Written by Gabriel Tsui, Edited by Meghana Sree
Let’s rewind to the earlier parts of the NASCAR season. Joey Logano had a highly disappointing start to the year, finishing within the top ten only once in six races. He had two decent performances in Richmond and Martinsville, finishing in second and sixth place respectively. For the rest of the races leading up to the All Star break, Logano failed to record a single top-ten finish.
Heading into the second half of the regular season too, it wasn’t particularly pretty for Logano, as he was only able to secure five top ten finishes. However, he was able to secure a win in Nashville through a Hail Mary strategy call, stretching a tank of fuel for north of 100 laps.
Leading up to the playoffs, he had a poor stretch as he had three DNFs out of the final five races of the regular season. He got a win in Atlanta to send him into the next round, while he had pretty insignificant performances for the rest of the round of 16.
Logano was about to be eliminated after a horrific round of 12 performance, but Alex Bowman’s disqualification led to the Team Penske driver advancing to the round of eight, after missing it in 2023.
He won the round of eight opener in Las Vegas, and was completely pedestrian for the rest of the round, before a solid performance in Phoenix, which was also backed by a weak performance by the three Hendricks, led to Logano’s third title.
Leading up to this point, you’re probably pretty confused as to where this article is going to go. You might be wondering, “Is this a Logano hit piece, criticising his performances, or is this an article defending Logano?”
As most people were, I was, to be completely honest, infuriated by the results of the championship. When Ryan Blaney fell short of the championship, the thought was: “How does a driver with an average finishing position north of 18th place win the championship?” These results made it clear as to why NASCAR must reform the playoffs.
However, looking into the details, Logano was involved in quite a few accidents where he had a decent position, but was crashed out or sent to the back of the field due to crashes caused by other drivers. Looking at his qualifying in the first half of the regular season, he had an average grid position of 11.31, one of the best for the 2024 season.
Even the three DNFs late into the regular season I highlighted above was none of Logano’s fault. The DNF in Indianapolis was caused by a sideways Blaney that hooked the rear right of Jimmie Johnson, who lost control and hit Logano.
In Michigan, he was caught up in a crash he simply couldn’t avoid at such high speeds, while in Daytona he was caught by a sideways Michael McDowel when going three wide with nine laps to go. If he wasn’t compromised in any of those accidents, he could have secured an extra 50-90 points, and it would look way better on the regular season standings.
Moreover, here’s what I have to say to all those who think: “Oh well, he got in a few accidents, he still should’ve done better.”
He is one of the best drivers at qualifying within the grid. Even as his qualifying performance dipped slightly leading up to the Cup Series championship, he still had an average start position of 12.00, putting him at eighth among all full time Cup Series drivers in the 2024 season.
Here’s an even more important statistic for those who still believe that Logano doesn’t deserve the 2024 NASCAR championship. In 2024, Logano had an average running position of approximately 13.426, and that ranks the three-time champion sixth among all Cup Series drivers.
On one hand, the fact is that Logano was completely off his game in the regular season, and only made the playoffs because he got a lucky break in Nashville. That is an undeniable fact.
But on the other hand, we should also recognize the fact that Logano fought his way to the title. Nashville was a teachtape fuel saving masterclass, and Atlanta was a hard fought win where he moved up the ranks in the final stage for the win.
He absolutely did not show up for the round of 12, but fans should understand it isn't Logano that caused Bowman to leave 20 kilograms of weight at home and drive around the Roval with a significant advantage.
Las Vegas was yet another fuel saving race for Logano, and he was able to hold off a charging Christopher Bell, albeit with the help of Blaney, it was still an impressive feat that very few drivers can achieve.
In the championship race, he fought to overtake each and every one of the drivers in front of him and claim the title he rightfully deserves.
It’s easy to dismiss and discredit Logano because he had some pretty poor performances in the past, and the harsh truth is that spreading negative opinions about Logano is a slightly popular trend. Maybe some people are also not happy that their own favourite driver fell short of winning the championship, or that the same team won three championships in a row.
Similar to what most people did, in the heat of the moment, I too said that Logano did not deserve this title. But something in me clicked soon after.
Just because Joey Logano had a bad start to the season, doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve the title.
At the end of the day, it’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish, and he finished as a champion, who gave his every ounce of being and fought to earn everything he got, and that, in my opinion, is why he deserves the title as a three time champion.
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