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NASCAR CUP AND XFINITY CHAMPIONS TO BE CROWNED AT PHOENIX RACEWAY THIS WEEKEND ON NBC, USA NETWORK AND PEACOCK

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Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and William Bryon and Kyle Larson to Race for 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock; Pre-Race Coverage Begins at 2 p.m. ET

NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race Airs Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network

Media Availability with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen at NASCAR Championship Media Day Thursday at 2:15 p.m. PT

NBCSports.com’s Nate Ryan and Dustin Long Surround Championship Weekend with Comprehensive Coverage

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 1, 2023 – NBC Sports presents the 2023 NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series championship races from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., this weekend, as NASCAR champions will be crowned across NBC, USA Network and Peacock.

The NASCAR Cup Series title race will be presented Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with a special edition of Countdown to Green beginning pre-race coverage at 2 p.m. ET. Below are the Championship 4 drivers vying for the Cup Series title:

    • Christopher Bell: the lone returning driver from last year’s Championship 4, Bell has won twice this season, including a win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Round of 8;
    • Ryan Blaney: Blaney earned his first title shot following five appearances in the Round of 8 with a victory at Martinsville Speedway last week, punctuating a run of two wins and four top 10s in the last five weeks;
    • William Byron: Byron can lean on recent success at Phoenix Raceway, winning there this past March after surging past Larson in overtime in one of his series-leading six victories in 2023;
    • Kyle Larson: the only driver of the Championship 4 to have won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship (2021), Larson boasts four wins and 14 top fives this season, including a pair of wins in the Playoffs.

NASCAR: CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP & XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

Coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship will be presented this Sunday at 3 p.m. ET and Countdown to Green will begin pre-race coverage at 2 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. NASCAR America post-race coverage will immediately follow the checkered flag at 7 p.m. ET on Peacock.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship will be presented this Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network with Countdown to Green beginning pre-race coverage at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Xfinity Series Championship 4 drivers are Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, John Hunter Nemecheck, and Cole Custer.

This weekend’s Cup and Xfinity Series editions of Countdown to Green will include:

    • Interviews with all Championship 4 drivers in the Cup and Xfinity Series;
    • Two-time Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. voicing the opening tease for the Xfinity Series Championship Race and 1999 Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett voicing the opening tease for the Cup Series Championship race;
    • Feature on 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, who is retiring following this weekend’s race. The piece looks back at Harvick’s illustrious career and the special moments he’s been able to share with his wife and two children;
    • NBC Sports’ NASCAR studio analysts go off the beaten path to take a unique look at their favorite moments of the 2023 season;
    • A celebration of the best championship moments in NASCAR history as the sport concludes its 75th

Two-time Daytona 500 Champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton, and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte will serve as analysts for the Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway with lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen. Burton, Letarte and Allen will call the Xfinity Series Championship.

In addition, Earnhardt Jr., Burton, Letarte and Allen will have a media availability at the NASCAR Championship 4 media day at Phoenix Raceway on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Kim Coon and Parker Kligerman will serve as pit reporters throughout the weekend.

Snider will anchor pre- and post-race studio coverage with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett, racing icon Kyle Petty and JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Brad Daugherty from the Peacock Pit Box throughout the weekend.

Earnhardt Jr. (2003, 2004, 2015), Burton (2000, 2001), and Jarrett (1997) own Cup Series victories at Phoenix.

NBCSports.com Nate Ryan and Dustin Long will surround Championship Weekend with comprehensive coverage from Phoenix, including Long’s story to lead his upcoming Friday 5 column about the shared paths of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, who both share dirt racing backgrounds and spent time with the same midget team based in Indiana.

BROADCAST TEAM

    • Analysts: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte
    • Play by Play: Rick Allen
    • Pit Reporters: Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Kim Coon, Parker Kligerman

STUDIO COVERAGE TEAM

    • Host: Marty Snider
    • Analyst: Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Brad Daugherty

HOW TO WATCH

    • TV – NBC, USA Network
    • Streaming – Peacock, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app
Date Coverage Platform Time (ET)
Fri., Nov. 3 NASCAR Xfinity Series Practice NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app 7 p.m.
  NASCAR Cup Series Practice USA Network 8 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying USA Network 3:30 p.m.
  NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying USA Network 4:30 p.m.
  Countdown to Green – NASCAR Xfinity Series USA Network 6:30 p.m.
  NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship USA Network 7 p.m.
  NASCAR America Post-Race – NASCAR Xfinity Series USA Network 9:30 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 5 Countdown to Green – NASCAR Cup Series NBC, Peacock 2 p.m.
  NASCAR Cup Series Championship NBC, Peacock 3 p.m.
  NASCAR America Post-Race – NASCAR Cup Series Peacock 7 p.m.

 

–NBC SPORTS–

SUNDAY’S NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED TITLE RACE SINCE 2019

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Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway Averages Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 3.4 Million Viewers on NBC and Peacock

Joey Logano’s Second Career Cup Series Title Ranks as Most-Streamed Cup Series Race on Record

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 8, 2022 – This past Sunday’s 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship from Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., delivered the most-watched title race since 2019 and the most-streamed Cup Series race in NBC Sports history, averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 3.355 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.

Viewership of Joey Logano’s second-career championship was up 2% vs. last season’s championship race on NBC and Peacock (TAD 3.297 million viewers) and up 8% vs. 2020 (TAD 3.115 million viewers). Viewership for the race peaked towards its conclusion when Logano took the checkered flag (6:30-6:45 pm ET) with a TV-only audience of more than four million viewers (4.060 million viewers).

Logano outdueled fellow Championship 4 contenders Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott to win his second career Cup Series title (2018). In capturing the championship, Logano led 187 laps at Phoenix Raceway, including the final 30.

Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., led all markets for Sunday’s championship race with a 5.8 local household rating. Below is the full list of Top 10 markets for the title race:

Rank Market HH Rating
1 Greenville-Spartanburg 5.8
2 Charlotte 5.5
t-3 Knoxville 5.1
t-3 Greensboro-High Point 5.1
5 Birmingham 4.1
t-6 Buffalo 3.4
t-6 Dayton 3.4
8 Louisville 3.2
9 Norfolk 3.1
10 Tulsa 2.9

Bolstered by Peacock, the Average Minute Audience (AMA) of the championship was 141,500 viewers, marking the most-streamed Cup Series race in NBC Sports history. The AMA also includes streaming on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app via authentication.

