In the 10 years of the NASCAR playoff elimination format, one Cup Series organization has seemingly cracked the code on how to hoist the Bill France Cup at the end of each season.
With Joey Logano’s third championship in 2024, Team Penske has now won three consecutive titles and are titleholders in four of the last seven seasons. Ryan Blaney was the man to knock off a potential Logano dynasty in 2023 as the No. 12 driver grabbed his first championship.
A perfect 3-0 in the Generation 7 era that’s built for parity, the Team Penske organization and its drivers have perfected the path to winning a title.
Here’s how they have done so.
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2018: ‘THE BIG THREE AND ME’
The 2018 Cup Series season was dominated by the trio of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. They combined to win 20 of the 36 races that year and were bound for an epic three-way showdown in the championship race.
Logano was no slouch that season, but after he won his first race of the year at Talladega Superspeedway, the “big three” had already won seven of the first nine events.
With Chase Elliott winning his first career Cup races and Kurt Busch gaining momentum entering the postseason, it seemed as though the No. 22 driver was an outsider to make it to Homestead.
This was the first year Logano began the tendency to capitalize on others’ misfortunes in the postseason.
At the opening playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano finished fourth. The first-ever Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event filled with dramatics? Logano finished 10th. He then went on to score top 10s in all three races of the Round of 12 to move him onto the Round of 8.
As the field was set to determine the Champ 4, it was clear Busch, Truex and Harvick were locks, and the only thing to be decided was the fourth driver that would be a heavy underdog to those three.
At Martinsville Speedway, it was down to Truex and Logano for the victory, and while Truex worked his way around the No. 22 without much contact, Logano knew he needed to get his hands dirty to secure his berth … and that’s exactly what he did. Entering Turn 3 on the final lap, Logano put the bumper to Truex, moved him up the track, and Logano was ahead at the start/finish line as the two were in a drag race to the checkered.
A frustrated Truex said he wasn’t going to let Logano “win the war,” and the championship battle was set.
Throughout the 400-mile event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Truex looked to be in command to grab his second consecutive title as he had the long-run pace Logano didn’t have. However, a caution with 21 laps to go flipped the ball game as Logano had the best car on short runs.
On the final restart, Truex set sail for the lead, but Logano quickly caught and passed Truex for the lead to score his maiden championship.
2022: SURVIVE AND ADVANCE
Logano’s second run to the championship was arguably the biggest challenge of his career.
Finishes of 27th (Bristol) and 18th (Roval) in elimination races would end a driver’s playoff run in any other year if they hadn’t won to advance … but not for Logano.
The first year of the Next Gen car was filled with crazy moments, and Logano was able to take top-five finishes at Darlington Raceway and Texas Motor Speedway to open the first two rounds and carry those through to the Round of 8 despite those being his only top 10s in the postseason before the semi-final round.
Of all the tracks in the first six races of the playoffs in 2022, Talladega was the only track where multiple playoff drivers didn’t finish 30th or worse. Ironically, Logano was the worst playoff finisher at ‘Dega with a 27th-place result.
Logano once again turned the afterburners on in the opening Round of 8 race at Las Vegas. This time, outdueling Ross Chastain in the closing laps to grab the checkered flag and punch his ticket to Phoenix.
At Phoenix, it was pure Logano dominance. Leading a whopping 187 of 312 laps, the No. 22 was the class of the field and joined Kyle Busch as the only active multi-time champions at NASCAR’s top level.
2023: A NEW HOPE
A down year for Logano meant it was time for a new title contender to emerge — enter Ryan Blaney.
Blaney had been the mix over the years, making the Round of 8 three times prior but never emerging as a driver who could win the championship.
That all changed as Blaney took a page from Logano’s book to cash in opportunities to advance and eventually grab his maiden Cup title at Phoenix.
A symbolic passing of the torch for 2023 at least, Logano’s pitfalls at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Round of 16 elimination grace was a saving grace for Blaney as he and Bubba Wallace scraped into the Round of 12 on points.
From there, Blaney would win in a photo finish against William Byron at Talladega and hit a walk-off in the penultimate race at Martinsville to put himself in the Championship 4 for the first time.
Despite run-ins with Chastain trying to battle for the win in the desert, the No. 12 crew eventually got Blaney to back off the No. 1 knowing what the ultimate goal was. After title hopeful Christopher Bell went out early in the race with a brake failure, it was down to Blaney and two Hendrick Motorsports teammates in Kyle Larson and William Byron.
With the fastest car on a final 30-lap green-flag run, Blaney slipped by Larson with 20 laps to go to finish the highest of the Champ 4 and win his first title.
2024: PERFECTION, PERSONIFIED
Six race wins for Larson, a Regular-Season Champion in Tyler Reddick and a driver on the verge of his third consecutive Championship 4 in Christopher Bell.
2024 was shaped to be the year one of the above three was going to break Penske’s streak at Phoenix.
However, if anyone was going to pull off an underdog run to the championship, it was going to be Logano in an even year.
After initially being eliminated at the Roval, Logano was given second life due to Alex Bowman’s DQ and the writing was on the wall for Logano’s path to a third title.
Logano and Team Penske’s playoff expertise came to full fruition this season and the numbers shouldn’t surprise anyone as to how Logano rose to the top once again.
Reddick was the best in the first 26 races of the season. His average finish in this year’s playoffs? 18.5.
Larson snagged two playoff wins in elimination races but in all three opening-round races, on-track mistakes cost the No. 5 team points and victories. Guessed who took advantage of Larson’s errors at Vegas to win their way back to the Champ 4? Joey Logano.
From Reddick going on his roof, Larson’s pit-road errors to Elliott crashing, Logano would stretch his fuel tank to the limit in the final green-flag run to hold off the dominant car of the day in Bell to advance to his sixth Championship 4.
As Logano and Reddick won their way into Phoenix, Bell and Larson were in dire situations entering Martinsville. Larson had a decent car but needed a victory to move on while Bell had his worst race of the playoffs and was eliminated after being penalized for a safety violation on the final lap, allowing for Byron to grab the final spot while Blaney outdueled both Larson and Elliott to secure his second Champ 4, eliminating the Hendrick duo.
The best two cars at Phoenix were the teammate tandem of Blaney and Logano and despite a strategy gamble from Byron ahead of the final restart, it was no match to hold off either of the Penske duo as Logano surged from fifth to first on the restart while Blaney chipped away to move into second.
Logano and Blaney scored a 1-2 finish to cement Logano’s third title and to kick off a Team Penske dynasty in the championship race.
In the last three seasons, Penske has won the most playoff races of any organization, doubling Joe Gibbs Racing (four) and beating out Hendrick Motorsports (seven).
The playoffs reward winning and that’s exactly what Team Penske does to reach of the peak of the Cup Series year after year.
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