Team Penske was perfect yet again in the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway, as Joey Logano held off teammate and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney for a historic third title at the sport’s top level, while simultaneously executing a three-peat for the prestigious organization owned by the legendary Roger Penske.
In beating Blaney to the finish line by a slim .33 seconds for his fourth victory in Arizona, Logano is now the only active driver able to call himself a three-time champion and is just the 10th in Cup Series history to accomplish the extraordinary feat, joining the likes of Hall of Famers such as Tony Stewart and Darrell Waltrip. Ford and Team Penske also remain undefeated as champions in the seventh-generation car.
“I love the playoffs,” Logano said. “What a race! What a Team Penske battle there at the end. Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. He had a lot of long-run speed there, and it was all I had there to hold him off.
“Man, three of them, that’s really special to get that. I’ve got the best team. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team, and together we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We’ve got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters.”
Blaney and Logano were by far and away the best of the Championship 4 drivers, sweeping both stages and finishing as the top-two drivers in the title fight for the first time in Team Penske’s history. Althought the driver of the No. 12 was unable to go back-to-back, he mounted an admirable rally in the closing stages of the race to lock down his fourth runner-up at Phoenix over his last five starts.
“Congrats to the 22 team and Pennzoil and Ford,” Blaney said. “They put together a great playoffs, and we’re happy. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy to be one-two for Roger, three-in-a-row for Roger, super amazing, and Ford.”
On the final restart of the day with less than 60 laps to go around the one-mile track, Logano lined up fifth and powered his way to the lead with ease, getting around fellow title contender William Byron and never looking back. The No. 24 team had themselves a clean race from start to finish, but served as the third-best of the title contenders to the Penske Fords for a bulk of the race.
Making his Championship 4 debut and the first appearence for 23XI Racing, Tyler Reddick had the toughest go of the drivers vying for the Bill France Cup, hanging around the 10th-spot seemingly the entire race. The No. 45 team made strides throughout the entire event, ultimately settling for a sixth-place finish in the series finale.
Spring race winner Christopher Bell posed as the worthiest adversary to the Championship 4 contenders, leading a race-high 143 laps before finishing in fifth. Ahead of him was 2021 champion and winningest driver in 2024 Kyle Larson. Both drivers earned ended their respective campaigns tied for the most top fives in the series with 15.
McDowell’s bittersweet homecoming
Sunday’s finale at Phoenix was a bittersweet homecoming for Glendale-born driver Michael McDowell, who made his final start in the iconic yellow No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford for Front Row Motorsports. This concluded a seven-year relationship with the organization he played a large role in helping build from a back-marker team, to one that’s capable of contending for wins.
McDowell won two races with FRM, including the first of his career in the 2021 Daytona 500 and at the world-renowned Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. The 39-year-old will assume a similar role with his new team Spire Motorsports in 2025, where he will take over driving duties for the No. 77 car, with current crew chief Travis Peterson coming along as well.
Following a speeding penalty in the opening stage, McDowell finished his final race with Front Row Motorsports three laps off the pace in 31st.
“It’s emotional,” McDowell said. “I’ve loved every minute that I’ve had at Front Row. I’m just thankful and grateful for what we’ve been able to accomplish together and achieve. It’s changed my life.
“To win the Daytona 500 and win an Indy and to run as well as we’ve run the last four or five years, it’s given my career a new life. I’m forever grateful for everything that they’ve done for me.”
Truex bids farewell to full-time racing
Once the checkered flag waved on the 2024 season, it marked the end of Martin Truex Jr.’s full-time racing career. The fan favorite, who began his 21-year tenure driving for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, racked up 34 wins at the sport’s top level, including once at Phoenix in 2021, with his signature moment coming in 2017 when he was crowned champion.
Truex started the day from the pole – his second in a row to close out his full-time campaign – leading a total of nine laps before finishing 19th in his No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE.
“I enjoy these types of tracks,” Truex said. “It’s been a good track for me over the years. Being able to win here was definitely big. I think you want to be able to win at all different types of tracks. And honestly, you want to be able to win everywhere. So, definitely cool to get this one checked off a few years ago.”
Xfinity and truck champions
The NASCAR Xfinity Series title race was one 14 years in the making for veteran and fan favorite Justin Allgaier, who’s heart and resilience amounted to one of the greatest comeback performances in racing. The 38-year-old rallied from the rear of the field on multiple occasions in a back-up car and held off reigning champion Cole Custer in double-overtime to finish runner-up, while Riley Herbst played spoiler as the race winner in the last event for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Blue-collar racer Ty Majeski became the first national series champion in 2024, following a flawless and flat-out dominant performance in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finale at Phoenix on Friday night. Leading all but 18 laps, the driver from Wisconsin held off Corey Heim to bring ThorSport Racing back-to-back titles and Ford their fifth consecutive at the sport’s top-three ranks.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Joey Logano, Team Penske race to NASCAR championship at Phoenix Raceway
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