NBC Sports’ 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-long viewership averaged a TAD of 2.454 million viewers across NBC, USA Network and Peacock, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, essentially flat vs. viewership for the comparable races on NBC, NBCSN and Peacock in 2021 (TAD 2.485 million viewers). NBC Sports presents the final 20 races of the NASCAR Cup Series season, including exclusive coverage of the NASCAR Playoffs and Championship.

Following are the Top 10 markets for NBC Sports’ 20-race 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season:

Rank Market HH Rating
1 Knoxville 4.2
t-2 Charlotte 3.9
t-2 Greensboro-High Point 3.9
4 Greenville-Spartanburg 3.8
5 Birmingham 2.9
6 Dayton 2.8
t-7 Indianapolis 2.4
t-7 Louisville 2.4
t-9 Norfolk 2.3
t-9 Buffalo 2.3

 

–NBC SPORTS–

JOEY LOGANO WINS 2022 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP ON NBC AND PEACOCK

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“Logano has been the class of the field all day long. He’s already built a Hall of Fame career. Today, he etches his name in stone as one of the few to win multiple championships.” – Rick Allen

“That guy’s a great racecar driver and emotionally he’s tough enough to handle it.” – Jeff Burton on Joey Logano

“22 in ’22. I told you so!” – Joey Logano (#22) on winning the NASCAR Championship in 2022

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Nov. 6, 2022 – Team Penske driver Joey Logano won the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship this afternoon on NBC and Peacock, his second career Cup Series title (2018), as he outdueled fellow Championship 4 contenders Ross Chastain (third place), Christopher Bell (10th), and Chase Elliott (28th) at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

RACE RESULTS
Position Driver Car #
1 Joey Logano 22
2 Ryan Blaney 12
3 Ross Chastain 1
4 Chase Briscoe 14
5 Kevin Harvick 4
10 Christopher Bell 20
28 Chase Elliott 9

NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen called the Championship race live from Phoenix Raceway alongside two-time Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton. Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte was unavailable due to a medical issue. Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman and Dillon Welch provided reports from pit road.

NBC Sports’ 90-minute Countdown to Green pre-race coverage began at 1:30 p.m. ET. Marty Snider hosted alongside Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett, racing icon Kyle Petty and JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Brad Daugherty. Rutledge Wood reported from Rattlesnake Hill and other locations around the track.

Snider, Petty, Jarrett, Daugherty, Burton and Earnhardt Jr. reflected on the passing of Coy Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and the father of Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs.

Pre-race coverage on NBC and Peacock included:

  • NASCAR icons Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart set the stage for today’s Championship;
  • Special interviews with all Cup Series Championship 4 drivers, including:
    • Chase Elliott at the front of the grid with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton
    • Joey Logano with Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Brad Daugherty
    • Ross Chastain at the front of the grid with Earnhardt Jr. and Burton
    • A Christopher Bell season in review and profile
  • Rutledge Wood’s interview with WWE superstar Big E;
  • A look back at the thrilling 2022 Cup Series season that featured 19 different winners in the first year of the Next Gen car;
  • A discussion and breakdown of Ross Chastain’s ‘video game’ last lap move at Martinsville;
  • Vignette on Jimmy Makar, the first employee hired at Joe Gibbs Racing, who will be retiring after Sunday’s race;
  • Feature that offered an inside perspective on Chris Kalnins, who traveled to every NASCAR track on the Cup Series circuit this season;
  • Multiplatinum country musician Jon Pardi’s performance at Phoenix Raceway.

POST-RACE QUOTES

Logano to Wood: “It’s all about championships. That’s what it’s all about…It’s such a big deal to win these championships. It changes so many lives.”

Allen on Logano’s championship performance: “What a day, what a season it has been for Joey Logano. He has been dominant all day long, out front for 184 laps. Between his Championship 4 competitors, he’s never faltered.”

Allen: “Logano has been the class of the field all day long. He’s already built a Hall of Fame career. Today, he etches his name in stone as one of the few to win multiple championships.”

Earnhardt Jr.: “I don’t think I thought Joey Logano was going to win this championship…winning in Vegas and how that set this team up to set to start to prepare early for Phoenix while the rest of the series had to continue to work and grind week in and week out – he talked about that this week (and) how that really took off a lot of pressure and he felt more prepared than any other driver because the Phoenix week is so busy with media.”

Burton on Logano: “You put him in an opportunity to win a championship with as fast a car as someone else, you got your days work cut out for you. That guy’s a great racecar driver and emotionally he’s tough enough to handle it.”

STAGE 3 QUOTES

Burton on the Ross Chastain-Chase Elliott collision early in Stage 3: “Looks like Ross got a great run right there, starts getting forward momentum…if I’m Ross Chastain, I’m not lifting there either.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Chase Elliott’s pit crew following the accident: “Incredible. I’m so impressed with their ability to get this car to where he’ll be able to drive it.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Christopher Bell and the No. 20 team picking up spots after a Stage 3 pitstop: “These guys every single race come out of nowhere in the final stage.”

Burton with five laps left and Logano in the lead: “If you’re waiting for Joey Logano to make a mistake, forget it. I mean that guy is just so steady. One of the strengths that he has is he knows these moments; he’s been in these moments, and he knows how to execute it.”

Allen with two laps to go: “Logano has put together a perfect race.”

