AVONDALE, Ariz. — All eyes will be on Chase Field this week as the Arizona Diamondbacks play for their second World Series championship against the Texas Rangers in Games 3, 4 and 5 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
However, the Commissioner's Trophy is not the only trophy that could be handed out in Phoenix this week.
That's because NASCAR is bringing the NASCAR Cup Series Championship to Phoenix Raceway for the fourth straight season.
That race will see four drivers (dubbed the Championship Four), race for the NASCAR Cup. Christopher Bell and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson have clinched their spots in the Championship Four and six drivers are racing at Martinsville on Sunday for those final two spots.
One of those is the driver of the #45 car, Tyler Reddick.
"Yeah, it'd be huge," Reddick said when asked what it would mean to clinch a spot in the Championship Four. "To overcome a lot of the adversity we had this year and when the playoffs came around to just be locked in and executing the level that I felt like our entire team was capable of all year, it's been a great year for us."
Going into the final race in the Round of Eight, Reddick was in fifth place, sitting 10 points below the cut line, but Reddick was confident he and his team could make up those points. A lot of that confidence stems from Reddick's championship experience, as he won back-to-back titles in the Xfinity Cup Series in 2018-19.
And if Reddick does make it to Phoenix as part of the Championship Four, he likes his chances.
"Ever since I've been running a Cup car at Phoenix, there's something about that place that just clicks," Reddick said. "I don't know what it is because I'm not a short-track guy. I wasn't an asphalt guy growing up. But, you know, over the years, we've been able to have really good speed there. So I'm really excited to get back to that track."
Reddick also has some big names backing him. He races for 23XI racing (pronounced 23-11), which is owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin. Reddick says racing for those two is inspiring to him every week.
"Whether you get to talk to them or not, I know certainly after Homestead having Michael give me a little pump up speech and congratulate all of us on a good run, you know, just their presence day in and day out really helps push us along," Reddick said.
Another thing that pushes Reddick every week is his son Beau and fiancé, Alexa. And it turns out, Beau's name came as the result of a bet between Tyler and Alexa.
"It was, my second full-time year in Xfinity," Reddick said. "I was running with ]Richard Childress Racing]. I think we had like four races to go [and] we just really couldn't come to a middle ground on a name for our son. And I was just I was driving up the shop one morning to work on the simulator, I'm pretty sure. And she called me up and basically proposed it to me, like, Hey, so here's the deal. If you win this championship, you can name our son whatever you like, but if you lose it, you're gonna have to live with that for like the rest of your life is literally how she said it.
"And it was honestly perfect for me because I was feeling very motivated to win for RCR at that time, win a second championship with another team, but I was kind of searching for one last little thing to kind of like just push me over the edge on the motivation side. And that was that for me," Reddick said.
Reddick went on to win the 2019 Xfinity Cup Series title at Miami-Homestead International Raceway and when he got out of the car, he took of his helmet, looked at Alexa, and shouted, "Baby Beau!" The rest, as the saying goes, is history.
The NASCAR Cup Series Championship will be the culmination of a week of events at Phoenix Raceway.
There will be four championship races starting with the ARCA Menard's Series West Championship (11:30 a.m.) and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship (7 p.m.) races on Friday. The NASCAR Xfinity Series championship race will be on Saturday at 4 p.m. and the NASCAR Cup Series championship race will be on Sunday at 1 p.m.
You will be able to watch the NASCAR Cup Series championship race on 12News!
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made the State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers also play at the Footprint. Phoenix has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall; and Cactus League Spring Training.
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