NASCAR season races to the finish line today
By Christina Kline, CNN
Drivers will start their engines one last time for the 2021 NASCAR season on Sunday. The Cup Series Championship will see the top four drivers race to the finish line for the chance to hoist the Cup Series trophy.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the green flag.
Where is it?
The championship race takes place at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Racers will drive 312 laps around its one-mile oval track.
Who is racing?
Only one driver will win the Cup Series when the checkered flag flies. Here are the four drivers racing for the title:
- Kyle Larson: Driving No. 5 for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson is the only Asian American to race full-time in NASCAR.
- Chase Elliott: Racing is in the blood of No. 9 car driver Elliott, a second-generation racer whose father Bill Elliott is a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. Elliott won the Cup Series Championship in 2020 driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
- Denny Hamlin: No. 11 Hamlin is the longest-tenured driver at Joe Gibbs Racing. In 2006, he became the first rookie ever to qualify for the NASCAR playoffs.
- Martin Truex Jr.: Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Truex Jr. last won the Cup Series in 2017.
How to watch
The race will start at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. There will be a pre-race concert by country music star Dierks Bentley. Emmy and Tony award winner ​​Kristin Chenoweth will sing the national anthem.
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