Who… should you be talking about after the race?
He didn’t have the fastest car, but he had the best restart when it really mattered. A late caution in the NASCAR Cup Series title race at Phoenix Raceway put William Byron in the lead … for about 10 seconds. That’s how long it felt like it took for Joey Logano to make an aggressive move on the final restart to pass Byron, two of his teammates and Christopher Bell by the time the field made half a lap.
From there, Logano opened up enough of a lead that even his teammate Ryan Blaney, who had a faster car, couldn’t make up enough ground to pass the No. 22 before the checkered flag.
Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series CHAMPION! 🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/w1wSi30t4d
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 10, 2024
Blaney closed to within a car length of Logano after running him down from over three seconds back, but thanks to Logano’s quick getaway on the restart, couldn’t get by. It might have been a different story had the race had a few more laps, but Logano took the race into his own hands and it was enough.
🗣️ “It’s just a dream when I was a kid.”@joeylogano explains why winning his third career Cup Series championship is emotional for many reasons ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/9ksKbAnCnY
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) November 11, 2024
Logano’s win puts him in elite company as the 11th driver to win three or more Cup Series titles, the first with more than two since Jimmie Johnson tied the all-time record with seven. He now leads active full-time drivers in championships.
Logano wasn’t the best driver all year and he didn’t have the best car in the field on Sunday (Nov. 10). What he was was the best driver when it counted, and that was enough.
And don’t forget Bell. Still feeling the sting of being eliminated from the title race on a judgement call, Bell set out to remind everyone that he is still a winner.
Leading a race-high 143 laps, Bell’s aggressive racing reminded fans that next year is just around the corner, when he will be a title threat out of the box.
Christopher Bell won’t be ignored much longer. Championship(s) coming soon!
— Buzzsaw (@M_R_Sumbigguns) November 11, 2024
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
When NASCAR gave its annual state-of-the-sport update on Friday at Phoenix, one thing the sanctioning body made clear was that the playoffs were here to…
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