by side as they battle down the front straightaway steve last night we saw the bottom worked really really well over in three and four but in this end of the racetrack it seemed like the top is of her preferred lane yeah no i agree and this is a story line that i've been interested to see non-play-off and playoff drivers william byron made the playoffs but was eliminated i think the racing between the two has been as tough as he's ever seen in the format and you see right here william byron there's no concession he's not giving this spot for denny hamlin he has two teammates racing for a championship and he is racing for the best finish he's going to make hard work for denny hamilton and you know rick hendrick just as well as anybody steve he expects this out of that 24 bunch when it comes to racing the competitors for the championship already ryan blaney challenging for the second spot with kyle larson blaney's had great speed in practice not surprised at all to see this 12 car moving forward marty what you got on the five we got a wreck gotta wreck bubba wallace in the wall yeah big damage to the back of the 23. bubba wallace backs it in we'll have to take another look see if there was assistance here running in 21st position it was there was a brawl happening in the back of the field a little bit of high centering there the 23. so the first caution comes out here in phoenix it's bubba wallace had a little help there from the seventh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] very early on in this race one of the only cars that decides to pit under this early caution flight i'm not sure if there's a problem or maybe they just want to adjust on the car but morrison is on pedro right now tiresome [Music] [Music] um download the official app of nascar follow the action with free live scoring there's in-car cameras and radio broadcasts you can search nascar in your app store to download let's start a free trial today underway with nascar cup series championship race from phoenix raceway it's telecast presented by usaa and take a look at why the caution came out battle for 21st see bubba wallace on the outside corey le joy goes to underneath him and then just gets up the racetrack gets him to the back above a wallace bubba backs in big damage and then bubba wallace applauding good job these guys are buddies but when your buddy gets into the back of you you wreck your day is over you won't be friends for a little while marty hey jeff we saw one of the championship four with an interesting move coming to pit road kyle larson who was in second spot i believe or had the lead i should say kyle larson coming to pit road i just checked in with cliff daniels that said why pitt there which is the same question kyle larson had and he said listen if it goes for a long run here we're going to be in a better position but larson giving up all that track position steve now will restart 34th just a few laps into the race yeah he was running in the second position and i'm baffled by this decision uh cliff daniels won nine races so i know we must have a plan as we ride on here the hendrick cars.com camera but second to 34th after we just saw stack up getting into turn three that sent a car into the wall six laps on my tires i don't like this call by cliff daniels maybe he thought back half of the field would come i've been in this position but either way kyle larson is five team going to have to be very careful on this restart the other thing you're scratching your head is that the first stage is only 75 laps they've got enough fuel to go the whole stage yeah it's not a fuel conversation the only thing i can conceive is that he thought 20th on back might come to make adjustments even with practice hey were they going to work on their cars but he is going to be in the hornet's nest we think three four five wide on this restarts is uncomfortable up front i can't imagine what it's going to be like in the 30s but i don't actually have a lot of concern about his chances the rest of the day because we know chase elliott had to start from the back of the field last year won the championship so if i'm his crew chief or spotter i'd remind him about that scenario say man we're still in this state same attitude going forward official pace truck for the cup series championship race the 2022 toyota tundra trd pro coming to pit road now and that puts the field back into the hands of chase elliot leading this one and william byron is going to restart on the inside ryan blaney chose the outside line they have a choose rule so they were able to choose either inside or outside and blaney decided to start on that outside line yeah i mean we saw chase take the lead from the inside but the outside was the most successful last night i think the leader will continue to take look at him fan out four five wide as they go through the dog leg and into turn one 24 fouls in line their third danny hamlin dives at the bottom to try to take away that position from byron and get into third place as well he does that clearing the 24 off turn two here comes the four of kevin harvick got to keep our eye on kevin so good at this racetrack nine wins in his career here and now moving up fighting for the fourth spot and he had pace in practice so that car can absolutely have a great run today they struggled all year long trying to find top 10 pace in the bottom of the screen you see the five of kyle larson i mean we know he has a good car we know he has good speed but this is a concern that's three wide he's not on the racing surface that's the apron and now you come off the corner you wonder if the cars on the outside know you're there will they give you space currently 23rd continues to look for positions was showing his displeasure earlier marty well we mentioned kyle larson kind of questioned that call from cliff daniels after it all happened here's a radio conversation so what cliff daniel said after that was coming down pit road once kyle larson kind of questioned it why did he do that hard into the wall and the five had just cleared them no contact i don't believe for the 47 car with the wall so stenhouse will pull away we ride along board the martian car but there is a little joy i think corey had it saved and then just let off the brakes and something slid up into the wall 47 was right on the back bumper of the seven the last time the caution came out now he and bubba can talk sooner than they thought they were going to yeah you mentioned no contact for the wall the 47 looks clean as he drives away junior maybe a little donut on the left side they might have to clearance that tire this car's got quite a bit of damage let's see replay they're side by side look at mcdowell down there on the inside could affect the way little joy goes into the corner he gives him a mcdowell a little bit of room i don't know that the 47 extent house knew they were going to be three wide yeah i think that's exactly right i think stenhouse believes that the seven car is the only car below him so knowing the seven is going to turn left you know he starts turning left but of course 47 car couldn't because there was a car there and you mentioned rick kyle larson had just gone through like the lap before that group of cars so that's the concern when you lose that track position it's to dale's point it's not it's a major concern for his championship hopes as far as getting back to the front it's more of a concern getting caught up in somebody else's mess marty and steve just to follow up on that cliff daniel said i think we're going to win the stage with these little bit of fresher tires so this caution coming out at an interesting time scene you got to wonder if this is going to sort of split the championship forward maybe some come here but cliff daniels firmly believes those extra laps or not extra laps on the tires i should say for kyle larson are going to be an advantage by the end of this stage fresher tires even five six seven laps fresher tires better for it well this is not the normal setup we see right low down force a lot of power that means not a lot of grip [Music] all right race fans you could win a bush pit boss grill today follow add bushbeer on twitter and tweet sweeps when kevin harvick pits for a chance to win we heard him in pre-race talking about giving away one of those pit boss drills every time he comes to pitt road well the first one's happening now now all of the leaders come to pitt road and this will probably let kyle larson advance right back up there dave so for denny hamlin he said we definitely don't have the same security we had going into three but we have better security going into one like we talked about so you can tell that something they judged to start this race parker for his teammate martin church junior just complaining about the track being very crazy starting 12th got up to ninth they're using the shoes you see that adjustment in the left rear kelly okay who was quick to take the lead said it was a little bit slicker that last little run sounds like he's a little bit free in his race car for goodyear tires and fuel interesting after the pits cycle through kyle larson's going to be fifth so the early call gets him up in the top five [Music] [Music] um don't forget you can join us for the national hardcover series championship celebration tonight approximately 15 minutes after the race right on the track enter the o'reilly auto parts crescent at military vehicles completely foreign up the entire running order here on left 18. big-time benefit for kyle larson and tyler's the man because that quick caution after he came to him has helped him get off secrets and get in the position once again because 21st fire in the second cautious seeing what he's able to do with that team [Music] grab an ice cold coke and buckle up you're watching nascar on nbc and you could be headed on a vip trip to the 2022 daytona 500. all you have to do visit nascar.com daytona 500 enter champion for your chance to win danny hamilton going for four daytona 500 championship says he is uh a three-time winner already of that race pretty impressive on the left-hand side as we ride on board with danny take a look at kind of the differing pit strategies blainey kozlowski chess dave dylan you have to come to pit road then we have that group of cars including larson and pitted on the previous yellow and then from elliott on back cars were just on pit road so we heard cliff daniels talk about how we thought fresher tires would help i'll be honest i'm not sure what they're worth but we're getting ready to find out because chase elliott's starting ninth has the freshest tires ryan blaney will be on the outside of row one and penske teammate brad kozlowski will be on the inside see kyle larson already making it three wide he got a great launch that allowed him to get alongside three car varsity now look how low he is on the racetrack gonna easily clear up in the fourth it did a good job with four wide back there thinning down to three wide going into turn three oh nine and the four really tight back there fellaini out front and we're seeing the nine of chase elliott take that same path way down the racetrack almost staying away from the four maybe a smart move by the driver of the night four cars right there doing that moves up into the sixth position so blaney's up front and kozlowski and ross chastain running in the second and third positions ross chastain will move over to a new team next season i'll tell you the car that's struggling on this restart to get through this traffic is is the 11. see him back there to top your screen right there not making the advances that his counterparts trying to win this championship are making he's had a little tougher go of it being boxed in trying to get the right line he got boxed in behind the 37 car orion priest and just could not get away from him hamlet currently scored 13th running that higher line now taking advantage of the resin on the racetrack this time he's all the way down on the yellow line dave rick that's what i was just gonna point out he restarted inside row seven so he's kind of back in the mix there but then we saw him move up into the resin that was one thing that chris gabart told me the crew chief though it's not a concern we didn't have a lot of practice time there up in the resin so we're not really sure that line right there how much grip it has and now you can see hamlin trying it to see if it's part of his way forward see right here chase elliott with those newer tires taking the fight to kyle larson went really low down this front straightaway dogleg that last lap i mean really low i think he gets the record oh big wiggle out of the nine almost collects his teammate to your point about being low jeffy if pimp road wall was any lower he could have gone lower on the straight away big catch right here by chase elliot yeah so that shows you chase elliot obviously has a fast car drives underneath larson gets a left front right on that yellow line and around the back game that shows you how on edge these cars are and how you have to drive them you got to find that edge if you don't operate on the very very limits of grip you can't make the speed you need to chase elliot just crossed over it just that little bit and you saw him lose control and these tires are hot and they are sticky like duct tape and they pick up debris and running way low on the racetrack like that while it does cut some distance it's dirty down there there's a lot of debris dust speedy dry things that have been moved down out of the out of the racing groove you have to wonder if running down there there's a bit of a penalty of grip in the corner once you get to the corner with all that debris of dirt on your on your tires riding on board the xfinity cam as chase tries to find a way around this fight he's got more pace i'm really liking what i'm seeing out of the nine car i think allen and screw chief would have to be happy with what the thing looked like what the car looks like right now at the first part of this race i'm like what i'm seeing out of that five car i mean he's on older tires and yes chase elliott is a little bit faster but being able to fend off chase elliot with those older tires kelly is pretty impressive yeah that big moment for chase elliot a few laps ago he's been quiet on the radio i asked his crew chief alan augustus and to kind of size them up in their race car compared to the others in the championship four he said he feels like this nine car is good on both the short run and the long run he said we're not quite as quick on a short run as the five but much better on a long run he also said to watch out for that 19 of martin truax not good on a short run but he said he thinks their strength will come when they get a long green flag run marty kelly watching this i can't help but think what rick hendrick thinking right now is his cars are racing this close this early shows you what the championship and track position means kyle larson up in second after all of the talk of the pit strategy early on so steve my question to you is cliff daniels has clearly laid down his cards on the poker table already he has shown everyone he's going to be aggressive today with his pick call so if you're another championship for crew chief how does that make you think about the rest of the rape and the way cliff may call it well i'm definitely calling this race just trying to beat those three that's what the rules say i don't have to win the race i have to beat the other three championship four but you want to mention aggressive i think ryan blaney is the aggressor of everyone he's yet to even come to pit road and leads this race by a second and a half so if i'm one of these crew chiefs i know aggression seems like he should pay off but not even pitting is working for the 12 car so we have to ask ourselves what are tires even worth i just think the 12 car had so much pace in practice we talk about uh you know the champions having to win here to be a champion well maybe not today i think that 12 cars hasn't has enough space in it to win the race but another car is equally as quick right there behind these two here battling for second place is the four car of kevin harvick he's closed up on these two as chase ellie has tried to battle around this five but remember the bad blood between chase elliot and kevin harvick i think chase wants it to go away chase thinks it's over we don't know really where harvick is with that and how much he's carrying with him as far as that anger but he's got a fast race car to race track that we noted he was very good at [Music] see right there this was bristol late in the race harvard gets at the racetrack ends up cutting the tire the left side tire chase elliot chase elliott's mad lets him know that after the race and blocks him kevin harvick feels like it cost him a win then at the roble they get together harvick sends the nine into the fence right here the nine out of control comes down the race track and then later in the race the nines rebounding harvick looking in the mirror sees him putting the pressure on and misses term one hardened the wall but we watched live as harvard goes around chasing look at the room that chase was giving him he gave him a whole car length i don't want nothing to do with this right now not gonna race you hard you're fast go ahead well look look right here stage one 35 of 75 lap 35 of 312. chase elliott knows what the game is today the game is to win this race you can lose it right now you can lose a race right now you can't win it so smartly and you know the four is fast smartly said okay now's not the time to fight i'm gonna let you go and we're gonna go and live to fight another day kevin harvick came to pit road also on lap 17 fresher tires and blaney but blaney's still holding off the field [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so aerial coverage brought to you by geico looking down on this beautiful facility here in avondale arizona and for the lead here comes harvick looks to the inside of the 12 of blaney 41 laps in kevin harvick just about to clear the 12. now having to deal with the lap traffic oh looks like