AP Top News｜布里斯科势头正盛，但进入凤凰城站比赛前，拉森在纳斯卡季后赛中仍握有压倒性领先优势

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) Back-to-back wins have vaulted Chase Briscoe into contention for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell are still lurking, too.

Larson, who is looking for his third championship overall, leads regular-season champion Hamlin by 49 points with four races remaining. His average finish of 2.83 is the best pace over the first six postseason races since the Chase was introduced in 2004 and he already has two postseason victories and two second-place finishes.

Larson had a disappointing qualifying run on Saturday and will start 22nd. Ryan Blaney won the pole and Joey Logano was second to give Team Penske the front row.

Its just not been a historically good track for us from start to finish, Larson said. Were able to finish well, but I think that has a lot to do with team execution. Weve done that time and time again here. I feel like our average (speed) ranking, were probably an eighth-to 13th-place car most times. Weve had a couple decent ones, but we never come here and were like the fastest.

Its been a dominant run for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, reminiscent of Jimmie Johnsons peak in the 2000s. He finished sixth last week in Charlotte, which was his worst finish of the postseason.

Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing are still trying to regain the form that allowed him to dominate during the regular season. The No. 11 Toyota finished fifth last week in Charlotte, which was his second-best performance of the postseason.

No desperation, but the gap needs to close, starting now, Hamlin said. I think thats probably pretty accurate with our position. Just to get back on our front foot. Youve got to start with winning the day and then go from there.

But ultimately, with the races winding down, weve got to start chopping into this.

Logano, Blaney have had success at Phoenix

Logano and Blaney are among the drivers hoping that past success in the desert can help spark a rally.

Logano is a four-time winner at Phoenix Raceway while Blaney has won the past two races at the mile, tri-oval track. He can become the third driver to win three consecutive races in Phoenix, joining Kevin Harvick, who won four straight from 2013 to 2015 and Johnson, who won three in a row in 2007 and 2008.

Blaney said that past success doesnt predict the future and hes always trying to grow, even at a track where hes been so good.

Youre always having to get better from a car side and a driver side, Blaney said. Theres things you do poorly even if you win the race. At least I look at it like I could have done better here. I could have done a better job with my approach or my mindset.

Briscoe tries to stay hot

Briscoes on a roll after wins in Las Vegas and Charlotte, but Phoenix hasnt been his best track in recent years.

He did get his first career win in Phoenix back in 2022, but has struggled lately at the track, with four straight finishes of 18th or worse, with an average of 30th place. Most of the problems have been related to blown tires, but Briscoe believes his Joe Gibbs Racing team has figured out some answers.

I know that weve brought a different approach at least thats the plan, Briscoe said. So well find out here in a little bit if that plan worked out.

Late-race drama in the desert

Phoenix Raceway is known for its dogleg section that features a widely-used shortcut option, particularly during restarts and late-race situations.

Thats produced several memorable finishes: Both of last years races had a last-lap pass for the win and 11 races have ended in overtime, which is third most among all tracks behind Daytona and Talladega.

Whats up next?

After Phoenix, the Cup series heads to Talladega and Martinsville before the season finale Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami.

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亚利桑那州埃文代尔（美联社）——连续两场胜利使蔡斯·布里斯科跃升为纳斯卡杯系列赛冠军的有力争夺者。

但随着“季后赛”于周日移师凤凰城赛道，是否有人能追上凯尔·拉尔森一贯的卓越表现，仍有待观察。

拉尔森正寻求个人第三个总冠军，目前他在剩余四场比赛的情况下，领先常规赛冠军哈姆林49分。他在季后赛前六场比赛中的平均完赛名次为2.83，这是自2004年引入追逐赛制以来同期最佳表现，并且他已经取得了两场季后赛胜利和两次亚军。

如今，拉尔森将前往一条他屡获佳绩的赛道——尽管他对凤凰城赛道的忌惮程度超出了人们的预期。他曾在2021年于凤凰城夺冠，在24次出赛中12次跻身前五，并在春季赛中位列第三。

