Ford continued its NASCAR dominance by winning a third straight NASCAR Cup Series drivers championship after Joey Logano outlasted Penske teammate Ryan Blaney to take the final race of the 2024 season Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway.
For Logano, it marked his third career championship and second in the last three years. He is the first driver to win three titles with Ford and the 10th in NASCAR history, joining Tony Stewart, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.
“I love the playoffs. What a race and what a Team Penske battle there at the end,” said Logano, who won his previous championships in 2018 and 2022. “I had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. He had a lot of long run speed there and that was all I had to hold him off. We have three of them. That’s really special.”
Logano, who qualified second, won the first stage and led two times for 107 laps overall, but it was the move he made on a late-race restart with 54 laps to go that proved to be the defining moment. After pitting for fuel and tires, Logano found himself sixth in line for the restart and behind championship contenders William Byron and Blaney. But when the green flag dropped, Logano immediately found the lane he needed and passed all five cars that were in front of him in the span of one lap.
He gained the lead with 53 circuits to go and then held on as Blaney, who was looking to repeat his title from a year ago, slowly gained ground only to run out of laps. Logano’s margin of victory was 0.330 seconds and resulted in the first one-two championship finish for team owner Roger Penske.
“The restart was everything. Getting a good start and getting cleared quickly,” said Logano. “The 12 got mired back there a little bit. I knew he was the fastest car and I knew that when we came here. I said, ‘I’ve got to outsmart him and outrace him’ because I know he’s got speed and the 22 team did that. They showed up under pressure.”
This continues a streak that has seen Ford win at least two NASCAR series championships in each of the last three years. Overall, the manufacturer has won seven of the last nine titles in NASCAR’s top three series combined dating back to Logano’s Cup championship in 2022. Ty Majeski won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title on Friday night, which extended Ford’s title streak to five before it was broken one night later.
“We love winning the championship. I honestly don’t look at the history too much. I just look at the one that’s in front of us and the next one that’s coming up after that,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “This just keeps building the momentum for our program. We feel like we’ve been working really hard for a really long time to build it, and it’s certainly starting to pay off with the investment in the people and the tools and the partners.”
The championship is the 12th for Ford in NASCAR’s top series and fourth in the last seven years. Logano and Blaney have combined for all of those titles with Logano winning three times and Blaney once.
FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPIONS
1965 – Ned Jarrett
1968 – David Pearson
1969 – David Pearson
1988 – Bill Elliott
1992 – Alan Kulwicki
1999 – Dale Jarrett
2003 – Matt Kenseth
2004 – Kurt Busch
2018 – Joey Logano
2022 – Joey Logano
2023 – Ryan Blaney
2024 – Joey Logano
Ford Performance PR
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