Joey Logano Wins 2nd Championship In 5 Seasons

19 different winners. A brand new car. New race tracks. Ends of eras. The Hail Melon.

These things, all of which have been covered the last few weeks by the Frontstretch team, have made the 2022 season a NASCAR season unlike any other. With so much excitement with parity and new beginnings, who could possibly predict the champion amongst all the different winners on the season?

It was Joey Logano, the 32-year-old from Middletown, Connecticut, who rose to the challenge and captured his second championship, just four years after winning his first. He joins Kyle Busch as the only active driver to have two or more championships (ironically, Busch won his two championships four years apart too, in 2015 and 2019, respectively).

Logano won his first championship in convincing fashion in 2018, outdueling Martin Truex Jr. at Martinsville Speedway to punch his ticket to the Championship 4 in the first race of the round of 8. He then proceeded to “win the damn war” against Truex three weeks later at Homestead-Miami Speedway to take home his first championship. Logano had won three races that season (the other being Talladega Superspeedway in April) en route to the championship in his 10^th full-time season.

2022 was more of the same for the Team Penske driver. Despite having a quiet season compared to others, he still kept himself in contention. He started off by winning the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (the first race with the Next Gen car) before going quiet for the first part of the season. It wasn’t until Darlington Raceway where he won his first points-paying race of the season, doing so by moving William Byron out of the way (and into the wall) with two laps to go.

Three races later, Logano won the inaugural Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway, however his victory was overshadowed by the Chase Elliott/Denny Hamlin vs. Ross Chastain feud that took place throughout the entire race. After that win, Logano went quiet for the rest of the rest of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs until the round of 8.

Much like his first championship in 2018, Logano won the first race of the round, this time at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to make the Championship 4. However, reminiscent of Gateway, his win was overshadowed by another feud: This time, it was Bubba Wallace intentionally wrecking Kyle Larson, resulting in a one-race suspension for Wallace.

Entering Phoenix Raceway, Logano was not the favorite for the championship. He…