How Joey Logano became the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Champion

This article covers Joey Logano’s 2024 season from the Clash at the LA Coliseum to his championship-winning race at Phoenix.

(Image credit to Sonoma Raceway)

Joey Logano, born on May 24, 1990, in Middletown, Connecticut, USA, is a US-American NASCAR driver, driving for the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series. 

The regular season:

In 2024, Logano started the season strongly with a 4^th place finish at the “Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum” in early February, and then again, a good finish at Richmond crossing the line 2^nd (the winner being Denny Hamlin). After this season opening however, it began going downhill for the American driver with a 19^th place finish at Talladega, 34^th at Kansas and 21^st at Darlington. It was a nightmare for fans of Logano to watch.  

But then he won the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. It wasn’t a points race (therefore didn’t secure a spot for the playoffs) but it was a win, proving that Joey had the talent to be competitive. His good form continued with a P5 result at World Wide Technology Raceway, a 6^th at Iowa Speedway and then the race at Nashville Superspeedway. At this race, after a record-breaking 5 overtimes, Joey Logano won and secured himself a spot in the playoffs.   

Logano’s playoff run:

Round of 16:

Joey started his playoffs with a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway and secured himself a spot in the next round, the round of 12.

Round of 12:

Fast forward to the round of 12 starting at Kansas Speedway, Logano finished 14^th (the winner being Ross Chastain). Logano left the race weekend at the Talladega Superspeedway with a very disappointing DNF.

One week after the final race of the round of 12 at the Charlotte Roval Logano faced a win-or-you’re-out situation. Results pending, either Alex Bowman or Joey Logano would advance to the next round of the playoffs, the round of 8! The race was won by Kyle Larson, with Christopher Bell in P2 and William Byron in P3. Austin Cindric (Logano’s teammate) finished 4^th and Chase Elliott in 5^th, and where was Logano? He finished in 8^th and was out of the playoffs with Bowman advancing into the round of 8.

Round of 8:

The next week at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we saw Logano with this yellow playoff stripe on his windshield.

This left fans confused as they thought he was out of the playoffs. Yes, he was, but a disqualification for Bowman (due to not meeting post-race weight inspections) put him back in. 

During the race, in the closing laps, everybody pitted for tyres and fuel, except for Joey who stayed out. This meant that with the race distance coming close to the end, Logano was leading the pack, particularly Christopher Bell who was on fresher tyres. But it wasn’t enough for Bell and Logano won the race, advancing into the Championship 4.

Championship 4:

The Championship 4. The final race, and the winner takes it all.

The championship contenders were close after the qualifying results stood: Joey Logano in P2, William Byron in P8, Tyler Reddick in P10 and Ryan Blaney (Logano’s other Teammate) in P17.

The race was slowed when on lap two Ty Gibbs crashed into a barrier and brought out the first caution of the night.

Logano took the lead for the first time of the race on Lap 10, right after the restart.

After the first stage (which Logano won), all drivers pitted for new tyres and fuel. Byron moved up one place to 3^rd, Blaney up 2 places for 4^th, Logano losing 4 places for 5^th and Reddick losing 1 place for 8^th.

The end of Stage 2: Blaney won it, Logano in 3^rd, Byron in 4^th and Reddick in 10^th.

Then came the final Stage where the winner would be crowned Champion. 

And after another caution with 62 laps to go, it was Blaney in 4^th, Logano in 5^th, Reddick in 6^th and Byron in 7^th.  As the laps counted down, now with 53 laps to go, Logano was in the lead despite Blaney closing in. It was a tight race and with 7 laps to go he was right at Logano’s bumper, ready to take the lead and potentially the championship.

When the white flag (signalling the final lap of the race) waved Ryan Blaney would have to make one final move to win the championship, but Logano was too quick.

And in the end, it wasn’t enough and it stood:

Joey Logano, 3-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion

Article written by Philipp Gappmayr