Will Logano’s Championship Lead To NASCAR Playoff Changes?
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
On paper, Joey Logano’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series stats don’t look like those of a season champion.
15th in the regular season standings with one race win
17.1, the worst season average finishing position of a NASCAR Cup Series champion
Eliminated in the Round of 12, only to be reinstated into the playoffs when Alex Bowman’s car failed post-race inspection at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval
But the Team Penske driver put it all together when it counted and won his third championship in the last seven years. Logano won three races in the 10-race playoffs, including Sunday’s championship-decider at Phoenix Raceway, to become just the 10th driver to win three Cup Series championships.
While some fans may not think of Logano as a deserving title winner, he claims he’s not bothered by that.
“No. No. I’ve got nothing to say to them,” Logano said. “I’ve got a pretty sweet trophy right now. I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Acknowledging NASCAR’s long history of crowning a champion based on a full season’s worth of results, Logano added, “The only reason why they don’t say this about other sports is because they didn’t change the playoff system. 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. You look at the way we came into the playoffs versus the 5 (Kyle Larson), the 45 (Tyler Reddick), those guys that scored 15 playoff points for winning the regular season championship. That’s three wins’ worth of points in three races. That’s hard to make up that amount of points. They have the same opportunity to go out there and win and move on to the next round.
“So for someone to say this isn’t real, it’s a bunch of bull____, 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 able to do for the last three years.
“So I don’t like people talking that way because if the rules were the old way, we would play it out differently, wouldn’t we?” Logano continued.
“I just think that’s just a bunch of hearsay back there and people that just got to accept what the times are. Times change, right? And I don’t know if you have a lot of the moments that we have today without the playoff system that we have. Do you want to see the championship crowned with three races to go? Because that’s what used to happen. That’s pretty boring. You’ve got do-or-die moments. You’ve got the pressure. You’ve got all these things going on the last 10 weeks. You have guys trying to get into the playoffs.
“You have that storyline. How many storylines could we make? It’s amazing. For people to complain, it makes me mad. It makes me frustrated to hear that.
“Gosh, it is awesome. I watch the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. I watch those as a fan, whether it’s from the (broadcast) booth or just on TV.
“That’s entertaining stuff. I’m glued to my TV, especially a lot more during the playoffs than I am during the regular season. What’s wrong with that? Golly, man. I don’t know. Makes me mad, sorry. I’m not sorry.”
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Where other sports’ playoffs are one-on-one eliminations, NASCAR’s is different with playoff drivers racing alongside non-playoff competitors. The addition of a playoff system makes comparisons to championship won over the length of an entire season difficult or meaningless.
In 2003, Matt Kenseth claimed the Winston Cup Series title by winning just once during the 36-race season. Consistent top-five and top-ten finishes meant Kenseth virtually had the championship locked up before the end of the season.
If NASCAR was to command big bucks from its TV partners and new entitlement sponsor, NEXTEL, changes needed to be made to prevent a repeat of a Kenseth-style championship.
Designed by former NASCAR chairman Brian France, NASCAR’s original 2004 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup featured a 10-race championship deciding mini-season. It was then changed in 2014 to the current elimination-style playoffs.
Will Logano’s championship lead to further tweaks or major changes? NASCAR president Steve Phelps is adamant the playoff format is here to stay.
“The format is the format, right? We are always looking if there are opportunities for us to tweak something, so be it. We are not the only sport where the best statistical team does not get to the Final Four or the Super Bowl or the World Series.
“There was a huge emphasis put ten years ago when the format was put into place about winning, right? Three of the four on Sunday, they won to get through. I go back to the format itself I think creates incredible racing. So if we are all going to be honest and say, Hey, how has the racing been during the playoffs in these nine weeks, I don’t think it’s been ever better.
“I think part of that is due to the system itself. They race their guts out. They did. Tyler Reddick two weeks ago, Ryan Blaney last week, Chase Elliott trying to get in, Larson trying to get in. Racing their guts out.
“I think it provides great, great racing for our race fans.”
Like it, or not, Logano is the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion. You can blame the game, but Logano and Team Penske played it to perfection.