The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series comes to an end on Sunday at the Phoenix Raceway. There are four drivers left eligible for the season championship: Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. The full field will take part in the race, which is why there are two different sets of odds — odds to finish as season champion and odds to win Sunday’s event. The track in Phoenix is a one-mile oval with a dogleg, featuring two different ends. The race will go 500 kilometers, or 312 laps. Given the fact that this race ends the season and there’s nothing to lose, the action should be exciting. You can catch the action at 3:00 pm Eastern time on NBC. Don’t miss our NASCAR betting suggestions for your wager cards.
NASCAR Cup Series: 2020 Season Finale
Sunday, November 8
Driver Odds (Season Championship)
- Chase Elliott +240
- Denny Hamlin +240
- Joey Logano +260
- Brad Keselowski +280
Driver Odds (To Win the Race on Sunday, Contenders Only)
- Kevin Harvick +300
- Kyle Busch +550
- Denny Hamlin +600
- Chase Elliott +700
- Joey Logano +850
- Brad Keselowski +1000
- Martin Truex Jr +1000
- Ryan Blaney +1400
Who will win the Championship?
The top finisher of the Championship 4 will win the season. Joey Logano won at Phoenix Raceway in March, leading 60 laps. He also has a victory here back in 2016. In the fall 2019 race here, he led 93 laps but ended up settling for ninth place. His car now has the 750 hp package, and in the last two races, he’s been in the top five twice with that equipment.
Chase Elliott comes in with two consecutive wins in races using the 750 hp package, and four wins with that equipment overall. In March at Phoenix Raceway, he led 93 laps, more than any other driver, but crashed into the wall in the late going and could not hold on for the victory.
Brad Keselowski has three wins with the 750 hp package, and he was dominant in each of those races. At New Hampshire, he led 184 laps, and he led 192 laps in Richmond. The layout and flatness at Phoenix Raceway are similar to both of those layouts, so even though he has never won in Phoenix, that expertise with this layout makes him an intriguing pick.
The ageless Denny Hamlin has two wins, 13 top-five finishes and 821 laps led in 30 overall races at Phoenix Raceway. He won the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race here in 2019, when he had to win to get to the Championship 4, winning the first stage and coming in second in the second stage, leading 143 laps overall. This would get the monkey off Hamlin’s back for never having won a NASCAR Cup Series title.
What about the overall race?
There are some other contenders, of course, who could take first place on Sunday. At the top of that list is Kevin Harvick, who missed out on the Championship 4 after some bad luck at Martinsville a week ago. If he had made the final cut, he might offer even less value, but among the field he has the second best average driver rating and average finish at Phoenix Raceway in the last seven events here. In the last 14 races here, he has finished in the top ten each time. He doesn’t offer a lot of value, but he’s likely to be frustrated that he didn’t make the Championship 4 and will come with even more motivation.
Kyle Busch is another driver who has to be looking for motivation at Phoenix Raceway after a subpar 2020. At this track, he has three wins among 12 top-five finishes and has led 1,190 laps. In his last nine races here, he has nine top-five finishes and one seventh-place finish. Given the disappointing season Busch and Harvick have had, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them come in 1-2 ahead of the Championship 4 contenders.
NASCAR Betting Odds
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