NASCAR Cup Series StatChat 2026 - Phoenix 1
- Adam Carabine
- Mar 7
- 4 min read
By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the Cup Series didn’t start racing there until 1988. Alan Kulwicki won the first race there in this series. Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney won the races at this track last year.
Tomorrow’s race will be 312 laps long (for a total of 312 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 60 – 185 – 312. Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 50 mph. The fuel window is approximately 95-105 laps.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 566 laps, for 1,141.16 miles so far this season. 14 drivers have completed 100% of them so far.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Kyle Larson | 10.35 over 23 races (1 win) |
Denny Hamlin | 10.49 over 41 races (2 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 10.90 over 20 races (1 win) |
Kyle Busch | 11.24 over 41 races (3 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 12.11 over 19 races (1 win) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Cody Ware | 30.33 over 9 races |
Riley Herbst | 30.00 over 2 races |
Michael McDowell | 27.67 over 30 races |
SVG | 27.50 over 2 races |
Zane Smith | 27.40 over 5 races |
For the purposes of this article, we are calling Phoenix a Short Track. (Any tracks 1 mile and less)
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.19 over 196 races (13 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 11.51 over 109 races (4 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.03 over 113 races (5 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 12.12 over 65 races (7 wins) |
William Byron | 12.73 over 87 races (5 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Cody Ware | 31.88 over 40 races |
Riley Herbst | 28.19 over 12 races |
SVG | 26.44 over 12 races |
Michael McDowell | 26.31 over 173 races |
Ty Dillon | 25.60 over 85 races |
Kevin Harvick is far and away the winningest driver at Phoenix of all time. He has 9 wins. Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson are tied for 2nd-most with 4 each.
Drivers who WON their first Cup Series race at Phoenix:
Chase Briscoe | 40th Career Cup Series Start |
Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Phoenix:
Ryan Blaney | 2025 |
Notable drivers who have not won at Phoenix:
Brad Keselowski | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 10 other tracks) |
Alex Bowman | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Chris Buescher | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
SVG | (has won at 5 other tracks) |
Based on average finish, no driver lists Phoenix as their BEST or WORST track.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2025
Tyler Reddick | +1199 pts |
Bubba Wallace | +490 pts |
Daniel Suarez | +437 pts |
AJ Allmendinger | +383 pts |
Noah Gragson | +340 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025
Alex Bowman | -612 pts |
Christopher Bell | -593 pts |
Chase Briscoe | -579 pts |
Denny Hamlin | -473 pts |
Kyle Larson | -440 pts |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (55 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Toyota | 165 |
Chevrolet | 104 |
Ford | 93 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
23XI | 165 |
Hendrick | 90 |
Penske | 90 |
Spire | 89 |
Trackhouse | 86 |
Joe Gibbs | 83 |
RFK | 79 |
Front Row | 77 |
Kaulig | 76 |
RCR | 55 |
Legacy MC | 54 |
Hyak | 45 |
Wood Bros | 40 |
Haas Factory | 37 |
Rick Ware | 37 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Bubba Wallace | 34 |
Ryan Blaney | 25 |
Tyler Reddick | 21 |
Austin Cindric | 19 |
William Byron | 18 |
Chris Buescher | 16 |
Daniel Suarez | 15 |
Chase Elliott | 15 |
AJ Allmendinger | 15 |
Ty Gibbs | 15 |
Milestone Watch
Ross Chastain | Looking for his 40th Career Top 5 |
Chase Briscoe | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Scorigami Update
COTA was the first time that:
Connor Zilisch finished 14th
Carson Hocevar finished 4th
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Cole Custer | 136 races |
Erik Jones | 120 races |
Kyle Busch | 96 races |
Michael McDowell | 87 races |
Daniel Suarez | 73 races |
Brad Keselowski | 62 races |
AJ Allmendinger | 59 races |
Alex Bowman | 51 races |
Chris Buescher | 47 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 44 races |
The race begins Sunday, March 8th at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
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