Joey Logano leaped from the bottom of the Round of 8 standings to a Championship 4 spot when he won at Las Vegas last Sunday. Although this fits neatly into NASCAR’s playoff framework, fans remain skeptical about seeing him as a genuine contender for the title.
Advertisement
There’s a prevailing sentiment that there are consistent drivers who deserve to be in the final four ahead of him. This is owed to two things. First, his underwhelming overall performance this season. Second, his controversial entry into the Round of 8 came at the expense of Alex Bowman.
Despite this negative atmosphere around the Team Penske driver, Chase Elliott has stepped up to defend him. He pointed out in a recent interview that Logano merely capitalized on the opportunities presented to him by the existing format. He said, “Regardless of how they got in. That was irrelevant. To them they were in and they took a chance [at Las Vegas] and they worked out for them.”
I asked Chase Elliott how he felt about the debate surrounding the legitimacy of the 22 team’s final four berth.
He offered a nuanced take.
These are the rules even if they aren’t his preferred rules of crowning a champion. pic.twitter.com/E9JZoWK984
— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) October 23, 2024
“While everybody can have mixed emotions or feel this or that or whatever this is the format and who are we or anyone else to blame? Those guys for doing their jobs and pushing their tickets. And that’s not their fault.” He continued reiterating that times are different now and all that drivers can do is capitalize on the format that they’re given.
Elliott currently finds himself at the bottom of the Round of 8 standings, trailing by 53 points. He has two more race weekends to close the gap and fix himself a spot alongside Logano in Phoenix. The example that Logano has set will serve as inspiration for those who are hoping to muster up an out-of-the-blue win in these final few races of the season.
Logano’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season so far
Logano is the lowest-ranked driver, in terms of regular-season points, to qualify for the Championship 4 since the inception of the stage-point era in 2017. He finished the regular season in 15th place. This year, he has secured just six top-5 finishes — fewer than any other driver in the Round of 8. Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson each have 13.
He has also racked up 11 top-10 finishes. This is again lower than any other driver in this round. No other driver has less than 15 top-10s, and Bell leads the pack with 21. Fortunately, his fuel-saving ability has been his biggest advantage and it helped him clinch wins at Nashville, Atlanta, and Las Vegas.
Logano is set to compete at Homestead-Miami Speedway, then Martinsville, and finally Phoenix for the season’s grand finale. At Phoenix, where he has raced 31 times, Logano boasts an average finish of 13.5 and has celebrated victory three times. This included the pivotal 2022 win that sealed his second title.
