Well, NASCAR you got your Champion for 2024. Team Penske did it again, and now Joey Logano is a three-time Cup Champion. Sure that’s historic, as he’s only the 10th driver in Cup history to do so. It doesn’t mean everyone agrees on the outcome this season. The points system has been a major topic of discussion throughout the playoffs.
Logano took advantage of the provided system, and Penske fans and Logano himself are overjoyed. I’m no Penske fan, so I’m more in line with the “bullshit” crowd, that Logano so warmly called those that don’t view his championship triumph as legitimate. Was he the best driver all season heck no. Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney alike ended the Championship race one-two. Both had up-and-down seasons. However, that isn’t what determines the champion. The playoff system allows for a wild-card-like driver to rise above the rest of the competitors in a one-race championship decider.
The sport wanted to be like the stick and ball sports when they implemented the playoffs. That doesn’t mean everyone has to accept the outcome. It appears that feeling didn’t stand too well with Logano himself.
Joey Logano Responds to Critics of His Third Cup Championship Win
It’s very clear that in even years, Logano’s No. 22 car and team have an advantage as he’s made the Championship Four every even year since the inception of the playoffs in 2014. He once again took advantage to capture his third cup title in seven seasons. The now 36-time race winner had plenty of fiery emotion in his post-championship press conference. According to Nick DeGroot from motorsport.com, Logano had some not-so-nice words for the doubters.
” To your point about championships and what it is, the only reason why they don’t say this about other sports is because they didn’t change the playoff system,” Logano said. ” But the playoff system in other sports is not much different than what this is. You can have a great regular season. It seeds you better for the playoffs. That doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to go all the way to the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup Finals or the NBA Finals. It doesn’t matter. It might help you. It’s the same way in NASCAR, the way we have the rules now, is that you set yourself up much better.”
Hey, Logano makes a fair point about the best teams not always winning the stick and ball sports championships. However NASCAR is not the same as those sports, nor should it be. Those teams play a lot of games, but they aren’t all out on the field or court at the same time. In NASCAR you compete against everyone all at once. I guess he wants just the four drivers who are running for the title to be on track for the final race.
Logano Calls Bullshit on Championship Doubters
Logano wasn’t done laying into the doubters, as he also personally called out people who felt Kyle Larson or Tyler Reddick would’ve been a much more realistic champion.
“So for someone to say this isn’t real, it’s a bunch of bullshit in my opinion. That’s wrong. This is something that everyone knows the rules when the season starts. We figured out how to do it the best and figured out how to win. It’s what our team has been to do for the last three years.”
He won, he has the right to share his point. I’m not discrediting that fact, but is this what’s best for the sport? I mean he isn’t the only one from Team Penske that had something to say to the fans.
Ryan Blaney Living up to Penske Attitude
Blaney has long tried to carry himself as a fan favorite. I’m not so sure that should be the case, after the comments he made following the season finale in Phoenix. He highlighted how resilient the teams are at Penske, despite doubters counting them out.
NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 Driver Ryan Blaney post race press conference from Phoenix Raceway
"Yeah, obviously you want to win, and we had a shot. I just couldn't really do much. When I got there, coming from that far back, I burned everything I had off of it, things… pic.twitter.com/97dosmYuPD
— Speedway Digest (@speedwaydigest) November 11, 2024
Are they doubters? I think it’s more fans looking at the team’s full body of work, and saying you have struggled all season, and now you luckily find yourself in the Championship fight, just because somehow you have your ducks in a row. I’m by no means bashing Ryan, he had the better car than Joey Logano and should have won this championship.
For him to get so fired up about doubters, when a lot of the fanbase of the sport as a whole, is fed up with the playoff system. That doesn’t sit well with me. The fans are what keep the sport growing, and for Blaney to call them out, when he tries his hardest to campaign to be the Most Popular Driver in the sport.
What’s Next?
Team Penske has won three straight Championships. Every season of the next-gen car the title has gone to the Captain. Sure he is a legendary owner. Something just doesn’t feel right about this run Penske has been on, especially when Logano who was at best 15th in the overall points is out here winning the Championship with less than 10 top 10s.
It’s frustrating to me. I love how a team who complains about the fans doubting them, is worried about what everyone else thinks. Hendrick Motorsports has won 14 Cup Championships and has heard all the ‘owe they are cheating’ complaints. Did that stop them, did they ever cave in a lash out at the fans? No, they just keep working. The rules changed every time Jimmie Johnson won his championships. Why not change them, since Penske keeps winning the title now?
