Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — Now there’s a Chase.
A race that started with no driver within 48 points of the leader and with three sitting 49 to 65 points behind, ended with six drivers within 56 points of leader Kyle Larson.
Tyler Reddick — the driver who is now 56 points back — started the day 114 back. Reddick made his way into Victory Lane, while Larson’s miserable race ended 31 laps early with him in 34th.
Three races remain in the season and Larson is clinging to a five-point lead on Christopher Bell. Ahead are races at Talladega, Martinsville and Homestead with Larson seeking his third Cup title.
“It is what it is,” Larson told me and other reporters after exiting the track medical center. “It’s just part of racing.”
Here are my takeaways:
1. Larson Struggles; Field Tightens
Kyle Larson’s bad day gave other drivers in The Chase more hope.
Before a flat tire resulted in a crash that ended his day, Larson struggled throughout the race at Phoenix.
The Hendrick driver had finished third or fourth in six of the last seven races at Phoenix, even though he hasn’t always felt that strong.
“I’m not surprised,” Larson said. “I think you guys thought I was lying to you all week when I said we weren’t good here. I didn’t expect to be good, but I didn’t expect to be that bad, either.
“We were just trying to fight as much as we could and just scratch and claw for whatever finish we could get.”
Chase Briscoe (eighth at Phoenix) now sits 24 points behind, Hamlin (28th) is 31 points back, Ryan Blaney (second) is within 40 points, Joey Logano (sixth) is within 44 and then Reddick sits at 56.
“I figured it would tighten up after today anyways, just based off history,” Larson said. “Obviously, I wanted to finish to get the points we could. … I figured today would not be great and we would have to go next week and execute. So really, the plan hasn’t changed.”
2. Hamlin Squanders Opportunity
After another lackluster finish, Hamlin said that nothing surprises him.
Hamlin had a flat tire that didn’t end his day but put him a lap down as the caution came out just after he pitted.
He would have gotten the free pass to get back on the lead lap, but he sped entering pit road as he concentrated on just steering the car and not on his speed.
Still seeking his first title in a career where he has 64 Cup wins, Hamlin can only wonder what could have been as his 2026 Chase has not mirrored his regular season, where he topped the standings.
“Some things are meant to be, and some things are not meant to be,” Hamlin told me and other reporters after the race. “There have been so many cards that I’ve been dealt in my career in these playoffs or Chase. Nothing surprises me. I’m not shell-shocked because I’ve been here.”
Hamlin said he did not believe the tire issues were a team-inflicted issue by using low air pressures.
3. Reddick Finds Victory Lane Again
Tyler Reddick won the day in the desert, putting himself firmly into The Chase conversation.
Tyler Reddick won five of the first nine races of the 2026 season and took a 23-race winless streak into Phoenix.
He snapped that winless streak and put himself back in The Chase mix in one swoop, where he restarted fourth but the first driver with two fresh tires on a restart with 19 laps remaining. It took him less than two laps to snag the lead and hold off the field for the win.
“It’s been a long time,” Reddick said in his post-race news conference, about an hour after he climbed the track catch fence in celebration. “To go six months without getting it done was tough on the [team].
“But it was really cool in the fashion we did it. … It wasn’t really a perfectly-executed day for us again, but we just stayed in the mix, fought our way back up there, as the other drivers and teams had mistakes and miscues.”
4. Bell, Briscoe, Logano, Blaney Still In Mix
Ryan Blaney is hopeful he and his team can keep carving into the lead for The Chase.
Bell, Briscoe, Blaney and Logano all cut at least 40 points into Larson’s lead with their solid days.
It could have been more with the win (Reddick cut 58 points), but they will take what the solid finish gave them in combination with Larson’s struggles.
“[Gained] a lot of points today. Hard to be upset about that,” Blaney said in his USA Sports interview afterward. “[We’ll] try to go the next two weeks and do the same.”
4 ½. What’s Next: Talladega Superspeedway
The highly unpredictable Talladega will be certain to shake up the standings again as drivers try to navigate the draft without getting caught up in the typical crashes.
NASCAR has changed the rear spoiler from four inches to 3.5 inches. This is to give the drivers less rear downforce, potentially giving them the ability to maneuver better because they will have a little bit more room to react to moves by others.
But the drivers will have to depend on teammates — or at least manufacturer brethren — for help in the draft because a push from behind is vital to move forward.
“We’ll do our best to try and populate [with Toyotas] at the front as best we can,” Reddick said.