uh the 19-5 got really close to making contact there down the back straight away truex takes that position away laney's really impressive guys i'm more impressed with harvick because we know that cars not been that great all year long but man when he comes to phoenix he's fast it just he he knows this place he knows something about this place that makes him so good here it's interesting that drivers are really good at certain tracks specific tracks every time they go there no matter what car they have this is a track where harvick is going to compete parker all right now i don't want to reference what you were talking about there the 19 of martin truex making that pass and a five as we get later in this run a lot of people expected after practice that 19 up trucks would be one of the fastest of the championship for on the long run but one thing they weren't expecting was him to be fast on the short run well in the last restart he went from 11th to fifth in about two laps how did he do it though he used that resin before that run he had gone to resin earlier we got a battle for the lead once again getting the 12 a little bit loose the four of kevin harvick right on his left rear quarter panel and right behind them chase elliot's run these two down now that he's clear of larson he's able to run lap times faster than the two leaders but look at blaney wayne he has 17 more laps on his tires harvard trying to get right on that door harvick does not like it when you race him and he's faster man won't this spot give it to me it was laney holding everybody up and it's just collapsing the field now you're gonna have this five-way battle for the lead fellaini doing a great job out front and blaney harvick on the outside of him now yeah with harvick right there blaney has to run defensive and that takes a little bit of speed out of his lap time as he has to run certain lines to maintain the lead not really go where he wants to go with the car for fear of letting the four car on his outside he wants to keep this high line and he does a few things on corner entry and so forth that cost him some laptop they keep changing their lines and now the nine and 19 have closed the gap real real fast speed out of that 19 car truex is gonna try to get around the nine as quick as he can he's right on his bumper going into turn three shoots to the outside here will he have the momentum on corner exit he's gonna get to the throttle sooner have a run here dive to the inside just puts chase in that outside lane and the outside lane has been really good over at three and four so he's hoping to be able to throttle up and get alongside truex but he's not gonna be able to do it wow power move by truex to be able to roll that bottom inner low and make the pass there goes harvick looking once again to the inside of blaney for the lead now he's got pressure behind him with the 19 of martin trex jr so now chase elliot's watching this 19 car trying to study where he's better so he can give that information to his crew chief about hey my car doesn't do this you really didn't know that until he got around this 19 car to see that 19 car doing things better we got an awesome battle here for the lead though great battle between harvick he tries to work around the 12. now he's got good momentum now he's going to have to drive this car deeper in the corner than he wants to he just slide up in front of ryan blainey right here harvick loves the bottom at phoenix loves that yellow line in three and four he's clear he's gonna give him the lane on the outside he takes that position here comes the 19. i really appreciate though blaney not laying over racing hard these non-playoff guys they want to come out here and compete with their fast cars they got race-winning cars they want to accomplish that and blaney back on the outside using that lap traffic yeah see blainey has forward momentum now going into the corner right so that forward momentum as you approach the corner is so important that allows blaney to get in the lane that he wants to and build momentum truex now hoping to run that outside harvick knows it murray's in a difficult spot here because he wants to attack blaney but if he makes a mistake it's going to open the door just like it did right there for truex sideways off the corner that's going to allow these guys to close in they're three wide now truex is going to go down into turn one and i think easily clear for the lead that car is working so much better than anyone else's little momentum out of the 12 but truax in front now here comes the four once again kevin harvick looking to the inside of martin larson's rebounded somewhat to close in on this battle riding on the toyota camera the bumper camera from art tricks junior i'm i'm wondering if these playoff contenders these championship contenders thought that they would come into this race on that 51 to be having this kind of battle this is a long race a five-way battle for the lead and they don't know that that was the pressure they were expecting make no mistake against these the cars that are involved that are non-playoff drivers but look at those look at the manufacturer they're fords we got no fords battling in the championship four we got they got no teammates they can race up in here they got to take care of nobody but themselves they could go out there and try to win parker guys what a statement by martin truex jr in this 19 team after qualifying the lowest of the championship contenders in 12th a lot of people may be worth counting them out and saying they didn't have the raw speed we didn't see it in practice when you talked to the other teams they weren't worried about this 19 and so the short runs but said if it was a long run they would come to front i don't think they expect it to be this early on though to show the speed of that 19th or martin shrek obviously very happy marty parker during the 2021 playoffs the main topic of conversation has been playoff drivers versus non-playoff drivers trust me kevin harvard could care less if he's not in the championship for the one thing he cares about the zero in the win column this year he wants to keep the streak alive of winning races that's what motivates harvick at one of his best race tracks dave danny hamlin is not far behind this group in sixth place and crew chief chris cabart watched him race at that position from 14th a really nice three and four last lap two i like what i see gabe hart told me this morning when denny is on his game his best asset is risk management gabriel has what he calls green races where they do everything right he asks denny to improve his part of those races do it even better and if he manages the risk right he can make his way through the chaos into the front championship four once again all running inside the top six we heard jeff burden mention it cutting the dog leg how far are you willing to go well chase elliot might have set a new record basically to the end of pit lane cutting the front stretch [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] it's time to play with everybody's favorite killer doll chucky he's back and taking over your television with a classic coming of rage story check out new episodes every tuesday on usa and sci-fi at 10 9 central and stream the latest episodes on demand now mark shrek's junior out in front here in the desert kevin harvick holding on to second right now but he's a second and a half behind martin trunks jr and the championship four all running in the top five now the only one not a part of championship four is harvick in second but we knew that this was going to be the way the race was going to play out they have always been the best when it comes to this final race and shrek's junior right now leading the field let's listen in on his radio uh not feeling bad so far just feeling without uh getting that lane a little tight thinner a little free off depending on how i hit it a little bit greasy you know still but i think it'll get better here [Music] great feedback by a driver to the crew chief very calm very confident i liked it he gave not only the balance but says a little greasy i think that you mean you know overall grip of the racetrack he feels a little lower than maybe it was in practice so seems like the 19 at least early in the race confident in his race car let's listen into the nine of chase elliott yeah so i'm okay a little bit more slick with the back i would say three that run and the opening another driver great information right a little slick with the back so not really saying it's turning better not that the front's working better than the cars tracking the corner but actually maybe lost a little bit of rear grip so the bounce might have shifted that way but it sounds like it's not in a good way right lost rear grip right behind the nine of chase elliott is his teammate the five of kyle larson let's listen to his radio we're pretty much same line from up here at the 19 correct yeah correct pretty similar i think we're at a little bit of a tire disadvantage and i still need to work on their cars so that's about it that sounds like conversation between spotter and crew chief probably on channel two uh spotter asking information you know can i help him is it a line do we have to move around we're the same as the 19 but then cliff daniels a matter of fact saying listen i know i'm gonna make the car better and don't forget we're behind on tires because they pitted one stop before so good information from the five and the last of the championship for the eleven of danny hamlin uh pretty good overall especially one and two um little bit free just just a hair down into the corner but i haven't gotten track yet little loops off that's the signature of danny hamlin and chris gaber just very matter of fact information as he gets to the bottom of kyle larson only 66 laps into this race so as a fan you might panic ah hamlet's not up there he's the worst of the four but you heard no panic out of the driver's voice giving great feedback great information to his crew chief he knows adjustments are coming at the end of the stage steve i was struck by the communists and all of the drivers you know none of them seemed like they were stressed out none of them seemed like they were panicking they were very matter of facts very calm i think that's a good i think that's a good sign if you're a crew chief you know your driver's lives in the game not distracted early in this race eight laps still to go in stage one points don't matter for these four it's whoever finishes in front of the other three and right now it's mark trump's junior who is leading the championship for he has a 2.2 second lead over kevin harvick who's running second right now i've been really impressed with this 11 car we watched and talked about how he was struggling to get through the traffic on that restart the last restart and it cost him a lot of time he's able to close that i don't think he's ran as hard as he possibly can and he's drove right back up to these guys trying to work around this five car not gonna be easy looks like he's gonna clear him right here [Applause] i don't think we see and seen everything out of this 11 just yet both the gibbs cars have come today with some great long run speed this one 48 laps currently on as far as a long run as we see the fives slide back just a bit and denny hamlin easily clearing him handling up the fourth now chase elliot just ahead of these guys continues to chop the entry or chop the the front straightaway dog leg this is this is long after cars are all strung out not no you know nobody to the inside of him but look at him he's like man go down here it's a half it's a 10. we've seen it in qualifying it's about a 10 or so to get that low he's going to go get it if there's a half a tenth or a 10th out there he's not doing it every single lap glad end of that wall is painted red i mean he is so close to it it's amazing kelly it's a brand new race car for chase elliot that ellen gustafson brought here he said there was really no downside to doing it with that one hour practice that they got you just don't have any wear and tear of a race car you've already used but the interesting thing to note he says it's the last hendrick chassis ever as far as they know with the changes coming next year they will be building them in house name so this is chassis number 1278 from hendrick and quite possibly the last kelly to dale junior's point we may not have seen everything out of the 11 car yet but we're seeing what he told us we would see in countdown to green today that is a car that runs through the run and runs well at the end of the run 51 laps into this run guys and the 11 is coming we talk about non-playoff guys here's a great battle as blaney's starting to slide back through this top ten we know byron has had a great year but look at cole custer had great speed in practice he's ran great all day today he's faster than both these guys trying to run around the bottom there making that pass a little difficult having to use the bottom of the racetrack but it's this organization the whole organization has struggled this year and it's really hurt everyone drives for them including cole custer but today it looks like that he has a really exceptional race car wow byron really using up a lot of racetrack there yeah that that's a case right there where william bayern just said okay enough you know i got a faster car i'm just gonna have to do what i got to do and he just ran ryan blaney in a position where he he just had to lift he'd live direct ryan may not like that and we'll find out later but you know at some point you just got to get by god ryan blaney on the oldest tire still up here in the top ten he's currently running in the eighth position see right here william byron just runs way up the racetrack kind of just puts laney in a spot he doesn't want to be in coming up on one to go now for martin shrek's junior for the end of stage one yeah pretty fascinating there 48 car alex bowman won last week at bartonsville here it is in a final lap close to being lapped could potentially be laps as they go down the back stretch for the final time and bowman trying to stay in front of and stay on the lead lap as mark trex jr is going to throw the first win at the other championship for drivers he wins stage one chase elliott denny hamlin third fourth kyle larson fifth of the championship four drivers again no points for the championship four they're fighting for the title and that's the goal hey there was roderick townsend throwing the green flag a little bit earlier the battle is underway here in the desert martin shreks jr wins the first one stage one [Music] [Music] um so [Music] [Music] gen you haven't phoenix the only driver inside of the top five that would earn stage points chase elliot danny hamilton kyle larson of course those drivers not eligible because they're racing through the title customer championships um i am always finding where the yummy drinks are and you can get one of these collectible cups right here to celebrate the championship weekend oh yeah nascar on nbc is brought to you by usaa this veterans day join us in celebrating those who serve credit one bank the official credit card of nascar visit gocreditone.com monster energy unleash the beast and by toyota over 5400 campsites on this 290 acre plot of land here that phoenix raceway sits on and what a sight it has been all weekend long the fans here are sold out and the crowd excited to see this championship race this championship day they saw a great race last night in the xfinity series and now equally as exciting the start of this one stage one in the books martin trex jr has worked his way up front the crews getting ready to go to work we talked about how this is a team sport and positions can be won and lost on pit road and they're about to decide who has the best pit stop shrek's junior will lead the entire field onto pit road it's harvick james elliott denny hamlin kyle larson those guys are top five coming on to pit road now parker i reckon martin trucks junior's crew chief james small asked him what's one thing that car could do better and all martin replied with is i'm pretty happy it's just gonna be four tires and very small adjustments for the 19 car dave danny hamilton third among championship contenders a small chassis adjustment for a car that's a little free overall tied in the short runs kelly there's a lot chase elliot likes about his race car he says it's got great ability ability in it but the rear end is a little bit out of the tracks they're going to make a track bar adjustment for goodyear tires and fuel marty kelly there's a laundry list of things kyle larson wants his car to do better too loose on exit too tight in the center he said i could never hit the bottom of three and four correctly i'm so three so cliff daniels taking a fairly big swing here air pressure adjustments all around also wedge larson and his team will actually lose and actually hold the fifth spot here on pit road rick elliott first trex loses the spawn the jack man good recovery but watch as he comes around the front of the car he leaves right here flip slips falls on his knee this could have been much worse [Music] we're getting closer to the finish of this race and so far this weekend we have seen some spectacular races let's go back to blue soil 150 earlier this weekend is able to get the title it was his first title in the campaign very impressive run for ben rose and then of course series [Music] of so of course [Music] weekend seasons miss a single lap season tickets and great opportunities nascar cup series championship race from phoenix raceway telecast presented by usa and peacock streaming this race live you see the peacock paint scheme on the 77 of justin haley want to go to the ruoff mortgage peacock pit box now and check in with the guys all right brandon del we've seen three of the contenders lead yeah the race so far and all four of them ran in the top five that whole entire stage does anything surprise you no the only thing that surprised me is how aggressive they were with each other i mean these guys are racing each other really