–NBC SPORTS–

CHASE ELLIOTT WINS 2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP ON NBC

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“This is the dream. I just hope I never wake up.” – Chase Elliott in Post-Race Interview with Kelli Stavast

“It’s so good for this sport to see one of the youth in Chase Elliott win a championship so young and so early in his career.” – Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Elliott

“NASCAR’s most popular driver…and now he’ll become even more popular.” – Jeff Burton on Elliott

“I believe he has been the most underrated superstar of any sport that I’ve ever seen.” – Dale Jarrett on Jimmie Johnson

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 8, 2020 – Chase Elliott won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship on Sunday afternoon on NBC, his first career Cup Series title, as he outdueled fellow Championship 4 contenders Brad Keselowski (2nd), Joey Logano (3rd), and Denny Hamlin (4th) at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

RACE RESULTS
Position Driver Car#
1 Chase Elliott 9
2 Brad Keselowski 2
3 Joey Logano 22
4 Denny Hamlin 11
5 Jimmie Johnson 48

NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen called the action live from Phoenix Raceway alongside Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte, “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton and two-time Daytona 500 champion and recent NASCAR Hall of Fame selection Dale Earnhardt Jr. Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Dave Burns and Parker Kligerman provided reports from pit road.

NBC Sports’ 90 minutes of pre-race coverage on NBC began at 1:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR America and Countdown to Green, hosted by Krista Voda with analysts Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty. Analyst Brad Daugherty contributed on-site from Phoenix while NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood engaged fans remotely using #HeyRut, including multiple live look-ins to the Dawsonville Pool Room in Elliott’s hometown.

Pre-race coverage on NBC included:

The following are highlights from this afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship race coverage on NBC:

POST-RACE COVERAGE

Elliott in post-race interview to Kelli Stavast: “I’m at a loss for words. We did it…I just can’t say enough about our group. I feel like we took some really big strides this year and last week was a huge one…this is unreal…I just never thought that this year would have gone like it has.”

Elliott: “All you can dream for is opportunity and I’ve been very fortunate to have that over the years. My parents obviously have played a huge role…thanks to Team Hendrick and everyone at the shop that peaked at the right time. That’s all we can ask for…this is the dream. I just hope I never wake up.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Elliott: “It’s so good for this sport to see one of the youth in Chase Elliott — that lineage, that last name, that history — be victorious and win a championship so young and so early in his career. Just think about the things that he will be able to accomplish beyond this now that he is a champion. An awesome day for not only Chase and his team, but the whole sport. This year has been so hard on our sport and the leadership really stepped up.”

Burton: “The way he did it was incredible…two wins in a row to ultimately win the championship. As a driver, that’s what you dream of. Those are the things that you want. As a kid, you don’t play basketball in the backyard and hit a shot with three minutes to go, you hit it with three seconds to go. And that’s what Chase Elliott did at Martinsville and did it today.”

Letarte: “Has Rick Hendrick done it again? Has he found another young protégé to be the superstar to go on a massive run of wins and championships? The lineage is there, his dad is a Hall of Famer…so young, to have so much success…there’s no telling how far this can carry this organization.”

Earnhardt Jr.: “All of these drivers coming up to Chase Elliott — it tells you how well-liked and respected he is amongst his peers for how he drives on the race track, the way he treats them off the race track. He’s going to be a popular champion.”

Letarte: “We talk about a lot about different ways to win a race. In the end, Chase Elliott just went out and took it.”

Allen on Johnson and Elliott embrace: “Is that a passing of the torch right there?”

Earnhardt Jr.: “It could be a handoff, Chase may go and make his run at seven titles.”

Johnson in post-race interview to Dave Burns: “My heart is full. I’m just so happy to have this wonderful and so many great people behind me, first and foremost my wife, Chandra, who’s been behind me every step of the way…it’s been a great run. I’ve had 19 years in the Cup Series, two years in the Xfinity Series, I’ve met so many wonderful people, worked for great people and with great people. I’ve learned so many lessons in and out of the car…this has been a great journey and I’m ready to spend my time a little differently.”

RACE COVERAGE

 Allen on Elliott: “The 24-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia, is about to join his father Bill in elite company. Chase Elliott is a NASCAR Cup Series champion!”

Burton on Bill Elliott: “Bill Elliott is a great example of a dad with tons of experience, has been there and knows how to win and is one of the biggest names in the sport. But he’s smart enough to know that Chase Elliott has had to make his own mistakes and make his own way. Always there and always supportive, but letting Chase do it the way he wants to do it.”

Burton on Elliott: “NASCAR’s most popular driver…and now he’ll become even more popular.”

 Snider on Hamlin with 29 laps to go: “You can hear the frustration in Denny Hamlin’s voice. He has only said one word over the radio on this run – ‘tight.’ It seems the further this race has gone on, they have really gotten away from the handling.”

Burton on Keselowski with 30 laps to go: “The pit stops have just not been good enough for this team today. That’s what has really hurt Brad Keselowski.”

Letarte on Jimmie Johnson: “The Jimmie Johnson I knew when he first walked into Hendrick Motorsports in 2001 is the same Jimmie Johnson now…a great career, an even better guy, a great dad. We are going to miss him.”

PRE-RACE COVERAGE

Jarrett on Chase Elliott: “2020 has been a breakout year for him (with) four wins already this season. Last week’s win was nothing short of spectacular and that told me everything I needed to know about this driver in a big moment situation…he seems ready and poised to get the job done, I don’t care that he has to come from the back.”

Petty on Chase Elliott: “Last week’s race, he showed who Chase Elliott is and what Chase Elliott can do. He’s like Dale Jarrett, (Dale Earnhardt) Jr., and myself. You grew up around the sport, grew up in it, you’ve seen it all, experienced it with your dad. You learn things along the way you didn’t even know you were learning. And now you are thrust into that position where the weight of the world and all the eyes are on you to win the Championship, and you’re calm.”

Petty on Joey Logano: “We talk about aggressiveness, I think he just has a fierce drive. He has an intense focus and he has a desire to win that I saw my whole life. I sat across the kitchen table from it and watched my dad (Richard Petty) eat supper. Dad was the same way — win, win, win, that’s what it was all about…that’s an intangible and Joey has that intangible.”

Petty on Denny Hamlin: “He is one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen, I don’t think anyone will question that. But every year for the past 10 years, we’ve said ‘man, at some point during the season, this is Denny Hamlin’s season and he is going to get it done.’ 10 years ago, we were saying ‘when’ and the past few years, we have started to change the ‘when’ to ‘if Denny Hamlin gets it done.’…at the end of the day, is today now? He has to make today his now and move forward from that.”

Daugherty on Denny Hamlin: “Denny Hamlin has an opportunity today to…cement his legacy as one of the greats all-time (in NASCAR).”

