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One week left in the Cup Series season. Counting down the days to Phoenix, who will be crowned NASCAR champion for 2025? It is a two-on-two showdown between Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. It also might be the final year of this particular championship format. A lot is on the line. Martinsville eliminated Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney. Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and William Byron remain. Those four drivers are all worthy of being a champion. Each has won multiple races this year. The NASCAR champion will be doing their media press run this time next week. Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic have put in their final predictions ahead of championship weekend. “Who is the favorite if we had to pick? I mean, yes, the Hendrick cars have made huge gains,” Gluck said on The Teardown. “But I’m not ready to pick a Hendrick car, I still think I’m going to pick a JGR car here. And so, for me it comes down to, Hamlin and Briscoe. Here’s the problem – we know Hamlin is great at Phoenix. We’re not worried about that, he’s going to be fast. “We don’t know, we didn’t get the sample size with Briscoe. We didn’t see Briscoe in the Spring because he hadn’t figured out the cars yet. Now he’s going to go there, he’s going to be fast. And he’s won there in an SHR car in the first year of the Next Gen. His first career win. So, for me, man. I kinda have to lean towards Denny. I think Denny is the favorite to win the championship.” Denny Hamlin or Kyle Larson – who will be NASCAR champion? Jordan Bianchi chimed in with a similar sentiment. He was big on Hamlin as a pick for NASCAR champion. “I think there is a lot of reasons to like Denny Hamlin. One, to win in Las Vegas and the advantage that gives you in preparation, and the opportunity to really hone your mindset and your tools on Phoenix,” Bianchi said. ‘You know, you’re effectively getting, forget what happened at Talladega, forget what happened at Martinsville, we’re all in on Phoenix. And Denny Hamlin is a workaholic behind the scenes, he’s in the sim all of the time. This allowed him to really hone in on Phoenix. I think that is a huge advantage, especially for him, especially for that team.” While Bianchi believes Hamlin will be hard to beat, he didn’t pick him as NASCAR champion. He is going to back Kyle Larson instead. You can’t deny the 5 team has improved in recent weeks. “I like Denny Hamlin a lot this weekend,” Bianchi continued. “I picked Kyle Larson at the beginning of the playoff to win the championship. But I’ve vacillated to Blaney at one point, I picked other guys. I really like Kyle Larson, and I keep saying this weekend, they’re getting better and better and better. Their speed is there, the execution is there. I think they’re going to go to Phoenix and win, I really believe that.” Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson going toe-to-toe to be the NASCAR champion would be must-see TV. No matter who wins, let’s hope we get he race that fans and these drivers deserve.
