NASCAR riding a wave of storylines into championship week

Yesterday at 01:33 PM

NASCAR championship week is here.

It's the busiest and more exciting week and weekend of the season, but this year there is far more going on around the sport than crowning a champion. All three series were on track last weekend, and all three series left Martinsville Speedway having experienced some sort of drama or driver frustration with regard to how the elimination races played out.

As the week continues to unfold, here are the headlines to follow.

Martinsville fallout

As of this writing, NASCAR has not further addressed anything from Sunday night at Martinsville Speedway. The Championship 4 is not expected to change. However, NASCAR has to look at the radio communications from the Nos. 1, 3 and 23 teams to understand how the final laps were run by manufacturer teammates around William Byron and Christopher Bell.

The last time NASCAR found that someone had helped a teammate was at the Charlotte Roval elimination race in 2022. Stewart-Haas Racing was penalized with points, money, and suspensions for Cole Custer's team being determined to have pulled over for Chase Briscoe.

The radio communication indicates there was some ‘plan’ in place, which likely would be not to mess with a fellow Chevrolet driver. The optics of Byron having blockers needs to be addressed. NASCAR also tore down Wallace's car to see if something happened to it when he slowed on the final lap at a time when Bell needed that position.

Regardless of what NASCAR decides, it will be a topic of conversation during the final weekend of the year. You can count on drivers facing questions or using social media to express their opinions over who would have been penalized, whether NASCAR got it right or wrong, and if Bell intentionally rode the wall.

Preliminary injunction decision

Of course, a decision in the antitrust dispute appears likely to happen right in the middle of championship week, and with one of those championship-contending teams also being one of the parties suing NASCAR. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports want to race as charter teams next season while having the release clause about suing NASCAR removed from the agreement. Whatever the decision, it will have big implications on the 2025 season and will hang over championship weekend.

State of the sport

NASCAR is expected to address the media in its traditional state of the address at some point during the weekend. One has to imagine this year's edition will be among the most dreaded for NASCAR.

Consider the usual questions about the racing product and officiating, and add in the ongoing lawsuit and that a decision is expected this week regarding the preliminary injunction. Oh, and one of the drivers competing for the championship – Tyler Reddick – is employed by one of those teams suing NASCAR.

Martin Truex Jr.'s final ride

It's the final ride as a full-time driver, at least. Truex has plans to run the Daytona 500 next season, and who knows if or when he might pop up after that.

The New Jersey native’s career is up there with the best. Truex was spotted because of his talent and given an opportunity to become a NASCAR driver at a time when he admits he wasn't working toward that. It quickly resulted in two Xfinity Series championships driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., and then a rocky Cup Series career between 2007 and 2013.

There were years of struggles in inferior equipment, changes of teams, and then a cheating scandal, not of his own doing, that booted him from the playoffs. But when Truex landed at Furniture Row Motorsports, it all changed. Not instantly, but after a terrible 2014 season, the work began, and by 2017, he was a champion.

Since 2015, Truex has won 32 races. He did it with class and passion, and has become a figure that others in the garage would be hard-pressed to find something bad to say about. As soon as he's eligible, Truex will be a first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer.

Stewart-Haas Racing

The sand in the hourglass runs out Sunday night for Stewart-Haas Racing. The organization can go out as champions in the Xfinity Series if Cole Custer defends his 2023 title, but in the Cup Series, the only thing on the line is one more checkered flag to chase. The expectations aren't high for a victory given the company’s struggles over the last few seasons, coupled with the fact that the odds are in favor of championship contender triumphing. But there will be no quit by anyone wearing a Stewart-Haas shirt.

It will be an emotional day, too. Stewart-Haas prided itself on being a place where hardcore racers and hard-nosed drivers went to work. Although it ends with a whimper instead of the bang it could once make, the organization deserves the respect of being remembered for what it did in its heyday and not for its ending.

Stewart-Haas will have run 1,986 national series races when the weekend comes to a close. With one weekend left to add some more, 70 victories have been earned in the Cup Series and 28 in the Xfinity Series.

Ryan Blaney repeat

There has not been a repeat champion since Jimmie Johnson won five straight Cup Series titles from 2006 to 2010. And there has never been a back-to-back champion in the elimination era format. Blaney has the chance to reset both of those statistics this weekend. He's well aware of no driver having yet repeated in this format, –and he knows someone has to be the first.

Blaney surprised with his championship run last year, and to back it up with another championship race solidifies his spot as a top contender in the series. No longer is this a driver and team who would be talked about as having potential but always falling short at the end of the year.

Joey Logano looking for three

There are two active drivers in the Cup Series with more than one championship on this resume. That could change Sunday if Blaney adds a second, but for now it's Logano and Kyle Busch with two titles. A third for Logano would give him the most championships for an active full-time driver.

Logano and his team have been given two weeks to prepare. Paul Wolfe having two weeks to make sure they are better at Phoenix Raceway than they were in the spring shouldn't be overlooked. And if Logano is hard to beat for a race win, it's a different level when he's competing for the championship. So, putting aside how he got here – Alex Bowman’s disqualification and Logano not being strong in the regular season – he is here, and he's going to be a factor on Sunday.

Justin Allgaier tries again

The NASCAR veteran gets another shot at his first championship, and he'll again have many in his corner, hoping it happens. Allgaier has been a staple in the Xfinity Series since joining JR Motorsports in 2016, and he's done everything but win the big prize. It hasn't been for lack of effort, but fortune has not shined on Allgaier when it matters most.

In 296 starts with JRM, Allgaier has won 22 races. He's finished no worse than seventh in the standings with six previous Championship 4 appearances. And he was the championship runner-up to Cole Custer last year.

It's fitting he's made it to the Championship 4 because it's been another season and postseason of not having things come easy. Perhaps, given all that's happened to Allgaier and his No. 7 team, taking the hard road will result in the biggest reward.