“I love the playoffs…I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but we have the best team.” – Joey Logano to Marty Snider on winning his third Cup Series Championship
“Joey Logano steps into history! At the end of the Charlotte Roval [race], Logano was out. The [Alex] Bowman disqualification put him back in and he never missed a spot.” – Leigh Diffey
“There is just something about these moments for Joey Logano and Paul Wolfe where they come to life. They didn’t have the most speed, but man did they maximize their opportunities.” – Snider
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Nov. 10, 2024 – Team Penske driver Joey Logano won the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship this afternoon on NBC and Peacock – his third career Cup Series title and third straight title for Team Penske after Ryan Blaney won in 2023. Logano outdueled fellow Championship 4 contenders Ryan Blaney (2nd place), William Byron (3rd place), and Tyler Reddick (6th) at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.
RACE RESULTS | ||
| Position | Driver | Car # |
| 1 | Joey Logano | 22 |
| 2 | Ryan Blaney | 12 |
| 3 | William Byron | 24 |
| 6 | Tyler Reddick | 45 |
21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton and Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte served as analysts for the Cup Series Championship race from Phoenix Raceway with NBC Sports’ lead NASCAR race announcer Leigh Diffey. Marty Snider, Kim Coon, Dave Burns, and Parker Kligerman provided reports from pit road.
NBC Sports’ Countdown to Green pre-race coverage was hosted by Marty Snider alongside Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett, JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Brad Daugherty, and former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty.
Pre-race coverage on NBC and Peacock included:
- Special interviews with all Championship 4 drivers, including:
- William Byron and Joey Logano with Marty Snider, Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Brad Daugherty;
- Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick with Dave Burns;
- NBC Sports’ Tim Layden voicing the opening tease for the Cup Series Championship race;
- Championship 4 driver introductions by NASCAR Chief Hype Officer Mamba Smith;
- A feature on William Byron with the driver’s parents reading him a personalized pre-race message;
- A feature on Tyler Reddick, with his wife and son making him a handwritten letter;
- A look-back on Ryan Blaney and his first Cup Series Championship in 2023;
- A tribute to NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, who passed away at the age of 86 on Saturday;
- A feature on Martin Truex Jr. in honor of his retirement, narrated by seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, and an in-person interview with Burton;
- NBC Sports’ NASCAR studio analysts take a look at their favorite moments of the 2024 season.
- Extensive discussion on the events at Martinsville last week. See quotes below.
POST-RACE QUOTES
Joey Logano to Marty Snider on winning his third career Cup Series championship: “I love the playoffs. What a race. What a Team Penske battle there. I had a good restart and was able to get in front of the #12 and that was all I had there to hold him off. Three of them (championships), that’s really special. What a team to fight through today…I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but we have the best team.”
Logano: “The race started in Vegas for us…I don’t think anybody works harder than us. These guys just want it bad and I’m glad we delivered. That late restart was really the difference-maker.”
Snider: “There is just something about these moments for Joey Logano and Paul Wolfe where they come to life. They didn’t have the most speed, but man did they maximize their opportunities.”
Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney on his runner-up finish: “Couldn’t quite get there. Tried really hard to do so but the restart didn’t really work out…If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was [Logano] for the championship.”
STAGE 3 QUOTES
Leigh Diffey on Joey Logano winning his third Cup Series championship: “Joey Logano steps into history! He’s a three-time Cup Series champion! At the end of the Charlotte Roval [race], Logano was out. The [Alex] Bowman disqualification put him back in and he never missed a spot.”
Daugherty on how he managed pressure when playing in the NBA: “I let that basketball fly. I’d shoot it every time.”
Letarte: “Michael [Jordan]’s laughing because he heard Brad’s answer.”
STAGE 2 QUOTES
Letarte on Bell: “You look at any driver other than the Championship 4 that want to prove a point here, it’s Bell. He went into the media center and had some strong statements about some actions he saw on the racetrack [in Martinsville]. He felt he was cheated and that he should be a part of this Championship 4, so the only real moment he has now is to go out and prove everybody wrong and win the race.”
Burton: “Christopher Bell is one of our future superstars. The fact that he has now gained enough confidence in himself to go express himself the way he did, that’s what we need from the leaders in our sport. He’s certainly one of them.”
Diffey on Blaney’s racing mentality: “Even though he won the championship last year, it was a source of frustration that he didn’t win the race…Maybe this year he’s like, ‘I’m not going to do that again.’”
Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler to Snider on the early red flag due to the pace car hitting the pit road sand barrels: “It’s a little break for us. We can look at what we did…We had decent speed there, but we can get a little bit better.”
Burton on Joey Logano’s first pit stop: “[Logano’s crew chief Paul Wolfe] doesn’t want world record pit stops. He just wants nice, smooth, steady pit stops. That one wasn’t. They just got to focus and get back in rhythm.”
Burton on the importance of the spotter: “The spotter situation is important. This is the last race of the year. You’ve been working with that spotter all year long. You know exactly what his words mean.”
Burton on the strategy of making a pass: “There have been multiple times where I’ve gone somewhere looking to make a pass and found it to be better. Now, unfortunately, there have been sometimes where people did that to me. I remember Dale Jarrett one night in Richmond jumped on the outside and beat me for that race win. I don’t hold any hard feelings.”
