Team Penske driver Joey Logano won the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship this afternoon on NBC and Peacock, his second career Cup Series title (2018), as he outdueled fellow Championship 4 contenders Ross Chastain (third place), Christopher Bell (10th), and Chase Elliott (28th) at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.
RACE RESULTS | ||
Position | Driver | Car # |
1 | Joey Logano | 22 |
2 | Ryan Blaney | 12 |
3 | Ross Chastain | 1 |
4 | Chase Briscoe | 14 |
5 | Kevin Harvick | 4 |
10 | Christopher Bell | 20 |
28 | Chase Elliott | 9 |
Rick Allen called the Championship race live from Phoenix Raceway alongside two-time Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton. Daytona 500-winning crew chief Steve Letarte was unavailable due to a medical issue. Marty Snider, Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman and Dillon Welch provided reports from pit road.
NBC Sports’ 90-minute Countdown to Green pre-race coverage began at 1:30 p.m. ET. Marty Snider hosted alongside Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett, racing icon Kyle Petty and JTG Daugherty Racing team owner Brad Daugherty. Rutledge Wood reported from Rattlesnake Hill and other locations around the track.
Snider, Petty, Jarrett, Daugherty, Burton and Earnhardt Jr. reflected on the passing of Coy Gibbs, co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and the father of Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs.
Pre-race coverage on NBC and Peacock included:
- NASCAR icons Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart set the stage for today’s Championship;
- Special interviews with all Cup Series Championship 4 drivers, including:
- Chase Elliott at the front of the grid with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton
- Joey Logano with Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Brad Daugherty
- Ross Chastain at the front of the grid with Earnhardt Jr. and Burton
- A Christopher Bell season in review and profile
- Rutledge Wood’s interview with WWE superstar Big E;
- A look back at the thrilling 2022 Cup Series season that featured 19 different winners in the first year of the Next Gen car;
- A discussion and breakdown of Ross Chastain’s ‘video game’ last lap move at Martinsville;
- Vignette onJimmy Makar, the first employee hired at Joe Gibbs Racing,who will be retiring after Sunday’s race;
- Feature that offered an inside perspective onChris Kalnins, who traveled to every NASCAR track on the Cup Series circuit this season;
- Multiplatinum country musicianJon Pardi’s performance at Phoenix Raceway.
POST-RACE QUOTES
Logano to Wood: “It’s all about championships. That’s what it’s all about…It’s such a big deal to win these championships. It changes so many lives.”
Allen on Logano’s championship performance: “What a day, what a season it has been for Joey Logano. He has been dominant all day long, out front for 184 laps. Between his Championship 4 competitors, he’s never faltered.”
Allen: “Logano has been the class of the field all day long. He’s already built a Hall of Fame career. Today, he etches his name in stone as one of the few to win multiple championships.”
Earnhardt Jr.: “I don’t think I thought Joey Logano was going to win this championship…winning in Vegas and how that set this team up to set to start to prepare early for Phoenix while the rest of the series had to continue to work and grind week in and week out – he talked about that this week (and) how that really took off a lot of pressure and he felt more prepared than any other driver because the Phoenix week is so busy with media.”
Burton on Logano: “You put him in an opportunity to win a championship with as fast a car as someone else, you got your days work cut out for you. That guy’s a great racecar driver and emotionally he’s tough enough to handle it.”
STAGE 3 QUOTES
Burton on the Ross Chastain-Chase Elliott collision early in Stage 3: “Looks like Ross got a great run right there, starts getting forward momentum…if I’m Ross Chastain, I’m not lifting there either.”
Earnhardt Jr. on Chase Elliott’s pit crew following the accident: “Incredible. I’m so impressed with their ability to get this car to where he’ll be able to drive it.”
Earnhardt Jr. on Christopher Bell and the No. 20 team picking up spots after a Stage 3 pitstop: “These guys every single race come out of nowhere in the final stage.”
Burton with five laps left and Logano in the lead: “If you’re waiting for Joey Logano to make a mistake, forget it. I mean that guy is just so steady. One of the strengths that he has is he knows these moments; he’s been in these moments, and he knows how to execute it.”
Allen with two laps to go: “Logano has put together a perfect race.”
NBC Sports PR
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