Joey Logano has proven countless times throughout his career how dangerous it is to underestimate him, and yet, many still do.
When the Team Penske star came out of nowhere to win the 2024 NASCAR Cup title, many were upset at the format for allowing him a driver with a 17.1 average finish to become champion.
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And while there’s plenty to be said about the inherit issues with the now-defunct playoff format, it’s becoming clear that Logano is just able to extract a bit more when the pay window opens — no matter the format. By the way, his current average finish in 2026 is 17.3…
Logano was buried in 20th in points at the end of June, and remained below the cut-line all the way into mid-July. But over the past four races, he has rocketed up the standings and now sits ninth overall.
It honestly looks like two different seasons stitched together, as Logano had scored just two top fives in the first 20 races and now suddenly has three top fives in the last four races alone. At this point, he could even reach fifth in points before the Chase reset, and the next two tracks are great ones for him to keep marching forward.
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‘4 the Haters’
Watch: ‘For the haters’: Logano on having chip on shoulder
The Logano critics don’t have much to smile about lately, as he once again manages to completely change the trajectory of his season in the blink of an eye. And what is Logano’s message to his detractors, those who question the legitimacy of his first three crowns?
“To answer the question first, they’re all legit,” said Logano in his winner’s press conference at Richmond. “I don’t care what the format is. Everyone knew the rules when it started, okay? I’ll say that first (smiling).
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“Do I have a little chip on my shoulder? Yes. That’s a clear yes. So much that our little team slogan in our hauler, our scoreboard, is, ‘4 the Haters.’ That’s where we’re at. That’s a little good extra motivation. Either way the Mickey Mouse ears look good on the trophies either way, and the check was pretty cool to go with it.”
The last time NASCAR raced without a win-and-you’re-in format, Logano was 23 years old and was in his first year with Penske after being cut loose by Joe Gibbs Racing. He had only three wins in his Cup career by the end of the 2013 season. He now has that many Cup titles alone, and 39 victories. Logano has made an entire career out of proving doubters wrong, it seems.
It’s clear that the veteran driver is motivated to win a fourth title under a more universally accepted format, just to smother the narrative from detractors that he didn’t truly ‘earn’ the previous three.
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Finding momentum at the right time
Watch: Logano credits Penske grind for return to winning form
And while it does seem like Logano has an extra switch he can flip at critical points in the season, he credited the recent surge in performance to what Team Penske and crew chief Paul Wolfe have been doing behind the scenes.
“I mean, I’m also a realist, you know, I don’t sugarcoat much,” said Logano about the early-season struggles. “Paul doesn’t either. We have the tough conversations … I remember vividly telling him sitting in his office, Paul, if I had the keys to this place, it had my name on the door, I don’t know what I would do different.
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“That was a confusing, frustrating thing to say because I felt like I have all the right people around me, we just weren’t winning or running well in that case, which is kind of just confusing, head-scratching.
“Proud of everyone sticking together. Those are the times it’s hard to do that. Times you see teams break. I’d say it doesn’t take much longer running the way we were running until something probably was going to break.
“It’s nice to see we’ve been able to make quite the recovery and, like I said, change our goals at this point of the season to where we have a legit shot at winning this championship now. We’re getting hot at the right time. It will be a fun ‘Chase’ till the end.”
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And what a fascinating story it would be if the driver of the No. 22 can go all the way, yet again…
Read Also:
Joey Logano holds off Chase Briscoe to win NASCAR Cup race at Richmond
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after Richmond 2026
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