Jarrett on Jimmie Johnson: “It’s unfortunate the way this year has turned out, as far as the fans not being able to be there to send Jimmie off in the proper way, but it’s kind of been the way that his career has gone. I believe he has been the most underrated superstar of any sport that I’ve ever seen.”

Petty: “Wins become memories, trophies will tarnish eventually…but the lives you change will last forever because it continues to pay forward…you will not find anybody in this sport, outside of this sport, that doesn’t have the kindest words and the nicest things to say about him. That’s his legacy…nice guys do finish first, Jimmie is the poster child for that.”

–NBC SPORTS–

2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE DECIDED AT PHOENIX RACEWAY THIS SUNDAY AT 3 P.M. ET ON NBC

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Cup Series Championship Coverage Begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR America on NBC; Green Flag at 3 p.m. ET

NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship – Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Virtual Media Availability with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen – Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. ET

Tim Layden Pens Essay on NASCAR Legacy of Jimmie Johnson

Seven-Time Champion Crew Chief Chad Knaus Joins Dale Jr. Download Today at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 4, 2020 – The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship will be decided at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday on NBC, with NASCAR America pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. A special hour-long edition of Countdown to Green will air at 2 p.m. ET, leading into the start of the Championship race shortly after 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship is a highlight of NBC Sports’ “Big Event Weekend,” featuring the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC), No. 1 Clemson at No. 4 Notre Dame (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC), Liverpool v. Manchester City (Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET on Peacock Premium) and Tom Brady and the Buccaneers hosting Drew Brees and the Saints on Sunday Night Football (Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC).

Chase Elliott secured a spot in the Championship 4 with his victory at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Elliott joined Joey Logano as drivers who automatically advanced to the Championship race with victories, while Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin earned spots in the season finale due to their point totals. The highest finisher among the four remaining contenders at Phoenix will win the Cup Series title.

2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 4 DRIVERS

Drivers Season Wins
Denny Hamlin 7
Chase Elliott 4
Brad Keselowski 4
Joey Logano 3

 

NBC SPORTS 2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA AVAILABILITY – TOMORROW AT 1:30 P.M. ET

  • WHAT: 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Virtual Media Availability
  • WHO: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen
  • WHEN: Tomorrow, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m. ET

Please RSVP to James Hallas (jhallas@nascar.com) and Matt Potolski (matt.potolski@nbcuni.com) with your name, affiliation, title, email, phone number and name of editor/producer. Email confirmations will be sent prior to the event.

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP RACE FROM PHOENIX – SUNDAY AT 1:30 P.M. ET ON NBC

Host Krista Voda, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee and 1999 NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett and auto racing icon Kyle Petty will provide pre- and post-race studio coverage. Analyst Brad Daugherty will contribute on-site from Phoenix. NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood will engage fans remotely using #HeyRut on Twitter as well as be joined by ‘Champions’ throughout the weekend, including three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and the eventual NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.

Pre-race coverage will feature an essay penned by Tim Layden about the historic legacy that seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has left on the sport of NASCAR.

The NBC Toyota Camry On-Track car will return on Sunday, when “The Mayor” of NASCAR, Jeff Burton, will drive around Phoenix Raceway to give viewers an inside look at the unique, one-mile oval where the Championship race will take place.

NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Rick Allen will call the Cup Series championship race this weekend from Phoenix Raceway alongside Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte, two-time Daytona 500 champion and recent NASCAR Hall of Fame selection Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Burton.

Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Dave Burns and Parker Kligerman will serve as pit reporters on-site from Phoenix.

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP RACE FROM PHOENIX – SATURDAY AT 4:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

Coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race will begin with Countdown to Green on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, leading into race coverage from Phoenix Raceway at 5 p.m. ET. Last weekend, Harrison Burton won in the Xfinity Series’ return to Martinsville Speedway, marking Burton’s second consecutive victory. Three of the final four Championship drivers were decided by points — Justin Allgaier, Justin Haley and Austin Cindric — joining Chase Briscoe, who secured a spot in the Championship 4 with a win at Kansas Speedway in October.

Allen, Letarte and Burton will call the Xfinity Series championship race with Snider, Stavast, Burns and Kligerman providing reports from pit road.

2020 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP 4 DRIVERS

Drivers Season Wins
Chase Briscoe 9
Austin Cindric 5
Justin Haley 3
Justin Allgaier 3

2020 PIT CREW ALL-STARS TO BE RECOGNIZED DURING NASCAR PLAYOFFS

During the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, NBC Sports will salute this year’s Pit Crew All-Stars. This group of unsung heroes – 16 in all, matching the 16 Playoff drivers – comes from the ranks of over-the-wall crew members, engineers, shop employees, hauler drivers, and/or team officials. Throughout the Playoffs, NBC will showcase the All-Stars’ stories, and what makes them and their abilities so special.

ENASCAR COCA-COLA IRACING SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP – SUNDAY AT 7:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Championship race will be presented on NBCSN Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET immediately following post-race coverage of the real-world NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Letarte and Kligerman will provide commentary and be joined by Earnhardt Jr. in a special guest appearance during the one-hour race broadcast.

MOTOGP EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX – SUNDAY AT 9:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN  

The 2020 MotoGP season continues Sunday in Spain with the European Grand Prix from Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. With three events left in the season, Suzuki Ecstar rider Joan Mir leads the points standings.

CHAD KNAUS JOINS THE DALE JR. DOWNLOAD – TONIGHT AT 5 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus is this week’s guest on The Dale Jr. Download that airs tonight at 5 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Knaus, who was part of Jimmie Johnson’s team that won seven Cup Series championships and is currently the crew chief for William Byron, will move to an executive position within Hendrick Motorsports following Sunday’s season finale.

Produced on-site at Dirty Mo Media Studios in Mooresville, N.C., The Dale Jr. Download on NBCSN takes viewers couch-side for the taping of the motorsports icon’s weekly podcast, featuring unparalleled perspective, candid commentary, and insight that fans have come to expect from Dale Jr.

