Ryan Blaney comes up one spot short of defending his NASCAR Cup Series championship

It looked as if Ryan Blaney would replicate the events of last weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville in the closing laps of Sunday's championship race at Phoenix. 

At Martinsville, Blaney was as far back as 2.9 seconds with 50 laps to go. That deficit was quickly chewed by Blaney, who passed Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson in the closing laps to earn the win. 

On Sunday at Phoenix, Blaney was as far back as 3.3 seconds from race leader and championship leader Joey Logano. Blaney was running in fourth place, with the Hendrick Motorsports cars of Kyle Larson and William Byron in between him and Logano. 

After a fierce battle with Larson that ended with 35 laps to go, Blaney set his sights on Byron, passing his fellow championship contender with 23 to go. 

That left only Logano between Blaney and his second consecutive Cup Series championship. Blaney continued to close the gap in the closing laps, and with less than 10 circuits to go, he was within striking distance to make the winning move. 

Blaney's car didn't cooperate in the final laps, as his attempt to run a lane higher than Logano didn't culminate in the winning move.