Third Cup crown would be charm but not focus for Joey Logano

NASCAR Cup Series

Published Nov. 7, 2024 12:56 p.m. ET

Joey Logano has never talked to crew chief Paul Wolfe about winning a title in 2024 in order to accomplish something only nine other NASCAR Cup Series drivers have achieved.

For the two-time Cup champion Logano, it just goes without saying. The goal every year is to win a championship, so the fact he will vie for his third Cup title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway doesn’t include the additional incentive for him to join the elite three-time champion club.

“He hasn’t mentioned anything about it, honestly,” Wolfe said. “It hasn’t been discussed. Some guys have two, but to get three, obviously would put him in an elite group.”

Logano will look back at his career one day and see where he ranks among the all-time greats, but the only time talk of winning a third title enters the conversation is when someone mentions the Team Penske driver already has two, not what it would do for his legacy nor the company he would join.

“I can’t say I really thought of it that way,” Logano said. “My goal every year is the same — whether we’ve won one, none, five, doesn’t matter. The goal is to win the championship.

“So the conversation between me and Paul doesn’t have to happen. We know that. That’s just the end goal.”

If Logano wins his third title on Sunday, it will rank as his most unlikely. Having finished 15th in the regular-season standings, a win in the chaotic five-overtime Nashville race vaulted him into the playoffs. He then won the opening playoff race at the drafting-style Atlanta event and then used a fuel mileage strategy to win at Vegas in the semifinal round.

The Vegas victory gave him an automatic bid to race for the title at Phoenix, where the best finisher among Logano, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick (the entire 40-car field competes in the race itself) captures the title.

So Logano should feel a little pride. No driver since the elimination-style format started in 2014 has gone from 15th in the regular season to having a shot at the championship in the final race.

Logano, whose six Champ 4 appearances rank as the most since the inception of the elimination-style format in 2014, is sort of impressed to have another shot at the title.

“Making the Championship 4 is an accomplishment of itself,” Logano said. “Getting here is not easy. You have to have a regular season that helps set you up to get through the playoffs. And if you don’t, then you have to have a hell of a run through the playoffs and win the best races, the most important races.

“We didn’t have the best regular season. We figured out how to have a solid playoff, winning a couple of them and put ourselves in the Championship 4.”

So this is a big deal just to have a shot, right?

“It’s an accomplishment to make it, but nobody remembers who finished second last year,” Logano said. “I don’t. I don’t know who I don’t know who it was

“And so it’s all about winning is what that means. It’s great to make it, but it’s really all about winning at this point.”

Logano has made a name for himself as the driver who seems to perform the best when it matters the most. He has won in two of his five previous Champ 4 appearances, including the most recent in 2022.

“It’s about a team that never gives up, and knows that you’re never out of it,” Wolfe said. “This format, more than ever, allows for that to happen, It keeps you motivated and working hard every week because even though we’ve had a pretty up and down year and had our fair struggles, there’s still an opportunity.

“And ultimately, everyone on the team has been able to rise to that occasion and make it happen.”

If Logano and the team make it happen Sunday, not only will Logano own three titles, he’ll be just the third driver to have won three titles in the 2000s (Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart the others) and the 34-year-old will be just the fifth to accomplish it when under the age of 35.

“So I’ve got some years [to win more],” Logano said.

Right now, the focus is just on Sunday to see if he can join Johnson, Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty.

“There would pride in that absolutely,” Logano said. “I don’t know if that’s what drives me to do it, but it would be obviously a really cool piece of winning another championship.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.