After a pair of superspeedway races and one road course, the NASCAR Cup Series hits a one-mile oval for the first time in 2026 as Phoenix Raceway plays host to a tripleheader that also features the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Ford Racing’s Ryan Blaney goes into the weekend looking for consecutive Phoenix wins after he edged Brad Keselowski to take the final race of the 2025 season.
THE SCHEDULE
- Saturday, March 7 – NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (CW)
- Sunday, March 8 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
UP TO SPEED
BLANEY LOOKING FOR CONSECUTIVE PHOENIX WINS
Ryan Blaney gained four spots in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after his eighth-place run on Sunday at Circuit of The Americas. He comes into this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway trying to make it two wins in a row after taking the season finale there in November. Blaney passed fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski coming off turn four to win by a car length after the two battled over the final lap of an overtime restart. Keselowski, who stayed out during the caution that forced OT, had the lead at the white flag, but Blaney was able to reel him in and make the decisive pass on the final turn. Blaney had his nine-race streak of top-10 finishes at Phoenix snapped in this event a year ago when a mechanical issue resulted in a 28th-place result.
LOGANO LOVES PHOENIX
Joey Logano comes into this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings and a career record at the facility that is impressive to say the least. The Connecticut native has four career victories at the Phoenix facility, which is tied for a career-best at one track with Las Vegas. Logano has finished in the top 10 in more than half of his 34 career starts at the one-mile track (18), which includes 10 top-five runs. Overall, he has an average starting position of 10.4 and finishing average of 12.8.
BERRY BACK-TO-BACK TOP 10 RUNS WITH WBR
Josh Berry has had his share of success at Phoenix Raceway, including last season when he finished in the top 10 of both races. Berry, who is in his second year driving for Wood Brother Racing, was fourth in this event a year ago and followed that with a seventh-place run in the final race of 2025. In five career Cup starts at the venue, Berry has finished 10th or better three times.
CINDRIC LOOKING TO ADD CUP WIN AT PHOENIX
Austin Cindric has yet to find Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway in eight career starts, but he definitely knows the way there should he take the checkered flag first on Sunday. That’s because Cindric won twice in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in back-to-back seasons (2020-21). His triumph in 2020 was the culmination of a championship run that saw him start third for an overtime restart, but squeezed between leader Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson shortly after taking the white flag. That move enabled him to eventually pass Allgaier in turn one and then Gragson in turn three to win the race and title.
RFK RACING READY TO ROLL AT PHOENIX
The RFK Racing trio of Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece have all had their moments during the first three races of 2026, including Preece’s triumph in The Clash at Bowman Gray. Buescher is 11th in the point standings while Keselowski is 12th and Preece 16th. Buescher has finished in the top 10 at Phoenix four times in the last five events while Keselowski was second and Preece ninth in last year’s season finale.
THEY SAID IT
RYAN PREECE: “Phoenix has been OK for us. Last year, with the option tire and some different strategy, we maximized or had the potential for a really good day. So that was good. I feel like our short track setups have certainly been getting better and better. I feel pretty good about it. Chris [Buescher] and Brad [Keselowski] have always been good there, so we'll try and lean on them quite a bit.”
CHRIS BUESCHER: “I look at Phoenix much better nowadays. I would say for a large portion of my career I wanted to burn Phoenix down to the ground. So, we are in a better headspace when we head there with our Ford Mustang Dark Horse now. We've been good there. And honestly, that just fixes a lot of things when you go to a racetrack and you're competitive and it's fun. It puts you in a better place. Our team has done a really good job at RFK over the last, probably three years. It is now to the point where we have a lot of good races under our belt at Phoenix. It's just enjoyable to go and feel like we have a legitimate shot to win, not just trying to figure it out still. We have pretty high hopes heading into that one.”
RYAN BLANEY: “I think we'll take what we learned in November, from winning that race. I think we have a pretty good benchmark of how our Ford Mustang was and what changes we think we can make to be better. You definitely don't want to change the whole thing up, because we were pretty competitive there last year. But you're always trying to go different directions that you think are better. Next week we'll have a pretty good idea of where our larger short track program is at. The good thing is we have a decent notebook from last year, so we'll see.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI: Last year at Phoenix there were a lot of tire issues. It is the same tire now. Will teams be a little bit more conservative? “I think you'll see the same exact thing. The teams are all super aggressive. Just, knock on wood, it's not my car or one of our cars. But I doubt you'll see anything different. And there'll be more tire wear, at least a little bit. There should be, because the cars are going faster. It should be really interesting.”
A LOOK BACK
HARVICK HOLDS PHOENIX RECORD
Kevin Harvick holds the record with nine career NASCAR Cup Series wins at Phoenix Raceway and ended his stellar career with 21 straight top-10 finishes at the one-mile track. That streak started in 2013 when he won the next-to-last race of the season, igniting a six-race stretch that saw him win five times, including four straight, and finish second once. The nine wins proved to be the most for Harvick at any single track with Michigan International Speedway being second with six.
KULWICKI WINS FIRST CUP RACE IN PHOENIX OPENER
Alan Kulwicki, driving the No. 7 Zerex Ford, won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in the debut event at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 6, 1988. Kulwicki, who celebrated by taking a self-described “Polish Victory Lap” for which he is still remembered today, passed leader Ricky Rudd with 16 laps to go and ended up taking the checkered flag in his 85th start by 18 seconds over runner-up Terry Labonte. Fellow Ford drivers Davey Allison and Bill Elliott finished third and fourth, respectively. Kulwicki, who ultimately led four times for 41 laps in taking the next-to-last event of the season, went on to win four more Cup races during his career.
PAST WINNERS
FORD’S PHOENIX CUP SERIES WINNERS
1988 – Alan Kulwicki
1989 – Bill Elliott
1991 – Davey Allison
1992 – Davey Allison
1993 – Mark Martin
1995 – Ricky Rudd
1997 – Dale Jarrett
1998 – Rusty Wallace
2000 – Jeff Burton
2001 – Jeff Burton
2002 – Matt Kenseth
2005 – Kurt Busch (1)
2010 – Carl Edwards (2)
2013 – Carl Edwards (1)
2016 – Joey Logano (2)
2018 – Kevin Harvick (1)
2020 – Joey Logano (1)
2022 – Chase Briscoe (1) and Joey Logano (2)
2024 – Joey Logano (2)
2025 – Ryan Blaney (2)
FORD’S PHOENIX NOAPS SERIES WINNERS
2000 – Jeff Burton
2001 – Greg Biffle
2003 – Bobby Hamilton Jr.
2005 – Greg Biffle (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2008 – Carl Edwards (2)
2009 – Greg Biffle (1) and Carl Edwards (2)
2010 – Carl Edwards (2)
2014 – Brad Keselowski (2)
2015 – Joey Logano (1)
2018 – Brad Keselowski (1)
2020 – Austin Cindric (2)
2021 – Austin Cindric (1)
2023 – Cole Custer (2)
2024 – Riley Herbst (2)
