For those wondering otherwise, Joey Logano’s third championship was not a lucky break. Sure, his path to the title might have been a little sketchy. But there’s no denying the amount of preparation and strategic planning it took for the #22 team to get so far was unfathomable. 

Theirs was a battle of relentless attrition, fought carefully throughout an entire season. And it wasn’t just the #22. All three Team Penske cars worked like clockwork to make their way into the 2024 NASCAR Playoffs. That speaks volumes about the levels of coordination they displayed en route to capping off a stellar year for Roger Penske. But the most glistening example of their unity wouldn’t come until the final, pressure-packed moment. In fairness, Joey Logano probably would not have lifted his third championship if an unlikely savior had not stepped in for an ailing crewmate.

A jack bearer’s championship redemption

After the #22 Ford finished first in Stage 1, something felt off when Joey Logano rolled the car into his designated pit stall. He lost four spots after service during the ensuing stage break, but a much bigger issue was plaguing their brigade. Turned out, the delay wasn’t a mistake. Instead, the #22 team jackman, Graham Stoddard, appeared to be battling an undisclosed illness that put them on the back foot.

As the on-track cameras panned to show Stoddard in his moment of weakness, somewhere in the Team Penske garage pit crew, coaches Ray Gallahan and Danny Kincaid realized they were dealing with an unforeseen dilemma. Stoddard’s condition was deteriorating, and he needed immediate medical attention. This meant the #22 team needed a new jackman. So, they called upon Austin Cindric’s jack bearer, Patrick Gray, to emerge as their organization’s hero for the day.

By this point, Cindric’s championship chase ended a few weeks earlier at the end of the Round of 12 cutoff race in Charlotte. Hence, there was no problem for the #2 team in making this sudden switch mid-race. Filling in the absence, Harrison Burton’s jackman at Wood Brothers Racing, Courtney Edmonds, took Gray’s place in the #2 pit stall—no pressure. But all the pressure now lay on the new one-off jack bearer for Joey Logano’s #22 team. Gray explained his rush of emotions at that exact moment to SiriusXM NASCAR: “I think we did about one or two stops. And then our pit crew coach came out… He came on and told me that Graham was not doing too well.”

“Once he told me that, I ran down. Got my stuff together. Made sure the tires were taped correctly, asked them about how the setup was, you know, the fellow pit crew members on the #22,” reminisced the Monmouth University graduate. “Because we have to look at fender clearances, how the jack pegs are, stuff like that. So, once I kind of figured that out, I am like, ‘Okay, here we go. This is business.'” Indeed, it was ‘business’ for Gray. He’s been at Roger Penske’s NASCAR team for eight years now and has seen it all.

“We ran for a championship with my pit crew, the #2 car with Brad (Keselowski) four years ago,” noted Gray. “We finished second, which is the worst place to finish for a championship. I have wanted this opportunity for a long time. Your first championship when you run for it, you tend to have a little bit of butterflies.” It sounds like the jackman had a chip on his shoulder which only bettered the #22 team’s pit road performance for the rest of the race. He affirmed that notion to conclude, “To me, it was redemption from 2020. I need to get this done.”

That kind of drive from his employees has made Roger Penske successful in every auto racing discipline he’s ventured into. In 2024, he also won the IMSA Sportscar Series and FIA World Endurance Championship as team owner. And guys like Paul Gray, working tirelessly every week, have made it all happen for Team Penske. The 87-year-old racing legend knows that. After the Phoenix championship race, he told the media, “My name might be on the door, but it’s all about the people who make the difference and we sure have them on this team.” Regardless, he must be proud to know that the people in his organization are more than well aware of the bigger picture.

One goal, one team: The Penske formula for success

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From the #22 team crew chief, Paul Wolfe, to their rear-tire changer, Jake Seminara, and the driver, Joey Logano himself, everyone plays their part in making Team Penske one of the best teams to watch year after year. They’ve held a stranglehold over the NASCAR Cup Series championship for three straight seasons. And by the looks of things, their dominance has only begun. Paul Gray’s flexibility in moving teams when necessary was a prime example of how different Penske’s approach has been in the Next-Gen era.

Seminara explained it best to NASCAR.com, “For Pat to step in and be able to just not miss a beat, that’s a testament to Penske and the culture and the teams that we’ve built. We practice with this 2 car every day, and they challenge us. They push us to be better. We didn’t miss a beat. We actually did the fastest pit stop that we did all day on the last pit stop.” He further asserted, “We built a great culture at Penske, so anyone could swap around, be on any team, and we feel like we’re confident that we can go out there and succeed.”

Even Wolfe is all-in on that mindset. “I think that just shows, obviously, how well we work together as a company and how there’s always one common goal,” said the #22 team crew chief. “And this weekend it was about making sure the #22 and the #12 had the best chance they could at racing for this championship. I don’t think it was a hard decision for anyone to be able to grab Pat and come on over, and it was really seamless.” 

In the end, Joey Logano claimed the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship—his third driving for Team Penske. His teammate Ryan Blaney finished runner-up in the championship standings. However, the title would eventually end up the fifth for Penske in the highest tier of NASCAR racing. In every sense, their organization nearly completed the script this year across various motorsport disciplines. And with people as dedicated as Paul Gray working hard for the organization, they could make this success a recurring phenomenon.