Ryan Blaney — winner: “It’s just cool to end it on a good note. It’s just cool and obviously we had a fast car all day. Those other guys were just kind of faster getting going and I could never retain the lead. Those guys were just really good and it took my car a while to come in, but it was a really good call for two there and keeping track position. I got a decent restart and I was able to kind of roll the bottom in three and four and eek the 6 out at the line. I’m just really proud of the whole group and cool to end it in Victory Lane. It’s a shame we weren’t in the Championship 4. Congrats to Kyle and that whole team. I’m happy for this team that we could end it the best way we could. You just go try to win the race. I didn’t really have any of them in front of me. There wasn’t really two of them side-by-side. I tried to race those guys really good all day and gave them respect and tried to let them race it out at time, and at times I could go if it got gapped, but you’re just aware of everybody that’s around you. You don’t want to be the storyline to mess up a guy’s championship, so it was good that we were able to just run our race and run it clean to the end.”
Blaney on how he ended season on a ‘high note’
Ryan Blaney unpacks his win to end the 2025 season in Phoenix, discussing his mindset heading into next season and more.
Brad Keselowski — second: “Yeah, everybody was out of tires, so I guess a few of those guys must have had some tires left. We didn’t, so it was kind of a no-brainer for us. It’s kind of the story of our season. We’re just needing a little bit of speed, trying to put ourselves in position. We were in position as well as we could, I just wasn’t quite fast enough. Another second place. I felt like we were in a good position, but the 5 and the 12 were just stupid fast. That’s what we had. Yeah, we put ourselves in position like you said and just didn’t quite have enough to finish it off, but it was a great day for us, a great day for RFK to be in position. We just want to be a little bit faster to close it out.”
Gordon discusses ‘incredible day’ in Phoenix
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon breaks down Kyle Larson’s win in Phoenix and why he sees NASCAR Cup Series titles in the future for William Byron.
Kyle Larson — third: “We did the best job we could. Honestly, I can’t believe it. Like, we didn’t lead a lap today. Somehow won the championship. I mean, really, I’m just speechless. I can’t believe it. We had an average car at best. We had the right front go down, lost a lap. Got saved by the caution. Did the wave-around. Was really bad that run. We took two tires. I was like, Oh, God, here we go. We’re going to go to the back now. It had a lot more grip than I anticipated. We got lucky with the final caution. I was really hoping we were going to take two (tires) again. I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing one and two really hard. Thought I could do the same thing if we got another one. Just unbelievable. What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports. Cliff Daniels, everybody, his leadership, his complete leadership just showed that whole race. Keeping us all motivated. Always having a plan. All of that. That’s just the story of our season.
Again, just unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane.”
Hendrick reflects on 15th Cup Championship victory
Hendrick Motorsports CEO Rick Hendrick discusses the feelings behind winning 15 NASCAR Cup Series Championships after Kyle Larson’s win, diving into the year for his team and more.
Joey Logano — fourth: ““Yeah, we were close. We needed one more lap, to be honest with you. I was underneath them all at the line and had momentum on the short cut. I think I would have cleared them all into one if we had one more, but ifs and buts don’t really matter. Overall, we had a shot at it, but didn’t position ourselves far enough forward for the last green-white-checkered there. We just had a little hiccup on pit road leaving. It was close. You see the leaders right there in front of you and you think you’ve got a shot at it, but just couldn’t quite pull it off. It’s a good way to finish the season – solid. Dang it. I saw the win. I thought it was fine. If you’re aggressive, you’re gonna pay the price when it comes to air pressure. No one should be blaming Goodyear or anything like that. It’s not on them, it’s on the teams and the settings that they put in their cars. The more aggressive you are, the faster it goes and the more likely it’s gonna blow out. All of us are just trying to figure out where that edge is. When they’re four-wide across the line in front of you what more could people want? There were four heavyweight dogs of our sport that are racing for the win. What else could you want? I don’t get it. I’m sure they’re not complaining about it now, the format, as they sit there and celebrate. Kyle deserves it. He’s a fantastic racer. He does it a lot different than me, so it’s interesting to see how they do over there. They obviously have a great team. Hendrick Motorsports is stout, and Larson is a great driver. Cliff is a great crew chief, and they show up when it matters. They do that really well. They were down and out today and figured out a way to win the championship. Kudos to them. Good job to them. That’s that. We move on.”
