Joey Logano wins third NASCAR Cup Series title

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano won his third NASCAR championship on Sunday with a tireless drive at Phoenix Raceway that gave Team Penske its third major motorsports title in less than a month.

Logano held off Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in the final 20 laps, beating him by 0.330 seconds for the Cup Series title. Blaney was attempting to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five straight from 2006 to 2010.

Instead, Logano became the tenth driver in NASCAR history to win three or more championships, tying Kyle Busch as the only active drivers with multiple titles.

“I love the playoffs, I love it, man,” Logano said. “What a team, what a Penske fight at the end. Three of them? This is really something special.”

It was the first time in Team Penske history that the organization finished 1-2 in the championship. And that came after Roger Penske’s sports car team won the IMSA title last month and his team won the World Endurance Championship title in Bahrain last weekend.

“At least a Penske car won,” said Blaney, who admitted to being “exhausted” at the end of the race.

It also gave Penske and Ford three consecutive Cup Series championships. Logano won in 2022 and Blaney won last year.

“1-2 for Team Penske, three championships in a row, you can’t be more proud of this team,” Logano said. “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.”

The finale was a winner-take-all for best finisher between Logano, Blaney, William Byron in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Tyler Reddick of NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.

Byron finished third in the race and Reddick sixth.

Logano, a 34-year-old Connecticut native, led 107 laps in the dominant victory that Blaney made narrower than expected in the closing laps.

But his mere presence in the Final Four was controversial, as Logano was eliminated from the playoffs after the second round, only to be reinstated when Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman failed post-race inspection at Charlotte.

Logano was added back to the field of eight, went to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the next week and won, becoming the first driver added to the championship race. His No. 22 team had three weeks to prepare for Phoenix.

“Our team is better under pressure,” Logano said. “The race started for us in Las Vegas. The amount of work and effort that went into building this race car here, the time, I don’t think anyone works harder than us. We were up at 6am today.” We’ll go over things tomorrow. The boys really want it and I’m glad we delivered.