I remember the first time I had a hint of what was to come from young Ryan Blaney, in the media center at Michigan International Speedway in 2013.

It was back when he was quite young, still a teenager in fact, and I had just watched him finish second in an ARCA race at the track.

He was very fresh in the sport at that point, having competed in some Xfinity and Truck series races as an 18-year-old in 2012.

When Blaney showed up in the media room to take questions, he was agitated, almost pissed off the entire time. Why, you ask? He hadn’t won the race (coincidentally, the race was won by Brennan Poole and Grant Enfinger finished 5th that day.)

As we often hear late in a race broadcast, the pay window is now open. And not just for one race, but for the whole shebang.

It’s that time of year where it’s all on the line, and the sport will crown its champions out in Phoenix before heading off into the sunset until February. Whether you like the format or not, we have four drivers who have risen above the rest and have their shot at glory out in the Soronan desert.

Here’s my take on how things will shake out this weekend, as these gladiators take to their chariots for the final time in 2023.

DEARBORN, MI — Ford Performance has unveiled the new Mustang for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series based on the Mustang Dark Horse. After a busy year of Mustang racing news, this 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Mustang is the icing on the cake for the full family of performance Mustang cars.

Based on the seventh-generation Mustang, this Dark Horse version adds to the impressive lineup of racing Mustangs, and means that starting in 2024, Mustang will be eligible to race on six continents.

“What a crazy year it has been revealing our new global Mustangs for racing. The positive response from our fans around the world has been amazing, and we’re confident that this Mustang Dark Horse Cup car will be no different and that NASCAR fans will be excited to cheer us on next year,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “Our Ford Performance staff, together with our NASCAR race teams, have worked tirelessly in the wind tunnel developing this car, and I can’t wait to finally see it race on the track next season.”

Ford unveiled the all-new Mustang Dark Horse just over a year ago, marking the first new performance nameplate for Mustang since 2001. It is the most track-capable 5.0-liter V8 street-legal Mustang ever and has inspired the current roster of Mustang cars that started racing this year in the Repco Supercars Championship in Australia and Formula Drift series.

As we look back at the weekend at the Roval, first things first I want to do is congratulate A.J. Allmendinger on his well-deserved win in the Cup race.

With so many drivers acting completely devoid of emotion after wins — treating victory like a foregone conclusion and running through their sponsor list in a drone-like state — it was nice to see someone get a win and have it actually mean something to them.

At age 41, A.J. has been through a lot of ups and downs in his long career in both open-wheel racing and Cup racing. You might think he wouldn’t get caught up in moments like he did on Sunday, but the opposite is true. He knows he’s not going to be racing forever, and cherishes every moment like this — especially something as rare as a Cup victory.

Allmendinger — who I would argue is one of the more likable drivers in the Cup grid — could be seen visibly wiping tears during the cool-down lap, and was equally emotional in his post-race interview.

“It's a freaking Cup race, man. You don't know when it's ever going to happen again. Let's go! … This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears, everybody at Kaulig Racing has just been such – I wouldn’t say a down year, but an up-and-down year,” he said. “I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much. First of all, hi to my beautiful wife and my new baby boy. I usually give these checkered flags away but I'm going to have to wrap this around Aero. My mom and dad, all my family and friends - those people see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we're struggling. It just means the world.”

Saturday’s race at Daytona was an exciting conclusion to a season where we’ve seen everything under the sun, as we finished our second regular season with the Next Gen car.

The three-wide racing for much of the night was downright thrilling and the best of what plate racing has to offer. On the flip side, no pun intended, Ryan Preece went on a terrifying ride when he barrel rolled at least a dozen times before finally landing right-side up. Thankfully he did not sustain any serious injuries, nor did any of the drivers involved in a “big one” at the end of the second stage.

While the extreme tumbling is cause for investigation by NASCAR (and they are examining the Preece car for data on why that happened), the fact that Preece could walk away shows that the Next Gen car has the goods to keep drivers safe even in extreme wreck situations like the one Preece experienced on Saturday.

The big news, of course was Bubba Wallace’s strong run that locked him into the final playoffs spot. Making the playoffs is a big burden off Bubba’s shoulders. And now he just has to perform and try to get as far along in the playoffs as possible. This will be a tough task to execute, with so many strong drivers ahead of him. But if he makes it to at least the round of 12, I would consider that a successful year and a launch pad for further playoff marches in the future.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman both missed the playoffs, and it’s been a rough year for Hendrick, which has only 2 cars in the playoffs. William Byron and Kyle Larson qualified and should both be contenders. But to put that in perspective, the Hendrick team only qualified as many cars as RFK Racing and 23XI racing, and one less than Joe Gibbs Racing.