The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is only 14 races deep, but plans are already in place for 2023. The sanctioning body has announced that championship weekend will return to Phoenix Raceway on November 3-5, 2023.
NASCAR and Phoenix Raceway confirmed the news on May 31 with a press release. They started by revealing that the grandstand tickets for the 2022 Cup Series race are already sold out. The press release then announced that Phoenix will host the championship races for Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series, and ARCA Menards Series West.
“This historic achievement wouldn’t be possible without the outpouring of support the community and our fans continue to show for events at our facility,” said Phoenix Raceway President Julie Giese. “They continue to make Phoenix Raceway a must-visit sports and entertainment destination, and our dedicated team will continue their tireless efforts to deliver a championship-caliber experience that our race fans will remember for years to come.”
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Phoenix Raceway Has Hosted Multiple Championship Weekends
GettyChase Elliott (left) celebrates his Cup Series championship win in 2020.
The one-mile track has served as the host site of NASCAR’s championship weekend since 2020, and it will continue to do so at least through 2023. Though Nate Ryan of NBC Sports guessed that the track would host the championship in 2024 to finish out the current TV deal before NASCAR began exploring other markets.
Whether Ryan is correct remains to be seen, but NASCAR has confirmed that four Cup Series champions will secure the Bill France Cup by driving past the massive cactus at the start-finish line. The only question is if there will be multiple drivers joining Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson on the list of those who won the championship at Phoenix Raceway, or will any of them repeat?
Kyle Busch is the last driver to capture the championship at a track other than Phoenix. He secured both of his titles (2015, 2019) at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the track that served as the season finale from 2002-2019.
The Most Recent Phoenix Race Created Conversations
The drivers have their preferred destinations for major races, and there are some that would like to see the championship race rotate through different locations. The fans have been even more vocal while discussing whether the new configuration of Phoenix Raceway is better than the old layout.
These conversations continued after the March 13 race, which Chase Briscoe won after blocking both Tyler Reddick and Ross Chastain on the dogleg portion of the track and building up a lead. He celebrated his first Cup Series win while the fans hastily tweeted out their opinions.
According to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, the 2022 race at Phoenix had a 70% approval rating in the Good Race Poll. This was the lowest score of the season by that point. Some of the NASCAR fans explained that they voted no because they don’t like the current Phoenix configuration and said that they don’t want the championship race at the one-mile track.
Others weighed in and said that the race was solid overall. They expressed the opinion that the first three races on the schedule were better and that it’s difficult to create side-by-side racing every single week of the season.
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