When the checkered flag waved at Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday, Team Penske’s Joey Logano became the first driver out of the championship after crashing on lap eight. Ford pilot no. 22 is now the first of four drivers to qualify for the championship. In fact, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick took the eighth and final spot, beating Logano on lap eight at Charlotte. However, after the race, Hendrick Motorsports Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet was found to be underweight and was disqualified.
Logano finished in the top eight due to points lost by Bowman due to disqualification. And Sunday afternoon in the opening round of the quarterfinals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano competed in the opening round of the quarterfinals at Martinsville Speedway in 2018 and the opening round of the quarterfinals at Kansas Speedway in 2020. Win and advance to Stage 8: Las Vegas Championship 4 2022. He managed to save enough fuel and maintain a high enough speed to hold off a charging Christopher Bell at the end of the lap and take the checkered flag by 0.662 seconds ahead of the driver of the first place car. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The 2024 season was Logano’s worst in almost every category except Team Penske wins. In fact, had he not won five additional races at Nashville Superspeedway in late June, his points total would not have been enough to make the playoffs.
Despite 3 wins and 4th place in the championship, they remain 15th overall this season.
However, as many have pointed out, this is an even year and Logano is now on pace to win four to six championships in an even year. The current playoff format was introduced in 2014, and the team has never missed the winner-take-all finals in even-numbered years, but has never advanced to the finals in odd-numbered years. Logano is the first driver in Cup Series history to win four championships. Of course, only in a year.
There are still three Championship 4 spots available this year, with two races airing live at 2:30 PM ET, including the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
