The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season opened up with two straight superspeedway races at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, plus a road course race at Circuit of the Americas, three races that might be considered "wild card" races due to the equalizer nature of the tracks.
This weekend, the series is set to visit Phoenix Raceway for the first "regular" oval race of the year. And although it is only race number four of 26 before the playoffs, it might just be the regular season's most important race.
The four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval has hosted the Championship 4 every year since 2020, and 32 races after Sunday's race, it is set to determine the champion for a sixth year in a row this coming November.
Phoenix set to host NASCAR's most important regular season race
Eight months before this year's title decider, those with championship aspirations already have the Shriners Children's 500 circled.
"It's really important just to build a great notebook," Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron told Beyond the Flag. "Any track time we have there is going to be really valuable, and we're going to have to really adapt to the circumstances there."
Byron is one of two drivers who hasn't missed the Championship 4 since 2022, but both of his appearances in the winner-take-all season finale resulted in third place finishes in the point standings.
There are plenty of races between this weekend and the season finale in Phoenix in November, so there is no guarantee that anybody will actually need to use that notebook to try to win a championship when it comes time to wrap up the season. There are plenty of other tracks where success will be required first.
But that doesn't make this weekend's opportunity any less important to capitalize on.
"I feel like it's going to be one of those weekends that is the only time to really take good notes about the race track," Byron added.
While all drivers want a good result in Sunday's race, simply gathering the necessary information is what this race is really about.
And history shows that it's important not to read too much into the results themselves.
From 2020 to 2024, there has never been an instance in which the eventual series champion finished above the other three drivers who ended up in the Championship 4 in the early-season Phoenix race.
Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott won the 2020 title, but it was Team Penske's Joey Logano who led the eventual Championship 4 quartet in March with a victory.
Then in 2021, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson won the title, even though it was Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. who led the eventual Championship 4 drivers with a March win.
In 2022, Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain led the eventual Championship 4 drivers with a runner-up finish in March, but Logano went on to win the championship. In 2023, Byron won in March to lead the eventual Championship 4 group, only for Team Penske's Ryan Blaney to secure the title.
And then last year, Blaney was the top finisher among the eventual Championship 4 qualifiers in March with a fifth place finish. But it was Logano who won another title.
It's why this weekend is more about the notebook than anything else, because what the drivers and teams learn can prove immensely valuable if they end up advancing to NASCAR's postseason finale.
The Shriners Children's 500 is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, March 9. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the desert!