Phoenix Championship Review, 2022 NASCAR Season Review, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E36

In the season one finale of Chasing the Cup, the races from the championship weekend at Phoenix are reviewed. Joey Logano becomes the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Ty Gibbs becomes the Xfinity Series champion, and Zane Smith becomes the Camping World Truck Series champion. The races at Phoenix are described as underwhelming, with mediocre racing and average tracks. There is news about NASCAR's 75th anniversary, driver polls, and TV ratings. Jimmy Johnson returns to NASCAR as a racer and owner. The 2022 NASCAR season is reviewed, highlighting the introduction of the next-gen car, diverse winners, improved racing, and the end of eras. Before I begin, this episode is dedicated to the life of Koi Gibbs. He is the son of Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs and the father of NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs. And hours after celebrating his son's championship, Koi passed away overnight in his sleep. My condolences go to the Gibbs family. Hello everyone, welcome to the season one finale of Chasing the Cup, I'm your host Will Englund, and in this final episode of season one, I'm going to be reviewing the races from the championship weekend at Phoenix. I'll go over some news stories before the offseason, and I'm going to review the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. But first, let's take a look at the results from Phoenix. Joey Logano is your 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion, and he claims the title by winning at Phoenix, and he's followed by Brian Blaney in second. Ross Jastang comes runner-up in the championship points by finishing third. Chase Briscoe finishes fourth, Kevin Harvick finishes fifth, William Byron finishes sixth, Kyle Busch in his last start for Joe Gibbs Racing finishes seventh, Denny Hamlin finishes eighth, Kyle Orson finishes ninth, and Christopher Bell claims the third spot in the championship points by rounding out the top ten. And the final championship four-driver, Jace Elliott, finishes 28th, coming home fourth in the championship points. And the racing was okay, but Phoenix is just very underwhelming, especially with the design of the next-gen car. Phoenix is just not that good of a racetrack to race at with this car, and it puts some pretty mediocre racing in this configuration. And Joey earned that championship. He was the best car all day, and the best car all day won the race, and he is the champion. And I think Ross Jastang, in my opinion, had the better car toward the end, but he did not have the time to make up the distance. That allowed Joey to come home in first. Meanwhile, the fastest guy all year, Jace Elliott, comes up short in 28th, fourth of the championship four-drivers, because of Ross Jastang. And it looked like to me that it was just one of those racing deals. It looked like Ross Jastang didn't know Jace Elliott was chickening out a little bit. Elliott came down a little bit as well. I don't think Ross Jastang was expecting that, and he turned him, not on purpose, but on accident. It's just one of those racing deals. And so overall, a very underwhelming championship four race, especially compared to the races at Homestead. And in my opinion, I think the championship race needs to be moved somewhere else besides Phoenix, because although the facility is very nice, the racing is very subpar, especially compared to other flat ovals that we've raced at this year, like New Hampshire and Gateway. As well as Martinsville the previous weekend was better. Meanwhile, tracks like Phoenix and Richmond are just not really that good. Next up for Xfinity, Ty Gibbs is your 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion, and he's followed by Noah Gregson in second, who comes up short of getting the title. Justin Allgaier finishes third, and finishes third of the championship four-drivers. Landon Castle finishes fourth, AJ Allmendinger finishes fifth, Sheldon Creed finishes sixth, Riley Herbst finishes seventh, Daniel Hemrick finishes eighth, Austin Hill finishes ninth, and Sammy Smith runs out the top ten, and Josh Berry finishes 13th and will finish fourth of the championship four-drivers. And this race was slightly better than the cup race. There was more passing, and the racing was a lot closer. There seemed to be more slipping and sliding and more passing in that race compared to the cup, but still, it feels underwhelming compared to other short ovals. But overall, it was still an okay race. Was it the best race of the year? No. But was it the worst race for Xfinity? Nope. I thought this race was okay. And finally, for the truck race, Zane Smith is your 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, and he's followed by Ben Rhodes in second, and Ben Rhodes finishes second of the championship