Joey Logano’s string of bad luck continued in Las Vegas on Sunday. The defending Cup Series champion led 40 laps and appeared set to take the win before a frantic pit stop crushed his day. Josh Berry ended up as the winner. In a surprising twist, fans on social media came to defend him after a press member pulled out a statistic that demeaned him.
Advertisement
Toby Christie, the editor-in-chief of Racing America, wrote on X that Berry has more wins (1) in the 2025 Cup Series season than Logano has top-10s (0). The fandom would usually jump along for such a ride to troll Logano. But it did not do so this time. One fan was frustrated with the way the media portrayed the performances of drivers.
They replied, “You do realize Joey has been good in all five races? Is 8th in points from stage points? Bad luck has bitten him a lot. It’s like media members don’t actually watch races. Keep pushing false narratives to give him a bad name, though. It’s what the media does to Joey.” Others followed on similar lines.
One comment shed light on how the No. 22 Team Penske team operates. It performs mediocrely in the regular season and kicks it up in the playoffs. It is how it won the championship last year. The comment went, “I feel that the 22 team uses the first 26 races as practice because only 10 races really matter. And they excel in those 10. They have it figured out.”
Completely real statistic, which feels made up. Josh Berry currently has more wins (1) in 2025 than defending series champion Joey Logano has top-10s (0) after the opening five races of the year. #NASCAR
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) March 16, 2025
Another fan tagged along the same thought, “Joey did have an average finish of like 20th last year and was the champion… just saying.” Logano could finish outside the top 20 in most of the regular season races and still end up winning the title. It’s how he works. It’s how the current playoff system works.
All that said, he could have won in Vegas had it not been for terrible luck. He took the lead from Berry on Lap 236. Noah Gragson crashed into the wall on Lap 243 and brought out the caution. The No. 22 team’s pit crew messed things up completely in the subsequent pit stop, and Logano lost 19 spots because of it.
He ultimately rolled home in 15th place. A fan pointed out, “Joey could have easily won this race if, on the last stop, his crew didn’t fuck him like they did the whole day, plus there’s been some bad luck mixed in as well.” Christie tried defending his post by stressing that he was only mentioning facts. However, not many were pleased with what they perceived as an attack.
