Joey Logano captured his third NASCAR Cup Series championship last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway in a duel against Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney – but the outcome of the race left many fans fuming over the playoff format, which for the second successive year crowned a champion who was altogether unimpressive through much of the regular season.
In 2021, Kyle Larson dominated the NASCAR Cup Series, racking up 10 race victories en route to his first career championship. It was the type of year that evoked memories of Jeff Gordon’s 13-win season in 1998, where one team continually proved it was the best in the field and was rewarded at the end of the year.
Such a dominant year in NASCAR’s top series is not the norm in the playoff era, however. In 2023, Ryan Blaney overcame a horrendous regular season, buoyed by a single race win at Charlotte that cemented his place in the playoffs. Over that 26-race span, Blaney had just 12 top-10 finishes, and nearly as many finishes of 21st of worse (10). Yet the No. 12 team was able to survive the first elimination round, won at Talladega to get into the final eight, won at Martinsville to race for a championship, and beat Kyle Larson and William Byron at Phoenix to win his first title. Blaney set a modern-era record for fewest Top-5 finishes by a champion with eight.