four-drivers. Taylor Smith finishes third, and finishes third of the championship four. John Harnonemacek finishes fourth, Stuart Friesen finishes fifth, Grant Enfinger finishes sixth, Corey Heim finishes seventh, Tanner Gray finishes eighth, Kaden Honeycutt finishes ninth, and Carson Hosovar rounds out the top ten, and Ty Majewski finishes 20th and finishes fourth of the championship four. And this race was just as good as the Xfinity race. The racing was tight, especially toward the end, and there was plenty of passing. It was a good race, and overall, it's a very average weekend for Phoenix. All the races were pretty average, with some tight battles here and there, especially toward the end with trucks, and Phoenix is just an average racetrack, in my opinion. There's nothing that makes it stand out compared to some of the mile-and-a-halves, and the short track, it's just average. Average racing, and the only thing that's unique about it is its shape, and the dog leg. That's just about it. It just feels like every other average track. And so, with that out of the way, let's get to the news. NASCAR will be kicking off its 75th anniversary with a float and the Rose Bowl Parade. Noah Gregson will be running the Snowball Derby. Of course, he is the 2018 champion. Mike Kelly has been named the crew chief for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at JTG Doherty Racing. Veteran crew chief Brian Petty will be joining KBM to lead the number 51 team in 2023, with KBM's first year with Chevy. NASCAR's most popular driver poll has been opened, and you can vote for your favorite driver for the three series until Wednesday, November 30th at 12 PM. And the most popular driver will be announced at the awards program on December 1st. Next is the Phoenix TV ratings. NBC earned a 1.86 rating and 3.213 million viewers, which is a tick down from last year, which was a 1.95 rating and 3.214 million viewers. So, about a difference of 1,000 viewers, but a decrease of 0.09 for the rating. So, a little less people did not watch the finale, but it was still pretty flat. The Truck Series saw a growth in the TV ratings this year. According to Fox Sports PR, the trucks averaged 627,000 viewers for all 23 races on Fox and FS1, which is up 5% from the 599,000 viewers for 22 races in 2021. On FS1 alone, the truck races posted a 0.4% gain over 2021, so good to see there for the Truck Series having slightly better viewership than last year. NASCAR is looking for partners to sponsor the Chicago Street Race. NASCAR is not going to do a traditional race sponsorship, but instead they're going to be using a founding partner model to sponsor the race. Paula Casino Spa and Resort will be the title sponsor to the last Cup Series race on the All-Club Speedway's two-mile oval. Steve LaTarte missed the Phoenix broadcast of the championship race due to an emergency surgery. Chase Purdy will be driving the number four truck full-time for KBM, and Jack Wood will be one of the rotating drivers for the number 51 in 2023 for KBM. And some big news that broke over the Phoenix weekend, Jimmie Johnson is returning to NASCAR by obtaining an ownership state in Petty GMS, and he'll also run part-time for Petty GMS in a third car, so it's great to see Jimmie Johnson back in NASCAR, both as a racer and a new owner. And of course, he'll be teaming up with the original seven-time champion Richard Petty. Ryan Seig's crew chief Kevin Starland has retired from his crew chiefing duties after the Phoenix race. Menards will be moving over to Junior Motorsports to continue to sponsor Brandon Jones for the 2023 Xfinity Series season, and will be the primary sponsor for all 33 races. Next is the Martinsville TV ratings, NBC aired a 1.52 rating and 2.51 million viewers for the Xfinity 500, which is a tick down from a 1.61 rating and 2.627 million viewers from last year. Bass Pro Shops will be sticking with Junior Motorsports, and will be one of the sponsors sponsoring Josh Berry and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Xfinity Series for at least one race, and will be the primary sponsor for Carson Quaffle. So it's great to see Bass Pro Shops stay with Junior Motorsports after Noah Gregson's jumped the cup. And I'd say right now, I think I know which race it's gonna be. That Junior will race the Bass Pro Shops car, and I think it's going to be Bristol, because it's the Bass Pro Shops night race for cups, and that's pretty much the reason why I think he'll run that race, because of the sponsor. And finally, Ryan Farkas has parted ways with JD Motorsports, after running his final race for JD Motorsports at Martinsville. And so that's it for this week's news, now it's time for our 2022 NASCAR season review. What a year this was for NASCAR, with the introduction of the next-gen car, and with 19 different winners, it was a year with a lot of parody, and first-time or second-time