hard not giving each other a lot of room but no they've separated themselves and there's a reason for that but it's going to be interesting as we continue to go throughout the day who can keep up with the track we just saw larson's team take a huge swing at some changes what's that going to do to this race car yeah and they had others racing around them that's why they're racing hard is because other drivers including kevin harvick up there racing them hard barton truax wins the first stage what's that getting nothing but it gained him some respect with these others you better go to work on your race car if you're going to beat me here today yeah martin trucks has got to work on his right or martin 2x is good everybody else has got to go after him we got to go after rut where's red at right now kyle i'm out here loving it on rattlesnake yo you know the fan experience is what takes us from a race to being an actual event because you can see down here fans are able to bring their their chairs their party everything they need here at the toyota turn one terrace these fans just show up there's a tent there's chairs they get to take everything except the tent including coolers blankets everything here this is what makes it so special because look at the greatest view you get here this is what makes it an event for these fans and they are loving it out here guys i get to take a trip up there you're gonna say you were just up there uh a little bit higher on rattlesnake hill yeah i mean rock quit like three rows up i was keeping it out look at that all the way up to the top is where we went but what a great view those fans uh they actually have the best seat i know the grand stands are great but this is the view and it's amazing okay so the nine of chain shelling won the race off of pit road mark tricks junior looks so he's going to start on the inside of row one denny hamlin will be on the outside of row two and kevin harvick will be on that inside line in row two you mentioned kevin harvick you also have kurt bush up here with all these championship contenders let's see how they race it how they erase these guys into turn one field now approaching the geico restart zone as we get ready for the start of stage two [Music] [Applause] elliott able to clear the 19 of trucks junior hamlin and larson nose to tail fighting for that third spot kevin harvick in there as well watson going three wide in the middle [Music] seeing a little bit of urgency there in the five car making that type of a move he drives like he knows his car is the best on new tires junior right like he has to make time now as the run goes i feel like he gives up to the other cars one two three four for the championship four this time led by elliott [Music] chase up here trying to hold off the 19. truex trying to find a way around chase goes to the bottom of the racetrack the 19 a true x to the top martin's going to try to use the momentum off the high side and then he closes in down the back straightaway but he gives up so much time entering into the center of the corner he's not able to try to make a pass but right here the knight is going to throttle up and drive away tricks try to drive in on the outside and holding tight couldn't finish the corner eventually if martin is able to make speed up there the nine will eventually take that line away right now everything's working on the bottom for for chase i don't see him changing he's gonna get a lot of information from his spotter about where these guys are running how they may be beating him right now he doesn't need to change the things he drives away from truex foreshadowing you look uh towards the end of the race and you see the four drivers all on the same tires more or less as far as the amount of wear on them and chase elliot pulling away right now from the other three we're starting to have a little bit of a signature to each car's strength and weaknesses and now the challenge for a crew chief as you see both chase elliott and mark trex jr going to work is if you're james small you just drove to the lead on the stage you got probably the best long run car here driver likes the way it drives do you make adjustments for the short run because then if you make adjustments you don't approve the short run you hurt the long run now you've taken away a strength of your car so that's kind of the debate some of these crew chiefs have to make now when i say make adjustments you know to make a car better on the short run usually needs to be a little tighter balance-wise maybe a little bit different air pressure those are the types of things that are going to cost you time at the end of a long run chevrolet is fighting for position here between william byron and one of kurt bush again the one and 42 chip ganassi racing that organization goes away right after this race track house racing has purchased the charters and so this will be the final race for chip ganassi racing at the highest level of stock car racing right behind them brian blaine is trying to recover from all the track position he lost when the old tires that he was out there on faded on him late in this run before the caution so before the end of the stage so he's got a great race car a lot of speed but now having to work his way back toward crew into the top five and he's doing it with kurt bush on the outside kurt busch 43 years old as good today as he's ever been on the drive next year for diddy hamlin and michael jordan kelly and i talked to kurt before the race about the changes uh ahead but first about what it's meant to race for chip ganassi he said chips taught him a lot he said he appreciates chip's honesty but he said there was a huge fun factor of racing for him he said he almost would show up and wouldn't ask for a paycheck he also appreciated the fraternity at chip ganassi racing he said we'd get called to a meeting and sebring and all the sports car guys and indycar guys would be there so it was a great fraternity as far as headed to 2311 racing he's looking forward to the newness and a fresh start as a veteran of the sport marty kelly what a terrific season to spend for ryan blaney trying to make his way back up through the field first time he's ever won multiple cup series races in a year and certainly has established himself as a championship threat moving forward also the final race for his crew chief todd gordon stepping down off the box after 20 plus years in this sport gonna take some time to spend a little extra time with his family also going to work on maybe construction building some houses flipping some houses so that's what todd gordon is retiring from racing to do and said he just wanted that extra time his uh girls are going off to college so he said i need that couple of years before they finally leave the nest so congratulations to todd gordon on a fantastic career trying to get his driver in victory lane one more time this year and we saw the 21 of matt benedetto get by the one there just a moment ago as we see harvick racing very hard now trying to break into the top four here kevin harvick's been winless this year think about that he won nine races last year had an incredible year every time he looked up he was leading races he was just unbelievable it's just been such a struggle he does not want to go winless he has a chance man he is going to push the button to try to win this race his last win this season could you guess that was 2009 oh wow that's a long time ago and uh i think he's got the pace of the car to get up there and do it but now it's going to be far more difficult trying to pass these guys he's trying to pass this guy's race for a title definitely a challenge the nascar cup series championship race from phoenix raceway this telecast presented by usaa go full throttle with wi-fi speeds worth celebrating fast internet for faster everything can your internet do that [Music] let's get a few updates for pit road we'll start with kelly let's start with chase elliott who leads this race in pursuit of his second consecutive cup championship i asked him what the best part of being champion all season was and he said honestly it was just knowing what we had accomplished we got to walk away from this race last year knowing that we were the one team that set out and accomplished everything we intended to for that season he said it was a fantastic feeling and we could carry with it all year long so they're trying to achieve that again and have the peace headed into 2022 as back-to-back champions parker well kelly the car trying to run him down is that toyota player for martin trex jr for our toyota driver update here and steve was alluding to what decision would james fall make when he sees that maybe this 19 isn't that fast on the short run that's something james and i talked about this morning he told me of course obviously i can up the tire pressure some of those adjustments you do but one thing he talked about was that they saw the hendra cars were driving further into the corner earlier on the run using more brake so he pointed out to martin in their debrief and said look if i need some speed in a short run maybe we can try driving a little further that's where the driver can help out to fight for that short run party parking you heard earlier kelly mentioned that chase elliott has a brand new race car here this weekend well cliff daniels and kyle larson went the exact opposite direction this is the second oldest car in the five stable chris daniels told me earlier this week i wanted to bring something that i had a history on i had a notebook on a direction of where i needed to go with the car the direction right now is they need to find some long run speed with this five car so quick early in run dave but as the runs go on they seem to be losing time to the nine and the 19. very little interaction on the radio from denny hamlin since the restart and that's about the same way it was this week according to crew chief chris gabe hart and that is normal he said i bet we have the least interaction of any crew chief driver combination and i'm proud of that we've been successful that highlights the efficiency of the process that we have built it requires very little interaction rick i now interact with you and i enjoy our interactions as well so chase elliott up front denny hamlin the furthest back of the champ four let's [Applause] the new style of nascar you know when i was on the pit box we didn't have all this smt data so i'd get that feedback from the driver and i would just start to work on how i can make it drive different but you heard right there chris gabhard going back to his driver okay thanks for all the feedback i'm looking at this other data this speed data this uh driver controls that other drivers are doing then gives his driver feedback on where he's getting beaten he knows where to attack and what was interesting about that steve was that denny didn't mention anything about turn one he said turn three i'm losing to turn three so crew chief's like okay you may be having that issue but we gotta figure out something in turn one that's where the speed is that's where that technology and communication is so important second and a half for chase elliot out in front of mark trump's junior now and i'm waiting for that to kind of flip right truex really come on in the second half of that run currently 24 laps in this run and chase continuing to run better lap times than truex right behind those guys the five car of larson has some company harvick has finally reeled him in runs a little bit different line a little bit lower entry there's a lot of speed in the middle of the corner gives up a little bit on exit but gains so much in into the middle he's okay giving up a little bit there on that corner exit watch that lower entry right here even though they're both running the high side he chops that entry goes in lower forces the car in there faster and tries to maintain the gain on quarter exit junior i feel like this resin traction compound that has been put on the racetrack to widen the groove out i feel like that took some of harvick's advantage away from this racetrack he was so good when you had to run the bottom you see right here is making the top work but when everybody had to run the bottom it seemed like he knew something he had a feel that he was looking forward he's having to adapt to this type of racetrack to get back to that ability to just come dominate these races here and when we mentioned resin we you've heard traction compound pj-1 this is a different chemical this is a different application than pj-1 it's supposed to possibly have a little less grip but be more consistent throughout the race not maybe give up as much not be so unpredictable on sticker tires we had great success with this at other race tracks like nashville super speedway and uh it seems to be working well throughout this weekend for the truck xfinity and now the cup race and the reason it gets put on the racetrack is trying to create multiple groove racing so you don't just have to run around the bottom of the racetrack so the drivers can move around find different places try to navigate around the guy in front of them if you have a little bit faster car just give the driver some options all right fans you could win that bush pit boss grill today follow at bushbeer on twitter and tweet sweepstakes when kevin hartman pins and you will have a chance to win kevin harvick now in front of larson you mentioned jeff a different line learning different things at 45 years old one of the elder statesmen here in the cup series he's learning new things different [Applause] [Music] we heard that yesterday in the xfinity series too that's true excellent we don't know if that was just now or maybe a few laps ago but he has been running faster than elliot he's he's been running quicker lap times the last several laps and you see the gap closing now under a second that last time by the start finish line you heard him talking about brake shake what that is is he when he puts his federal pedal he puts his foot on the pedal it's literally shaking the the pedal is bouncing up and down on his foot a lot of that steve has to do with how the rotors are cool yeah and you how about his experience i would turn the fans off i know what it is i know what's going on i'm going to adjust it already i just want to let you know i'm having this issue we'll see if the knight can continue to hold off to 19 as we go nascar nonstop [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 36 laps into the run and martin trux jr once again flexing his muscles on these longer runs as he's trying to fight on the outside now of chase elliot for the lead here at phoenix and he's going to clear it martin drugs junior back in front after winning stage one chase isn't done though trying to use these slower cars as a pick to get back by him shoex does a great job right there of kind of forcing his way underneath that slower car and it's important rick that you note the lap time or the laps the amount of laps that it seems this 19 car the short run speed that the 9 has versus the long run speed of 19. jeff you'd say it's around 25 laps is when that sort of makes a shift and the and the advantage goes to truex well the only concern for truex is i expect the leaders in about 15 or 18 laps to come to pit road so it worked out here uh but you know the concern is it takes him a long time or at least 25 laps to gain back on the leader a little concerned with the 19 just in that you know we heard him talk about the brake shake not a concern from a mechanical issue but you know a lot of times steve that brake shake goes away if you get the actually get the brakes hotter the problem with that is the long runs here you can actually melt the tire if the rotors get too hot if that that heat goes into the wheel it spreads through the tire and actually melt the tire and cause a tire failure parker right jeff exactly that's why james small came on the radio after martin said he was going to flip off those fans and help that bray chat shake and said we need to manage our temps and one thing that happened at the end of stage one when they pitted when the team got those four tires off they took a long look at the right front off that 19 car he was very fast in that long run but they were looking at the inside shoulder and the temps they were developing in the wheel they're just a little concerned with the test that they saw on that right from the 19 as you mentioned we often see issues of getting those right fronts too hot here at this racetrack so this is something that james ball wanted to keep on martin church's mind about managing the attempts he has not given him update if he's turned those fans back on or where that stands at the moment so we'll see where this goes on the long run he is knifing his way through traffic now mark trucks junior already a second almost second and a half in front of chief sally who he just went by well when we looked at the numbers coming into this race the 19 of martin trex jr this style of race track is definitely his signature right so he won richmond races this year he won here in the spring he was running second in new hampshire i would use that to compare as close as possible to this racetrack but got wrecked into rain uh you know brief rain showers so his numbers at this low downforce high horsepower uh you know i call it a big short track the one mile three-quarter mile type speedways he is so good at these tracks him and his crew chief has this setup just dialed in back here see brad keselowski in battle with chase briscoe back in 13th spot a little surprised to see brad running this far back i thought he had a really good car in practice we know this is brad's last race at penske going over to roush midway start a new opportunity there going to be part owner going to be really hands-on but i know he wants to finish his relationship with pinsky off strong today are they changing the name by the way of the organization because it's going to be a little bit harder to save rausch fenway kozlowski i think he said in a couple weeks there'd be an announcement okay but yes that's a lot of words [Music] kozlowski mentioned how great of an honor it's been racing for roger penske he won roger he got a crash here we got a friendship and a caution now will come out here as the double zero of quinn half around and damage to the back of that car we mentioned it was a hard list we mentioned right front failures i think we may have just had one here toward the end the tail end of this run on tires cars were due to come to pit roads shortly right front tires down on that car and the right front contact makes me think that he did no control entering the corner never turned yeah we talked about how brake heat [Music] can cause a tire failure not run over anything it just actually melts the tire i don't know where did he handle his car watch up front there car just blows the right front i think you're right about a bead failure from break test excessive temp in the brake system a lot of these teams will run a beat cooler or put some air in that area of the wheel to try to keep the temperature down on that bead that was a hard hit that car would have gotten the wall it just see it almost come up in the air amr safety team immediately to quinn as he's climbing out of that car this second stage 115 laps in length 54 laps completed so everyone was going to have to make a green flag pit stop but i would expect all the leaders to come on pit row and pit road opens this will put them in their fuel window to make it to the end of the second stage this is starcom's last race actually sold this team this will be their last race in the cup series i want to take another look and we mentioned uh how hard of a hit this was he's fortunate enough to be able to get on the brakes just a little bit take a little speed out of the car but getting ready to come to pitt road nascar drive that's your live race day companion you can always follow your favorite drivers with high definition in in-car cameras just visit nascar.com driver you can download the nascar mobile app today well we've seen how equally matched the championship 4r some more comfortable some more speed on short runs versus long runs we'll see if that equal performance can turn over onto pit road as well this is a type of race track you do not want to lose your track position parker no you do not for martin trucks jr he complained how he cannot hustle the car early on the run he just cannot be as aggressive as he wants to be and obviously comes to him late in the run is four goodyear tires dave benny hamlin talked about the car being a little tight in the center late in the run for goodyear tires sunoco fuel kelly chase elliott says he's getting free late in the run but he doesn't know how much tighter he wants to be at the beginning it's a small track bar adjustment for tires and fuel marty kyle larson said we're better on this run but we're still a ways off from the other guys it's good for about 10 to 12 laps and gets two free especially on exit especially in terms three and four another big swing for the five team pit crew delivers though they gain him a couple of spots his teammate chase elliott holds on to the lead trucks losing three spots on pit road so right now they are trying to dig out of that hole [Music] kyle larson race fans the winner today will be rolling into rock mortgage victory lane where right now already underway is a painting being done live during the race by expert racing artist bill patterson he's got some great designs he actually was on stage [Music] [Music] out with a young oh fan here her name is emma what do you think about all of this i like it she likes it she likes she's a coyote she loves those m m's too but look at this look at everybody down here [Music] [Music] nascar on nbc is brought to you by ram trucks the only truck brand to win motor trend truck of the year three years in a row credit one bank the official credit card of nascar visit gocreditone.com and buy new coke zero sugar now even more delicious in 2022 nascar is coming to usa all the incredible action [Applause] on a new home nascar on usa coming summer 2022. so excited to be bringing you races from usa as it debuts as nbc sports cable home for nascar 2022 11 exclusive weekends on usa for cuff and xfinity series part of 1500 plus hours of sports programming in 2022 the first cup series race will be road america fourth of july weekend the first xfinity series race will be nashville in june well as we went away to break we showed that the 19 lost a couple spots on pit road watch right here focus on the front tire changer i mean a little slow on lug nuts you see a little trouble pulling it off i mean that doesn't jump out as a glaring issue but that's really it the left side is pretty clean on the 19 that's all it takes to lose spots in this championship race rutledge guys i know we get so excited with these restarts because when you look at the area that these drivers cover it's like they're going from the second story of the roof down to the basement then back up jeff burton for one of these drivers how much can you really see during one of these restarts when they go five sometimes wide right the problem is when you're on the inside lane you have no idea where the guy is on the outside it's the strangest intersection as you enter turn three you gotta go back up on the racetrack to get the angle right and you don't know where the guy is you're just hoping he's going to give you rooms is it in the back of your mind the four of the nine side by side the history they have had already this year nine with a great launch and we'll clear the four here comes the five of kyle larson see the 19 on the bottom got really slow stacked up behind him this is really important for barton truex jr we know he has a long run car but he can't give up so much room chase briscoe in the 14 falling back quickly chase briscoe uh leading right now the rookie of the year competition between anthony alfredo look at this close call and play on the outside of him just gets so tight here he comes this is what is really important in my opinion for martin truax jr if he's going to win this race in the championship what kind of race do we get do we get a long run do we get a short run for him to win he needs to maybe work on making his car drive better taking off this is a great opportunity to make a change and see if it works well if i'm james small i'm getting off the hitbox and pepping up my pit crew because i agree with what you're saying with the car judgments jeff but the other thing this 19 has to do is stay within touch of the hendrick cars you can't spot him spots on pit road then spot him two more on a restart and just assume your driver is gonna continue to drive to the front that's a lot of wear and tear on the car and we saw now the racetrack there's not a ton of sun on it but the turns three and four as the sun starts to set it's going to be shaded uh and that's gonna change this racetrack it's gonna change who's fast whose car is working best oh we got a car in the wall left front tire down on the 47 car stint house broke the right front suspension with the contact it's probably going to end the day for him yeah he just went into turn three and the car went straight that left front tire as you pointed being flat dale i'm assuming contact on a restart that's been the signature of these flat tires early into our run so we're gonna look at some uh replays hopefully of this car but it either had some contact or going on this transition on this transition across the racetrack onto the apron and then back up that could be so hard on the sidewall of the tire and how it marries to the contact patcher the the tread of the tire and we see failures at tracks like fontana and other places because of the bumps that kind of flex and bends that that joint in the tire and it could be doing that here today yeah like a coat hanger you bend it too many times it breaks so a better week for ricky stenhouse jr got engaged then his weekend is going driver is the now leader that's chase elliott and ricky stenhouse is hoping to have more than just one good memory for the weekend involved in a crash here ricky stenhouse on friday went on a hike got down on one knee proposed to his girlfriend 25 cars on the lead left [Music] six the weathertech sports car championship that takes nerves of steel and determination the battles are fierce [Music] some of the coolest most exotic sports cars that you will see anywhere in the world how can you not love sports car racing [Applause] and yes we do love sports car racing and steve you got a front row seat next saturday the championship finale coverage starting at noon eastern on nbc then continue on nbcsn at three o'clock that's the imsa weathertech sports car championship from petite le mans that road atlanta yeah road atlanta such a great racetrack and a great battle the daytona prototypes down to a two-car battle between the 10 of wayne taylor racing and the 31 of wheeling engineering remember that 31 car that's the car chase elliott drove at the rolex at the 24 back in january so a little nascar tie-in is going to be exciting to see that empty season come to a close nascar cup series championship race from phoenix raceway telecast presented by usaa as we get ready for the restart under 47 laps to go here in stage two we talked a lot about pit crews dale jeff you guys stood at the front of the grid that entire pre-race show and talked about this being a team sport and everyone was gonna have to show up and do their best sometimes stats tell the truth well here it is here's the ranking of the four pick crews coming into this race and as you see the 19 of truex not much we're talking two tenths of a second average slower than kyle larson but today they have definitely been a little slow now the good thing is first half of the race we'll forget completely about those two stops if they show up here at the second half and hold the lead or perhaps gain the lead for 2x so you know what have you done for me lately works good is what you've done lately dave is great stuff steve denny hamlin's crew however needs to gather themselves for the last pit stops of today there will be a few of them but so far today they're minus on two stops even on another and how did chris gabehart the crew chief handle it well he didn't he didn't come down ankly off the pit box he didn't tell denny hamlin exactly where or what went wrong to put that into the driver's head they are professionals they won a championship last night in the xfinity series but they have to find a way as athletes to become better at what they're doing today i was a pit box climber rick i'd come down wish sometimes i hadn't come down and kind of hands up in the air and you know they're trying as hard as they can on the left side you see that the chews harvick and elliot will make up the front well let's choose guys i know it seems like second nature but it's changed this racing you drivers always complain about being in the wrong lane now it's up to you you decide where you want to be to the left or to the right of that v just don't hit that orange box it's a penalty so i love the fact that hey if you don't like what lane you're in choose another one this is back on you drivers yeah absolutely especially here where you're five and six wide sometimes going down into turn one and you've got a lot of options a lot of people trying to do a lot of things to you and put you in a bad situation you get to choose you know kind of how you could choose your fate and control your destiny a little bit more with this rule i love it the drivers do too comes field once again approaching the geico restart zone elliott and kevin harvick making up row one and larson back there in row two a great restart pushing the four into turn one now and the nine up high goodness look at all of that going on behind these guys back in the pack four wide funneling on to the back straightaway just doesn't seem like it works a little bit danny hanlon is right for pitstop look where he is back in the pack that's not where you want to be in the middle of this crazy restart it's easy to get your car damaged and as we get further into this race those restarts will get more intense because the drivers will have more urgency less likely to give and take oh a little contact there with the 12. he's on the outside corner panel of the four like harvick knew he was there was trying to clear himself a little bit he's able to make the make the pass or keep the position you mentioned the four and the twelve two forwards it's been well documented kevin harvick nine wins a year ago no wins this year but i really think it's been a struggle for most of the ford camp i mean it came to phoenix the only opportunity to win a championship was with austin cendrick in the xfinity series they had no cars advance although three team penske cars made the round of eight none were able to make the championship four harvey trying to hold off blainey now as he runs in the fourth position to get a non-playoff driver planey benedetto william byron eric alvaro all part of the top 10 right now and non-playoff drivers see denny hamlin back here eric almarola trying to get underneath him these two have been going at it denny's car is not exactly where he wants it to be right now let's listen to what he's talking about uh he's fired off okay traffic just sucks [Applause] there's nothing wrong with the car it's just getting back behind all this and it's very difficult to maneuver where you want he's like guys he's got to fix these pit stops lost four spots on that last stop just can't give keep giving it up parker well guys another thing that becomes clear here is we have more restarts is where you want to be in relation that shoes will take up less than 19 radio before you think of the restart stick with uh i imagine you would be second car inside what do you think outside would be better and that's the key i'm not giving up a row from our trick so he was thinking maybe or the team was thinking maybe you want to be in the outside that's where he was making a lot of time early in the race but he has noticed he doesn't want to give up a row at all in any positions because he thinks he can make him up and he dives at the bottom there on pat larson a great bottle battle the 19-5 give up a row because remembering as they choose we just went over the choose roll everybody loves the top so truex says well man if i can move up an entire row two positions to go to the bottom i know that's the non-preferred lane i'd rather be there i mean he is a big fan of the choose rule because a week ago at martinsville we were coming to that late race restart and everybody chose the bottom and he get to move up two spots on the outside that was the two points that he needed it took a lot of pressure off in those closing laps to advance and as truex tries to make a pass on his five car and the four of harvick closes in as well as the 12 back there blaney it kind of takes a few tools out of the toolbox for the 19. he has to all of a sudden start being a little more defensive about his line this truck this opportunity to dive to the bottom he can't quite do that as much because of the potential of four cars jumping to his outside quarter panel he's gonna have to make this pass quickly without you know maybe maybe losing a position to harvick marty what you got on the five car out here well same song different version crash it marty turns three and four chase briscoe on the 14 into the wall backed it in there you see the damage to the left rear oh yeah he was running 12th hard hard lick right there it's disappointing for chase briscoe having a solid run today it's been a struggle so hard for these young drivers without practice to get into a rhythm let's go back and see what happened to chase so we're going to see a replay here the contact possibly or some issue with the left look at some debris or something on the left rear right up right in front of the tire maybe there's some contact he sees he senses the left rear tires flat he senses it and lifts real early so there was some contact or something that has damaged the side skirt on that car and somehow or another either the contact or the damage is flatten that left rear tire he sensed it lifts early right here he's like oh no i'm in trouble the tire is completely flat kyle busch does a great job not running in the back of him too hard but he's already going to wreck regardless of whether kyle's there or not [Music] big hit the fuel cell does an amazing job keeping the fuel inside the tank the field working their way onto pit road again parker right martin trex jr was told to just follow the leaders there as he did coming down here to get four tires on this 19 car once again just looking for a little bit more stability on the early portion of the run dave danny hamilton radioed his crew i'm just not good enough on the short runs it'll be an air pressure adjustment here he just needs a good stop from the crew parker kelly chase elliot said his ninth car fired off better and he said it was turning better from the get-go no changes for that nine car just four tires and fuel marty kyle larson said with that cycle of tires tighter in the center looser on exit they have not been able to get rid of that all day long you got to wonder how many tools in the toolbox cliff daniels has the pit crew though they deliver they've been the best throughout the playoffs they get kyle larson up to the lead larson does a great job a big bounce back for 2x they were bleeding spots on pit road both him and hamlin great stops out of the goat joe gibbs racing teams trying to right the ship here about halfway through oh foreign let's go [Music] [Music] just three rounds remain in travis pastrana's nitro rally cross and the season winding down you can watch it all on peacocktv.com sign up there kyle busch is going to be racing november 13th and 14th that's it phoenix's wild forest pass motorsports park that's just later this week the other drivers that he will be battling against other than travis pastrana will be guys like tanner faust and scott speed on the way to break we talked about the solid kind of pit stops by the two joe gibbs racing cars let's compare