Michael Phelps to serve as honorary pace car driver for NASCAR Cup Series Championship race
A man who knows a thing or two about finishing races strong will be the official honorary pace car driver for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, with 23-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps set to serve the honors.
The Phoenix Raceway announced the news on Wednesday.
NASCAR’s Championship Weekend will culminate on Nov. 10 with the running of a 312-lap race at Avondale in Arizona.
Michael Phelps will help kick things off after a long and decorated career in the pool. He has served in various post-swimming capacities, including as the ESPN College GameDay guest-picker for a Week 2 matchup between Michigan and Texas.
It’s been a thrilling playoff race so far and figures to be an intriguing finish, especially after recent developments.
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NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings after Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas
| Seed | Driver | Points |
| 1. | Joey Logano | 1 Win |
| 2. | Christopher Bell | +42 |
| 3. | Kyle Larson | +35 |
| 4. | William Byron | +27 |
| 5. | Denny Hamlin | -27 |
| 6. | Tyler Reddick | -30 |
| 7. | Ryan Blaney | -47 |
| 8. | Chase Elliott | -53 |
For Christopher Bell, the race at Las Vegas has to feel like a missed opportunity. The Joe Gibbs Racing star dominated much of the action and looked to have the upper hand on Joey Logano as he chased him down in the closing laps. Bell got to within a second of Logano but ran out of time. One more lap, and perhaps Bell would have caught him. Instead, it’s a frustrating end to what was a quality run for the up-and-coming NASCAR driver.
Fortunately for Bell, he has quite the points cushion heading into Homestead next Sunday. The same can’t be said for some other playoff drivers who had trouble at Las Vegas, including Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott. The trio were involved in a Lap 90 incident, which left their cars with significant damage. Reddick, the Stage 1 winner, finished 35th, Blaney 32nd and Elliott 33rd, 27 laps down.
“We can still have a good day at Homestead and be in the mix at Martinsville,” Reddick said after the race. “Ideally, yeah, it would have been nice to win today. It would be nice to win next week, and that is what we’ll focus on, but thankfully we got some stage points in Stage 1, and we are not absolutely out of it on points yet. We’ve got a few ways, but we have to be perfect from here on out, probably.”