No Bad Blood, No Beefs Among NASCAR Championship 4 ‘Losers’

• On-track dicing not affected by off-track friendships, Championship 4 say.
• Kyle Larson, William Byron finish third and fourth behind winner Ross Chastain, champion Ryan Blaney.
• Christopher Bell drops out early Sunday with exploded brake rotor.
• Larson admits he’s a fan of the Blaney family.

In the waning laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Rudy Fugle told his driver, William Byron, “The 12 is melting down!

Fugle was hoping against hope that eventual champion Ryan Blaney, in the No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford for Penske Racing, was going to let his emotions get the better of him and lose focus in the tightly packed trio of contenders.

But that didn’t happen—and that was about the closest thing to a provocative remark all weekend among the four title-eligible teams. And in an oddly refreshing moment seldom seen in sports, NASCAR’s youngest-ever Championship 4 drivers – particularly Kyle Larson and William Byron, who finished third and fourth behind race winner Ross Chastain and champion Blaney—brought a measure of civility to Sunday’s conclusion of their title pursuit.

Even Christopher Bell, who dropped out of the chase during Stage 2, on Lap 109, didn’t have a cross word to say in his disappointment at experiencing brake problems.

Willia Byron finished third in the championship, behind Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson.

Understandably, Bell said, “It stings to not have a shot at the end of it. We were all four really close, and we all four showed strengths at different times.”

It should not have been a surprise. Early in the weekend, Blaney downplayed talk about rivalries and pressure.

“All of us race really hard on the racetrack with each other. Me, William, Kyle, and Chris have raced the hell out of each other before, but just never have ended in an incident to where it’s like no one’s mad at each other. I haven’t had run-ins with these guys at all,” Blaney said. “It’s just one of those Championship 4s where no one has like any beef. Doesn’t matter.”

Gently cocking an eyebrow at the media, he said, “Unfortunately for you guys, there is no, like, bad blood, bitter rivalry in this Championship 4. I was thinking about that earlier this week. I’m like, ‘Damn, right? No rivalry. No one is mad at each other in this one. But I don’t think that’s going to make it any less of a good show.”

Blaney was right. He held off Larson and Byron over the final 80 or so laps, and they challenged each other on the track—although Hendrick Racing teammates Larson and Byron both conceded that they didn’t have much at the end to pull off any last-lap surprises.

Byron backed him up Sunday.

“I feel like we all raced really hard, so I felt like in Stages 1 and 2, I could kind of take Ryan’s lane away a little bit and get him tight,” Byron said. “And then once he got in…