NASCAR championship: A detailed breakdown of the final 4 drivers competing for a title at Phoenix

And then there were four.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 drivers are set and they’ll compete Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in a winner-take-all title race (3 p.m. ET, NBC).

The 10-race playoffs started back in September with 16 drivers racing for a shot at the championship. After the first three Round of 16 races, four drivers were eliminated, and the field dropped to 12. After the next three Round of 12 races, the field shrank down to eight, and when Sunday’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway ended with Alex Bowman — a playoff driver who was previously eliminated — as the winner, the championship contenders were whittled down to four.

And in an all-Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing finale, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. will race one more time in 2021 for NASCAR’s giant trophy. But Larson was the only one locked into the title race before the Round of 8 closer at Martinsville.

The field is down to four.

How does your #NASCARPlayoffs grid stack up? pic.twitter.com/fK7DpDWa4d

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 1, 2021

Now, going into the season finale at Phoenix, points in the driver standings no longer matter. To win the championship, the four title contenders don’t actually have to win the race itself — although that’s often the way it goes. But whichever of the final four drivers finishes ahead of the other three, he’ll be crowned the champion.

Here’s a breakdown of how the Championship 4 drivers got here, along with their season stats and title odds, per Tipico Sportsbook as of Tuesday.