winners, including at tracks you would not expect it, and it brought improved racing at a lot of racetracks, like mile-and-a-halves like Auto Club, Kansas, Las Vegas, and others. It also reintroduced stadium racing in NASCAR, racing at the LA Memorial Coliseum for the Clash, as well as Worldwide Technology Raceway's Cup debut in June, as well as the news drop during the season that a street race in Chicago will be happening next year. We also saw some drivers return to victory lane for the first time in two-plus seasons. Drivers like Chris Buescher and Austin Dillon, as well as a champion's return to form in Kevin Harvick. After going winless last year, Harvick got two wins during the regular season. We also saw an era come to an end, with Kyle Busch leading Joe Gibbs Racing, and Eminem leaving the sport entirely to pursue new marketing options, as well as the end of the post-Earnhardt era, with Kurt Busch's retirement from full-time racing this year, as well as the start of a new era. This year, many new drivers won their first races, including Ross Chastain, who went on to finish second in the standings. This new movement that we're currently seeing in NASCAR is really starting to take off, as the old guard is starting to move out of the sport, and a new generation of young, talented drivers are starting to move in, and there are many more of these drivers that have yet to come, including some that will come up next year in Noah Gregson and Ty Gibbs. We also saw controversy both on and off the track, especially with drivers like Ty Gibbs and Boval Wallace, as well as safety concerns with this new car, which look to be resolved, and further testing will be done during this off-season. We saw a rookie win the Daytona 500 for the first time since Trevor Bayne won in 2011. We saw the previous year's champion, Kyle Larson, get taken out of contention for the title in the round of eight. We saw a lot of loose wheel penalties, and multiple four-week suspensions for many different crew chiefs, from the biggest team to the smallest team, everyone had a loose wheel at one point. We also saw NASCAR crack down on teams to prevent further innovation on this car, but we also saw NASCAR crack down on the drivers harder than they have in decades, not only about modifying these cars, but as well as the drivers' actions on the track. It looks like they're trying to gain the same kind of control that they had during the Bill French Jr. era. We saw the creation of the word Chastain, and the rivalry between Danny Hamlin and Ross Chastain, with the incidents at Gateway, Atlanta, and Pocono. We also saw a wreck-fest in the Xfinity Series race at Portland in the rain. We saw a return to form for the Coca-Cola 600, returning as a race of attrition, kind of like how it was many years ago, and man, what a good show that Charlotte on the Oval put on for the Coke 600. We saw the leaders take each other out on the final lap at the Bristol Dirt Race, and Kyle Busch sneaking to get his last win with Joe Gibbs. We saw Christopher Bell coming in the clutch twice to advance his way into the round of eight and the championship four. We saw Ross Chastain make a move like another on the outside, on the wall, passing all the cars he needed to advance into championship four. We saw NASCAR's most popular driver dominate the regular season in the Cup Series and point his way into the championship four. And we saw Joey Logano make a rise in the playoffs and take advantage of having an extra week to prepare for the championship race. And we saw Joey Logano put on a performance at Phoenix and win the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series title. What a season it was for NASCAR, not only for the Cup Series, but for all three series. And for the Truck Series, it was the end of an era. The end of the Camping World era, an era that started in 2009 when Camping World replaced Craftsman as the title sponsor because of the decline of Sears. But after this year, replacing it ironically is Craftsman, but instead of being owned by Sears, it is now owned by Stanley DeWalt. So it'll be only the Craftsman Truck Series in name. And finally, I want to give my opinion on the season. I think this season is definitely a great season with the multiple winners as well as the creation of one of NASCAR's most iconic moments, as well as all the other things that I listed, making this season the best currently of the 2020s decade. But one season has to end for another to begin. And so that'll pretty much do it for the 2022 NASCAR season, and that'll do it for Teasing the Cup Season 1. If you enjoyed Season 1, please like and subscribe for more. And so I wish you happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and may all your New Year dreams come true. And I'll see you in February with the LA Clash preview. But until then, I hope you have a great off-season, and I'll see you in February.