AVONDALE — For six consecutive years, NASCAR's championship road ended in the Arizona desert. On Sunday, Phoenix Raceway instead became another stop on the road to a title.

The championship banners were no longer the centerpiece of the fall race weekend, and no driver left Phoenix with the Cup Series trophy. But with four races remaining in NASCAR's revamped championship format, the stakes were far from diminished.

The Freeway Insurance 500 marked the seventh race of NASCAR's Chase, which replaces the controversial elimination-style playoff system and winner-take-all championship finale that defined the sport's postseason for more than a decade. 

The Chase is a 10-race season conclusion in which the top 16 points-scoring drivers from the 26-race regular season qualify for the championship.

Phoenix hosted its first fall race since 2019 without determining the Cup Series champion, with the season now concluding Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For drivers accustomed to the championship atmosphere at Phoenix, the difference was noticeable.

"It does feel a little bit weird coming here," Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron said, noting the absence of championship banners and “big race feel” around the facility and the city of Phoenix as a whole. "I don't approach it any differently this weekend because of those things. Just a little unique and a little different feel."

Chase Elliott, who won the 2020 Cup Series championship at the venue, shared that sentiment.

"It's still obviously really important as it pertains to just the championship as a whole," Elliott said. "But, it definitely has a different vibe to it."

Under the previous format, the championship went to whichever of the four remaining title contenders finished highest in the season finale. The 10-race playoff had three rounds: 16, 12, 8 and the Championship 4. 

This year, 16 drivers entered the Chase, with no eliminations, and the points leader after the final race wins the championship.

Race victories are now worth 55 points, up from 40, while stage points and finishing positions remain crucial to the title fight. A second-place finish earns 35 points, giving drivers an extra incentive to chase wins without sacrificing consistency.

For Chase Briscoe, the difference could change how teams approach Sunday's 312-lap race, especially when late cautions force pit-strategy decisions.

Briscoe was one of the four championship contenders at Phoenix last November, when finishing ahead of Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Kyle Larson was all that mattered in the title fight.

"If you don't win the race, it still definitely matters," Briscoe said of the new format. "I'm sure the strategy will definitely be different by the end of the race."

Last year's finale illustrated the volatility of the former championship format. Hamlin dominated much of the afternoon, leading 208 laps before a late caution changed the race's complexion. Ryan Blaney ultimately won the race, while Larson finished third to claim his second Cup Series championship without leading a lap.

Larson returned to Phoenix as the driver everyone was chasing.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver lead the standings by 49 points over Hamlin entering the race, with Christopher Bell 51 points behind and Briscoe fourth, 65 points back. Larson averaged a 2.8 finishing position through the first six Chase races, the best for any driver in NASCAR postseason history, regardless of format.

But Sunday, Larson posted a DNF after a blown tire led him into a wall between turns 1 and 2. That cut his lead to 5 points. Tyler Reddick won the race.

Briscoe, entered Phoenix with momentum. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had won the past two races, at Las Vegas and Charlotte.

Phoenix also matters to Briscoe, who earned his first career Cup Series win at the track in March 2022.

Although Larson has established himself as the championship favorite, Team Penske has recently dominated Phoenix Raceway.

Ryan Blaney, Sunday's pole-sitter who ultilmately finished second less than a second behind Reddick, had won the past two Cup Series races at the one-mile oval, including the March event, when he overcame multiple pit-road setbacks and passed Ty Gibbs with 10 laps remaining. He had finished in the top two in six of his last eight Phoenix starts.

“I thought the track really moved around today,” Blaney said after qualifying. "This weekend, we can't show up the same way we did in the spring because you learn things through the year that you think are a better direction as an organization.”

Blaney acknowledged that even a successful history at Phoenix doesn't guarantee a strong result.

"It just shows you the competitiveness of the Cup Series and how hard it is," Blaney said. "Running well is one thing, but then trying to win the race ... is obviously incredibly difficult."

For others, Phoenix offered an increasingly urgent opportunity to salvage their championship hopes.

Chase Elliott sat in 10th following the race, while Byron slid to 14th. Both had won at Phoenix before, but their championship paths have narrowed considerably with only four races remaining.

Ty Gibbs, meanwhile, left the race ninth in the standings. While much of the field focuses on championship calculations, Ty Gibbs pointed to a lighter aspect of the annual trip to Arizona.

"I think Phoenix is just fun to come out and get some real Mexican food, authentic, and the track's really fun, too," said Gibbs, who won the 2022 Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix.

After Phoenix, the Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway before concluding at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8. With three races remaining after Sunday, every point gained or lost in the desert could influence the championship outcome.

For Joey Logano, however, losing the championship finale distinction has done little to diminish the urgency of racing at Phoenix.

"It's still just as important, right?" Logano said. "If we want to win the championship, we have to win this week, in my opinion. So same attitude as normal here."

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.