Champion: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Race Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Joey Logano of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
SHR Finish:
● Noah Gragson (Started 21st, Finished 12th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Josh Berry (Started 39th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 311 of 312 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 12th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 310 of 312 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 33rd, Finished 37th / Running, completed 302 of 312 laps)
SHR Points:
● Chase Briscoe (14th with 2,184 points)
● Noah Gragson (24th with 612 points)
● Ryan Preece (26th with 584 points)
● Josh Berry (27th with 579 points)
SHR End of an Era (2009-2024):
● Phoenix marked SHR’s 576th and final NASCAR Cup Series race. The team made its official debut on Feb. 15, 2009 in the Daytona 500 with drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, who finished eighth and 36th, respectively. However, that was not the team’s first on-track outing. Some important dates led up to that moment…
● Dec. 17, 2008: Newman tests at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. It is the first-ever on-track activity for SHR.
● Jan. 14, 2009: Stewart and Newman test at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. It marks the first SHR test for Stewart, and the first test where both SHR teams are on track together.
● Feb. 4, 2009: SHR’s two transporters leave the team’s Kannapolis, North Carolina-based shop at exactly 1:08 p.m. EST bound for Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
● Feb. 6, 2009: Stewart drives his No. 14 machine during Budweiser Shootout practice at Daytona. It marks the first official on-track activity for SHR.
● Feb. 8, 2009: Newman and Stewart place both SHR cars within the top-10 during Daytona 500 time trials. Newman posts the third-quickest time and Stewart notches the 10th-fastest time.
● Twenty different drivers have competed for SHR in the NASCAR Cup Series: Kevin Harvick (360 starts), Stewart (262 starts), Aric Almirola (216 starts), Newman (180 starts), Danica Patrick (180 starts), Kurt Busch (177 starts), Chase Briscoe (144 starts), Clint Bowyer (144 starts), Cole Custer (108 starts), Ryan Preece (72 starts), Josh Berry (36 starts), Noah Gragson (36 starts), Daniel Suárez (36 starts), Mark Martin (12 starts), Brian Vickers (five starts), Regan Smith (four starts), Ty Dillon (three starts), Austin Dillon (two starts), Jeff Burton (two starts) and Max Papis (one start).
● SHR’s final win tally stands at 106: 70 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, six non-points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, 29 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and one ARCA Menards Series win.
● SHR’s final championship tally stands at four: two in the NASCAR Cup Series (2011 with Stewart and 2014 with Harvick) and two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2018 owners’ championship and 2023 drivers’ championship with Cole Custer).
SHR Race Notes:
● This was Gragson’s milestone 75th career NASCAR Cup Series start.
● Gragson earned his 16th top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
● This was Gragson’s fourth straight top-20. He finished 18th Oct. 20 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 19th Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and 11th last Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
● Gragson’s 12th-place result equaled his previous best finish at Phoenix, originally earned in March.
Race Notes:
● Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale to score his 36th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the year and his fourth at Phoenix. His margin over second-place Ryan Blaney was .33 of a second.
● Logano earned the NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix by virtue of his win. It was Logano’s third NASCAR Cup Series championship (2018, 2022 and 2024), making him the 10th different driver to win three or more championships all-time, and the only active fulltime driver to accomplish the feat.
● This was Ford’s 740th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory, its 12th of the season and second straight. Blaney won last Sunday at Martinsville for the Blue Oval.
● This was Ford’s series-leading 20th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Phoenix. The manufacturer won the first two races at Phoenix with NASCAR Hall of Famers Alan Kulwicki on Nov. 6, 1988, and Bill Elliott on Nov. 5, 1989. It has now won three of the last six races at Phoenix with Briscoe (March 2022) and Logano (November 2022 and 2024).
● Ford’s NASCAR Cup Series championship streak extended to three in a row with Logano’s victory in the season finale at Phoenix.
● Ford has won the Cup Series championship 12 times by nine different drivers. In addition, Ford has won at least two NASCAR championships in each of the last three seasons, including a sweep of all three last year.
● Logano is the first Ford driver to win at least three NASCAR Cup Series championships and the 10th driver in NASCAR history to do so, joining fellow three-time winners Tony Stewart, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson and Lee Petty; four-time champion Jeff Gordon; and seven-time titleholders Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 33 laps.
● Only 19 of the 40 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Sound Bites:
“Today was a good improvement from where we were in practice, and then from where we qualified we just continued to stay in the fight and inch our way up front. We were looking at a top-10 day and just faded a little bit too much there on the last run. But, overall, today’s about the memories and the people. The people of Stewart-Haas are in a challenging position right now with everything that’s gone on this year, but we all rally behind each other and support each other. And today is about all those people who are looking for jobs, who build these racecars, got our race team to the racetrack and back, and work so hard and sacrifice so much. So, overall, I’m super grateful and I’ll cherish this moment today.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Nitro Circus Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Man, this is just such a special group and I can’t say thank you enough to everyone at SHR for all they did this season. We had some really tough circumstances and a lot of uncertainty, and the No. 4 group still showed up and gave it their all and I am just so thankful.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Texas A&M University Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“That was definitely not the day we wanted? Just couldn’t really ever get the car driving right, definitely not the finish we wanted, but I told the guys before we took off whether we win or finish 36th, let’s just have fun today and enjoy it. I mean, this is probably the most smiling and laughing we’ve ever had after a 29th-place finish. So, yeah, we obviously would’ve loved to have a better result, but at the end of the day, it was all about just enjoying each other and the people and everything that makes Stewart-Haas so special. It’s been a place I’m so thankful to have called home for the last seven years. I knew, honestly, it was going to be a little bit emotional but, I mean, I was crying before we rolled off pit road. Just appreciative of the opportunity Tony (Stewart) and Gene (Haas) gave me. My dream was to make it to the Cup Series and the 14 car was the car I always cheered for, so the fact that I got to drive it and do it for my childhood hero was pretty cool. Definitely something I never took for granted.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“It was a good year and I really appreciate all the hard work.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The 2025 season begins with the non-points Busch Light Clash on Feb. 2 at historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before kicking off its 36-race slate of points-paying events with the 67th Daytona 500 on Feb. 16 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Both races will be broadcast live on FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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