Joey Logano has pretty much nailed the win-and-in playoff format. The Team Penske driver secured his third Cup Series title with an impressive victory at Phoenix Raceway, ensuring a three-peat for Team Penske. While the No. 22 Ford racer has excelled within the postseason framework, the triumph didn’t come without controversy, as more consistent drivers such as Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell failed to make it into the Championship 4. However, the 34-year-old was a deserved contender, performing when it mattered the most to lift the Bill France Cup in the final race of the season.

Revealing the secrets behind his success, Logano shared insights about his approach going into the championship race at the 1-mile tri-oval. Has the Team Penske driver found an unorthodox way of achieving glory at NASCAR’s highest level?

Joey Logano’s shrewd approach paid off

Work smart, not hard. That’s a mantra Joey Logano seems to have adopted, given the way he won the championship in 2024. While the amount of effort he has put in cannot be underestimated, the Connecticut native has epitomized what a ‘clutch performer’ means with his performances in the Cup Series. He won a race at Nashville Superspeedway during the regular season to qualify for the playoffs and went on to secure a statement victory in the opening postseason race at Atlanta. Having almost been eliminated at the Charlotte Roval, Bowman’s disqualification gave him another shot at the title, and Logano capitalized by winning in Las Vegas.

Victory in the opening Round of Eight race gave Joey Logano plenty of time to prepare for the championship race in Phoenix. Revealing why he deliberately underperformed at Homestead-Miami and Martinsville, the Team Penske driver said on The Teardown podcast, “For us, our advantage was that we got in sooner and we took those two weeks to really not do good at those two racetracks because we were focused in here. I guess, you know looking back at it, there’s a reason why we won those three and it seems like that’s the recipe to do it. It’s easy to say, hard to do.”

After winning the 2024 South Point 400, Logano and the No. 22 Ford team set their sights on Phoenix Raceway, as the outcome in the remaining two playoff races became inconsequential. Even though fans speculated that had he not won at Vegas, the Team Penske driver would have struggled in the subsequent two races, the 34-year-old shut down the hypothetical scenario by saying, “You can’t say that because we would run completely different at those racetracks because we’d actually care, you know.”

Ultimately, the team’s approach paid off, as having more time to prepare helped the team perform when it mattered the most. Joey Logano qualified in 2nd place at Phoenix Raceway, winning the opening stage and showcasing a defensive masterclass to keep his teammate Ryan Blaney at bay during the closing laps. In a sport where the finest of margins can make all the difference, having more time to prepare ultimately proved to be the difference maker, with the Team Penske driver saying, “You’re not under stress right? So your batteries are recharged.”

Logano defends the playoff system after Phoenix Raceway triumph

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If there’s one driver who has excelled in the elimination format, it’s Joey Logano. The Team Penske driver has made it to the Championship 4 six times in the last decade, reinforcing the ‘Even-Year-Logano’ theory that has been making rounds on social media. While the playoff system has been a perennial punching bag in the NASCAR community, and in some cases, rightly so, the Team Penske driver doesn’t share the same views as some of his colleagues, who consider it ‘broken’.

With Kyle Larson securing six wins but not making it to Championship 4, questions were raised about the win-and-in format, which failed to reward drivers for their consistency. However, Logano defended the existing postseason structure by saying, “Can we tweak things? I’m sure. But gosh, it just makes incredible storylines all the way through. And everyone has the same opportunity…The advantage that the 5 had, the 45 had, going into the playoffs – what else could you want? They earned the advantage…if you don’t make it from that, like oh well.”

Ever since the Next-Gen cars were introduced in 2022, Team Penske has been dominating the Cup Series championship, winning three titles in a row. As for Joey Logano, the 34-year-old has found a way to thrive in a complicated format, while his counterparts Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have struggled. It’s not difficult to see why the No. 22 Chevy driver is enjoying life under the existing postseason framework, having lifted the Bill France Cup in 2018, 2022, and 2024. However, could NASCAR look into rewarding consistency by making changes to the existing structure? Time will tell.