Phoenix Raceway has been hosting the Championship 4 race for the top three tiers of NASCAR since 2020.
NASCAR’s current system leads the season to the NASCAR Championship Weekend where qualified drivers race for the championship title. The current season ended recently with Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith winning the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series titles respectively.
And since 2020, Phoenix Raceway had the pleasure of hosting these title-deciding races. Before that, it hosted the penultimate race of each season from 2005 to 2019. The races used to take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway from 2002 to 2019.
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While Phoenix might have had its memorable moments, not many are convinced of its use for the title-deciding race. One of the voices joining in the criticism is Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray. Speaking in an episode of the “Door Bumper Clear” podcast, he weighed both pros and cons of the Phoenix Raceway.
“The track does not produce exciting racing. Like the restarts, they’re great. It’s so much fun. And then you’re like, ‘Oh, boy, we need a caution.’ Right? But the facility is amazing,”.
“The track is one of the most developed venues in the cup schedule, but the races it produces are not good enough for broadcasting. He said, “So, I think from a TV perspective, it’s not a good race. I mean, it’s just not exciting. But from a facilities standpoint of going there and being at a cool venue and everything that they’re doing around it, I think it’s a 10. But racing-wise, no,”.
Another opinion among some NASCAR personnel is to change the venue for the championship 4 races every year. This view was shared by Kaulig Racing spotter Brett Griffin, also the co-host of the podcast.
He wants NASCAR to hold the series finale for three different tiers in three different locations. For Cup Series, he would like to see a change in the venue every year, while he is happy for Xfinity Series being held at Phoenix. As for the Truck Series, he wants it to be held at Martinsville.
Let us know your opinions on whether Phoenix Raceway is the right venue for the Championship 4 race.
Door Bumper Clear most of the time is right on about a race and is not afraid like the guys calling the race to say the race sucked, During a race when the cars spend 80 percent of the race in single file it isn’t much of a race. This year the only excitement was on pit row. Pit row was where cars lost or made up spots. It really was a boring year.
Been watching and attending races (including Phoenix) for about 30 years. I never thought Phoenix was good pick for the Champs. It’s very difficult to pass, once you have a leader it usually stays that way, which doesn’t male it very competitive