Following is this week’s motorsports programming across NBC Sports:

DATE COVERAGE TIME (ET) NETWORK
Wed., Nov. 4 The Dale Jr. Download – Chad Knaus 5 p.m. NBCSN
Sat., Nov. 7 Xfinity Series – Countdown to Green 4:30 p.m. NBCSN
  NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship – Phoenix 5 p.m. NBCSN
  Xfinity Series Post-Race 7:30 p.m. NBCSN
Sun., Nov. 8 NASCAR America 1:30 p.m. NBC
  Cup Series – Countdown to Green 2 p.m. NBC
  NASCAR Cup Series Championship – Phoenix 3 p.m. NBC
  Cup Series Post-Race 7 p.m. NBCSN
  eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Championship 7:30 p.m. NBCSN
  MotoGP – European Grand Prix* 9:30 p.m. NBCSN

*same-day delay

NBC SPORTS’ NASCAR COVERAGE

NBC Sports is the official home of the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs, covering the race for the NASCAR Cup Series & NASCAR Xfinity Series championships. NBC Sports’ NASCAR programming also includes NBCSN’s daily motorsports show, NASCAR America; races from NASCAR’s regional touring series; annual events such as the NASCAR Cup Series Awards and NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony; and original programming specials.

–NBC SPORTS–

DALE EARNHARDT JR., JEFF BURTON, STEVE LETARTE AND RICK ALLEN PREVIEW 2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP – THURSDAY AT 1:30 P.M. ET

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2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship to be Decided on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC

STAMFORD, Conn. – Nov. 3, 2020 – NBC Sports NASCAR commentary team of analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte, and lead play-by-play voice Rick Allen will preview the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship during a virtual media availability on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Thursday’s media availability will be part of NASCAR Cup Series Media Day and will be conducted via Zoom.

  • WHAT: 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Virtual Media Availability
  • WHO: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Rick Allen
  • WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m. ET

Please RSVP to James Hallas (jhallas@nascar.com) and Matt Potolski (matt.potolski@nbcuni.com) with your name, affiliation, title, email, phone number and name of editor/producer. Email confirmations will be sent prior to the event.

NBC Sports presents the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship this Sunday, Nov. 8, on NBC with NASCAR America pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. A special hour-long edition of Countdown to Green will air at 2 p.m. ET, leading into the start of the Championship race shortly after 3 p.m. ET on NBC.

—NBC SPORTS—

NOTES & QUOTES FROM MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES RACING AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY ON NBC

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Denny Hamlin Wins Hollywood Casino 400; Chase Elliott Finishes Second, Knocking Brad Keselowski and Three Others Out of Playoffs 

“It’s a chance to win a championship. It’s what you dreamed about. It’s what you want. It’s what you worked so hard for. It can come down to one position here today. These playoffs are awesome.” – Jeff Burton 

“A really gutsy championship-caliber performance.” – Earnhardt Jr. on Chase Elliott’s second-place finish to advance to the Round of 8 

“They ran bad. They just plain and simple ran bad.” – Burton on Brad Keselowski being eliminated from the Playoffs 

“I cannot wait to get to Martinsville!” – Race-winner Denny Hamlin to Rutledge Wood during burnout interview

 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – October 20, 2019 – NBC Sports continued its coverage of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Sunday afternoon with an overtime thriller on NBC from Kansas Speedway. Denny Hamlin won the Hollywood Casino 400 elimination race earning his 5th win of the season. Chase Elliott finished second, which eliminated Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Clint Bowyer, and Alex Bowman from the Playoffs at Kansas.

NBC Sports’ Rick Allen called the action alongside 21-time Cup Series race winner Jeff Burton. Racing legend and two-time Daytona 500-winner Dale Earnhardt Jr and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte provided commentary from a second booth. Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Rutledge Wood, and Dave Burns reported from pit road and the grandstands.

Krista Voda hosted Sunday’s pre-race coverage alongside analysts Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett. Pre-race coverage on NBC included:

    • A Driver 2 Driver feature with Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson;
    • A Clint Bowyer interview about racing at his hometown track’
    • And the Toyota Joy Ride with Jeff featuring Kansas City Chiefs FB and NASCAR fan Anthony Sherman.

 

RACE RESULTS

Position Driver Car#
1 Denny Hamlin 11
2 Chase Elliott 9
3 Kyle Busch 18
4 Kurt Busch 1
5 William Byron 24

 

The following are highlights from this afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race coverage on NBCSN:

POST-RACE COVERAGE

Petty on Joey Logano: “I can’t believe a guy made as many mistakes as that team made and the positions that they put themselves in and still made it to the Round of 8.”

Letarte on the last restart: “No one was giving Brad Keselowski an inch. Even though he was racing for his playoff chances. Everyone else was racing for every position; That’s what makes this sport so much fun.”

Earnhardt Jr. on Chase Elliott: “What a really gutsy championship-caliber performance from that team today to do everything they did.”

Earnhardt Jr. on William Byron: “I think that team really is surging at this part of the season. They will not get to go further into the Playoffs. But I think they will come back next year better than ever.”

Burton on Denny Hamlin: “A confident Denny Hamlin with four races to go and the championship out there, that is something teams are going to have to deal with.”

Burton on Brad Keselowski: “They ran bad. They just plain and simple ran bad. On a day where you just have to step up to the plate and perform. You can’t run 19th and 20th and put yourself in that situation; they just plain and simple didn’t bring it today.”

Hamlin on the possibility of winning a championship: “It’s step by step, week by week. I’m not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We concentrate every week like it’s the most important one. This win here kind of shows that.”

Letarte on restarts: “We’ve seen the restarts all day, two, three, four wide, you lose momentum and you’re done.”

Allen: “The 9 of Chase Elliott is going to advance in to the Round of 8.”

 

RACE COVERAGE

Burton on overtime crash: “Who doesn’t love playoff racing? This is the ultimate amount of pressure on these teams and these drivers. As fans and as athletes, that’s what you want. You want to be in these pressure-filled situations. It’s a chance to win a championship, it’s what you dreamed about, it’s what you want, it’s what you worked so hard for. It can come down to one position here today. These playoffs are awesome.”

Letarte on caution with 14 to go: “It’s like seven chess matches happening at once.”

