After an improbable path to the finale that included an elimination from the playoffs and a win on fuel mileage, Joey Logano was able to hold off a massive charge from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in the final laps to win the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, earning his fourth win of the season and his third Cup Series championship. Logano, who previously won the Cup title in 2018 and 2022, has now won the Cup title in two of the last three seasons, and has now become the 10th driver in history to win at least three Cup championships.
Just as he did in 2022, Logano once again proved to have one of the fastest cars in the field, and took the lead for good after a restart with 54 laps to go when he made a three-wide pass on William Byron and Christopher Bell as Ryan Blaney got stuck in traffic. Although Blaney was able to make it through traffic on the long run and caught Logano for the lead in the closing laps, Logano was able to summon just enough in his race car to hold off Blaney to the finish and once again rise to the occasion in the Championship Race.
NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race unofficial results
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #24 - William Byron
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
Logano's season prior to the start of the playoffs, and even within the playoffs themselves, was an enigma. He lacked pace and points for much of the regular season, and had to rely on a fuel mileage win at Nashville in a race that ended with the most overtime attempts in NASCAR history to make it into the playoffs. Logano then won the opening race of the Round of 16 at Atlanta, but was eliminated from playoff contention at the Charlotte Roval -- until a disqualification to Alex Bowman for failing post-race tech inspection put Logano in the Round of 8, where he won on fuel mileage at Las Vegas to make the final round.
Logano's four wins accounted for four of just seven top fives and 13 top 10s, and his average finish was only a 17.1. But all the same, the 2024 season ends with Logano as its champion and the driver from Middletown, Conn. entering the company of some of the greatest drivers in the history of NASCAR.
"I love the playoffs. I love it, man. What a race! What a Team Penske battle there at the end," Logano told NBC Sports. "Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. And he had a lot of long run speed there, and it was all I had there to hold him off.
"Man, three of them, that's really special to get that. What a team. To fight through today, we went through a little bit of adversity throughout the race. ... I've got the best team. I don't know if I'm the best driver, but I've got the best team, and together we're very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We've got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters."
Logano is now the 10th driver in NASCAR history to win at least three Cup championships, joining an exclusive list of drivers that includes Richard Petty (seven times), Dale Earnhardt (seven times), Jimmie Johnson (seven times), Jeff Gordon (four times), and then five others to win exactly three championships in Lee Petty (1954, 1958, 1959), David Pearson (1966, 1968, 1969), Cale Yarborough (1976, 1977, 1978), Darrell Waltrip (1981, 1982, 1985) and Tony Stewart (2002, 2005, 2011). In addition, Team Penske has now won the last three Cup championships in a row, giving them a clean sweep of each championship in NASCAR's Next Gen era so far.
On the other end of Team Penske's first ever 1-2 finish in the Cup championship standings was Ryan Blaney, who came up just short in his bid to win back-to-back Cup titles despite a heroic drive to the bumper of Logano over the final laps. Despite having a car that was at least equal to and at times stronger than Logano's, Blaney was unable to get through traffic efficiently after a restart to begin the final run, leaving him with enough time to catch Logano but not enough to pass him.
"The restart didn't really work out," Blaney told NBC Sports. "He got too far away from me and it took me awhile to pass a couple guys. Just could never get by Joey and ran out of time ... I had to work really hard to get by (Kyle Larson) and (William Byron), and Joey was pretty far away and I was working really hard to try to get to Joey. I was kind of nervous that if I ended up getting close to him, a lot of my stuff would be burnt off of it. And it kind of was.
"But I didn't have a choice. I couldn't really wait. It just took long. The restart just didn't play out for us."
In terms of raw speed, the entirety of the Championship Race was mostly a battle between the two Penske cars, with neither William Byron nor Tyler Reddick showing the pace necessary to challenge the two consistently. Byron attempted to employ an alternate strategy by running long on the final cycle of green flag stops and attempting to make up time on 12-lap fresher tires, but a crash by Zane Smith shortly afterward would mute the advantage Byron had. Despite being able to stay out under caution and lead on the restart, Byron was quickly disposed of by Logano and he would finish third, well behind Logano and Blaney.
Tyler Reddick, in his first Championship 4 appearance and the first for 23XI Racing co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, was never truly a factor in the championship picture despite a top-10 run, and finished sixth to earn a fourth-place finish in the championship standings.
Gone Fishing
Sunday's race began with a fitting sight, as 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. started on the pole in his final race before his retirement from full-time racing. Running a throwback paint scheme to the car he drove in his very first Cup start at Atlanta in the fall of 2004, Truex led the opening nine laps and ran in the top 10 for much of the day, but he would later fade and close the book on his full-time racing pursuits with a 17th-place finish after not being able to keep up with changes in the racetrack.
