The phrase “don’t hate the player, hate the game” rings true when it comes to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Joey Logano and Penske benefited from a disqualification for Alex Bowman at Charlotte to see Logano advance to the round of eight, and from there, the team and driver went on to win the championship.
This has led to much furor, proclaiming Logano didn’t deserve his title and that other drivers such as Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Bowman himself deserved it more. However, while Logano had a slice of luck to make it to the final four, the reality is he and Penske played the format to perfection.
Logano Makes It To The Final Four:
After his lucky break, Logano would take his second win of the playoffs at Las Vegas by stretching his fuel to the limit and winning the race with a massive roll of the dice. Christian Bell was closing in on the leader, but Logano held on to make it to the Final Four and get a shot at the title in Phoenix.
This wasn’t Logano’s first win of the year, either. The #22 Penske driver had previously won at Nashville Superspeedway in June before taking his first playoff win in Atlanta. Poor performances at Watkins Glen, Bristol, Kansas, and Talladega put Logano in a position of needing a bit of luck to make the Final Four. He finished eight at the Charlotte Roval but advanced thanks to the Bowman disqualification before winning in ‘Vegas.
Team Penske Aced The Playoffs:
Penske as a whole came good in the final stages of the Playoffs. 2023 champion Ryan Blaney won in Martinsville to make it two Penske cars vying for the Cup Series championship, and the race in Phoenix came down to a battle between Logano and Blaney. To discredit Logano’s season takes something away from his performance in Phoenix, as it was arguably one of the best drives of his career as he held off the faster #12 of Blaney.
Some drivers came out in support of Logano. Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing, a fellow championship contender, said after Phoenix, “You can make a lot of arguments, but at the end of the day, the No. 22 team did what they needed to do to get there. They put on an insane performance on Sunday. You can’t take it away from them.” However, where people take issue is the fact that Logano’s average finish for the year of 17.1 is the worst ever seen in the Playoff format. But Logano capitalized when he needed it the most, and others failed to do so.
The Playoff Format Is The Problem:
We have explored this recently, but the actual Playoff format needs a rethink. Team Penske and Logano simply did a better job in that final stretch than their opposition, and it is not their fault that the race for the championship comes down to a shootout between the last four drivers standing. They played the game to perfection.
What the solution is to this problem, however, isn’t yet clear. Critics have suggested that the series should reward consistency across the whole year, as how it works in Formula 1 with a “most points overall is champion” way of doing things. The series has indicated it will look into this over the off-season, but whether anything changes is another question. For now, though, don’t hate on the team and driver that came out on top in 2024. They had the same rules as everyone else, and clearly, they did a better job to exploit them.
