{"id":41066,"date":"2022-11-05T17:25:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-05T22:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=41066"},"modified":"2022-11-06T14:37:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-06T20:37:25","slug":"nascar-saturday-championship-4-notebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/05\/nascar-saturday-championship-4-notebook\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Championship 4 Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer and Holly Cain<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service <\/em><\/p>\n

Joey Logano wins pole position for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Championship race<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 Joey Logano took the first step toward a second NASCAR Cup Series championship on Saturday afternoon by winning the pole position for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 05, 2022 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Logano navigated the one-mile Phoenix Raceway in 26.788 seconds (134.389 mph) in the final round of time trials to edge Team Penske teammate and non-Playoff driver Ryan Blaney (134.373 mph) by .003 seconds for the top starting spot in the event that will crown the 2022 series champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the goal,\u201d Logano said. \u201cIt keeps the pressure on the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Logano didn\u2019t think he had a pole-winning lap when he ran it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, because it went slower than the run before (in the opening round),\u201d he said. \u201cIt seemed like tire falloff was a real thing. I kind of got done with my lap and was like, \u2018Eh.\u2019 I thought it was going to be like third or fourth probably, just not as good as what it was the first run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI overcompensated some of the adjustments I wanted to make as a driver and probably didn\u2019t adjust the car enough as much as we needed to for some other things, but I guess everybody\u2019s tires fell off, and that was a better lap than I thought it was.\u201d <\/p>\n

With Ford drivers sweeping the top three positions on the grid, Chase Briscoe qualified third at 134.203 mph, followed by Kyle Larson (133.844 mph), whose No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is eligible for the owners\u2019 championship but not the drivers\u2019 title.<\/p>\n

Championship 4 driver Chase Elliott (133.437 mph) will start fifth. Like Logano, Elliott is seeking a second Cup Series title.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative is there for the writing, and it\u2019s our job to make sure it goes our way,\u201d said Elliott, who hasn\u2019t been at his best in the Playoffs so far. <\/p>\n

Non-Playoff drivers Harrison Burton, Kevin Harvick, William Byron, Cole Custer and Ty Gibbs will start from positions six through 10, respectively.<\/p>\n

The two drivers who advanced to the Championship 4 with eleventh-hour heroics last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway\u2014race winner Christopher Bell and rim rider Ross Chastain\u2014will start at a disadvantage on Sunday after failing to make the final round.<\/p>\n

Bell will start 17th and Chastain 25th in Sunday\u2019s title race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was too loose on the throttle,\u201d said Chastain, who was fastest in Friday\u2019s practice but out of balance in qualifying trim. \u201cIt\u2019s a great thing for (Sunday) but not good right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Bowman returns to action in season finale<\/b><\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman is back behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet this week after missing five NASCAR Cup Series races while recovering from concussion-type symptoms.<\/p>\n

Bowman, a native of nearby Tucson, Arizona was adamant that he wanted to return to competition this year rather than wait until the start of the 2023 season. He was injured in an accident during the Texas Motor Speedway race on Sept. 25 \u2013 and following doctors\u2019 orders, sat out the next five races.<\/p>\n

Bowman had been ranked 10th heading into Texas \u2013 qualifying for the Playoffs with a victory at Las Vegas in March. Noah Gragson filled in for Bowman with a best showing of 11th at Las Vegas in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of really smart people at HMS that evaluated everything and tried to make everything the best it can be,” said Bowman, who qualified 24th for Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having a goal to come back this year kept me working really hard and really accountable for what I was doing. I think if we would had said, \u2018We\u2019re going to take the rest of the year off,\u2019 it would have been way easier to just sit back on my butt and not work as hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Sunday represents a true \u201chomecoming\u201d of sorts \u2013 both in his native Arizona and in the car \u2013 it is a farewell to his crew chief Greg Ives, who will step away from the demanding travel schedule at the end of the season and instead work for Hendrick Motorsports based out of the shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a lot of motivation to come back with Greg,” Bowman said. \u201cDefinitely a lot of different emotions. We\u2019re obviously caught up trying to run the best we can. Just trying to enjoy it. I\u2019m really happy for him and the next step in his career. Just happy to be back with him (this weekend).\u201d<\/p>\n

Crew chiefs bring calm, straightforward mind-sets to title race<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

The four championship-eligible NASCAR Cup Series crew chiefs spoke with the media on Friday: for the most part presenting a very calm decisive air.<\/p>\n

Of the four, Phil Surgen, crew chief on the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet driven by Ross Chastain, will be making his crew chief debut in the Championship 4, although he has worked as an engineer on a championship-eligible car before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting, obviously we work our whole lives, careers to be here,” said Surgen, whose No. 1 Chevrolet was quickest in Friday\u2019s one and only NASCAR Cup Series practice but qualified 25th for the race \u2013 slowest among the Championship 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to treat it as any other race weekend. For us, all the goals are the same, we want to show up, be the fastest, win the race. In that regard, it\u2019s very similar to every other week.”<\/p>\n

The other three crew chiefs \u2013 Paul Wolfe (Joey Logano), Alan Gustafson (Chase Elliott) and Adam Stevens (Christopher Bell) \u2013 have not only competed in the Championship 4 Round previously but have all won NASCAR Cup Series championships.<\/p>\n

Wolfe, who won a championship trophy in 2012 with then-Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski, comes in with the most opportunity to prepare for Phoenix since Logano was the first Championship 4 qualifier. And it was rewarded. Logano won the pole position for the race on Friday and will lead the field to green.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we have had a lot of time,” Wolfe said. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to make the most of that. As you know, seems like there\u2019s never enough time in the day when you\u2019re preparing for any race. The extra couple weeks was nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good plan. I think Team Penske as a whole and I was very pleased with how our teammates stepped up and were able to help us and work together.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer and Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service  Joey Logano wins pole position for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Championship race AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2013 Joey Logano took the first step toward a second NASCAR Cup Series championship on Saturday afternoon by winning the pole position for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race (3 p.m. ET on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":41062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,395],"class_list":["post-41066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1439298127-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-aGm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41066"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41070,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41066\/revisions\/41070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}