the two hendrick cars kyle larson chase elliot the pit times reasonably close four tenths of a second but the driver time look right here i mean that is a lot half a second just with driver time so you think that's pit road speed but i actually think it's due to qualifying that great qualifying run by kyle larson gave him the first pick they're at pitstop one when they leave they only have to go to right there that's where you're scored off pit road it's about 30 feet 40 feet so while it looks like larson's way better with his pit roads feet he actually doesn't even have to accelerate look he's going to be at the white line right there chase elliott is going way way faster than him but he scored way back at that first white line that makes his overall time look so much shorter what i love about this race this isn't the metric this isn't all these different things no no it was effort it was qualifying on saturday kyle larson put down an amazing lap that gave him that opportunity to pick the first pit stall it's all starting to add up to the five we'll see if that's the difference maker but it was better pit stops for both the 11 and the 19 this time we talked about they they had a little deficit on pit road yeah and you know it's kind of like a field goal kicker if you don't want your last kick to be the miss and then have to walk out there and have a game-winning kick so they had some struggles early now here we are about halfway through the race they kind of what i'll call have a normal pit stop look at that everything went like we've practiced went like we've done all year long that will allow them to build some confidence as the pressure builds and we get to the end of this race parker well guys a little bit of concern right now on the 19 team if we get a close-up shot of their front grill there's apparently could be some trash there that they were not able to get off underneath the stop martin was asking if they had any ideas of a way to remove it here under caution the team said we'll just have to deal with it and see where it goes but right now a little bit concerned about maybe some trash on that grill they weren't able to get off they're gonna like this shot then because i don't see anything on the trail mission accomplished by the driver if anything that yellow maybe a yellow piece over the right front brake their their brake opening compared to the chevrolets is so minimal something like that could completely change how the right front cools but otherwise yeah steve looks pretty clear talk about denny hamlin stopped before how it's all spots well his team really responded that was their best stop of the year right there bring your best to the championship battle that's what you got to do you make a mistake you got to look old past it and recover that's what they did great stop that time see this you know what looks different here yeah those aren't playoff drivers up front right cars stayed on the racetrack reddick kurt busch bowman and suarez all stayed on the racetrack larson chose the bottom i love this choice here even though it's not preferred turn one he's going to have a lot of real estate left if his car launches behind him the other playoff drivers this is going to be nerve wracking now that they're in traffic and hamlin chose the top let's see how that affects him with those slower cars old tires on that outside lane reddick and kurt bush back up through the gears and chase elliott quick to the inside here comes kyle larson as well larson jumps up to the lead it was like a river of playoff drivers to the bottom impressive by both the five and the nine oh they squeezed each other a little contact was made we saw the nine wiggling around as the 11 and 19 are fighting back here for position as well then he did a great job working himself through those slower cars in the outside lane he went to the middle now he's taking the fight the truex hoping to catch truex behind the one car use kurt bush as a pick right here clears him truex falling in behind the one now it's the eleven of denny hamlin goes below the one of kurt bush and clears him it looks as though the 19 will do the same that's the replay of the two hendrick teammates down the back straight away [Music] oh man that was close sorted out and the gibbs guys continue to battle behind him just 27 laps to go in stage two time after time we come here and see the performance of the championship and once again they're running first second third fourth on the racetrack the past halfway of the race so the season winding down less than half a race remaining and a champion still to be determined and no one has stood out we've seen martin trex jr on the longer runs get up front but now it's kyle larson on the short run leading the field as chase elliott right on his back bumper it just screams kind of execution guys right i'm not sure anyone is just so head and shoulders above one another that they can oh lars is loose man that had me nervous i was saying that you could kind of over perform i think it's going to come down to execution perhaps who makes the mistake it costs so right there chase elliot saw a weakness in kyle larson if he can get to his rear bumper get to that rear quarter panel get that car loose larson did a great job of clearing him off the turn to four now chase elliot's going to try to get right to that rear bumper see right there that makes the five car wiggle around a little bit takes some air off that spoiler gets him loose this elliot knows he's got to keep doing it he's putting the pressure on him larson out of the high side here moves up the track a little bit should have a good run off the corner exit there to stretch that out maybe a car length car leaked in half by time we get to term one throughout the entire season chase elliot the reigning champion and he's had to watch his teammate kyle larson go out and win nine races and be the dominant car all season well i understand there's a watch party for henry motorsports back in north carolina rick kendrick here on premise they all have to be nervous when they see their two championship entries i would say inches apart but i think they were actually touching we'll call that contact between the two but then you know when the five part gets that momentum off of turn four and gets this type of a lead into one it allows him to do what he's doing right now move around the racetrack and see if he can find some pace and speed so he can keep that nine car off his rear bumper exiting turn two and he's done that he's moved up the racetrack sort of normalized and equaled the speed or the pace of the nine car he's going to have to beat kyle larson where kyle larson has been great all year long and chase elliot has not chase elliott has not won an oval race since this race last year where he won the championship so if he's going to beat kyle larson or the rest of the guys to win this he's going to have to step his game up today and do something he hasn't done in over a year there's car owner rick hendrick this man has a talent of rallying people around him he builds relationships with his employees from the top of the business all the way to the bottom and they are motivated to go to battle for him to go to work and please him making him happy they want to they want to they want to get a pat on the back from that man when they come back to the shop on monday and junior no surprise that that was on top of the 48 pit box he's not going to sit on either one of these title contenders tries to find you know an ally in the group but not on either side of the battle here a little slide there out of the nine of chase elliott loses a couple spots as far as car links we go nascar nonstop [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so gap stays the same between larson and elliot we see from our aerial coverage brought to you by geico looking down on this mile race track and the different lines that are being run larsen that high line cheeks elliott running even below the yellow line down on the apron through one and two and now into three and four and different lines again this battle just shows you how important pit stops and restarts are going to be i believe the nine is probably a touch faster than the five but not fast enough to find a way by the non-preferred lane the five goes to where the grip is the highest so puts the nine in a little bit of a deficit [Music] rick first meaningful lapse up front for kyle larson led the first lap of the race but now has led 20 in a row and we talked about what does cliff daniels have left in the toolbox will even the crew chief learning during the race listen learn a little bit of something from air pressure to run to go that we didn't incorporate that last time but we did this time so it should be better for you so obviously not out of tools to make the five car better they've taken several big swings at it kelly and they've clearly made it better well we've seen some close hard racing between these two teammates but they definitely made some contact right on that restart and chase elliot wanted to make sure his number nine car was okay not as tight there i felt like i'm fired off a little better you know i don't know if i won't pay for that or not but we'll see yeah copy chase asked the team if the nose of this car was okay they said it looks like it i could see they're taking a look at some still shots of the front end of that car the latest message to him just focus forward [Music] chase elliot his comment kelly was i took off better i don't know if i'm going to pay for it so what he's talking about is the car had better speed when they dropped the green flag on the restart took off better he could be more aggressive with the car and more grip the concern with that is does that mean it's gonna hurt the tires and not be as good on the long run he didn't know he said let's see what happens and if it does do that junior then they'll make an air pressure adjustment or some other adjustment on the car to try to make the car where it can take off fast and not lose speed on the long run there's a contact right there larson and elliot oh man see how it pushed down the quarter panel on the five card a little daylight between the quarter pound of spoiler appeared seemed to go back into position but you do not want to affect the balance the body on these race cars at least a little bit especially that's a critical critical area on the right rear quarter panel for side force some downforce way back on lap two chase elliott had the fastest lap the xfinity fastest lap averaged around this one-mile racetrack over 134 miles per hour interesting to watch these two run uh you know you think as the run gets longer the both of them will migrate to the top of the racetrack but chase is still working the bottom of the racetrack even down on this end he's still rolling the bottom of turn uh one and two and that tells me that maybe the resin is neutralizing a little bit maybe it's losing a little bit of that advantage that we see we've seen from it all weekend long with the trucks exfinity everybody would end up there maybe some of the grip and the speed and pace is starting to go away with that high side as we get through this race and this race is going quickly five laps remaining in stage two as up the track larson goes once again and elliott stays right there on the bottom of the racetrack and the gap stays about the same three tenths of a second separating the two you can see a little bit of the fade in the darkness of the high groove where everyone has ran right on the edge of it right on the lower side of that resin it's faded a little bit like it's wearing away you may as a driver search a little bit higher to see if you can find some place on the racetrack higher that the cars haven't used and find more grip but it's going to be a little bit dirty up there you mentioned the contact between chase ellis the five and the quarter panel the five getting bent down you know what else it did you got flared out got rid of the back and push that right rear out that is spectacular for the five car that is which just called good fortune right i mean he got ran into by his teammate nothing you want to see happen over the course of the race you hope it goes the right direction and today it went the right way and the way you want to look at that as a fan the rear spoiler on the car adds downforce that's like a spoiler on the side of the car now adding side force increasing how he can how he can drive this car into the corner how much deeper he can lean on this car and swing the back he has an advantage aerodynamically that his teammate does not let's ride along with kyle larson on top of this cam on top of the roof and i want you to start paying attention to something the sun is setting so into turn three they dealt with this in qualifying yesterday look at the glare so right now the drivers is gonna get very difficult see the glare on the racetrack right there you cannot see that yellow line it's gonna get worse for a little while as that sun continues to set the drivers are gonna have to start looking for other visuals that they can get their eyeballs on to help guide them to where they need to be and larson it has been his stage he's led 32 laps going on the 33rd lap which is the final lap of stage two kyle larson talk about he and his crew chief cliff daniels well things have clicked for them larson is gonna win stage two and now he has the advantage over the other championship four drivers [Music] all four of the championship four drivers finishing in the top four that time still up there in contention delaney harvick keselowski kyle busch logano and william byron they round out the top ten in stage two the pit crews are doing their job [Music] [Music] all right so kyle larson walking up the stage number during that second stage between kyle larson and chase history those two main content going down the back straightaway oh it's nascar cup series championship race from phoenix ranks waves telecast presented by usaa and back into the hands of the pit crew parker well we saw the weakness of the 19 car there on the short run barton tricks is saying lacking overall grip to be able to contend with the front three there's before tires and adjustments to the 19 games hamilton was asked if he was loose anywhere that he could not stand he said no jackman kellen mills will make his third chassis adjustment of the day kelly chase elliott said his biggest struggle is running up high so the car gets super lazy up there he's much better running down low as four tires for the nine car marty all the work on the five car finally paying off kyle larson said we fixed the exit i like it there i need to turn the center better more of that last adjustment you see that big wedge yesterday pit crew had kept them on the lead last time they do it once again here they have delivered all day long so far rick and they do for all four of the championship four they all hold their positions [Music] jesse lunch i guys the four of the top four drivers on media day and it was so much fun i played with them and there was great sports and it was just so much fun three taking place we knew it was gonna be a battle and it has become a showdown in the desert the championship four once again have risen to the top kyle larson right now with the advantage being chased by his teammate from hendrick motorsports chase elliott denny hamlin back there the better of the two of the joe gibbs racing as martin trex jr the fourth of the championship four let's get to the ruoff mortgage peacock pit box with kp dj and brad all right guys we look at this two questions how aggressive are the restarts going to be from here on out because it's so hard to pass number one and number two these guys said it's gonna be a dog fight it's gonna be a slugfest have you seen anybody grab this race by the throat yet and who do you think that could be when they do it restarts are gonna be crazy i can't wait it's gonna be fun to watch these guys are all over each other no i haven't i mean all four of these race cars they they've all performed extremely well today i mean look where they're running one two three four so i i can't separate them it's going to be a mistake i think that separates them you know one thing that i saw right there in that stage towards the end kyle larson on the top of the racetrack making great speed and i don't know if it had anything to do with the right rear quarter panel getting pushed out a little bit or not but he found something right there that is going to make him hard to pass oh yeah and if he's hard to pass let me tell you something it's going to be a long day for the rest of these guys rutledge kyle i'm over here on the perch and although it's a beautiful day there are some clouds showing up and we heard jeff talk about with the sun's setting how it changes for the drivers but steve lettard i'm wondering for you as a crew chief when you can have a 10 or 15 degree swing and a temperature on a day like this for crew chief do you start backwards to forwards on how you plan for that or you start at the beginning of the race and then try to figure out how do i need to change so the car is where i want it by the end of the race so i think you want to start with how the race is going to begin but rutledge to your point you know it's the deserts cold in the morning cool in the evenings hot in the middle of the day you got to have really good notes you can have all the simulation you want but good old-fashioned notes like the italian high school rick very detailed notes on what adjustments and what swings the track goes through that's what makes that sticky stuff they spray down so difficult to read because now you have a temperature swing and is that sticky stuff getting worse or better as the race goes i struggled on that note-taking in high and hendrick motorsports lines up in row one and then it's joe gibbs racing in row two larson and elliott on the high line low line then it's hamlin and martin trex jr on highline and low line of row two kyle busch in the 18 has come up here to challenge for a top five spot as we're back underway it's the final stage with