Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
Joey Logano already has made just a little little bit of historical past because the underdog story within the present NASCAR playoff system.
Having completed fifteenth within the regular-season level standings, he’s the driving force lowest in regular-season factors to make the Championship 4 because the begin of the stage-point period in 2017.
That he hasn’t had the best of years has led to some criticism on whether or not he actually is a Championship 4 driver.
And simply think about the response if Logano wins the Cup title after being fifteenth in regular-season factors after which initially not even making the semifinal spherical till Alex Bowman’s disqualification from Charlotte resurrected Logano’s championship hopes.
The stats don’t lie:
–Logano has six top-5s this yr; no different driver on this spherical has fewer than 9, and Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have 13 this yr.
–Logano has 11 top-10s; no different driver on this spherical has fewer than 15, and Bell leads all with 21.
–Logano ranks eighth in miles led and ninth in laps led this yr. Logano has led 3.54 % of the laps, whereas three drivers have led greater than 10 % — Larson (18.64 %), Bell (11.53 %) and Denny Hamlin (10.64 %).
However Logano does have three wins. Just one driver has extra this yr — Larson with six. Now one can have a look at Logano’s victories — a five-overtime fuel-mileage technique win at Nashville, a drafting-track win at Atlanta after which the fuel-mileage technique win at Las Vegas that has vaulted him into the championship battle in a pair weeks at Phoenix — and say they did not come from dominating performances.
Wins are wins. That’s what drivers and groups attempt to do each week. Logano has three of them, and only for that motive alone, that must be sufficient to say he has had a season that doesn’t devalue championship standing.
Logano famous final week how within the Subsequent Gen period, dominant seasons are unlikely. He stated he and his son had been going by a pre-Subsequent Gen season yearbook, and it dawned on Logano how totally different the collection has been since 2022.
“He began studying the ending order and the highest 10 was nearly the identical each weekend [pre-Next Gen],” Logano stated. “It was the identical top-10 drivers and now you have a look at the highest 10 and it’s totally different each week. There are folks out and in of that factor. It’s not such as you’re clicking off 20-something high 10s.
“There’s 10 automobiles doing that all year long. It doesn’t occur anymore. The sport has modified. This automobile has utterly modified every thing that we used to learn about NASCAR and I simply go together with it as a result of it’s simply the craziest issues we do now. You have a look at the way in which we race on the observe, the tracks that we go to — you title it and it may possibly occur.”
Logano making the Championship 4 has occurred. And as a lot as some would possibly need to say this Logano has not carried out to a championship stage, his season has, in some ways, been spectacular.
There was a motive that Logano entered the yr with some doubting whether or not he would make the playoffs (this author being one in all them). The brand new Ford physique was unproven and there was hypothesis perhaps not as a lot of an enchancment.
There was a motive that Logano entered the playoffs with some dismissing him with a first-round exit (this author being one in all them). Logano was fourth among the many Ford drivers within the common season. He had not run up entrance sufficient to indicate they might have sufficient alternatives to attain factors wanted.
However now his two playoff victories have him at three wins, greater than every other Ford driver this yr. The one different Ford driver with a couple of win is his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who has two.
Profitable a championship within the present system is a couple of driver and workforce executing and performing to the perfect of their means. Logano and his workforce have executed that and probably have been the perfect of that all through the playoffs.
Whereas different groups have suffered misfortunes on pit street or gotten collected in accidents, Logano has prevented these misfortunes besides at Talladega, the place many of the subject was concerned in an accident.
If he performs effectively at Phoenix to win the title, it could present one other Herculean efficiency. He began twenty third at Phoenix within the spring and struggled earlier than moving into an accident. The indicators are there {that a} massive achieve is feasible — at New Hampshire, a considerably related 1-mile observe, in the summertime, Logano certified sixth and was top-three in every of the phases earlier than an accident on a restart ruined his day.
Logano received’t enter the championship race as the favourite and more-than-likely IS seen because the least-likely champion.
But when he does prevail, assuming he does it by successful or operating close to the entrance at Phoenix, he’ll be a champion deserving of reward and respect for a serious accomplishment.
He wouldn’t have had the perfect season, however he has had a season the place he made the many of the alternatives and improved to some extent within the playoffs the place he may very well be an element. He is proven grit and dedication and carried out when it mattered probably the most — the mandatory components for a champion.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent a long time overlaying motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seaside) Information-Journal. Observe him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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