Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon are the only NASCAR drivers with more championship trophies to their name than Joey Logano. Take a moment to let that sink in. With an emphatic win at Phoenix Raceway, the Penske driver etched his name in the history books. At just 34, he has three Bill France Cups in his collection, yet most of the NASCAR community was against the driver. The biggest criticism he had to face was the tag of being labeled as “Undeserving Champion,” all made the most of the current format, but for the 3x champion, the outside noise didn’t matter at all. “I can’t hear it because my trophies, they kind of echo around me. It’s kind of crazy,” he responded.

However, the Connecticut native seems to be done with the celebrations and is now focused on the new challenge. Even though the tag of the 3-time champion is printed on his fire suit, Logano understands that he will start the 2025 campaign from scratch.

Joey Logano is embracing the challenge of a new season

There is no denying the fact that the rest of the Cup Series garage is playing catch-up to the Penske Fords with the Next Gen car. Even in the championship race last year, it was Ryan Blaney in his No. 12 car who challenged Logano to have a shot at the title. Although NASCAR made a massive overhaul to the rule book, they didn’t tweak the playoff format. This might allow the likes of Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing to pull their shocks up and bring on their A-game.

Logano is certainly aware of this fact and is not taking the new season for granted. “I think Christmas comes along, and after Christmas, you’re back at zero, the same as everybody else. Yeah, I got 3x, that sounds cool, but I have the same amount of points as everybody else right now. So you gotta have that attitude that you gotta do it again and figure out how to do it again. So it won’t take the same thing, so we gotta be willing to be better.” The driver said this in an interview with Bob Pockrass.

JGR in particular has rolled the dice in trying to contest for the title next season. They have found a new driver in Chase Briscoe to take over the No. 19 team. Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs are both being paired with new crew chiefs. Whereas Chris Gabehart will overlook the entire program in the role of director of competition. So, they’ve been busy in the off-season trying to close that gap on Team Penske. Not to forget, HMS will be ever so dominant and will aim to put an end to Roger Penske’s winning run in NASCAR.

Needless to say, Joey Logano is one of the few personalities who doesn’t shy away from speaking his heart out. There was a time when he donned the tag of NASCAR’s villain before Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. But, given that he’s managed to back his words with silverware, it is hard to make an argument against him. Whether the rival fan base likes him as a driver or not, his opinion holds weight, and this was evident from his take on the chatter surrounding the new venue for Clash.

Does the Clash need to move to a different location after a return to Bowman Gray?

NASCAR decided to return to its roots with the pre-season opener at the Madhouse. This move was hailed by the traditional NASCAR fanbase at a time when they are on a hunt for a new audience. Well, the Madhouse lived up to its billing as Chase Elliott executed a near-perfect weekend by grabbing the pole for the main event and following it up with a win. Although this was just the first NASCAR event after 53 years, there’s uncertainty surrounding the return of Clash back to the historic quarter-mile track in 2026.

Rumors are floating around that NASCAR is considering an international venue for the Clash in 2026, in Brazil or Europe. While hardcore NASCAR fans would take offense to such a move, Logano understands the idea behind such an ambitious move. “You know, we’ve seen the success of our sport moving to new racetracks, and I’m a big fan of going to new places and bringing the racetrack to the fans that don’t typically get to see us, because it’s so hard to, you know—for a lot of people to travel a long way to see our races.”

Well, it’s hard to guess what NASCAR is doing behind the scenes. But given that they delivered on the Mexico race, an international Clash event isn’t out of bounds.