Roger Penske’s Cup Series fold hit the darts right where they were needed. At the start of the year, all Ford drivers struggled to adapt to the Mustang Dark Horse. Joey Logano was one of them, finishing outside the top 20 in 4 of 5 races. But right in time, the No. 22 team’s fortunes kicked off in Nashville, where Logano won in quintuple overtime. That was enough to propel him inside the playoffs, where he won twice on his way to a third championship.

But the statistics—they draw concern from NASCAR fans about the sport’s future. Under the playoff format, Joey Logano survived on mere lucky draws. After getting caught in the biggest crash in Talladega, his fate looked sealed—until Alex Bowman failed a post-race inspection that led Logano back into the playoffs. On top of that, some eye-popping numbers about his performance raise eyebrows about NASCAR’s format.

A well-deserved win for Joey Logano?

That must be the most hyped-up question circulating NASCAR’s media at present. Before the 2004 introduction of the Chase format, the Cup Series champion was crowned based on full-season points. In that format, the champion sometimes sealed his trophy way before the season ended. So in an attempt to generate excitement and unpredictability, officials tweaked things. The elimination format was introduced in 2014, under which drivers raced their guts out to retain playoff spots. Then in 2017, stage racing and playoff points came into play. However, this edge-of-your-seat thrilling system has had flaws that Joey Logano showcased this season.

The premier flaw is the statistical discrepancy. For instance, Kevin Harvick won the regular season title and nine races in 2020 but could not crack the Final Four. This season, Kyle Larson stands on top—he won 6 races and led a whopping 1700 laps—and still bowed out of the Round of 8. On the flip side, Joey Logano‘s third Cup Series championship cracked a few records in terms of terribly low stats. Journalist Austin Konenski updated on X: “- Fewest top-5s of any Cup champion – Fewest top-10s of any Cup champion – Lowest average finishing position of any Cup champion. It’s time for NASCAR to tweak the format.”

This clearly shows that the Cup Series championship is not favoring the best-performing driver of the season. And NASCAR has paid heed to rising concerns, as president Steve Phelps slipped some hope about the sport yet. “The format is the format. We are always looking (and) if there are opportunities for us to tweak something, so be it,” he said.

“We read fans (complaints) and everything…will, as we always do … look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason. You always learn.” Yet Phelps harped on the positive impact. “I go back to (how) the format itself creates incredible racing. So if we are all going to be honest and say, ‘Hey, how’s the racing been during the playoffs and these nine weeks?’ I don’t think it’s ever been better, and I think part of that is due to the system itself.”

Yet fan responses showcase something entirely different, as they are tired of NASCAR’s obstinance.

Fans want to root for their racing hero

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Phelps dropped hints about reviewing the format. But his overarching stance was that fans love drivers going at each other’s throats just to survive and win in the playoffs. “I think it provides great, great racing for our race fans,” he said.

But after Joey Logano’s depressing stats went public, NASCAR’s audience harbored different views. Some vehemently demanded a change: “Shoot the gimmicky format into the sun. Full-season points guarantee legitimate champions. We don’t need fake manufactured drama in racing.” Austin Konenski demanded a ‘tweak’, a mild parlance to seek a change. One fan took it up a notch: “Not tweak. Take a sledgehammer to it!”

Joey Logano’s wildly happenstance victory also raised people’s eyebrows. Ranging from a five-time overtime win to a lucky re-entry into the playoffs due to Alex Bowman’s misfortune, the Team Penske driver had Lady Luck by his side. So one fan could not help but point out, “He’s only a champion because Bowman failed an inspection…” Remember when four hours after the Bank of America ROVAL 400, the No. 48 of Bowman was disqualified for being underweight, dropping the HMS playoff contender to a 38th-place finish instead of 18th? The resulting points loss knocked him out of the playoffs, allowing Joey Logano to advance to the Round of Eight by surpassing Tyler Reddick by four points.

Somebody else also compared this season with 2017 – a year when Logano clinched one win, 17 top-tens, and 10 top-fives. “His 2017 Season which was a Disastrous Season by his standards was statistically better than his 2024 Season.”

So people unanimously clamor for a change. Given Steve Phelps’ hesitant stance, fans are willing to present solutions on a table for him. Somebody suggested a blast from the past: “Go back to Chase for the cup. Top 10-12 drivers battle it out over 10 races.” Another suggested scrapping the Chase format altogether and going back to pre-2004: “Full season points would be nice.”

Evidently, emotions about the format are running wild as the 2024 season draws to an end. Meanwhile, Joey Logano relishes his third championship victory—a feat that 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson last achieved.