PHOENIX

THREE THINGS TOWATCH

1. Nerve-rattling

The NASCAR Cup Series is down to a pair of races, and this week’s race at ISM Raceway (Phoenix) will decide the remaining two positions in the final four. Martin Truex

Jr. and Kevin Harvick are in thanks to race wins. Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are third and fourth in points.

Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson are in striking range. Chase Elliott needs to win. “I look forward to getting out there,” Elliott said.

2. Losing ground

Denny championship Hamlin has air about had a him since winning the Daytona 500. Now he’s in deep, double-digit trouble. He went from 22 points to the good to 20 points to the bad at Texas, or a 42-point swing. He was a victim of the traction compound sprayed on the Texas race surface. His No. 11 Toyota spun off the track and was damaged in the grass.

“We’ll go to Phoenix and try to win,” he said.

3. Last penultimate

The second to last shall be last in 2020. When NASCAR revealed the 2020 Cup Series schedule, ISM Raceway was moved from its long-standing penultimate position to the season finale. The oddly shaped, 1-mile course was “flipped” this year. Turns 1 and 2 used to be Turns 3 and

4. Kyle Busch won the spring race but he hasn’t won a Cup event since June 2. “I’m optimistic about it. I think we can do OK,” he said.

[AP/LARRY PAPKE] This detour through the grass at Texas Motor Speedway might have cost Denny Hamlin a championship opportunity.