Kyle Busch — fifth: “We struggled with a loose-handling Chevrolet to start the race today at Phoenix Raceway, but crew chief Andy Street and the guys went back the other way on adjustments and our Chevy came to life. It really became good, and we were able to tie corners together better and make some good moves on restarts to get track position. That was a positive note to end the season with a top-five finish and get some momentum for our team and everyone at RCR to get ready for the Daytona 500.”
Denny Hamlin — sixth: “Yeah, nothing I can do different. Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there. What can you do? Just not meant to be. I thought still okay. We took four tires. I thought that definitely was the right call. Just so many cars took two there. Obviously put us back. Team did a fantastic job. They prepared a championship car. Just didn’t happen. I’ll try. I got a couple more shots at it. Man, if you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you can win.”
Hamlin: Cup win was ‘not meant to be’
Denny Hamlin discusses the emotions of coming up short in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, reflecting on the day and if anything could have gone differently.
Chase Briscoe — 18th: “Certainly eventful. We never gave up. That’s been the story of my whole career, never giving up. You never know what can change at any point.
Felt like we were good enough. We came from the front to the back two or three different times. Had a really good Toyota. Wish we could have been on an even playing field at some point. Was about to pass William, blew another tire. Just part of it. Obviously thankful for the opportunity. So excited to be at Joe Gibbs Racing, be able to compete for wins and compete for championships. Hate that one of us didn’t get it. I thought we were both certainly capable. This wasn’t our day. Go into next year and see if we can do a little bit better. (The season) was big. Just in the sense of you always think you can do it. You never really know if you can. This year to prove to myself and certainly a lot of other people, too, that I feel like I belong here, right? So yeah, looking forward to obviously building on that. Really this year I felt like we gave the field half a season head start because we were learning so much throughout the process. We’ll start on an even playing field next year, see if we can be better. Certainly, we think we can get back here. James and I were talking, we don’t even feel like we’re at our full potential yet. I definitely feel confident we can get back.”
Briscoe: Joe Gibbs Racing ‘never gave up’
Chase Briscoe discusses his team’s showing in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, explaining what he and Joe Gibbs Racing can improve on going into next season.
Austin Dillon — 20th: ““Today was a learning day for our No. 3 Chevrolet team. We wanted to end the season on a good note but once we had a tire go down under green we shifted our focus to learning for 2026. Crew chief Richard Boswell and the guys made a ton of adjustments throughout the race to see how our car would react and hopefully put ourselves in a better position here at Phoenix Raceway in the spring. Overall, I’m proud of the effort that everyone put into this entire season. We are all looking forward to spending time with our families and we’ll be ready to start again in a couple of months.”
William Byron — 33rd: “I don’t know all the details. Yeah, I’m just super bummed that it was a caution obviously. I hate that. Hate it for Denny. I hate it for the 11 team.
I’m happy for Kyle, for Mr. Hendrick, they deserve it. Yeah, it stinks, right? I don’t know, three laps to go, I’m thinking, Let me get to the end. I felt something funny off of two, thought it might be a flat. I thought at the time if it’s left rear, you can kind of get back. It just went straight into three. Laid down on the right rear, went straight.
I hate that. Yeah, just felt like a passenger at that point. Proud of the team. We had a good day going, had a shot to win it there. Just didn’t quite have enough.
Yeah, just regroup, go to next year, I guess. Yeah, we brought our best towards the end of the Playoffs, for sure. The win last week was great. Today was really good, too. I thought we were kind of right there, but not quite enough. It’s been an awesome year. Wish we could have finished it off better. We’ll get going for next year, take some much-needed time off. I mean, Denny was on his way to it. I hate that. There’s a lot of respect there. I obviously do not want to cause a caution. If I had known what tire it was, known that a tire was going down before I got to the corner, I would have done something different. Yeah, you just feel like a passenger. It sucks.”
