Joey Logano wins his third Nascar title after relentless drive at Phoenix Raceway
Joey Logano won his third Nascar Cup Series championship with a brutal drive at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, giving Team Penske its third major motorsports title in less than a month.
Logano held off Penske teammate Ryan Blaney for the final 20 laps, beating him for the series title by 0.330 seconds. Blaney was trying to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five in a row between 2006 and 2010.
Instead, Logano became the 10th driver in Nascar history to win three or more championships and broke a tie with Kyle Busch as the only active driver with multiple titles.
“I love the playoffs, I love it man,” Logano said. “What a team, what a Penske battle there at the end. Three of them? That is really special.”
It was the first time in Team Penske history that the organization finished 1-2 in the championship. And it came after Roger Penske’s sports car team in IMSA won the title last month and his World Endurance Championship team won the title last weekend in Bahrain.
“At least a Penske car won,” said Blaney, who admitted he was “worn out” at the end of the race. “They’ve had a great play-off performance and we’re happy. If we’re going to race someone, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy that I’m 1-2 for Roger, three in a row for Roger, super great, and Ford.
Penske and Ford have won three consecutive Cup Series championships. Logano won in 2022 and Blaney last year.
“One-two for Team Penske, three championships in a row, we couldn’t be more proud of this team,” said Logano. “I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I have the best team. And together we are very versatile and can show up when it matters most.”
The final was a winner-take-all for the highest finisher between Logano, Blaney, William Byron in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Tyler Reddick of the 23XI Racing team of NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.
Byron finished third in the race and Reddick was sixth. It was Byron’s second straight appearance in the finals, the first for Reddick.
“It makes you hungrier, but also just gives you more experience in what it takes,” said Byron, the winner of the Daytona 500. “I feel like this track style has been tough for us and we’ve made a lot of progress this year , but there is still more to go. If we can step up on these types of tracks, I know we’re so good at all the other songs, and we can bring it all together.
Reddick, who had been subdued all week compared to his fellow title contenders, did not lead a lap and left Jordan pacing behind the pit wall for much of the race.
“Michael was just proud of our team’s efforts all year long,” Reddick said. “Have a good fight. We didn’t make any mistakes that prevented us from making it. We fought as hard as we could.”
The four title contenders finished in the top six, with Reddick behind Hendrick’s Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, who led 143 laps after being disqualified from the finals at Martinsville last week due to a safety violation. Byron took his place instead and Bell insisted he had been denied the opportunity to race for the title.
Logano, a 34-year-old driver from Connecticut, led 107 laps in the dominant win that came closer than expected to Blaney in the closing laps. But his presence in the final four was controversial, as Logano was eliminated from the playoffs after the second round and then reinstated when Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman failed post-race inspection in Charlotte.
Logano was put back in the field of eight, went to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the following week and won, becoming the first driver to compete in the championship race. It gave his No. 22 team three weeks to prepare for Phoenix.
“Our team is better under pressure,” Logano said. “The race started for us in Vegas. The amount of work and effort that went into building this race car here, the amount of time, I don’t think anyone works harder than us. This morning we got up at 6am to go over things. The boys just really want it and I’m happy we made it happen.”