Phelps admitted NASCAR has heard fan backlash that the most deserving drivers were eliminated from the title-deciding race, including Kyle Larson, who led the Cup Series with six wins this season, and Christopher Bell, who was outstanding in the third round of the playoffs but disqualified for riding the wall last week at Martinsville Speedway in a move deemed to be a safety violation.
That gave the final berth to Byron on points after Logano, Reddick and Blaney all won races to earn automatic spots in the finale. Among those eliminated were Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.
“There’s a lot of chatter around the four that are competing on Sunday.
Heard some words like, ’they’re not deserving, you’ve got the wrong drivers, two, three, four drivers,’” Phelps said.
“All our drivers knew the format. All four of these drivers deserve to be here — full stop.”
Logano was eliminated from the playoffs following the second round but was reinstated when Alex Bowman’s car failed post-race inspection following an elimination race.
He will try to become the only active three-time champion in NASCAR’s top series.