Letarte on Kyle Busch with 23 to go: “What a day Kyle Busch has had. He’s had to pit for damage, had to pit for a throttle issue, not sure they had it resolved. And here he is all the way back to 2nd.

Burton on advancing: “Situational awareness. Right now, look at this 24 of William Byron they know they have to win. The 9 car, think about what situation they’re in. What do you need to do so you continue the quest for this championship?”

Burton on Brad Keselowski with 65 to go: “This 2 car has only had one finish worse than 14th at this racetrack in the last nine races. And that was because of an accident. That’s how bad this team is running today in a pressure situation.”

Snider on playoff cutline: “You think about that, four points, that’s four positions all year long that Chase Elliott, if he would have gained it somewhere, right now he might be above that cutline. That’s amazing. That’s how tight the NASCAR Playoffs are.”

Earnhardt Jr. on the wind: “Everybody has to deal with that wind, it’s not just you out there. But hopefully you’re thinking about that while you’re making adjustments to your car. Some things you’re not going to fix because of the wind.”

Martin Truex Jr. to Rick Allen: “Racing has changed so much. You used to work to get your car working on the bottom of the race track, or maybe the middle or the top. It has to work everywhere now, because you can’t run the same line that the guy you’re trying to pass is running”

Burton on Joey Logano Stage 1 win: “That was huge for Joey Logano. If that thing had would have continued green without that late caution, Joey Logano was going to give up about 6 points to Chase Elliott. As it turns out, he gets a stage win. Great gamble.”

Burton on the wind in Kansas: “If you’re pushing that corner to the edge of the grip, almost crossing over that line, and you get 20 or 15 mph wind in the door of the car, it can really shove you up the racetrack.”

Allen on car position: “It’s been a three-wide moment almost since they dropped the Green Flag here in Kansas. It has been incredible!”

Letarte on lines: “Looks like pace laps; they’re so organized at 180 miles an hour.”

–NBC SPORTS–

 

 

2018 NASCAR Championship – Conference Call Transcript

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Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Sam Flood

Jeff Burton

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Steve Letarte

 

THE MODERATOR: Thanks to everyone for joining us on today’s call. We’re thrilled to be celebrating the culmination of another very exciting NASCAR season. The official home of the NASCAR playoffs and championship, NBC Sports Group will surround the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series championships with more than 20 hours of trackside coverage from Homestead-Miami Speedway this week and weekend. Live coverage from Florida begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. eastern time on NBCSN with the Xfinity Series championship and culminates with Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship at 3:00 p.m. eastern on NBC.

Joining us on today’s call to preview championship weekend are 21-time Cup Series winner Jeff Burton; Daytona 500 winning crew chief Steve Letarte; NBC Sports Group’s newest on-air contributor and NASCAR’s most popular driver for an unprecedented 15 consecutive seasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr.; and NBC Sports Group executive producer Sam Flood.

SAM FLOOD: Thank you, and thank you all for joining us on the call today. We’re excited to get to Miami and have this big championship weekend take place, Xfinity-crowned champion on Saturday and the Cup race on Sunday.

We have had some amazing racing in Miami through the years. The last three events there have been spectacular, so we’re excited about that. A good Final Four, a lot of sub-plots and story lines that the three other guys on the call can get into. But we do know that the early favorite based on the race last night on the Tonight Show is Martin Truex Jr. as he won the race on the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show. Pretty impressive performance by him, which raises the stakes a great deal on Sunday, and I know there’s a lot more angst for the other drivers who couldn’t beat him on the 8th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. With that, I hand it off to the mayor, Jeff Burton.

JEFF BURTON: Well, this weekend has proven to be one of the coolest weekends in all of sports. We’ve seen incredible racing in every one of these finales, and with the four guys that we have in each of the series, I don’t see that changing. In the Cup Series you have three former champions and Joey Logano trying to get his first championship. That’s really the four heavyweights from the whole year, when you look at laps led, you look at number of times in the top 5, you have the wins, all those stats, these are the four guys that deserve to be here. So it’s going to be a great battle.

And then in the Xfinity Series for Saturday, you’ve got four guys trying to be the next Kyle Busch, the next Martin Truex Jr., the next Kevin Harvick, and that’s going to be a fun battle to watch, as well. So just excited about the weekend.

The races that we’ve seen here in the finale have been phenomenal, and I expect nothing different come Saturday and Sunday.

STEVE LETARTE: This is Steve Letarte. I echo what Sam and Jeff said. I’m expecting great things at Miami, and I think the biggest reason is the type of racing we’ve had. I’m very proud of what we’ve done at NBC and the races we’ve put on air. I think we’ve covered them well, but we’ve been very blessed to have great, great racing, whether it was that great finish between Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch at Chicago, whether it was the baffling finish at the Roval, which was unbelievable, points battle and the battle for the win, or Joey Logano moving Martin Truex at Martinsville, I think none of us could predict how some of these races are going to go, and that’s what makes Saturday and Sunday’s race even more exciting is I don’t think it’s possible at all to predict which one is a favorite, which one has momentum.

I think we have without a doubt the four biggest heavyweights when you look at their stats, you look at the momentum, look at the playoffs, the regular season, you could even go back the last four years, these guys have won almost 50 percent of the races in the last four seasons, and I think they’re very deserving. They’re the only guys to ever repeat in the Championship 4, and all four of these guys have been here with three former champions and one in Joey Logano who’s trying to be a champion, I just expect it to definitely pay dividends. I think it’s going to be an exciting weekend, but it’s been a fun year in the booth with my booth mates, especially with a former teammate and now a teammate again in Dale Jr., so I’ll let him follow with some comments.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: What a memorable season it’s been, my first as a broadcaster with NBC, and could have never imagined witnessing the action that we’ve seen so far the second half of this season. All these races have been just tremendous, dramatic, exciting. Even last week at Phoenix was such a roller coaster for us in the booth, for obviously the drivers in the race. We couldn’t have predicted all the things that everybody ended up having to face throughout the day and how that all would play out.

That’s kind of been the way this year has been from my vantage point. It’s just really delivered — the drivers have delivered — the drivers have really stepped up and gave us everything they’ve had, and I feel like we have really whittled this down to the best four teams, the best four drivers for this season, and there’s not really an underdog in this group, but there’s not a favorite, either. All these guys sort of measure up, and I can see either one of them winning this championship.

