Martinsville winner Ryan Blaney on Sunday became the third Round of 8 winner to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship, joining Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.
William Byron barely edged Denny Hamlin by eight points for the fourth and final qualifying spot.
Hamlin, who was 4.149 seconds from the victory and his own ticket to the Championship 4, finished third in the race behind Blaney and runner-up Aric Almirola on Sunday.
The other three Round of 8 drivers to come up short were Chris Buescher, regular-season champ Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick. Buescher finished eighth, while Truex was 12th and and Reddick 26th.
Points are out the window in Phoenix. The driver who finishes best among the four—regardless of where that is—will be crowned the champion.
NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 Field
Kyle Larson (4), Chevrolet
Christopher Bell (2), Toyota
Ryan Blaney (3), Ford
William Byron (6), Chevrolet
(2023 wins in parenthesis)
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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