Between 1949 and 2013, NASCAR chose its Cup Series champion via finish-position points over a full season. But in 2014, officials revolutionized this old format by unveiling a 16-driver, 10-race, four-round championship “tournament.” However, his Hendrick Motorsports rival, Chase Elliott, attempts to shave off blame from Logano.

After all, even Elliott benefited from the format back in 2020. This season as well, speculation was rife about the No. 9 Chevy driver clinching his second Cup title. A streak of consistent finishes accompanied his lone Texas win. However, the tables have turned after Las Vegas and Elliott does not believe Logano is behind that.

Chase Elliott tips his hat to Logano

The HMS driver’s own fortune plummeted in Sin City. On lap 90 of the Round of 8 opener, Tyler Reddick got too ‘aggressive’ and ran three-wide with Martin Truex Jr and Chase Elliott. It did not work out as Elliott slammed into No. 45 and both drivers crashed – Reddick took a terrifying tumble on the backstretch. However, this chaos could not shadow the remarkable job executed by the No. 22 team. Logano’s crew chief called for a final pit stop on lap 195. After that they executed a flawless fuel mileage strategy, toppling Christopher Bell’s dominant run – eventually winning the race.

That result was even more jaw-dropping considering Joey Logano‘s shock comeback. They overturned his elimination after disqualifying Chase Elliott’s teammate, Alex Bowman, following a post-race weight inspection. So Elliott could not help but salute Logano despite the format. “It’s not Joey’s fault that the format is what it is. I look at those guys and the job they did this last weekend. They took a chance and regardless of how they got in.” He proceeded to urge people not to hate Logano just for taking full advantage of the playoffs. “I think that while everybody can have mixed emotions…Who are we or anyone else to blame those guys for doing their job and punching their ticket? That’s not their fault.”

Chase Elliott slanted his debate to NASCAR’s choice of format, which allows mid-packers shots to the title. “It’s silly of us to take that away from them in any right because that’s what it is. We can’t change that, or I can’t change that. So I don’t necessarily love the format personally.” But he admitted it propelled him to his own championship in 2020. “I certainly benefitted from a good streak in ’20. That carried us through Phoenix – I’m proud of that. It’s a different time nowadays and this is the format that they have to work with. And those guys capitalized on it.” Then Elliott declared his support for Logano, despite their New Hampshire crash earlier this year. “So don’t hate them.”

This is not the first time that Chase Elliott withheld criticism of Joey Logano.

Elliott has a proven calm mentality

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Although the No. 9 HMS driver may have accepted the current state of affairs, his rivals may be very frustrated. Especially because Joey Logano showed no possibility of cracking Championship 4 earlier, having posted 14 finishes outside the top 20. Yet Elliott is calm – but that might just have been his personality all along. In the 2020 Homestead-Miami race, he had a legitimate reason to be angry at Logano. The latter had not forgotten two weeks ago when Elliott took him out of contention while racing for the win in the final laps in Bristol. So despite being a lapped car, he engaged Elliott while Denny Hamlin zoomed past for the win.

Even after Logano’s retaliatory tactics, Chase Elliott betrayed no sign of riled-up emotions. He diverted the blame to his own driving and his team. “I just need to get through lap traffic better. I thought our Hooters Camaro was plenty good enough to win. I thought we executed a really nice race and kept it out of the wall almost the whole race, got it there at the end. But proud of the effort. We’re bringing fast cars right now, and everybody at HMS is working really hard to do that. Keep putting ourselves in a good position, do a little better job getting through lap traffic, and maybe we have another sticker. We’ll try to put ourselves in more spots to win and see where it goes from there.”

Evidently, Chase Elliott is again harboring a relaxed attitude towards Joey Logano’s advantage. Let us wait and see if the Team Penske driver actually foils his rivals in the championship run.