Cup - 2026 - Straight Talk Wireless 500

Date: 2026-03-08 | Track: Phoenix Raceway

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Three ways to measure this race

Official winner TLS leader Best ARP
Driver Ryan Blaney (#12) Christopher Bell (#20) Christopher Bell (#20)
Finish P1 P2 P2
TLS points 9568 11049 11049
ARP 7.43 2.70 2.70
Laps led 28 176 176

Three different ways to measure a race — and they often point to different drivers.

Official winner — Ryan Blaney (#12): where the car was at the checkered flag (P1). Led 28 laps with 7.43 average running position and 9,568 TLS points.

TLS leader — Christopher Bell (#20): most position-weighted points across every scored lap (11,049 points). Finished P2 with 176 laps led and 2.70 ARP. TLS rewards running up front all afternoon, not only the final lap.

Best ARP — same as the TLS leader (2.70). The official winner ran a worse average position (7.43).

The checkered flag reflects who survived the final seconds. TLS reflects where drivers ran across the whole race. ARP tells you the typical running spot — but not who banked the most valuable laps.

Blaney edges Bell at Phoenix

The Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix had cautions throughout, including a lap-217 crash involving Ross Chastain (#1), Austin Cindric (#2), Joey Logano (#22), Bubba Wallace (#23), and Alex Bowman (#48) after a restart.

A late flat tire for Austin Dillon (#3) set up a final pit cycle. On the lap-294 restart Ty Gibbs (#54) led alongside Ryan Blaney (#12) until a backstretch crash collected John Hunter Nemechek (#42) and others. Blaney (#12) cleared the chaos to win by 0.399 seconds over Christopher Bell (#20).

Finish Position Points Position Driver Car Number Manufacturer Team Start Position Laps Led ARP Points
1 5 Ryan Blaney 12 Ford Team Penske 5 28 7.43 9568
2 1 Christopher Bell 20 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 12 176 2.70 11049
3 8 Kyle Larson 5 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 2 0 11.21 8386
4 4 Ty Gibbs 54 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 14 12 6.48 9865
5 2 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 11 5 5.54 10159
6 9 Bubba Wallace 23 Toyota 23XI Racing 28 0 12.50 7983
7 7 William Byron 24 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 9 1 10.04 8751
8 3 Tyler Reddick 45 Toyota 23XI Racing 8 0 5.76 10090
9 12 Michael McDowell 71 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 16 0 15.49 7046
10 25 Erik Jones 43 Toyota Legacy Motor Club 32 0 23.82 4439
11 22 Shane Van Gisbergen 97 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 18 0 21.41 5192
12 17 Todd Gilliland 34 Ford Front Row Motorsports 30 0 17.96 6271
13 16 Ryan Preece 60 Ford RFK Racing 13 4 17.72 6349
14 10 Chris Buescher 17 Ford RFK Racing 17 0 12.55 7965
15 26 Brad Keselowski 6 Ford RFK Racing 37 0 24.18 4325
16 14 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 25 0 16.93 6595
17 32 Kyle Busch 8 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 29 0 30.67 2294
18 23 Riley Herbst 35 Toyota 23XI Racing 22 0 22.34 4902
19 18 AJ Allmendinger 16 Chevrolet Kaulig Racing 23 0 18.36 6148
20 11 Carson Hocevar 77 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 7 0 13.02 7820
21 36 * Austin Hill(i) 33 Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 27 0 0.00 0
22 30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 Chevrolet HYAK Motorsports 21 0 26.30 3661
23 20 Chase Elliott 9 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 26 0 20.05 5618
24 33 Cody Ware 51 Chevrolet Rick Ware Racing 34 0 31.71 1969
25 15 John Hunter Nemechek 42 Toyota Legacy Motor Club 15 0 17.61 6381
26 27 Ty Dillon 10 Chevrolet Kaulig Racing 33 0 24.49 4214
27 29 Zane Smith 38 Ford Front Row Motorsports 24 0 25.04 3823
28 19 Ross Chastain 1 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 6 0 17.27 5949
29 31 Connor Zilisch # 88 Chevrolet Trackhouse Racing 19 0 26.94 3118
30 24 Daniel Suarez 7 Chevrolet Spire Motorsports 4 0 19.07 4826
31 6 Joey Logano 22 Ford Team Penske 1 73 3.10 8864
32 21 Josh Berry 21 Ford Wood Brothers Racing 10 13 17.17 5292
33 36 Anthony Alfredo(i) 48 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports 31 0 0.00 0
34 13 Austin Cindric 2 Ford Team Penske 3 0 6.48 6839
35 35 Cole Custer 41 Chevrolet Haas Factory Team 36 0 33.04 793
36 34 Noah Gragson 4 Ford Front Row Motorsports 35 0 31.66 995
37 28 Chase Briscoe 19 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 20 0 8.78 3857

Season Points Standings (Up to This Race)

Previous Next
Rank Driver Car Number Season Points Average Running Position Total Laps Led Points this race
1 Tyler Reddick 45 27156 8.30 112 10090
2 Ryan Blaney 12 25713 9.35 47 9568
3 Christopher Bell 20 25630 10.29 194 11049
4 Bubba Wallace 23 24847 12.51 86 7983
5 Joey Logano 22 24218 11.29 108 8864
6 William Byron 24 24120 11.41 2 8751
7 Denny Hamlin 11 24016 13.11 18 10159
8 Chris Buescher 17 21635 14.81 4 7965
9 Kyle Larson 5 21581 10.83 55 8386
10 Chase Elliott 9 21450 15.03 13 5618
11 Ross Chastain 1 21200 14.51 16 5949
12 Austin Cindric 2 19973 14.66 26 6839
13 Michael McDowell 71 19040 16.43 15 7046
14 Ty Gibbs 54 18798 13.90 17 9865
15 Shane Van Gisbergen 97 18333 16.13 6 5192
16 Brad Keselowski 6 17905 19.97 10 4325
17 Ryan Preece 60 17210 20.18 4 6349
18 Carson Hocevar 77 17186 20.92 3 7820
19 AJ Allmendinger 16 17174 19.08 2 6148
20 Chase Briscoe 19 16880 12.55 58 3857
21 Zane Smith 38 16676 20.11 10 3823
22 John Hunter Nemechek 42 16515 20.54 19 6381
23 Daniel Suarez 7 16057 20.06 0 4826
24 Ty Dillon 10 14344 22.65 3 4214
25 Todd Gilliland 34 13818 20.74 1 6271
26 Josh Berry 21 13811 17.58 13 5292
27 Austin Dillon 3 13676 22.90 0 6595
28 Riley Herbst 35 13415 22.12 0 4902
29 Erik Jones 43 13249 24.89 0 4439
30 Kyle Busch 8 12951 19.16 19 2294
31 Connor Zilisch # 88 12696 22.78 0 3118
32 Noah Gragson 4 12379 24.57 0 995
33 Cole Custer 41 10327 25.25 0 793
34 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 9552 25.08 4 3661
35 Cody Ware 51 8984 29.23 2 1969
36 Alex Bowman 48 8940 22.13 0 0
37 * Jimmie Johnson 84 2399 30.00 0 0
38 * Casey Mears 66 1101 36.38 0 0
39 * BJ McLeod 78 821 30.24 0 0