Joey Logano on NASCAR Chase surge: 'They'll have to change the points format again'

Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, but he likely wouldn't be if not for the playoff format NASCAR used from 2014-25 that featured eliminations, automatic advancement for race winners and a winner-take-all championship race.

But that doesn't take anything away from the Middleton, Conn., native, who will one day be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Logano won all three of those titles by the rules and has 40 career Cup Series wins to boot, a number most drivers can only dream of.

So, please excuse Logano for not caring much about what his detractors have to say, especially after his win in Saturday's Bristol Night Race vaulted him to third in the standings, where he sits just 16 points back of leader Kyle Larson.

"They'll have to change the points format again," Logano joked.

What became evident about Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske group in 2018, 2022 and 2024 is that they simply do not quit. In all three of those seasons, they were counted out as title contenders multiple times, yet walked away with the championship anyway.

Logano was 20th in points at the end of June. Just making the Chase was going to be an uphill battle.

But Logano won at North Wilkesboro and Richmond and not only made the postseason, but became the No. 9 seed. He's moved up six spots through the first three races of the Chase and has plenty of momentum with seven races left.

"Every race is equally as important as the next," Logano said. "It’s just about averaging the most points you possibly can get, so nothing changes here. The goal the whole time has been to win the championship. It hasn’t been to finish fifth. It’s been to go all the way. We’re closer than we’ve been. We’ve just got to ride the momentum now and that confidence that the team has is going to keep rolling with it."

The next three races are at mile-and-a-half tracks in Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. Ford, Penske and Logano in particular have struggled at intermediates but have incrementally improved at them throughout the year.

"Yes, we’re coming up to three tracks that probably aren’t our strongest and we wouldn’t pick to go to if we had to choose" said Paul Wolfe, Logano's crew chief, "But I think what we’ve shown the first three races of this round is that we’re capable of anything."

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.