Although Truex will continue racing in a reduced capacity -- he is expected to run at least the Daytona 500 next season -- he nonetheless earned the salutations of his peers -- namely a standing ovation in the driver's meeting -- the adoration of the fans, and some time to reflect on pit road after the checkered flag.
"I'm still not sad. Everyone wants me to be sad -- I'm happy, I'm celebrating," Truex told reporters on pit road. "I've got a lot to be thankful for, a lot to be proud of. I'll go enjoy some time off here, do the (Champion's) Banquet and all that fun stuff. And it's gonna be fun to come back in a different role and go race for fun -- hopefully be able to have fun. I don't know, it's so hard to have fun when you take it this serious.
"I was having fun early today, and then it got miserable. I was hoping today would go better so it would be more fun, but we'll see. I'm looking forward to Daytona."
In 684 consecutive starts dating back to the 2006 Daytona 500 and 693 overall, Truex will finish his full-time Cup career with 34 career wins (tied for 26th all-time), 147 top fives, 291 top 10s, 25 poles and the 2017 Cup championship. Assuming his future racing endeavors do not affect his eligibility, he will be eligible for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame beginning in 2027.
Hit the Pace Car!
There is a folk legend in NASCAR that legendary crew chief Harry Hyde once told his driver to go back on the racetrack and hit the pace car because it was the only thing he hadn't hit during the race. The legendary exchange was popularized by Robert Duvall's character based on Hyde in the Tony Scott film "Days of Thunder," and truth proved to be stranger than fiction in a bizarre turn of events during the Championship Race.
Following a competition caution at the end of Stage 1, the field was set for the restart and the pace car peeled off to pit road, but did so awkwardly and too late to either make the entry to pit road smoothly or even be clear of race leader Chase Elliott. As a result, Elliott made contact with the pace car, spinning it around and into the sand barrels protecting the beginning of the pit wall.
No one was hurt, but the incident spilled some of the sand barrels and damaged the pace car, forcing a brief red flag as the mess was cleaned up. Eventually, the barrels were set back in place and a new pace car was employed for the remainder of the day.
Race results rundown
- After saying on Saturday that he felt "cheated" out of a Championship 4 spot following a controversial finish at Martinsville, Christopher Bell backed up his standing as a championship-caliber driver by leading the most laps (143) and finishing fifth. Bell had the most statistically impressive season in Cup this year, as he tied for the most top fives (15) and earned the most top 10s (23) to go with three wins, with his average finish of 12.8 being second only to Chase Elliott's 11.7.
- Denny Hamlin finished just outside the top 10 in 11th, and did so in the final ride for longtime sponsor FedEx, which Hamlin indicated Sunday would not return as his primary sponsor in 2025. FedEx had sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 11 team from the time it went full-time in 2005 onward, first with the late Jason Leffler behind the wheel before Hamlin took the wheel late that season. FedEx's exit will end what has been one of the most successful sponsor, driver, and team partnerships over the last two decades in NASCAR.
- Noah Gragson earned the right to do some donuts on the frontstretch after the checkered flag, as his 12th-place finish would be best in class among the Stewart-Haas Racing cars in the team's final Cup race. Josh Berry would be second-best of the SHR cars in 24th, with Chase Briscoe 29th and Ryan Preece 37th following suspension problems. While Tony Stewart will exit NASCAR in a formal capacity, team co-owner Gene Haas will carry on and scale back to one car in 2025 under the Haas Factory Team banner with Cole Custer behind the wheel.
- Carson Hocevar closed the book on his rookie season in Cup with an 18th-place finish, and in doing so will go into the record books as the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. The 21-year-old from Portage, Mich. is the third driver from the state of Michigan to win Cup Rookie of the Year honors, joining his mentor Johnny Benson (1996) and one of his competitors in Erik Jones (2017).
- With a 21st-place finish, Kyle Busch officially endured the first winless season of his NASCAR Cup Series career, ending a NASCAR record streak of 19 consecutive seasons with at least one victory dating back to his rookie year of 2005. In 2022, Busch had tied the previous record of 18 set by Richard Petty (1960-1977), then surpassed it with a win at Auto Club Speedway early in the 2023 season.
- A few for the road in drivers making their final starts with their current teams: Harrison Burton finished 16th in his final run for Wood Brothers Racing, Daniel Hemric ran 23rd in his final start for Kaulig Racing, and Michael McDowell ran 31st in his final start for Front Row Motorsports. Zane Smith fared worst of that group, as he crashed out and finished 39th in his final start for Spire Motorsports.
