Who will win the NASCAR Cup Series championship?
Luken Glover: This one is unique in that it has no clear-cut favorite. A sizable factor is due to Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, three of the best drivers this season, not advancing to the Championship 4. Tyler Reddick has done an admirable job of getting there, and you can never sleep on Joey Logano. However, I’m watching for William Byron and Ryan Blaney to fight it out for the championship. Byron’s near-miss on making the title race might have some sleeping on him, and he hasn’t won since the spring. However, Byron has run the most laps in the top five at Phoenix Raceway among the Championship 4 drivers and won there last spring. Blaney has been adamant about his belief in momentum, and he has all of it in the world following his win at Martinsville Speedway. History is on the line for Blaney to be the first driver to win back-to-back titles under the current format. He also has finished in the top five in every Next Gen race at Phoenix. To compare, no other driver has finished in the top 10 in all five races. In the end, I’ll give a slight edge to Byron because of how hard it is to win consecutive titles, but it will be a dogfight.
Mark Kristl: Never bet against even-year Logano. In 31 races at Phoenix, he has 16 top 10s so he’s fast there. Three wins, eight top fives and 908 laps led in total for the driver of the No. 22. He’s on a stretch of three straight races there with zero top 10s, but he and his Team Penske team rise to the occasion both under pressure and at special events. He is a two-time Cup champion, winner of the first Busch Light Clash at the LA Coliseum, 2015 Daytona 500 winner, won the ’22 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and has 35 career wins. To boot, he won the Cup championship the last time he had at least two wins. Logano goes from being momentarily out of the playoffs to champion.
Dan Greene: Logano.
Mike Neff: The championship truly is a crapshoot this year. It is an even-numbered year, so you have to think Logano will win. At the same time, Blaney did it last year and is fast enough; if mistakes don’t torpedo the team’s effort he should be able to go back to back. The Cinderella story of course is Byron, who shouldn’t really be there but would be the ultimate surprise winner. Then there is Reddick — driver for 23XI Racing, one of the teams that is suing the sanctioning body, racing for one of the most famous…
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