NASCAR’s final 4 championship contenders explain why they’ll win it all at Phoenix

PHOENIX — After 35 races in about nine months, the NASCAR Cup Series season comes down to Sunday’s championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin, the Championship 4 drivers, will compete against each other for the 2021 crown and go against each other and the rest of the field for the win. Elliott and Truex are racing for their second titles — Elliott is the defending champ while Truex won back in 2017 — and Larson and Hamlin are racing for their first.

Sunday’s championship race is the second at Phoenix this season. Truex won the first back in March after leading 64 of 312 total laps. Hamlin finished third, Elliott fifth and Larson seventh.

But to win the title, the Championship 4 drivers don’t necessarily have to win the race. The champion will be the highest finisher among the four of them — though since the 2014 season, the champion also won the season finale. And with the way these four drivers and their teams have performed throughout the season, it seems likely one of them will take the checkered flag Sunday.

Ahead of the title race, For The Win asked each of the contenders why they think their team will win it all. Here are their answers.