It has been over two months since Joey Logano won his third Cup Series championship, but the fandom doesn’t appear to have forgiven him for what it believes was an unfair crowning. NASCAR recently shared a post on X that celebrated Logano’s title, and it had fans going berserk about the special treatment.
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The post, originally put up by Team Penske, had pictures of Logano showing off his three Cup Series trophies. NASCAR re-shared the post with the caption, “Three is better than two.”
One fan seethed in the comment section below that the sanctioning body wants everyone to forget that it manipulated the points system to disqualify Alex Bowman in Charlotte.
The disqualification, ordered due to Bowman’s car being underweight in the post-race inspection, is what led to Logano avoiding elimination in the playoffs. The fan continued, “17 lbs too light …the crime didn’t fit the punishment…lagano will always be the 2024 illegitimate champion.”
Nascar wants you to forget they manipulated the points system by disqualifying Alex bowman, which let lagano in after he was eliminated…17 lbs too light …the crime didn’t fit the punishment…lagano will always be the 2024 illegitimate champion.
— Clyde (@wrathaway88) January 9, 2025
Another fan added, “We’ve got to change up the current playoff model. I’m not a Larson fan by any stretch, but there is no reason Logano should have more than Larson.” These are words that almost every fan, insider, and driver have uttered since the finale went down in Phoenix.
Larson dominating the entire season only to bow out at the very end transparently showcases what’s wrong with the current playoff system. Another comment heaped on the insult, “Finished outside the top 10 more than TWENTY times last season. Not a “champion.” Logano did underperform for the majority of the season.
Most unserious NASCAR Cup champion
— ⁶*⁹² (@Jeff69cpl) January 9, 2025
However, a good share of luck along with the intricacies of the playoff format aided him in staging a comeback in the final moments of the playoffs. It wasn’t something that had been taken lightly. Another fan believed that such celebrations of a champion whom the fanbase doesn’t stand behind is what is leading to NASCAR’s decrease in popularity.
They wrote, “Embarrassing. The fact that you keep propping him up just shows why more favs continue to hit the exit.” Such reactions and criticisms have been marring Logano’s legitimacy right from the moment he laid his hands on the silverware. However, he has been defending himself against them well.
He noted in multiple interviews that he only played by the rules that were given to him and that he cannot be criticized for that. NASCAR, however, took the lashes from fans seriously and promised that it would look into making changes to the format. There has been no update on when those changes will come or if they will at all.
