Ryan Blaney wins NASCAR Cup Series
finale at Phoenix after missing Championship 4
[November 03, 2025]
By JOHN MARSHALL
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ryan Blaney's bid to win a second NASCAR Cup
Series championship came to an end with a bump by William Byron at
Martinsville last weekend.
The dejection didn't deter the Team Penske driver once he arrived at
Phoenix Raceway. If anything, it made him want to win even more.
Determined to finish his season with a win and put last week's
disappointment behind him, Blaney passed Brad Keselowski just before
the finish line to win the NASCAR Series Cup season finale by 0.097
seconds on Sunday.
Kyle Larson won the Cup Series championship, but Blaney earned a
little bit of redemption by winning the race at a track where he had
come so close in the past.
“I don’t know if it’s like a huge relief off our shoulders,” Blaney
said. "I’m just proud that we were in it today and this whole
weekend and brought our best stuff. Even though we weren’t a part of
the championship, we’re determined to try to end the year for Ford
and Team Penske with a win."
Blaney won three times during the 2025 season, but went into
Martinsville needing a win to join the Championship 4 in Phoenix.
The 32-year-old led 177 laps after starting 31st and was in front
with 44 laps left.
Blaney's return trip to the Championship 4 ended a lap later, when
Byron moved him up the track with a bump from the rear to set up a
pass on the low side. Byron led the rest of the way, fending off
Blaney on a late restart to earn the Championship 4 spot instead of
him.
“We were in the spot that we were in,” Blaney said. “Our goal this
weekend was to try to win the race, have great momentum going into
the wintertime. Understood that we weren’t going for a championship,
but we were going to make the best out of it.”
Blaney won a championship at Phoenix in 2023 by finishing second to
Ross Chastain and was third last year in his second Championship 4,
finishing behind champion Joey Logano and Christopher Bell.
Blaney had finished twice at Phoenix Raceway each of the last three
years and started this year's season finale fifth. He led 20 laps,
but couldn't seem to stay in front once he got there.
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Ryan Blaney (12) leads Alex Bowman into the corner during a NASCAR
Cup Series auto race Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Avondale, Ariz. (AP
Photo/Rick Scuteri)
With Denny Hamlin in the lead, a late caution sent
the race into overtime and a good chunk of the field into the pits.
Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler made the decision to go with
two tires on the final pit stop, putting the No. 12 car behind three
cars who stayed out on old tires.
Blaney figured cars in front of him would struggle, and he was
right. Making sure he didn't interfere with Larson's championship
bid, he quickly moved to the front and pulled up next to Keselowski
along the backstretch, passing him just before the checkered flag.
“Nobody gave up,” Hassler said. “Ryan did a good job handling that
situation.”
The win was Blaney’s career-high fourth of the season to go with
victories at Nashville, Daytona and New Hampshire. It was also his
seventh career in a playoff race.
“This is what we needed to do today if we didn’t make it — obviously
there’s what could have been,” Team Penske president of NASCAR
Michael Nelson said. “This is our goal. Last week’s in the rearview
mirror. We had to come here and win. That was the goal with our
teams. Man, it was really great to get that done today.”
Maybe it wasn't for a championship. Blaney and his team are going to
enjoy it just the same.
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