NASCAR Cup Series StatChat 2026 -Phoenix 2
By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the Cup Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Freeway Insurance 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 that year. Ryan Blaney won this race last year, and also won earlier here in the spring.
Sunday’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 95-105 laps, though tires will likely wear before that.
This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 8,662 laps, for 11,628.29 miles so far this season. No drivers have completed all of them, but Denny Hamlin is the closest, running just two laps down.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Kyle Larson | 10.04 over 24 races (1 win) |
Denny Hamlin | 10.36 over 42 races (2 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 10.43 over 21 races (2 wins) |
William Byron | 11.88 over 17 races (1 win) |
Christopher Bell | 12.08 over 13 races (2 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Cody Ware | 29.70 over 10 races |
Connor Zilisch | 29.00 over 1 race |
Zane Smith | 27.33 over 6 races |
Michael McDowell | 27.06 over 31 races |
Riley Herbst | 26.00 over 3 races |
Phoenix is a 1-mile track, and for the purposes of this article it is looked as a short track.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Joey Logano | 11.37 over 204 races (15 wins) |
Christopher Bell | 11.77 over 73 races (7 wins) |
Denny Hamlin | 11.84 over 239 races (24 wins) |
Ryan Blaney | 12.49 over 121 races (7 wins) |
Chase Elliott | 12.55 over 117 races (5 wins) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Cody Ware | 31.50 over 48 races |
Riley Herbst | 28.07 over 20 races |
Michael McDowell | 26.19 over 181 races |
Ty Dillon | 25.33 over 93 races |
Zane Smith | 24.66 over 34 races |
Kevin Harvick is the winningest driver at Phoenix, having won there 9 times. Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano are tied for the second-most wins, with 4 each.
Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Phoenix:
No One | -- |
Drivers who earned their first Cup Series win at Phoenix:
Chase Briscoe | 40th Start |
Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Phoenix:
No One | -- |
Notable drivers who have not won at Phoenix:
Brad Keselowski | (has won at 17 other tracks) |
Tyler Reddick | (has won at 11 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 drivers list 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
Ty Gibbs | +388 pts |
Daniel Suarez | +340 pts |
Austin Cindric | +245 pts |
Carson Hocevar | +232 pts |
Denny Hamlin | +229 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025
Alex Bowman | -301 pts (missed 4 races with vertigo) |
William Byron | -289 pts |
Ross Chastain | -180 pts |
Chase Elliott | -158 pts |
JH Nemechek | -109 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
Tyler Reddick | 12.06 |
Ty Gibbs | 12.94 |
Daniel Suarez | 15.22 |
Austin Cindric | 15.75 |
Carson Hocevar | 16.13 |
SVG | 18.34 |
Riley Herbst | 22.69 |
Worst Career Year
Cole Custer | 24.78 |
Zane Smith | 22.44 |
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 | 1,412 |
Chevrolet | 1,264 |
Ford | 1,191 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
Joe Gibbs | 1,246 |
Penske | 1,126 |
23XI | 1,124 |
Hendrick | 1,074 |
Spire | 919 |
RFK | 898 |
Trackhouse | 844 |
Front Row | 694 |
Legacy MC | 637 |
RCR | 593 |
Kaulig | 580 |
Wood Bros | 474 |
Hyak | 437 |
Haas Factory | 403 |
Rick Ware | 231 |
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
Ryan Blaney | 275 |
Kyle Larson | 271 |
Denny Hamlin | 252 |
Christopher Bell | 235 |
Ty Gibbs | 231 |
Chase Briscoe | 214 |
Joey Logano | 188 |
Tyler Reddick | 188 |
Austin Cindric | 164 |
Bubba Wallace | 148 |
Milestone Watch
Josh Berry | Looking for his 10th Career Top 5 |
Carson Hocevar | Looking for his 10th Career Top 5 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Ty Gibbs | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Ryan Blaney | Looking for his 190th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Cole Custer | 165 races |
Erik Jones | 149 races |
Michael McDowell | 116 races |
Brad Keselowski | 91 races |
AJ Allmendinger | 88 races |
Chris Buescher | 76 races |
Alex Bowman | 76 races |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 73 races |
Josh Berry | 63 races |
Austin Cindric | 58 races |
The race begins Sunday, October 18th at 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
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