COBO CUP 2025 Newsletter – Volume 36
Blaney wins at Phoenix, Larson wins Championship
#12-Ryan Blaney wins at Phoenix; Kyle Larson wins Championship: Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. The win is his fourth win of the year, first at Phoenix and 17th career win. #6-Brad Keselowski finished 2nd followed by #5-Kyle Larson, #22-Joey Logano, #8-Kyle Busch, #11-Denny Hamlin, #21-Josh Berry, #71-Michael McDowell, #60-Ryan Preece, and #9-Chase Elliott
Larson’s third place finish was enough to capture the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. The second of his career.
Pole sitter and playoff driver Hamlin dominated most of the race, leading 208 laps. He had a lead of three seconds with three laps remaining when the caution came out. He pitted for four tires while three drivers stayed out and six, including Larson, took only two. Hamlin could not get around Larson during the overtime finish. #19-Chase Briscoe suffered a couple cut tires during the race and finished 18th.
#24-William Byron lead 52 laps, and was running third late in the race when he cut a tire down and got into the wall. He finished 33rd.
Blaney restarted fourth during the overtime attempt, the highest driver with only two tires. He passed Keselowski on the final lap to take the win. The fastest lap was run by #11-Denny Hamlin. There were 16 lead changes among 6 drivers and 9 cautions for 65 yellow flag laps.
Stage Winners
- Stage 1 won by #24-Byron
- Stage 2 won by #11-Hamlin
Perfect Team (per category): Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell & SVG for 6,225 points.
Worst Picks (per category): Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Cole Custer, Ty Dillon & Cody Ware.
Facts: Honda Hooters win at Phoenix with 245 points ($1000). They beat Dickie’s Racing by 1 point. Catch Can Man is our 2025 Cobo Cup Champion. They beat Gone with the Win by 11 points. Catch Can Man never stood on top the standings till the last race of the year.
Final 4 Stage Points: As per our 2025 Payout sheet listed under the Seasons Info page, the stage points for the final 4 were calculated and added to each team’s score. NASCAR doesn’t count them, but we do. The Stage Points for the final 4 are listed below,
Hamlin
- Stage 1 – 8 points
- Stage 2 – 10 points
- Fastest lap – 1 point
- Total: 19 bonus points
Byron
- Stage 1 – 10 points
- Stage 2 – 8 points
- Total: 18 bonus points
Larson
- Stage 1 – 6 points
- Stage 2 – 7 points
- Total: 13 bonus points
Briscoe
- Stage 1 – 1 point
- Stage 2 – 4 points
- Total: 5 bonus points
Standings Leaders:
- Gone with the Win (5 weeks)
- Check Your Pockets (4 weeks)
- Rusty69 (4 weeks)
- Faline 2025 (3 weeks)
- Fight Bump N Grind (3 weeks)
- WTAF (2 weeks)
- TMKK Racing (2 weeks)
- Phoenix Four (2 weeks)
- Watermelon Racing (2 weeks)
- Butters (2 weeks)
- Oh Lug Nuts (2 weeks)
- Nascar Abby
- Left Turn Clyde
- Bucktoothed Hilbillies
- Northern Base
- Crash Boys
- Catch Can Man
- There have been 17 standings leaders
Challenges: You have until Friday November the 7th to challenge the race points. Check your points for the season as well. You have until Sunday November the 23rd to challenge any standings points. After that date, I will start paying out 10th to 1st.
Penalties
- Car #34: 10 points (Daytona 500)
- Car #51: 10 points (Daytona 500)
- Car #17: 30 points (Kansas)
2026 Free Entry: 44 blues with 4,671 points. They beat East Coast Racing 2 by 341 points to the bottom for the 2026 free entry.
Pole Pool
- Hamlin (Phoenix)
- Byron (Martinsville)
- McDowell (Talladega)
- Hamlin (Vegas)
- Reddick (Charlotte Roval)
- Briscoe (Kansas)
- Logano (Loudon)
- A.J. Allmendinger (Bristol)
- Hamlin (WWTR)
- Hamlin (Darlington)
- Blaney (Daytona)
- Preece (Richmond)
- Blaney (Watkins Glen)
- Briscoe (Iowa)
- Briscoe (Brickyard)
- Elliott (Dover)
- Van Gisbergen (Sonoma)
- Van Gisbergen (Chicago)
- Logano (Atlanta)
- Hamlin (Pocono)
- Van Gisbergen (Mexico)
- Briscoe (Michigan)
- Briscoe (Nashville)
- Briscoe (Charlotte)
- Larson (Kansas)
- Hocevar (Texas)
- Smith (Talladega)
- Bowman (Bristol)
- Byron (Darlington)
- Bell (Martinsville)
- Bowman (Miami-Homestead)
- McDowell (Las Vegas)
- Byron (Phoenix)
- Reddick (COTA)
- Blaney (Atlanta)
- Boss Bitch wins the pole pool with 16 poles. Boss Bitch won the pole pool last year as well.
Cobo Cup Sponsors:
- Fred’s Auto & Equipment Service Centre Inc @www.fredsauto.ca
- Hammer DJ Services @ www.hammerdjservices.ca
- Dry N Shine Auto Spa @www.drynshineautospa.com
- Splitsville Hamilton – the place the Cobo Cup crew parties
- ILich Construction & Design
- Power Athletic Message
Social Media
- Twitter: @cobocup
- Facebook: @Cobo Cup
- Instagram: @cobo_cup
Next Race:
Race #1 of 36: Sunday February 15, 2026 at Daytona, FL on TSN. Green Flag: 3:00pm
“NUFF SAID”
COBO CUP 2025 Champion: Gone with the Win cobocup@yahoo.ca