the 2021 season chase elliott did not get a great launch on that restart that's allowed denny hamlin to get to his outside [Music] chase still cleared him in three and four one and two and not a great start for the 19 of mark trucks junior right now harvick on his outside trying to take fourth away that's going to be hard to do harvey's going to fight hard down the front straightaway truex launches forward but again side by side into term one tricks way down the racetrack trying to go the shorter distance is able to use that to his advantage and take the spot kills his exit speed but it's okay he gained the position that he needed to gain this got track position and now he would block down the back straight away now he goes off and rolling while this is going on two hms hinder cars are driving away from denny hamlin put a little bit of distance between themselves short run speed in this 11 car may need to improve if we get late yellows but now with track position he's able to gauge himself and understand where they're beating him before when he was having bad pit stops and he was not restarting near the building he didn't know he just knew they were faster but he didn't know where now as a driver you can start understanding okay crew chief here's what i need here are the changes that i need to be better on this short run well you may only get one shot at those changes 112 laps to go every car will have to make a trip to pit road for fuel they cannot make it to the finish maybe more than one trip if you think tires are important and we get some yellows but if this ran green one green flags pit stop still required to finish the race [Music] now danny has company with his teammate martin trex jr we're going to ride on the roof of the 19 car with toyota camryn watch the balance of this 11 car see what denny's struggling with obviously not happy with the car right this minute they both dive down in the bottom of turn three and four truex tries to get in the gas a little too soon cost him a little bit of time here on corner exit to the flag stand [Music] and as we ride along with these two the two in front of them are getting smaller the hendrick motorsports cars pulling away now martin looking to the inside of hamlin for third hamlet's going to use that high side momentum and really make martin work for this position on the bottom of the racetrack nascar racing if you're a 10th 10th of a second off in a lap that's a fair amount well vinnie hamlin right here is three tenths of a second off of the 200 teammates in front of him yeah the speed in larson and chase's car 27-16 27-25 behind them the two gibbs cars both 27 50s you mentioned what a dominant season it has been for the five of kyle larson well really the whole organization in hendrick motorsports they have led over 4 000 laps this year the last time a team led more laps than hendrick motorsports has led this season was back when junior johnson was fielding teams back in 1972 so 50 years a long time since teams have been able to put together what hendrick has done this year i've been larson's led half of those remember guys it was a few years ago we were saying what's wrong with hinder right but we're so used to seeing this team dominate and win championships and they were not anywhere near it and that is completely flipped they now have gone back to the hendrick motorsports that we know they can lead races win races and win championships and while you want to give credit to them and they deserve it you also got to give credit to the manufacturer chevrolet they did not have a great race car several years ago they kind of reinvented themselves and improved their product and brought a better race car for all of their teams to the racetrack marty and how about this pace out of the hendrick motorsports cars and the chevy's up front and we've talked about kyle larson all day long really good on the short run maybe not so good on the long run but does the opportunity to work on the car several times maybe pay an advantage for the five listen to what cliff daniels thinks make sure to just run your lane run your line you did a good job holding him off the last time when he was pressuring you there and i know that we're going to be better than those guys on the log right now we've had plenty of opportunities to work on our car we're going to have it better for you okay so steve sometimes when you have a car that's kind of off from the first of the race you get more opportunities to take big swings at it those swings have certainly paid off so far for cliff uh daniels and kyle larson well we've seen dominant cars this year rick but adjustments throughout the race matter each and every week let's go nashgar non-stop you will miss a thing [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nbc's la brea is tv's number one new show and it's keeping everyone on the edge of their seats don't miss an earth-shattering all-new laprea tuesday on nbc i want to take a look at the ruloff mortgage keys to victory lane guys yeah no mistakes we've seen these playoffs have been completely full of mistakes at the wrong time also late in the race you just cannot afford a mistake if you're going to win the championship and these restarts are going to be crazy and you got to take advantage of that put your guys around you in some bad situations make them have to lift take a bunch of spots make it happen all right crew chiefs adjustments adjustments adjustments 98 to go you're going to see a driver at least one more time short run long run tight loose you've heard all that all day long what's going to be the magical tweak that's going to get your car to victory lane listen into 11 radio just before the restart oh wow i've got a parachute on the right rear that's nice yeah what's the damage not gonna fight free and we're talking about that damage on the right rear quarter pound the five car that steve explained to us how that's helping that car then he sees it and he's jealous i would be too denny i would be too buddy here's how the contact happened and it and it's incident uh happened between him and his teammate and there it is big spoiler on the side of the car creating down force side force and he is not going to be loose into the corner like then he said he's going to have a much more comfortable entry you'll be able to drive deeper into the corner and they can free the car up for the city of the center of the corner i mean this is great all the way around and he's controlled this race since this has happened marty and i think that's the key point dale remember they struggled loose on exit the entire day until that happened now yeah granite cliff daniels has made several changes to the car but steve how much is that helping the quote parachute denny hamlin said helping this five car because immediately that freon exit that they couldn't get rid of all day was gone they don't spend millions in the wind tunnel to not try to find every error advantage possible and this is an arrow advantage but i want to be clear there were games on pit road for years nascar has cameras everywhere now we've seen cars brought back down pit road because crew members pulled skirts or pushed quarter panels every car in the field today is going to have wrinkled skirts because of the dog leg on the back stretch they're not going to make a single team fix it they're going to not make them fix dead defenders torn up quarter panels smashed indoors and they shouldn't make this five car fixing incidental contact because i can assure you he didn't want to get hit on the exit of turn two some days it just bends the correct way and that's what happened for the five right here and we'll see if it pays off but to your point you can hear the jealousy in hamlet's voice well he's he's fortunate event it did it the way it did it could have just as easily been it the other way it would have been a major disadvantage we've seen cars before years ago where the rear bumper would come off all off of it oh that was instant speed if you could get the rear bumper off that thing it was crazy how much better it would drive coming up now on 92 to go and now inside the fuel window so steve this uh this last stage over 122 laps but when will we see potentially these drivers wanting to come to pit road maybe green flag pit stops even yeah we're still a long ways away it would probably be at least another 40 laps 35 to 40 laps to see guys pit under green we're showing right here the 18 of kyle busch the season that could have been right you heard his frustration but i love his feedback as a matter of fact disappointing as it may be for others hey we weren't good enough we're not on the championship four because we weren't good enough that's what makes kyle bush who he is or that what makes him better behind him the two of brad keselowski i loved his interview in the pre-race show right he talking about having some onions nearby because he was a little watery eyed about team penske he went there he delivered a championship that is impressive and and i wish him the best dale you know brad so well you gave me shot at junior motorsports i actually believe he's the type of driver that could flourish in this new role at roush right to be a driver and part owner and help rebuild that organization he loves the details of what goes into these cars yeah he's absolutely cut out to be an owner in this sport and uh it'll be difficult for him i think over the next couple years to do both jobs at the same time but he's gonna have a lot of fun and i think it's gonna go a long way [Music] you won't miss a thing we're going to go nascar non-stop larson and elliott running 1-2 here in the champ 4. [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the 2022 ford mustang machi gt performance edition could be yours enter for your chance to win this high performance four plus get an entry for entry instant prize 100 gift card during today's race all you have to do is go to nascar.com ford playoffs promo look at a big run by ryan blaney kevin harvick with four drivers and want to get a few updates and we'll start with marty rick i asked kyle larson about his crew chief cliff daniels and i said what do you think about him as a leader and he said you know i always thought having someone to motivate me was something i never really needed as a driver but to hear cliff and the way he leads our meetings to watch him post race hang out with our guys how he listens to our guys it takes ideas from everywhere i am so thankful to have someone like him who's really inspired me to bring my best every week if you've ever hanged around a rock cliff daniels you know he is no doubt a leader and was a leader from a very young age trying to win his first championship in just a second full-time year kelly if chase elliott can find a way to win this championship and go back to back he will become the youngest driver ever to have multiple championships he's just 25 years old i asked him what the coolest or his favorite moment memory was from winning the championship last year i thought maybe he'd refer me to the incredible homecoming he had back in dawsonville georgia he said no it was right here at the track remember he had his hall of fame father bill elliot and his mother cindy right here to celebrate with him he said it was getting that trophy taking the pictures going through all the motions that you get to go through when you win a championship and memories he'll certainly treasure forever dave danny hamlin's relationship to his team goes back so much further than when he started driving in this cup series car way back when a kid from virginia was definitely a washington redskins fan so he knew who coach gibbs was and he definitely wanted to meet him when he was 11 years old and then denny racing locally as a youngster number 11 and he's run it for every race that he's running the cup series 578 starting today they've all been with joe gibbs they've all been with fedex parker well dave martin tricks junior and i had an interesting conversation on friday when he turned to me after i said you look so calm approaching this champion he said you know i'm 41 years old i know this could potentially be one of my last shots at gutting another chain chip the reason being this sport is about to go through so much change with the next gen car and how you drive those cars who knows what's in store in the future for him so he's just been trying to enjoy his time here to see a battle in the front it is a battle and really it's at the other end of the racetrack i think larson does a really nice job down here in one and two getting a good run off that grippy stuff off the top of the racetrack but down here in three and four larson commits top chase commits bottom the last few laps they're going to do that once again and chase really rolls in and closes a good car length on this five card speaking of closing in larson and elliott they have not been putting out the fastest laps of the championship for it's been hamlin and truex jr who have put together the fastest laps they're still trying to close the gap but look at this chase elliott keeps peaking just to the inside of larson we saw chase elliot at the end of the last long run he just stayed committed to the bottom of the racetrack larson was on the top but chase elliott down here in three and four like you said steve making big moves right here and now that chase is there larson's going to have to get more defensive with his line he'll change a few things and it'll cost him a little bit of time and if they battle if they battle like they are right now it's going to allow danny to get right into this really quick then he's looking right out the windshield seeing these two guys run side by side and he is trying quickly to get there as they are costing each other a tenth here a tenth there elliott able to clear the five as they go through the dog leg and now into turn one lap cars coming into play once again so chase now wants to put a little bit of distance between him and the five car i think hamlin is the quickest car on the track marty i think kyle larson really may be getting a little bit tighter on exit here i think that's the concern for the nine camp they did tell him hey or the five camp they did tell him the nine is catching you a little bit here and they also told him early in the run the nine set on his radio he can't keep up with you when you're in that high line so you see larson really work in the top of the racetrack but steve you had it right on one and two is where larson is the best three and four is where he struggles and that's where chase elliot passed them larson's gonna move around and change his line a little bit now that he's behind the nine he's gonna make a couple small tweaks and you can see he's not letting that nine go anywhere he's actually improved his car a little bit with the adjustments to his line and he's staying right here gonna bring the fight back to chase elliott our leader trying to take advantage of these lap cars so it's chase elliot out in front now only 74 laps to go as we go nascar nonstop [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 68 laps remain the nascar cup series championship race from phoenix raceway telecast presented by usaa and here comes denny hamlin 47 laps on this run right here the longer run joe gibbs racing cars have been like this all day it was the 19 of 2x now the 11 of hamlin as the tires wear the 11 comes to life he's taken over second from larson and with 67 to go in the race drivers he is hoping this runs green we have green flag pit stops no more restarts this is his strength yeah steve it takes about 30 laps for him to start breaking even with the 200 cars and then on that lap 32-33 his car gets way faster as you've seen he's run him down from almost three seconds back it's gonna be won't be long he's gonna be battling for the lead and the same can be said for his teammate truex you see him in the screen there just behind larson right behind truex the four car as well of harvick so it's really more maybe that the hindered cars are falling off too much on the long run parker ryan i think the 19 to martin sherex jr is going to be the first on the pit road of our championship four contenders here electing a pit early as they were gaining time on those hendrick cars martin had come on the radio and complaining of the handling and losing the right front on this 19 car with james small remind him we're reeling them in referencing those hedges cars you see it's going to be four goodyear tires an air pressure adjustment for martin trick we'll see where this cycles out if they get done this whole stoppage of caution guys oh a huge wreck for the 38 of anthony alfredo heavy damage to the right front this is going to be a major blow to the 19 of truex we're gonna have to let scoring cycle out before we can exactly place him on the racetrack but the gamble this we always talk about gambling hey come early get some fresh tires why doesn't everybody do it well this is the downfall you see james small he can't believe it staring at the screen he actually has the same question we have at the moment which is i got to see where this cycle's around there's multiple cars that came to pit road kurt busch william byron kyle busch the 12th car blaney that could have been a huge break for the 19. he may have stayed in the lead lap and if he was able to stay in the lead laugh he would line up in front of all those guys when they pit we'll have to see when it cycles out i want to take a look at what happened with anthony oh right front tire gosh we see that a lot on corner exit of two and that is a nasty angle hit that while thankful for the innovation of the safer barrier that is a horrible hit mentioned anthony alfredo fighting for rookie of the year this year chase briscoe another driver who has had an issue today gotta work through the timing here for martin trex jr so the advantage for truex phoenix long pit road well he's very early in it so he pits and he's one of the first stalls so he hasn't been on pit road very long they service the car while the caution comes out now the whole question is he has scored where he leaves pit road