Last season, after winning his third Cup Championship despite posting a 17.1 average finish, the lowest ever for a champion in NASCAR Cup Series history, Joey Logano voiced his thoughts on the playoff format.
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While he tipped his hat to the system for keeping the title fight exciting, he argued that the championship finale should rotate venues, much like the Super Bowl. In his view, running the same track year after year takes the shine off the season’s crescendo. However, he drew the line at expanding the finale into a multi-race round, a proposal with which he doesn’t agree.
Ahead of the Talladega race on Sunday, the #22 Team Penske driver explained his reason behind the same. During his media session, when asked whether NASCAR should stick with a single winner-takes-all finale or explore a three-race Championship round, he said competitors simply play by the rules on the table and aim to win under those conditions.
Speaking as both racer and fan, Logano stated, “I love the one-race where it all comes down to one thing. I love the pressure that it puts on every member of the team. I love that they’ve got to come down pit road, and they cannot screw up, and I love that every decision that is made with that race car before it leaves the shop has a direct effect on whether you win the championship or not.”
Drawing parallels to football’s biggest stage, the Super Bowl, he added, “You will leave the racetrack knowing who is the champion. I like it. I personally love that. Not everyone has the same opinion, and that’s mine, but that’s mine just as a fan watching. As a competitor, it’s stressful as hell. It’s not a comfortable place to be in. No one would really ever know what that feels like unless you’re in the seat, but it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard.”
Having lived both sides of that knife’s edge, Logano knows the agony and ecstasy of the format firsthand. He confessed to losing championships by a single pit stop, a mistimed restart, or even a bad set of tires that robbed him of victory. Yet, he takes it on the chin, believing that’s simply how the chips fall. “Be it,” he said, acknowledging that every driver has to play the hand they’re dealt.
For Logano, the one-race finale defines what championship racing should be: brutal, uncomfortable, and unpredictable. “Personally, I love it,” he said, admitting that even as a competitor, he feels there’s something undeniably enticing about putting everything on the line for one race, for a single shot at the title.