That has me extremely impatient to get to Sunday and see what happens when the green flag finally drops.

Q. Steve, what’s it like for a team or what’s the challenges for a team when they have a car chief suspended, a crew chief suspended, and there’s kind of an aura around you that people are questioning your integrity?
STEVE LETARTE: Well, I’ll start with the aura around you. I think that one of the challenges to be a crew chief in this sport is to lead your team through the ups and downs of a roller coaster of a season. That includes wins, loses, and it also includes outside opinions of your race team, so I think Rodney does a great job, Greg Zipadelli over there at SHR seems very clear to me just talking to their crew last week, they’re very focused on the task at hand. I thought they had delivered whatever message it was very wonderfully because the team seemed focused.

As far as losing your crew members, no one ever wants to go to their bench, but if you go to your bench with somebody like Tony Gibson, over 400 starts, six wins, very likable by the officials and by the competitors, and more importantly a leader. Setups are one thing, but you need somebody — I think last week was a perfect example, a flat tire, potential damage; it takes a real leader on top of the pit box to walk you through that situation, and I thought Tony did that wonderfully.

I actually think car chief is probably the hardest guy to replace. There are so many moving parts throughout a weekend, so many times through inspection, the interaction with the officials. So I think that’s probably the toughest thing to overcome, but it seems that it didn’t affect them much last week.

They were probably the dominant car through practice. The race didn’t go as the 4 car had hoped, but I thought after they had the adversity with the flat tire, they kind of circled the wagons and did what they needed to do. It wasn’t special by any means and it wasn’t what we expected for speed out of the 4. That’s not what they had to do; they just had to do move it forward, and they did that.

I would expect to see more of the same this weekend.

Q. And for Dale, both Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson are facing a year where they don’t win, and they’re used to winning at least a race every year. When you’ve had a year that you obviously aren’t the most — that isn’t the most successful, how much does it matter after Homestead that you didn’t win? Is it a kick in the gut even though maybe you go into Homestead knowing that your chances of winning aren’t all that great?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: You take a lot of pride in being a winner and being successful. Any time you don’t accomplish those key things that you expect, not only out of yourself but the team expects out of you, the company expects out of you, when you’re not in the group of winners or the people that made the playoffs, any of those kind of things can really be disheartening, and it’s a huge disappointment.

You’re going to talk yourself out of it. You’re going to understate it, but it’s going to be in the back of your mind throughout the off-season, into the next season, until you can get back to Victory Lane, until you can find your way back to being a winner.

I think it helps you realize just how hard it is to be successful in the sport, how hard it is to sustain success. You get to be — you win a few races, and you forget how much work goes into it or how hard it is to do that well. I think it’s a good reminder, too, when you’re not winning and you’re struggling to win of just how elite this sport is and how tough it is to stay at the top.

Q. Sam, on the production side, having these races are massive every week, and I’m sure you guys have been adding elements throughout the playoffs. Anything new you guys have tried, or is there anything that we can anticipate from behind the scenes standpoint that you might try to do differently this weekend?
SAM FLOOD: Well, the biggest add this weekend is the NASCAR Hot Pass, where we’ll have a second feed focusing on the four cars running for the championship that will be available on NBCSN. Leigh Diffey and Dale Jarrett will be calling that, and it gives the viewers an opportunity to just focus on those four cars.

Obviously we’ll focus on the entire field on the NBC telecast with Junior and Steve and Rick and Jeff and the pit road gang, but this gives an opportunity to get a different sense of the race based on those four cars and a multi-screen option.

But ultimately the bigger story is going to be told on NBC, and our first three years doing this Championship 4 race have been a lot of fun, a lot of drama, and the place to be when it comes to the back end of the race is on NBC. So we’re proud to have the A-team making it happen. The way we work our booth between Jeff and Junior and Rick and Steve, really it’s the best way to consume the race and really tell the story of what’s happening.

We’re confident and comfortable in what we’ve got going on, but know this second option on NBCSN will be a good opportunity for some folks that are into those four cars alone.

Q. Dale, last week during the broadcast you heard Kurt Busch kind of lash out, saying over his in-car radio, this is why NASCAR is hurting for sponsors and corporate sponsors. I know emotions run high, but is that something that maybe drivers shouldn’t be saying? We know the sport ratings are down, and we know what’s happening with Furniture Row Racing, but is there an attitude among drivers that maybe they should kind of hold that in, maybe not lash out since everything they say in their car can be heard by fans and the media?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, that’s not productive for anybody, and I think that if Kurt could go back and do that over again, he probably wouldn’t have said those things. Sometimes you want to — basically when you feel like you’ve been wronged by NASCAR, you come over the radio and say something that you try to take a dig at them, but you forget that everyone else is listening and you forget that that stuff is so readily available and able to clip and paste and put anywhere, and you think a driver that’s been around as long as he has, and especially that’s been through everything that he’s been through to get back to where he is as a competitor would have a little more sense in a situation like that.

You know, it’s not helpful for anyone, and I think that he certainly probably regrets having said those things.

Q. Steve, with the word that Rodney Childers will be allowed in after the checkered flag if his team wins the championship, as a crew chief if you were in the same position, would you worry about jinxing it by coming to town and showing up or staying at home and then coming later or something? What would be your thoughts on that if you were the crew chief?
STEVE LETARTE: Well, I would be in town. I would be meeting with my team every night. I’d be meeting with my driver between every practice if he could leave the property and come see me. A lot of information can be sent visually, can be sent over the telephone, but there’s something about seeing your driver eye to eye that really lets you know. I was never a 1 through 10 scale for handling. I kind of was more of an emotional, look at me, talk to me, tell me what we need, how close we really are. I think that can all be done face to face.

So I wouldn’t worry about jinxing anything. I would be in town. Listen, this is one race to determine a champion, it’s definitely not one race to determine who has a shot at the championship, and Rodney Childers has led this team in person for 34 weeks and probably from afar for the last week, and I’m sure it will be the same for this week. I’m thankful that NASCAR is going to give him that opportunity. I think it’s the right thing to do. But I don’t believe in bad luck. I’d be there waiting to celebrate.