at the start finish relative to the leaders well fortunately for him he wasn't in there very long with the yellow came out so the rest of field slows down as well so nascar is going to compare him to the leader of chase elliot relative to the start finish line we will be the leader i think and that's what james smalls saying they're going to cycle to the front as you said jeff so he was only two seconds behind the leader when he that's the other big advantage you know he didn't pit from deep in the field so basically what happens is he comes to pit road they start servicing their car he obviously the leaders continue with speed but then almost instantly the caution comes out well chase elliott slows down and waits for the pace truck so you know pace car speed and pit road speed reasonably close only 10 miles an hour different smart tracks junior and james small instead of a bad break it's perhaps the best break they could have asked for great long run car and now they should have track position it was so important see for that caution for them for that caution to come out quickly if that caution doesn't come out quickly and all those cars are going fast around the racetrack they do come around and lap truex but the rule the nascar rule is when the caution comes out immediately you have to slow down by rule if you don't nascar will penalize you for safety reasons huge break for martin truvix so a big break there for the 19 team potentially and tonight sun football on nbc and peacock ryan tannehill and the six and two titans they're gonna face aaron donald and that's seven and one rams coverage starting at 7pm eastern with football night in america so now the pit road is open and lead lap cars making their way on to pit road dave and rick this is such a fine adjustment for denny hamlin that chris gabard is crew chief as do you want me to miss to the tight side or miss to the loose side then he just laughed and he said at the end of the run maybe to the loose side for good your tires and sunoco fuel kelly alan gustaf had already called chase elliott to pit road when that caution came out chase says the race car is really in an okay spot when he was out leading it got just a little snug four tires and fuel marty kyle larson reiterated we're so good on the short run but man the longer we go my tight in the center just really hurts me a bunch and i also lost drive off the corner that run as well air pressure a wedge adjustment there you see that being made right now how about the gibbs crew they deliver on pit road denny hamlin gets the lead larson gonna lose a spot on pit road hamlin and legato gaining spots [Music] the pet area for him huge head stop all four tires and two kids [Music] so [Music] as was predicted the 19 is going to be the race leader steve all right let's relive this whole issue with the 19 he comes to pit road there he is in the middle of his pit stop top of the screen the 38 of anthony alfredo alfredo flat tire heavy heavy impact the 19 crew continues to work on their car at this point the track goes yellow the leader slows down there goes 2x start finish line now we're looking for the leader this is where trex has scored you see cars go by there is the nine of chase elliott martin trex jr stays on the lead lap a huge break for the 19. we'll see if he can pay it off though 59 to go he's now the leader blaney as well got some track positions so you're gonna see him in the restart unfortunately for the five of kyle larson a slow pit stop the right side looked pretty good jeff right i didn't see anything there it's the left side then i think they have the issue back man runs around jack's left side up a little bit slow in the left rear not a lot there but and this is a huge momentum shift now you take the two cars that have been slow on short runs and you put them in front of the field can they take advantage of it 58 laps to go in the championship aggressive larson to the bottom of the racetrack he's gonna have a lot of company on the outside look at the momentum loss down the back straight away the 200 cars are stuck behind the two penske cars and as they are the two gibbs cars drive away from them chase elliott making some quick work here though getting on the outside of the 22 back there for fourth he's going to take that position away now tries to figure out a way to put a position or make a position on this 12 car as quickly as he possibly can you talked about the short run speed you got to take advantage of it while you got it you got about 25 laps till we see the gibbs cars cycle to the advantage in lap time just a huge change in momentum here we know that clean air i don't care what size the race track is clean air helps that's going to make these two cars that have been slower on short runs it's going to help them some i don't know they're going to have enough speed to hold chase out at off but even if chase gets by him there's so much closer to him than they have been it will not take him as long for it to switch to that long-run car to have a major advantage stay on the aggression here spotter of the nine coaching his driver to stay aggressive we heard at the beginning of the show bartrex jr when he was chatting with the guys on pit road he said nobody can out scrap us well martin shrek's junior right now in this team after a couple poor pit stops to start the race they have now put it all together and a little bit of luck on pit road when they're on pit road and a caution comes out they start up front now can they hang on to it can they stay out front can he win a second championship here in the cup series denny has moved around a little bit he's went to the top of the racetrack to try to find some speed and some clean air to be able to track down the 19 cards to allow the nine car though to have a little bit of room to run where he likes to run where his car is fast all day long on the bottom of the racetrack steve and now you're gonna see he goes to the bottom you know what's surprising dale is that the 11 you know he's doing a pretty good job for a long run car holding off the nine in that dirty air you talked about right so i'm not sure if he wants to be top or bottom as he searches for clean air though it's a big advantage to the nine he leaves him the bottom of the racetrack well that's exactly right with you see clean air matters that 19 car when he goes to the bottom of the racetrack and the 11 stays to the top like he did in one and two that's a major advantage to the 11 car the car we don't see in this shot is a five car of larson quite a ways back behind these guys not able to squeeze up through there and get through the traffic like the nine car did and as this track cools off you see the shade it's gonna tighten up he the 5 bar larson struggled with a tight race car late in the run you have to wonder if they're freeing this car up enough for him to continue to be competitive late in this race and this right here chase elliot having to run the bottom trying to get by denny hamlin that's harder on his tires than he just when he if he can run wherever he wants to and jeff we saw the nine able to pass the five by running that lower line he was making it work early is this a advantageous line for the knight to be able to run that well down low well i think that's where he wants to be he's been there all day long the problem is that you see denny hamlin right there running the top he's been doing that all day long and we know that his car is very good in a long run so that makes me believe that this top line may be a little bit easier on tires you're not stressing the tires much you don't have to turn the wheel everything smoother running that top line versus running the bottom chase seems like he's struggling more and more with each passing lap to try to even get in position to challenge this 11 car back gas earlier there you mentioned it jeff the short run speed is still there in this nine but the dirty air is new could be affecting his pace just a bit if i'm james small the crew chief for the 19 or chris gabe the crew chief for the 11. i'm letting him know this time bye that's 10 laps you guys are still gonna get better the nine's gonna start to go away right i'm gonna coach the you up dale if you're my driver i'm gonna try to give you confidence if you keep holding them off we have seen these lap times flip as we get longer into our run it's just absolutely amazing what track position does and how important it is good stop a good pit stop for denny hamlin a break before martin truax but they both got it and now they're taking advantage of it parker steve you've mentioned how maybe you'd be telling your driver that's 10 laps into a run james small has been quite the radio everyone has been quiet on the 19 radio but one thing i've been tracking throughout the day is seeing when this 19 car sort of comes alive and that's normally about 23 laps or so into the run so right now we're at lap 11. if that nine car isn't able to make headway before then that should be when they start to really stretch that lead dave and now a confident denny hamlin tries to track down his teammate and he has a huge team behind him including 600 000 fedex employees worldwide they came to joe gibbs racing in 2015 they came with denny hamlin they've been hungry for a championship ever since and if he wins today there will be a huge party kelly when that caution came out chase elliott said man that could have been bad remember he had already been called to pit road and then when he found out that 19 managed to stay on the lead lap he said oh i can't believe the luck they have but the team staying positive said don't worry about it remember you're better than him by the way it sounded like there might have been a little confusion on the lane choice for that last restart it sounded like chase didn't know if he was supposed to be picking his lane at the right time when he did he lined up where he lined up and they went effort but i'm not sure that he made a really conscientious effort to pick his preferred lane 45 laps to go the championship four running one two three fours we go nascar nonstop [Music] so so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] under 40 laps to go now for martin trucks junior looking for a second championship in the cup series and he's starting to pull away from denny hamlin nine tenths of a second chase elliott see he's falling further back as this run has gone on he's been pushing hard trying to find some speed right against the wall a little bit of contact right there trying to get on the edge finding everything he can opening up his entry just made contact so the odd place to make contact but just trying to get as far out as he can to turn down into the corner and of course the championship four are gonna finish one two three four but there's a battle going on right now fifth through sixteenth and harvick is at the top of that list remember when we started the playoffs he was 16. yeah what a recovery from kevin harvick his performance has absolutely stepped up in the playoffs but it's a tight battle between blaney and kavlovsky only a couple points seven more back to their teammate and legano and then you see another tight battle back there between byron and bush all these points matter i know making the playoffs is the key winning the championship is obviously everybody's goal but at the end of the year you want to finish as high as you can in those points for both pride and for the business model the higher you finish the more pays [Laughter] here fighting see if they can get that car a little bit closer to the 19. i've been watching these guys kind of move around a little bit and the 19 of truex is exiting turn two quite a bit lower it's going in using a little bit of that resin up high but then turns the car off and runs almost next to the apron on corner exit to adjust his line it seems to have helped a little bit give him a little bit more pace i think denny was a little bit quicker but what do you got on this 11 dave junior 22 laps into this run and uh denny's team has seen this movie before this is right where we started pulling away from in the last run this is all playing out right we'll see if it comes from fruition for the 11 car just nine tenths of a second behind his teammate now so i feel like that those those two cars did the same thing the last run equally when one got better they the other got better the same amount it wasn't like the 19 was slower or faster than the 11 they're pretty equal when they when they chased down the hms cars and now the 19 of truex is going to enjoy the clean air now the lap traffic could play a role it has uh cost truex a little bit of time it's cost denny a little bit of time and that's going to continue if we stay under green but i think this clean air for truex is going to play the biggest role as this race goes forward the one thing we have seen though with 34 laps to go we've seen massive shifts in speed on older tires we've seen cars fall off by two or three tenths of a second if you're denny hamlin you know you need chris gabhardt right now pumping you up and he was that's what he was doing hey man this is going to be our advantage it's playing out exactly like we want it to and then he's just got to lock in he's just got to lock in and hit his marks be perfect every single lap well that's for the 11. if you go behind the eleven the two hendrick cars of chase elliot and kyle larson if i'm alan gutzistan i'm cheerleading my driver on i'm continuing to get feedback a yellow changes everything these two have the best short run cars so we saw the nine make a little contact with the wall don't panic and take us out of the yet what we don't want to do is damage our car and then have the caution marty that we could have used for both the hendrick cars a yellow and i think they have a chance and steve after a nine win season the championship might be slipping away from kyle larson in this five team he said the drive off especially off of turn four left the car much earlier in this run so unless they get a caution i'm not sure there's a path that kyle larson can get up there and pass those gibbs cars and look at the sun now the sun was behind the clouds the track was pretty cool now the sun is back out look at the view in the turn three the drivers cannot see the racetrack what you see on your screen is exactly what it looks like out the windshield windshield for the drivers and now this part of the racetrack turn one and two is gonna warm up it's gonna get slicker who who will benefit from how the track is going to change down here if the sun stays out i just watched the brake rotor explode on the front straightaway and there's debris all up there high in the dark legs okay so crew chief saw something happen was it with david starr and a caution does come out that means a restart and steve you come back to pit road and get fresh tires twenty one set so this is really the stress for everyone right we saw earlier in the race ryan blaney not pit and hold cars off for a little while but he did not have this many laps on his tires this is 28 lap run right here i believe that you have to come to pit road there's a reason for the caution you see that part is in a really bad location entrance to turn three a huge part of the brake rotor which is the radio we were hearing that they saw it happen so i think you have to come to pit road and now if you're truex hamlin elliott larson i know we talked about 2x and hamlin not having great short run cars but they held the hendrick cars off here with the short cars with the help of team penske who lined up in between them we talk about it being a team sport it's going to be the driver's responsibility here in a little bit but before that it's going to be the pit cruise opportunity to shine kyle larson has that number one pit stall will that be the difference maker yeah we talk about the the mental state of the drivers and the pressure that they feel behind the wheel now we're going to talk about a group of individuals all equally under a big amount of pressure this could be the final stop of the day should be the final stop of the day and they all are going to be expected to perform and i don't have all the tools that these guys have for data analytics you know is anybody getting them with two tires does kyle larson say i don't know if we could beat him from the second row we're going to take two dives i mean i don't know i don't think so i think it's gonna be four tires but you know i think everything is kind of on the on on the board right now of opportunity and what what can you do to gamble jenny hamlin you'll see his reaction when he hears the caution is coming out i don't know if that's excitement or disappointment i think he thought he was in great shape and needed that thing to stay green i agree with you this has turned into a hendrick gibbs slugfest it just has you know joe gibbs is not here today had some back surgery number one want to wish him well but number two can you imagine being at home watching this two of your guys going at it battling for a championship trying to fight off the the hinder guys as well the stress for two extremely competitive car owners between joe gibbs the super bowl winner also a winner and a champion in nascar and rick kendrick the guy that's been the man to beat for this for i'd say you know 20 years 25 years two of the big car owners swinging it out and i'll add to this we keep talking about the four up front well everyone else is still in this race what if kyle bush from 11th says i'm going to stay out on old tires what if tyler reddick from 13th think they have a chance to win the race or does someone back there take two tires so this field can easily get jumbled up denny hamlin said he lives and loves chaos he's getting ready to be in the middle of it he's about to live the chaos and they're coming to pit road parker right martin trex came on the radio reporting that that car is just a little bit loose on the entries there so they make a small air pressure adjustment in the 19 remember this team struggled a little bit earlier in the race to gain spots on pit road but cleaned it up later it's going to