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NASCAR Cup Series Championship - Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Ariz. - November 2, 2025

AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 4TH  
STAGE 1: 4TH  
STAGE 2: 20TH  
FINISH: 34TH  
POINTS: 14TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse showed strong early pace in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway before late-race trouble brought an early end to their day. After starting fourth, Cindric quickly settled into third and remained a steady presence inside the top five throughout the opening segment, crossing the line fourth at the conclusion of Stage 1. A series of cautions in Stage 2 shuffled the running order, and a slow stop midway through the Stage dropped the No. 2 team toward the back of the field in 28th. A hard charge from the No. 2 saw Cindric gain a handful of positions before the second segment concluded, in which he finished 20th. The Discount Tire team continued to battle through the final stint, methodically working back inside the top 15 before a spin on Lap 259 sent the No. 2 Ford Mustang into the wall with heavy right-rear damage. The team made repairs to keep the car in the race, and Cindric went on to finish 34th after nursing the damaged Discount Tire machine to the checkered flag.

CINDRIC'S THOUGHTS: "We had really strong pace early and put ourselves in a good position to start the day. Unfortunately, things didn't go our way there at the end. I'm proud of this No. 2 team for the effort they've put in all season - everyone has continued to fight week in and week out. Thank you to all our partners and everyone at Team Penske for their support. We'll reset, get to work this offseason, and come back ready to hit the ground running in 2026."

RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/DUTCH BOY FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 5TH  
STAGE 1: 2ND  
STAGE 2: 2ND  
FINISH: 1ST  
POINTS: 6TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse team capped off the 2025 season with their fourth win of the year Sunday at Phoenix in a thrilling overtime finish. Blaney's fourth win marks a single season career best for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and his first career win at Phoenix after producing runner-up efforts in four of his previous six starts at the one-mile oval. Sunday's result also marked Blaney's 15th top-five run of the year, setting a new single-season best.

Blaney proved to be one of the strongest cars in field from the drop of the green flag and maintained top-five pace to secure second-place finishes in both of the opening stages. Following the end of Stage 2, the No. 12 team won the race off pit road after a four tire stop as Blaney lined up from the inside of row one to begin the final run to the finish. Despite losing control of the lead during the ensuing run, a caution with 34 laps to go set up a restart with 28 laps remaining as Blaney charged to third in the running order with his sights set on the leaders. The final caution of the afternoon came out with three laps to go with Blaney scored second, prompting crew chief Jonathan Hassler to make the call for right side tires only as the No. 12 team again led the way off the pit lane. With three cars staying out under caution, Blaney lined up from the inside of row two for the green-white-checkered finish and was able to come out ahead of a three-wide battle in turns three and four to jump to the second spot and took the white flag two car lengths back of the lead. Despite entering the final corner behind the No. 6, Blaney charged to the inside on the exit and powered to the lead to take the checkered flag and secure his fourth win in the season finale.
 

BLANEY'S THOUGHTS: "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 [Brad Keselowski] 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 [Larson] and that whole team. I'm happy for this team that we could end it the best way we could."

JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE

START: 10TH  
STAGE 1: 8TH  
STAGE 2: 8TH  
FINISH: 4TH  
PLAYOFF POINTS: 7TH

RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team capped off their 2025 season with a top-five effort in Sunday's season finale at Phoenix, taking the checkered flag fourth following an overtime finish. Logano ran consistently in the top-10 all afternoon, securing eighth-place finishes in the each of the first two stages before settling in for the final run of the season. A caution with 54 laps to go prompted a four tire stop under caution before Logano lined up to take the green from the inside of row three and battled his way into the top-five during the opening laps of the restart, but another caution with 34 laps remaining reset the field once again. Following another stop on pit road for four tires, Logano took the green flag with 28 laps to go and found speed in the outside lane to vault to third in the running order with his sights set on the leaders ahead. The final caution of the afternoon was displayed with three laps to go as crew chief Paul Wolfe made the call for right side tires only to maintain track position for the ensuing green-white-checkered finish. With three cars opting to stay out, Logano lined up from the inside of row three and found success in the bottom lane to work his way to fourth when the white flag was shown. Logano carried a strong run coming out of the final corner, but ultimately settled for a fourth-place result in Sunday's season finale.
 

LOGANO'S THOUGHTS: "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."

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series kicks off with the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 1. The Cup Series regular season kicks off with DAYTONA 500 on Sunday, February 15th. Both races will be broadcast on FOX, MRN Radio, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.