Q. Do you believe that this championship with these four is any more well matched or any closer than we’ve had in the past few years? Do you feel like it’ll be any tighter, that they’re more well matched beyond what we’ve seen in the past?
STEVE LETARTE: Well, these four are here because they’re running their best at the most crucial time of the year. So every year we come down here and we say, wow, what a great match-up, and this year is the same. The big three, we talked about them all year long, and the question was who’s going to join them. Like who’s the guy that’s going to join them, and Joey Logano and his team stepped up at the key moments and found a way to be that team.

When you look at it, it’s really kind of hard to pick a favorite. You can go with Kevin Harvick with the speed that he’s got, but they have some issues that they haven’t been as good as pit road. You’ve got Joey Logano that has had speed lately, and their pit road crew is phenomenal. Martin Truex, how dangerous they are on a mile-and-a-half. You could make an argument for any one of these four guys for why they could win a championship. That’s what makes this weekend great. That’s what makes it awesome is the very best four are here, and when it ends on Sunday night, I’m not going to be surprised if any of them win. That’s what makes a great weekend.

Q. For Sam, two-parter for you. How do you feel like the chemistry developed between the booth mates this year? Was it smoother or end up more awkward than you expected?
SAM FLOOD: I thought it was better than I could ever have dreamed of. I thought the four folks played together so well. The different combinations made each week exciting, and I think for the viewers, you got a different taste of the race based on how we paired them up. Even early in the season, putting Jeff, Steve and Dale together in Loudon was a fun change of pace for the audience. And we want to keep looking at different ways to engage the audience and make sure they know when you come to NBC you’re going to get the best of the best, and these four folks are going to engage different ways depending on the race and the track, because every track is different. So you can’t cover all these the same way.

Q. How much do you expect to continue kind of tinkering next year, or do you feel like you’ve kind of found the exact formula for certain racetracks that you guys are looking for?
SAM FLOOD: We’re going to keep tinkering. The game never ends. You’ve got to keep pushing every week to try to get better, and if you’re not getting better, I tell everyone you’re getting worse. So we’re going to get better every week, and that’s going to mean we’re going to experiment and we’re going to keep pushing, and some idea might pop up in our 10th race next year that we didn’t think of, and it’s going to make us better and we’re going to push that through.

Q. For any of the three of you, has there been any big surprises or something that you didn’t expect during this playoff, the NASCAR playoffs these last nine races, something that maybe stood out that you weren’t expecting or a big surprise? Maybe it could have been the success or the lack, the fiasco of the Roval or whatever along those lines?
JEFF BURTON: For me, I thought the first part of the playoffs were a little like teams we expected to execute that weren’t doing it. The first part of the playoffs was kind of chaotic with nobody really having clean races, and the big three in particular where we thought they were just going to roll into Miami, it all of a sudden turned into a challenge for them, and I think that showed me how much the competition stepped up.

I’ve done it long enough to know that maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that teams find a way to get better, but the inability for those teams that we thought were a lock-in to really execute and win races and do what we’ve seen them do all year long, them not being able to do that really surprised me.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.: I think the big surprise for me was Aric Almirola and how close he came to getting into the Final Four, and that’s not saying as much about Aric as it was about how dramatic the whole playoff system has been, and particularly the Phoenix race. So much happened in just that event to present him with an opportunity, but he was running well enough to be able to take it, to be able to seize it.

This is a guy that hasn’t really been competitive over the last several years, hasn’t been in a competitive car, gets his first opportunity in a great car, and really maximized that opportunity and almost sitting here racing for a championship.

STEVE LETARTE: Yeah, I think what has surprised me is I’ve been very vocal to say I didn’t think all of the big three would make Miami, and I was wrong. They were all here. And I think the simple fact is that if I’m a crew chief in the garage still with this — I call it new, we’re a few years in, but with stage racing and with playoff points, basically the regular season, your success in the regular season can absolutely give you a huge advantage in the playoffs, and I think that’s what we’ve seen this year. I didn’t think all three could be — we’ve seen one guy gather up playoff points, we’ve seen a couple guys. We’ve never seen three do it like they’ve done it this year, but that success in the regular season is directly why all three of them are here, and that was a shock to me, and I think that’s a great thing, because I think that’s going to make the first 26 races more valuable, and the more valuable they are, the more interesting they are. We’ve seen what drivers will do in the playoffs, and now I’m wondering if some drivers are looking back at the regular season wishing they would have been maybe more aggressive, maybe the crew chiefs would have been more aggressive. I think the entire season has gained value for the viewer with the value of those points to the competitor.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Chase Elliott and if you expect to see him in the championship next season?
DALE EARNHARDT JR.: Yeah, I think that Chase is progressing along fine, and he seems — and I think he very well could be racing for the championship next year. Teams have a way of turning things around. HMS has a way of turning things around. I do think that they will find themselves back at the top of the heap at some point in the future.

I think that Chevrolet will also find its way toward the top of the heap and the dominance that they want to experience will come back, and I think Chase will be able to benefit from those two things. If he and his crew chief Alan can stick together through that experience, through that process, they will benefit greatly from it. They both work well together. Alan is extremely talented. He gets a ton out of that car. If you look at the rest of the team and the rest of the company ran, the rest of the Chevrolets ran, I think Chase was the best Chevrolet many weeks, and that starts at the pit box, the crew chief and throughout the team.

I think he’s in great position to capitalize here in the future.

JEFF BURTON: There’s no question Chase and Hendrick Motorsports has the ability to do it. The question is who’s going to come out. It’s what makes this sport so much fun to watch and also to be involved in is that you’ve got to go through people to get there, and when you’re going through people to knock them out and take their spot, you’re going through the best of the best. Chase has the talent, Hendrick Motorsports has the ability, but they’re going to have to find a way to step up, even for us, more than they realize, but this off-season everybody is going to step up. Everybody is going to put effort into being better.

It’s just hard. When you look at the four guys that are in the playoffs today, how are you going through them? And the only way to do it is to step up, and you’ve got to step up more than they do. So it’s a hard time — I’m not saying he can’t do it. I think he can do it, but it won’t be easy.