When Joey Logano emerged from his car, having secured a third NASCAR Cup Series championship, the first words he spoke to the crowd were “I love the playoffs.”
The hailstorm of boos that he received as a response says it all.
After 11 seasons, the elimination-style playoffs have clearly not done much to win over fans. Many in the sport have rightfully criticized the postseason rules for how often they alter the points standings, effectively manipulating the championship battle every few weeks. Those criticisms were magnified after a chaotic ending to the Round of 8 at Martinsville Speedway.
Following Sunday’s (Nov. 10) Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway, the criticism will not quiet down anytime soon. The title came down to a restart with 54 laps to go where Logano shot to the lead, leaving teammate Ryan Blaney bottled up in traffic. Blaney was Logano’s biggest threat to take the championship, and as the laps ticked away the No. 12 began to reel in the No. 22. During the last 10 laps, Blaney erased most of Logano’s lead and got to his teammate’s back bumper, but ran out of time to make the pass.
The result is that Logano walks away with the trophy and one of the weakest championships in the history of NASCAR. The No. 22 team’s four wins are impressive, but things look more questionable the deeper you dig into the stat line. For the entire season, Logano posted seven top fives, 13 top 10s, and an average finish of 17.1.
That is the worst amount of top fives, top 10s, and average finish that Logano has earned in the 12 seasons that he’s raced for Team Penske. Additionally, 10 drivers had more top fives than Logano this season. Kyle Larson (the season’s biggest winner) and Christopher Bell had the most in 2024 with 15. There were also 12 drivers with more top 10s than Logano, including Bell’s season-best 23. And Logano’s average finish? Only 13th best in the Cup Series.
The obvious question at this point is how Logano wound up as the champion when he had such a weak stat line compared to his peers.
Unfortunately, Logano’s championship hinged on, more than anything else, quirks of the playoff system and a lot of luck. That’s not a knock on Logano or the No. 22 team, who have now won two of the last three Cup Series championships. Throw in Blaney’s 2023 title and Penske is on a three-year winning streak. Penske has clearly cracked the code for how to get results under the playoff format,…
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