NASCAR needs to manufacture excitement | News, Sports, Jobs - Morning Journal News

AVONDALE, Ariz. — NASCAR on Friday dismissed the sentiment that this weekend’s championship finale lacks the pizzazz and star power of a major event.

The final four — Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and William Byron — is the youngest since the winner-take-all format began in 2014 and Larson is the only previous Cup Series champion among the contenders.

Larson and Bell are longtime dirt track rivals but have settled any simmering disputes while Byron dates Blaney’s younger sister. The drivers have acknowledged Sunday’s showdown at Phoenix Raceway lacks the hype of years past, but NASCAR pushed back as the weekend arrived.

“We have a playoff system that I believe is the toughest in sports,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said. “Think about the style of racing that we have, and the incredible competition that we have on the racetrack and the variety that our drivers had to go through.

“They raced on dirt. They raced on concrete. They raced on asphalt. They raced on short tracks, street courses, road courses, superspeedways,” Phelps continued. “Is there another racing series on the planet that can say that? I don’t think there is. We’ve got the best racing in the world, and I think it’s the most competitive racing in the world and when we crown that champion on Sunday, that champion is going to be very deserving.”

Nobody is questioning the versatility required over NASCAR’s 38-race season, which began this year at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in February.

Still, Blaney unprompted lamented that the final four had “no bad blood, no rivalry, no one’s mad at each other in this one.” Retired driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., part of NBC’s broadcast team for the race, even said the final four were “just not very dynamic or aggressive.”

This year’s playoff field, average age of 28 with Larson at 31 the oldest, is missing five-time most popular driver Chase Elliott because he didn’t make the field. Cup champions Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were all eliminated early, young fan favorites Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace were knocked out and regular-season champion Martin Truex Jr. and divisive personality Denny Hamlin fell short last week.

The four left standing are soft-spoken drivers and, with the exception of Larson, have never won anything as big as a Cup title. Bell is back in the championship for the second consecutive year, but Blaney and Byron are making their first appearances. Larson is the 2021 champion.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR chief operating officer called Larson and Bell two of the best racers in the world and praised the final four for “what they do to represent our sport.”

“Everyone is not going to be a certain personality that drives things,” O’Donnell said. “We’re not going to be a soap opera. We’re a sport that’s going to go out there to race and showcase the talent of our athletes. With that will come personality. With that will come some storytelling.”

He acknowledged NASCAR could do more for its young stars and said industry leaders are actively discussing increased engagement and storytelling. NASCAR has an agreement with Netflix for a docuseries about this year’s 10-race playoffs that will air in early 2024.

Maybe it will be spectacular and drive interest to the dizzying heights “Drive To Survive” has taken the global Formula One series in North America.

“We’ve talked about (how) it’s on everybody, race teams, the tracks, what we’re doing at track to showcase our drivers,” O’Donnell said. “Going back a little bit old school, some of the things we used to have — the stages at tracks, autograph sessions, things we may have gotten away from. Getting the drivers with their helmets off, getting that personality out there a little bit more.

“I think we have a big opportunity as a sport because we have a crop of young drivers for fans to come in and embrace,” he said. “Now we have to do the job, as do they, to say, ‘Hey, come root for me, come along for the ride.’ It’s a lot of young drivers that we need to have fans embrace and latch onto and show them why.”

Blaney fastest

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ryan Blaney was fastest of NASCAR’s championship contenders Friday in the only practice session ahead of the title-deciding season finale Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

“Ryan Blaney gets around Phoenix really, really well,” said Blaney crew chief Jonathan Hassler. “There’s never been a time that we haven’t had speed.”

Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace, two drivers already eliminated from the playoff field, paced the Friday night practice. Blaney was third and followed by Christopher Bell, who is one of the final four drivers racing for the title.

William Byron, winner at Phoenix in the spring, was seventh fastest and Kyle Larson was the slowest driver of the title contenders in 11th. Larson also grazed the wall with his Chevrolet late in the 50-minute practice session.

“We have a small paint mark. No big deal,” said Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels, who said it is about the 10th time this year the team will have to repair that portion of the car after a Larson wobble.

“I’ve got no problem with him pushing hard,” Daniels added. “This isn’t exactly overstepping the edge. He always pushes the car really hard, and especially in practice, which is great for us, right? It lets us know what kind of speed he can extract out of it, what kind of adjustments we need to make.”

The Cup champion will be the highest-finishing driver among the final four contenders on Sunday.

Larson won the title by winning the race here at Phoenix in 2021 and is back in the championship round for the second time in three years. Bell was in the finale a year ago, while Blaney and Byron are making their first appearances.

Although the oddsmakers have named Larson the betting favorite, it is Blaney who enters the race with the most momentum.

He won last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, has two wins in the last five races, and has been runner-up at Phoenix in NASCAR’s last two visits.

Blaney is trying to give Team Penske a second consecutive Cup title after teammate Joey Logano won a year ago.

Byron and Larson both drive Chevys for Hendrick Motorsports, which won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021 with Chase Elliott and Larson. Bell is the lone Toyota representative and driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which last won a title with Kyle Busch in 2019.

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