拉尔森在周六的排位赛中表现不佳，将从第22位发车。瑞安·布莱尼夺得杆位，乔伊·洛加诺位列第二，为潘斯克车队锁定了头排发车位。

"拉尔森表示：“从始至终，这条赛道对我们来说都不是一条历史战绩出色的赛道。我们能够取得不错的完赛成绩，但我认为这在很大程度上要归功于车队的执行能力。我们在这里一次又一次地做到了这一点。我觉得就平均速度排名而言，大多数时候我们大概是一辆能排在第8到第13位的赛车。我们有过几次不错的表现，但我们来到这里时，从来都不是最快的那个。”

对于这位亨德里克赛车运动队的车手来说，这是一段统治性的征程，令人想起吉米·约翰逊在2000年代的巅峰时期。上周在夏洛特，他获得第六名，这是他在季后赛中最差的成绩。

贝尔目前在积分榜上排名第三，落后拉尔森51分。布里斯科连续两场胜利使他升至第四位，落后65分。布莱尼（落后85分）、洛加诺（落后92分）和泰勒·雷迪克（落后114分）分别位列第五至第七名。

哈姆林和乔·吉布斯车队仍在努力找回常规赛期间让他占据主导地位的状态。上周在夏洛特，11号丰田赛车获得第五名，这是他季后赛中第二好的成绩。

“没有绝望，但差距需要缩小，从现在开始，”哈姆林说道。“我认为这很可能准确地反映了我们的处境。就是要重新占据主动。你必须从赢得当下开始，然后再继续前进。”

但最终，随着比赛逐渐接近尾声，我们必须开始着手解决这个问题了。

洛加诺和布莱尼在凤凰城赛道均有出色表现。

洛加诺和布莱尼是众多车手中的两位，他们希望过去在沙漠中的成功能够激发一场反击。

洛加诺是凤凰城赛道的四冠王，而布莱尼在过去两场比赛中均在该英里三椭圆赛道上夺冠。他有望成为第三位在凤凰城连续三场夺冠的车手，此前凯文·哈维克曾在2013年至2015年连续四次夺冠，约翰逊则在2007年和2008年连续三次夺冠。

布莱尼表示，过去的成功并不能预示未来，他始终在寻求进步，即便是在自己表现优异的赛道上也是如此。

“你总是需要不断进步——无论是从赛车方面还是车手方面，”布莱尼说道。“即使你赢得了比赛，也总有做得不好的地方。至少我是这么看的——‘我本可以在这里做得更好，我本可以在方法或心态上做得更出色。’”

布里斯科力求保持火热状态

布里斯科在拉斯维加斯和夏洛特连续获胜后势头正盛，但菲尼克斯赛道近年来并非他的强项。

他确实在2022年于凤凰城取得了职业生涯首胜，但近期在该赛道上表现挣扎，连续四场比赛排名第18位或更差，平均名次仅为第30位。问题大多与爆胎有关，但布里斯科相信，他的乔·吉布斯车队已经找到了一些解决方案。

“我知道我们带来了一种不同的方法——至少这是计划，”布里斯科说。“所以我们很快就会知道这个计划是否奏效。”

沙漠赛事的终场戏剧性转折

凤凰赛道以其狗腿形路段而闻名，该路段设有一个被广泛使用的捷径选项，尤其在重新发车和比赛末段的情况下尤为常见。

这已经造就了多次令人难忘的完赛场面：去年的两场比赛均是在最后一圈完成超越并夺冠，此外共有11场比赛进入加时赛，这一数字在所有赛道中排名第三，仅次于代托纳和塔拉迪加。

接下来是什么？

在凤凰城站之后，杯赛系列赛将转战塔拉迪加和马丁斯维尔，随后于11月8日在霍姆斯特德-迈阿密迎来赛季收官战。