PHOENIX, AZ. - Ryan Blaney passed Brad Keselowski coming off turn four to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Both Ford Mustang Dark Horse drivers battled over the final lap of an overtime restart after Keselowski decided to stay out under caution. He held the lead at the white flag, but Blaney gained ground going into turn three and pulled alongside in turn four before winning by a car length.

The win capped off a four-win season for Blaney, a personal-best, and gave Ford seven overall.  

Five Ford drivers finished in the top 10 with Joey Logano (fourth), Josh Berry (seventh) and Ryan Preece (ninth) joining Blaney and Keselowski.

Kyle Larson won his second career Cup Series championship with a third-place finish, betting Denny Hamlin by three places in the final finishing order. Hamlin appeared destined to win his first title, but fellow Championship 4 contender William Byron blew a tire with four laps remaining to bring out the caution and set the stage for overtime.

NCS RACE TOP-10 OFFICIAL FINISHERS
1st – Ryan Blaney
2nd – Brad Keselowski
3rd – Kyle Larson
4th – Joey Logano
5th – Kyle Busch
6th – Denny Hamlin
7th – Josh Berry
8th – Michael McDowell
9th – Ryan Preece
10th – Chase Elliott

REMAINING FORD FINISHERS
12th – Chris Buescher
22nd – Todd Gilliland
25th – Cole Custer
27th – Noah Gragson
29th – Zane Smith
30th – Cody Ware
34th – Austin Cindric
36th – Casey Mears

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW –
HOW DO YOU PUT THIS INTO WORDS? 
“It’s just cool to end it on a good note. It’s just cool and obviously we had a fast car all day. Those other guys were just kind of faster getting going and I could never retain the lead. Those guys were just really good and it took my car a while to come in, but it was a really good call for two there and keeping track position. I got a decent restart and I was able to kind of roll the bottom in three and four and eek the 6 out at the line. I’m just really proud of the whole group and cool to end it in Victory Lane. It’s a shame we weren’t in the Championship 4. Congrats to Kyle and that whole team. I’m happy for this team that we could end it the best way we could.” 

WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND ON THE FINAL RESTART WITH ALL FOUR CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS THERE? 
“You just go try to win the race. I didn’t really have any of them in front of me. There wasn’t really two of them side-by-side. I tried to race those guys really good all day and gave them respect and tried to let them race it out at time, and at times I could go if it got gapped, but you’re just aware of everybody that’s around you. You don’t want to be the storyline to mess up a guy’s championship, so it was good that we were able to just run our race and run it clean to the end.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Castrol Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
YOU STAYED OUT AT THE END AND IT ALMOST PAID OFF. 
“Yeah, everybody was out of tires, so I guess a few of those guys must have had some tires left. We didn’t, so it was kind of a no-brainer for us.” 

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO COME BACK STRONGER IN 2026? “It’s kind of the story of our season. We’re just needing a little bit of speed, trying to put ourselves in position. We were in position as well as we could, I just wasn’t quite fast enough. Another second place.” 

YOU’VE GOT THE LEAD COMING TO THE FINISH LINE. WHAT DO YOU SEE BEHIND YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO COMING TO THE CHECKERED FLAG? 
“I felt like we were in a good position, but the 5 and the 12 were just stupid fast. That’s what we had.” 

YOU WERE IN POSITION AT THE END. 
“Yeah, we put ourselves in position like you said and just didn’t quite have enough to finish it off, but it was a great day for us, a great day for RFK to be in position. We just want to be a little bit faster to close it out.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
WHAT’S GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND. WE SAW EVERYTHING TODAY. 
“Yeah, we were close. We needed one more lap, to be honest with you. I was underneath them all at the line and had momentum on the short cut. I think I would have cleared them all into one if we had one more, but ifs and buts don’t really matter. Overall, we had a shot at it, but didn’t position ourselves far enough forward for the last green-white-checkered there. We just had a little hiccup on pit road leaving. It was close. You see the leaders right there in front of you and you think you’ve got a shot at it, but just couldn’t quite pull it off. It’s a good way to finish the season – solid. Dang it. I saw the win.” 

THOUGHTS ON THE TIRE TODAY? “I thought it was fine. If you’re aggressive, you’re gonna pay the price when it comes to air-pressure. No one should be blaming Goodyear or anything like that. It’s not on them, it’s on the teams and the settings that they put in their cars. The more aggressive you are, the faster it goes and the more likely it’s gonna blow out. All of us are just trying to figure out where that edge is.” 

THIS FORMAT REALLY PAID OFF WITH THOSE FOUR GOING FOUR-WIDE AT THE END. “When they’re four-wide across the line in front of you what more could people want? There were four heavyweight dogs of our sport that are racing for the win. What else could you want? I don’t get it. I’m sure they’re not complaining about it now, the format, as they sit there and celebrate (laughing).” 

WHAT’S IT LIKE SEEING ANOTHER DRIVER JOIN YOU AS A MULTI-TIME CHAMPION? “Kyle deserves it. He’s a fantastic racer. He does it a lot different than me, so it’s interesting to see how they do over there. They obviously have a great team. Hendrick Motorsports is stout and Larson is a great driver. Cliff is a great crew chief, and they show up when it matters. They do that really well. They were down and out today and figured out a way to win the championship. Kudos to them. Good job to them. That’s that. We move on.”