Letarte: “I see you’ve clearly let that go.”
STAGE 1 QUOTES
Burton on the final laps of a stage during the championship race: “The track position is every bit as important. The higher up you come up on pit road, the higher the opportunity you’ll leave pit road in a good spot.”
Burton on all the NASCAR drivers giving Truex Jr. a standing ovation at the pre-race drivers’ meeting: “The biggest compliment is the respect of your peers. And that, right there, is respect.”
PRE-RACE QUOTES
Kyle Petty on Christopher Bell saying he felt cheated out of the chance to compete for the Championship following the ruling at Martinsville: “I do not agree, and I’m about tired of the victim defense, and that’s what they’ve used all week long, that they are a victim in this...the fans, the drivers, everybody knew right off the bat that [Bell’s action of riding the wall constituted] a safety violation. That is against the rules. That’s in the rulebook. That’s the one thing they did know. They didn’t know about the #1, the #3 and the #23, but NASCAR said they would rule later. They had 34 races to make the playoffs and two in the Round of 8 and they didn’t make it. It’s sour grapes. Pull your big boy pants up, get it behind you and move on and race.”
Brad Daugherty on the penalties assessed to the teams of Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace: “First and foremost, any time you impugn the integrity of the sport, it’s a travesty in a large way. The rulebook is what it is, but we’ve seen rules called and determined this year that have been above and beyond the rulebook. I think there should have been suspensions, and you have to suspend the driver because that’s the only resource you have, no matter who’s at fault here, to create a stop gap. The issue in this is that you’re deteriorating the fabric of competition. If you’re cheating to win, that’s not competition. This has to stop. We saw it in the past. We’ve seen it again. We will see it again if we don’t stop this, and that destroys the brand.”
Dale Jarrett on if the manufacturers have too much power in NASCAR: “That would be an emphatic ‘yes.’ We know what happened there. You heard teams talking about it. Everyone can see exactly what went on there. You talk about the integrity of the sport, 100% agree with that. I also bring in the fact that the manufacturer giving these orders brings in the morals of the drivers. I’m not disagreeing that the drivers should’ve been penalized for their part in this, but the drivers are put in a compromising position by the manufacturers giving these orders to do that. If you say no, then you’re probably out of a job…the manufacturers need to provide these drivers and teams with what they have to make them better on the racetrack. Don’t tell them how to drive these cars.”
Jarrett on gambling: “Christopher Bell said the race got fixed…We have another component in NASCAR that’s in every other sport: gambling. A lot of people put a lot of money out there and this is point shaving at its best and you have to protect the integrity of this sport.”
Steve Letarte on the Martinsville controversy: “My frustration hasn’t gone away. What we saw last week at Martinsville is unacceptable in the sport of NASCAR. Race manipulation was clear by two manufacturers and a bunch of race teams. As I look at it, the difference for me and what I now know looking forward is that the drivers, the crew chiefs, the owners, the manufacturers, they all have the opportunity to compete in this sport that we love. But with that opportunity comes responsibility to protect the integrity. I know it’s NASCAR’s job to penalize and enforce the rules, but it’s their responsibility to make sure these fans are watching great racing and not manipulation.”
Burton: “That’s exactly right. Also, NASCAR made it very clear that will not be tolerated today. If it happens today, it’s going to be stopped immediately and if it’s not, you will wish you didn’t because the penalty will be large. No one race or person is bigger than this sport. We have to have the integrity of this sport no matter what. We love it, the fans love it. When you’re watching, you have to know it. Unfortunately, drivers and crew chiefs have been put in a really bad spot. They need to be empowered to say no.”
Daugherty on Michael Jordan’s investment in NASCAR: “Michael Jordan is 100% invested. Since moving away from NBA [ownership], I’ve had conversations with him and he is absolutely all in. He loves this sport. He loves what it’s all about. He loves the competition. He loves to put the pieces of the puzzle together. He’s got a great race team, he’s got a great supporter in Toyota, and he’s absolutely entrenched in this sport and will be for a long time.”
Jarrett on Jordan’s importance to NASCAR: “It means so much to NASCAR, and the fact that you have a name and a person here that is known around the world, he chooses NASCAR.”
Daugherty on the advice he gave Jordan when he was joining NASCAR: “He wanted to know what this model was built on. What’s the competition like? That’s all he was concerned with. He wasn’t worried about the financial aspect – obviously, he doesn’t have to be worried about that – but he wanted to know what the steps were, competition-wise, and how quickly can you get there. I told him it’s tough, and that just piqued his interest, and here he is a couple years later fighting for a championship.”
Jimmie Johnson on what Byron and Reddick might be feeling pre-race having never won a championship before: “I think veterans have an advantage on the others, but everybody has to win their first at some point. Both of those guys are so talented that I don’t think that’s going to be an obstruction and hold them back.”
Petty on Paul Wolfe and Joey Logano’s partnership: “They focus 24/7, 365, every day, every moment. I talk to Joey a lot during the year and he’s in the shop, looking at data. It’s that work ethic that he and Paul bring in that will take them to a championship.”
--NBC SPORTS--
