Joey Logano won his third NASCAR Cup Series championship in the most Joey Logano way possible on Sunday.
Despite having his worst statistical season since 2012 and the worst ever average finish for a Cup Series champion, Logano held off Ryan Blaney to win the title.
How did he do it? By winning at the right time when he needed to.
Logano’s killer instinct in big races is exactly what’s needed to win modern NASCAR championships under the playoff format.
You don’t have to like the format, nor do you have to accept that it’s a legitimate way to crown a champion, but one thing is clear: Logano has said format figured out.
It’s the reason he’s won three out of the last seven championships despite not being the best driver in any of his respective championship seasons.
At the same time, the winner-take-all format is also the reason why 2015, 2016 and 2020 — three of Logano’s best seasons — have culminated in Logano coming up short of the title.
Certain drivers throughout NASCAR history have a knack for winning championships under certain points formats. The pure dominance of Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt served those drivers well under the Latford points system in years where they seemed unbeatable. In the final year of the Latford system in 2003, the quiet consistency of Matt Kenseth granted the Wisconsin native his one and only Cup Series title.
The Chase for the Nextel Cup favored the legendary duo of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, who treated the regular season as a test session for the 10-race Chase. Johnson and Knaus used said strategy to win five championships in a row from 2006-10.
And then there’s Logano — as well as Blaney — who have put Team Penske on the championship podium three years in a row and four times over the past seven seasons by coming alive when it matters most.
Logano wouldn’t have made the playoffs without a fuel mileage win at Nashville on June 30. He wouldn’t advanced to the Round of 12 without his win at Atlanta on Sept. 8, nor would he have made the Round of 8 without Alex Bowman’s disqualification at the Charlotte Roval.
He wouldn’t have made the Championship 4 without another fuel-mileage victory at Las Vegas, and he wouldn’t have won the title without a clutch restart at Phoenix.
But when the history books recount the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, they’ll document that Logano did all those things. They’ll document that under the rules set forth by NASCAR at the beginning of the year, Logano joined an exclusive list of drivers to win three championships.
Whether or not Logano is a deserving champion can be debated, but one thing is a fact: Logano steps up when it counts. When given opportunities, he and the No. 22 team are opportunistic.
It’s a trait that is the reason why he once more found himself accepting the Bill France Cup on Sunday evening.
