Yahoo Autos Logano May Be Most Undeserving NASCAR Champion in Championship 4 Era
Let's cut to the chase.
Joey Logano had the most uninspiring (some might say worst) statistical season of any driver to win a NASCAR Cup Championship since the Championship 4 format began in 2014.
Wait. How can we say such a crazy thing? Isn't Autoweek the same outlet that just claimed that the playoff system works and that it worked again on Sunday in Phoenix as the 2024 Cup season came down to the last turn of last lap of the season?
Well, yes. But that's not the point. We're just saying that much like the unbeaten New England Patriots lost to a six-loss New York Giants team in the 2008 Super Bowl, the season's best didn't come away with a championship this NASCAR season.
Fans seem to be okay with that in most sports. Many NASCAR fans, however, would still like to see the season's best driver—or at least the driver with the best numbers in that given year—be crowned the champion.
That's the way Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt earned their championships, after all.
We'll leave it to NASCAR fans to debate whether or not Logano was worthy of a championship in 2024. But, just like the 2008 New York Giants, give credit to a team that got hot at the right time—and neither Team Penske nor the Giants plan to give back their trophies.
"I've got a pretty sweet trophy right now," Logano said to his critics after the race. "I'll be laughing all the way to the bank."
Checking out the Numbers
Excuse us while we nerd out on some of the numbers put out by the fine folks at NASCAR. Here's a look at how Logano compares to previous Cup champions in the Championship 4 era.
Consider:
• Logano's four wins for the season was the second-lowest total for a Cup champion in the the 2014-present Championship 4 era. Only Ryan Blaney (three wins, 2023) and Logano (three wins, 2018) were able bring home a championship trophy with fewer wins.
Season Wins, Cup Champion (2014-present)
10, Kyle Larson 2021
8, Martin Truex Jr. 2017
5, Kevin Harvick 2014
5, Kyle Busch 2015
5, Jimmie Johnson 2016
5, Kyle Busch 2019
5, Chase Elliott 2020
4, Joey Logano 2022
4, Joey Logano 2024
3, Ryan Blaney 2023
3, Joey Logano 2018
• Logano's seven top-5 finishes this season were by far the fewest of any Cup champion in the 2014-present era. Next on that list is Jimmie Johnson (11, 2016) and Logano (11, 2022).
Season Top-5 Finishes, Cup Champion (2014-present)
20, Kyle Larson 2021
19, Martin Truex, Jr. 2017
17, Kyle Busch 2019
15, Chase Elliott 2020
14, Kevin Harvick 2014
13, Joey Logano 2018
12, Ryan Blaney 2023
12, Kyle Busch 2015
11, Jimmie Johnson 2016
11, Joey Logano 2022
7, Joey Logano 2024
When it comes to top-10 finishes in a championship year in the Championship 4 era, Logano's 2024 total of 13 was by far the fewest of any champion. It was half as many Logano himself totaled in his 2018 championship campaign.
Season Top-10 Finishes, Cup Champion (2014-present)
27, Kyle Busch 2019
26, Martin Truex Jr. 2017
26, Joey Logano 2018
26, Kyle Larson 2021
22, Chase Elliott 2020
20, Kevin Harvick 2014
18, Ryan Blaney 2023
17, Joey Logano 2022
16, Kyle Busch 2015
16, Jimmie Johnson 2016
13, Joey Logano 2024
• And for our last comparison of Logano against previous Championship 4 winners, we give you average race finish for drivers in their championships season. Logano's season season average 17th-place finish brings up the rear in this category.
Average Race Finish, Cup Champion (2014-present)
8.9, Kyle Busch 2019
9.1, Kyle Larson 2021
9.4, Martin Truex Jr. 2017
10.7, Joey Logano 2018
10.8, Kyle Busch 2015
11.7, Chase Elliott 2020
12.9, Kevin Harvick 2014
13.5, Joey Logano 2022
14.0, Jimmie Johnson 2016
15.2, Ryan Blaney 2023
17.1, Joey Logano 2024
Okay, smarty pants, you're now saying. WHO did deserve to win the NASCAR Cup championship this year?
Here's some 2024 numbers to chew on... and we'll let the fans fight it out!
2024 Key Stats
Most Wins
Kyle Larson 6
Joey Logano 4
Most Top-5 Finishes
Kyle Larson 15
Christopher Bell 15
William Byron 13
Ryan Blaney 12
Denny Hamlin 12
Tyler Reddick 12
Chase Elliott 11
Brad Keselowski 9
Alex Bowman 8
Ty Gibbs 8
Joey Logano 7
Most Laps Running in Top 15
Denny Hamlin 7,565 (78.1%)
Kyle Larson 7,332 (77.7%)
Chase Elliott 7,243 (74.8%)
William Byron 7,066 (73%)
Ryan Blaney 6,722 (69.4%)
Christopher Bell 6,668 (68.8%
Martin Truex Jr. 6,206 (64.1%)
Joey Logano 6,155 (63.5%)
Laps Led
Kyle Larson 1,699
Christopher Bell 1,131
Denny Hamlin 943
Tyler Reddick 597
Ryan Blaney 567
Martin Truex Jr. 555
Chase Elliott 431
Joey Logano 414
It's now time to let three-time Cup champ Logano, himself, have the last word. Here's what the 2024 champ had to say after his win at Phoenix—his third race victory in the 10-race Playoffs after scoring just one win the regular season:
"You can have a great regular season. It seeds you better for the playoffs. That doesn't mean you're guaranteed to go all the way to the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup Finals or the NBA Finals. It doesn't matter. It might help you.
It's the same way in NASCAR, the way we have the rules now, is that you set yourself up much better. You look at the way we came into the playoffs versus the 5, the 45, those guys that scored 15 playoff points for winning the regular season championship. That's three wins' worth of points in three races. That's hard to make up that amount of points. They have the same opportunity to go out there and win and move on to the next round.
So for someone to say this isn't real, it's a bunch of bullshit in my opinion. That's wrong. This is something that everyone knows the rules when the season starts. We figured out how to do it the best and figured out how to win. It's what our team has been able to do for the last three years.
So I don't like people talking that way because if the rules were the old way, we would play it out differently, wouldn't we.
I just think that's just a bunch of hearsay back there and people that just got to accept what the times are. Times change, right? And I don't know if you have a lot of the moments that we have today without the playoff system that we have. Do you want to see the championship crown with three races to go? Because that's what used to happen. That's pretty boring. You've got do-or-die moments. You've got the pressure. You've got all these things going on the last 10 weeks.
Who are we to argue?
