NASCAR Cup Series Championship 2022 Betting Preview
05 November 2022
It's Super Sunday on the NASCAR circuit as the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Camping World Truck Series will all crown champions at Phoenix. The Cup Series will have a new title holder after Kyle Larson was eliminated a couple of weeks ago, and either Joey Logano or Chase Elliott could add their name to the list of 2X champs.
Ross Chastain - fresh off his controversial but also jaw-dropping final turns at Martinsville - and Christopher Bell, who has twice won this postseason in elimination races, round out the final four.
Traditionally one of the final four racers usually finds a way to capture the checkered flag in the playoff finale and not just pick up the title by being the highest finisher. We will see if that trend holds up on Sunday, although the Dunkel Index likes these drivers.
Denny Hamlin (236.418)
Hamlin was two turns away from racing for the championship this Sunday until Chastain's daredevil move riding the wall to go from 10th to fifth and edge #11 out by four points.
Hamlin ended up being the first man out of the Championship Race, but showed good sportsmanship by calling Chastain's move "brilliant."
Christopher Bell (236.712)
How can you go against Bell with the chips on the line? He was facing a knockout in the round of 12 before winning at the Charlotte Road Course and securing his automatic advancement.
Bell was once again trailing in points at Martinsville and in danger of being eliminated before leading an impressive 150 laps to once again punch his ticket for the next round.
Joey Logano (237.735)
Logano was the first driver to clinch his spot in the Phoenix Championship Race, winning at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the opener of the round of eight.
Logano has championship experience as the 2018 Cup Series playoff winner, although his final race victory came at Homestead-Miami where he edged out Martin Truex, Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch, going 1-2-3-4 for the playoff drivers. Logano has finished in the top three at Phoenix in three of his last five starts here.
A.J. Allmendinger (237.826)
It's somewhat surprising that Allmendinger rates high on the Index this week, although, with his elimination from the Xfinity playoffs last week, he will have more time to focus on the Cup Series, where he'll be driving full-time next season.
Allmendinger doesn't have a great recent history at Phoenix, with his best finish in the last ten years being 15th.
Kyle Larson (238.632)
It would have been nice to see Larson get the chance to defend his Cup Series Championship from a season ago, especially because he's been driving well down the stretch. Larson picked up the win in Miami two weeks ago and then finished second behind Bell in Martinsville last Sunday.
He won at Phoenix outright last November to claim his first Cup Series championship and has been in the top seven in six of his last seven trips to this track.
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All Media on this page by Associated Press.