be four tires for martin dave four tires for denny hamlin as well let's see if the crew continues their pace as they have been good stop the last couple he'll get four and goody and and snow go fuel kelly case eliot said he was just a little bit tighter that run could be from the damage when he got into the wall it's gonna be four tires for chase elliot as well marty last run just two three for kyle larson on exit he said i cannot get back to the gas like those guys can't the crew lost some spots on the last stop they have been the best throughout the playoffs the lead on a closed drag race gave three spots for larson there incredible that's it the move of the race so far it was a lucky break for the 19 it is a pit stop for the five remember qualifying on friday determined pit pick they got their number one pistol look how fired up cliff daniels is fourth to first plus three not a spot heath went from the last championship four card to now controlling the race they've been the best all year and then you look at the 19 team yeah not a huge issue a little slow on the right rear we are at the biggest moments right it doesn't take a huge mistake that was just a little clumsy a little clunky that is all it takes to lose spots in the playoffs larson's going to start up front after a great pit stop [Music] song is did [Music] to go steve may be the most important decision of the entire year about to happen right here 25 laps to go for a championship now what lane do you choose kyle larson i assume will take the top hamilton will take the bottom how about chase he'll take the bottom as well the championship four will line up in the front two rows with a little mixture we have a hendrick and a gibbscar and a hendrick in a gibbs car so this is going to be man it's going to be crazy i think denny hamlin absolutely had to take the bottom right there on that run it's easy to say the 11 and gibbs fixed their short run problem but they had track position now the five of kyle larson has track position i think denny hamlin knows that i think denny hammond's got to push the issue here he's got to put the five and larson in a in a bad position trying to run him up the racetrack as the inter turn one you cannot let that five car get ahead of you let's listen to him obviously they're strength all day short run but they didn't have a sprint the last run the five was off the whole time whatever you guys said in rural mortgage keys to victory lane no mistakes denny hamlin can't go below the yellow line before the start finish line on this restart he has to stay in his line he can't cut that corner too soon that's a great launch from the five so far the five surging out front can truex clear hamlin he's gonna do it it all started hamlin did not get the launch he needed now truex is in second larson truex hamlin and elliott the championship for one two three four 23 laps to go truex closed in quite a bit [Music] again he's closing in a little bit on this five car right within a couple car leaks down the back straightaway here comes the nine as well looking at the inside of the 11. chase elliot trying to take third away hamlet's gonna fight hard up top there's grip up top but shorter way around the racetrack new tires chase gonna i thought he'd shut cut that shortcut that match straight away more than he did [Music] the 19 not letting the five get away oh the 19 had to get off the gas a little bit about the corner there now he goes back on the attack into turn three truex perhaps the best long run car of the bunch all day so the key here obviously try to pass him if you can but stay as close as possible if your car comes in if the tires feel great with five or seven to go you have to have them close as he climbs the banking up to that grippy area trying to get a run off the corner i'm surprised truax truex was able to stay that close to larson those first few laps larson up the racetrack a little bit truex right on that yellow line parker and jeff james small came on the radio just before they restarted and told martin this should take off better that tells me i think they pumped up the air pressure a little bit on that 19 to be better here on the short run giving your driver a chance i love it we talked at the beginning of the show about the experience on top of the pit box kyle larson james small kyle larson leading james small the crew chief for truaxes i gotta give my driver a chance something to catch this fast number five car and he's done it the 19 is there he is so good down here in turn three and four pretty equal and wanted to might be able to make some adjustments down here in his line a lot of options in this corner the pressure as high as it's ever been now under 19 laps to go the fight for the lead in the championship larson has it truex junior is bringing it to it larson he's runs up the racetrack a little bit that gives truex what he wants to the bottom clean air i think lawrence is going to have to change his lane down here terrex is close enough now into turn [Applause] there you go that was what you just talked about jeff [Applause] trex run the high side there let's see how how he enjoyed that if he goes back and does that again in turn one and two still using the bottom down here making some good time the five though up the racetrack like you said jeff like he was instructed and look at the run down the front straightaway he goes back to two three car lengths of a lead now he's going to change his line he saw the 19 run the high side if he has that two or three cardinal gap he can make these adjustments that was so close i thought they were going to make contact right there [Music] larson now way up the track getting all the way up into that grippier part [Music] larson and truex now seven tenths of a second in front of elliott who's up to third denny hamlin back to fourth yeah chase is closing in a little bit on these two all right let's go to the party here 15 to go at the line one let's chase radio says try to cheerlead that driver he's like i'm going man i promise get up into the party you heard that adjustments by the 19 to take off better it definitely did he hung with the five but nothing is free if you make an adjustment to make your car fire off does it hurt the 19 on the long run 15 to go we will find out yeah they set the air pressures on these cars to reach a target on the long run if you set those pressures higher you will exceed that target and then in turn lose a little bit of grip on the other end of the run has he gotten to that point yet behind these guys we talk about chase elliott's speed well danny hamlin he is searching everywhere last time through three and four a full car with higher than everyone look at this as high as we have seen anyone down in one over let's go it's time to put every chip you've got to the middle of the table you can't look how you cannot see into turn one it's gotten very difficult hamlin pushing the issue on his entries at this point though it's you know it's either get there or if i wreck this car so what got it you're just not gonna get there for fourth if you don't try something extraordinary he's done some good work here trying to catch this night car hard into the throttle off a turn two he's gonna have a great run down the straight away can't see a thing [Applause] he sees the back bumper of the nine and it's getting closer hard into the gas right there you see him committing to the throttle blade in this race the shade on that turn the temperature dropping in the track can be a really aggressive he's right here on the back bumper of chase elliott man he carried it in there you hear the debris flying off of the tires into the wheel wells way up the racetrack into the dirt big run here handling he stays right behind the nine though as they enter turn three you hear him hammering that throttle trying to get the car to turn get the rear tires hooked up at the same time it's working for him this high line he's gotta get by elliott quickly if he's got any shot at all there he is big move right here coming to ten laps to go he's going to have the speed and the momentum elliot's gonna have to give him the room he had too much of a run for ellie to block that [Music] hamlin makes his way up to third great work by denny hamlin chase is struggling with turn or something he's using the apron a little bit three and four we really see cars do that under 10 to go is it enough time for hamlet to close the gap he's 1.7 seconds behind larson and the information's got up to larson he's now running that high high entry in middle of the corner like the 11 of hamlin larson about eight tenths of a second in front of mark trex jr and then the hard charging eleven of denny hamlin trying to close the gap that time by the fastest car of the front four truex but just barely the sun setting on the racetrack and the season kyle larson has put together the best season of all of the championship four drivers with nine wins looking for his tent yeah the laps are beginning to unravel for all these guys eight laps to go truex again the fastest car [Music] is there enough time well that jeff mentioned it right and we get long enough on these tires that you just lose big chunks of speed quickly you wonder if that's going to affect any of these four in these closing laps these guys have put a a nice distance on chase elliot without a caution his hopes of another championship have all but evaporated here trying to go back to back as we see the speeds of the line hamlin the then fastest tricks junior the top three hamlet's going to relive this restart for quite some time he's not able to get up there the blinding light as they go into turn three coming up on six to go kyle larson sitting here with the lead his pit crew their second fastest stop of the year and the key moment got him in this position it's gonna be five at the line keep it smooth now they gave it him they gave him the lead now he's gotta go do his job and trust me they believe he can that team believes so much in kyle larson and what makes a great crew chief what makes a great leader the cliff daniels sounded like this was a practice day matter of fact here's the information keep it smooth five to go i'm more nervous than he is cliff daniels told us earlier in the year he said i watched back all of larson's dirt races and listened to his lingo so that i knew the communications that he liked to hear the way he said things and larson said you know during races i'm watching the scoring pylon i want to know where everybody is around me well that communication and that knowledge of where everyone is has paid off for larson four laps to go now guys this race is not over remember kyle larson leading pocono on the last lap blew a right front tire left tire actually ended up losing that race we've seen things happen they are not over till they drop that checker and denny hamlin he's catching his teammate truex for that second place and we have some lap cars as well right there in front in front of larson now just three miles to go three laps remain here at phoenix the lap car is getting well out of the way martian really appreciates that we had an opportunity in the pre-race to show kyle larson a tribute from mario andretti there is no bigger name for mario andretti talked about how great kyle larson is kyle larson smiled you can see how much he appreciated that this man has proven he can get it done in every kind of race car truex making a little time here a few car links there two to go half a second separating the top two kyle's got to stay aggressive daniels told him to be smooth into three the gap still six tenths of a second one lap to go presented by credit one bank wow truex made up a lot of time again in turns three and four a huge amount of time he's closed the gap the five now seize the 19. he's getting closer in the mirror down the back stretch for the final time there's going to be a lap bar on the inside not gonna allow truex to run that low line that he wants to run kyle larson a year ago watched the race from north carolina today he's a cup series champion oh my god [Music] [Applause] this is all on you guys unbelievable you guys are the best thank you thanks claire thanks everybody stop boys how about that pit stop great job man awesome there's mr h you can already see the emotion what it means to kyle larson every single vehicle he gets behind the wheel of he has won the biggest races and today he wins the biggest in nascar [Music] 10 wins on the season one of the most dominant seasons that we have seen in recent history [Music] and once again it's taken winning the race to win the championship [Music] [Music] you better be crying boys [Music] you see the emotions [Applause] [Music] kyle larson has won over 300 times since he started racing but this is just the third time he's ever been a champion [Music] flag's kind of heavy [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] now all the way along the grand stands and then maybe he was going to see how far he could make it if he could make it a lap if he could have done a burnout if tires would have took it for a lap he would have done it no championship effort right there a plus what a battle what an absolute battle we talk about how much of a team sport this is we celebrate spotlight the drivers but i don't think i've ever seen a championship one by the entire group that pit stop and as you mentioned steve winning the pole he won the poll that's the first choice of pit selection they took the number one stall it was an advantage the pit crew shined they got him out first he took advantage of it he stayed up front and now is the 20-21 nascar cup series champion [Applause] [Applause] drive your ass off i am so proud [Applause] [Applause] congratulations you heard cliff daniels say you're a champion and kyle ryder way said no we are champions here he is climbing out of the car celebrating with his team cal larson congratulations you are a cup series champion let me get a drink here real quick [Applause] i can't i cannot believe it um i don't even think i'd be racing a cup car a year and a half ago and uh to win a championship is crazy i just i gotta say first off thank you so much to rick hendrick kendrickcars.com jeff gordon nascar every single one of my supporters in the stands watching at home my family i got so many of my friends and family here my parents my sister my wife and kids owen have been giving me crap you know a month and a half ago about how i can't win a cup race when he's there so that added a lot of pressure but there were so many points of this race where i did not think that we were going to win and without my pit crew on that last stop we would not be standing right here so they are the true winners of this race they are true champions i'm just blessed to be a part of this group every single men or person man and woman at hendrick motorsports this win is for all of us and every one of you so this is unbelievable i'm speechless when you cross the finish line with those tears in your eyes did you think about that day your dad brought that go-kart home without telling your mom and that moment led to this i had a lot of a lot of thoughts a lot of thoughts there are those last really since before intros right before intros like it all hit me and i was i had tears running down my face just doing the truck the ride around you know the crowd was cheering loud and it was just a different atmosphere than i've ever been a part of so this event was crazy this format's wild i'm glad we were able to get it done um and yes you know a big shout out to my parents for getting me involved in racing my dad for everything he did build my go-kart uh when i was young to get me playing around my mom for videotaping every lap i ever raced and give me something i could look at and study and get better um gosh so cool i can't i cannot believe it congratulations you are a nascar cup series champion thank you thank you thanks again all you race fans i love you thanks there he is cal larson the champ [Applause] first thing he said wasn't sure if he'd ever be racing in a cup car again a year and a half ago oh here comes his kids owen and wife caitlin there daughter audrey wasn't sure if he'd ever be racing again after being suspended from nascar back in 2020 reinstated a second chance from rick hendrick and he has made the most of that second chance both on and off the track and now he is a nascar cup series champion we'll have more post race coverage on nbcsn kyle larson gave credit to his crew the pit crew got him off pit road first he held off a hard charging martin shrek's junior [Music] and grab his 10th win of the season a dominating performance all year long the regular season champion and now he has won the cup rick hendrick jeff gordon celebrating there'll be more celebration join us on nbcs [Music] yeah i actually thought we had a pretty decent balance uh both ways here i thought we got our car really good very middle portion of the race was able to track down kyle and pass that which uh you know it was hard really hard to pass the leader so just really proud of our effort i thought being prepared celebration continuing and post race coverage again will come up on nbcsn make sure to join us there for all of the championship celebration nascar america championship post race show coming up next here on nbc it's football night in america followed by sunday night football it's titans at the rams and of course our coverage continuing from phoenix on nbcsn make sure to join us there kyle larson

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 204,515

Keywords: nascar cup series full race, Xfinity 500 from Martinsville Speedway | NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay, martinsville speedway, nascar, nascar cup series, alex bowman denny hamlin, denny hamlin mad, alex bowman, denny hamlin, hamlin, bowman, NASCAR Cup Series Full Race Replay, tempers, angry, bump and run, spin out, crash, wreck, denny hamlin gets spun by alex bowman, nascar cup series from martinsville, nascar playoffs, playoff race drama

Id: f2fo6z4qEzA

Length: 204min 40sec (12280 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 09 2021