In a dramatic finale at Phoenix Raceway, Joey Logano clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship, narrowly holding off his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. This victory marked Logano’s third championship win, positioning him among an elite group of just 10 drivers to claim three or more titles. It also extended Penske’s recent dominance, giving the team its third consecutive championship—Logano in 2022, Blaney last year, and now Logano again.
“I love the playoffs. What a battle within Team Penske!” Logano said after the win.
The top three positions in the season’s final race were held by Championship 4 finalists, with Blaney finishing second and William Byron taking third. Tyler Reddick, the fourth contender, placed sixth.
Blaney led most of the race among the title contenders, but Logano capitalized on a late restart to overtake both Blaney and Byron, building a lead as Blaney struggled to navigate through traffic. Blaney later closed the gap, but Logano’s flawless performance in the final laps secured the victory by a narrow 0.330 seconds.
Byron, trailing the Penske duo through most of the final stage, tried a bold strategy. His crew chief, Rudy Fugle, extended Byron’s green-flag run in hopes of a caution that could give him an advantage. Though a caution indeed followed Byron’s stop due to rookie Zane Smith’s accident, it only briefly put Byron ahead of Blaney and Logano. On the next restart, Logano surged ahead, leaving Byron unable to respond and Blaney unable to make up the final ground. A win would have made Blaney the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2010.
Tyler Reddick, making his debut appearance in the championship race for 23XI Racing—co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR star Denny Hamlin—finished a distant sixth. Despite a promising qualifying position of 10th and an early burst on a restart, Reddick spent much of the race outside the top five.
Kyle Larson finished fourth, and Christopher Bell came fifth, leading a race-high 143 laps. Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 Cup champion, ended his full-time career with a 17th-place finish after starting on the pole.
(Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
