Team Penske is bringing home another title.
Joey Logano is the new stock car racing champ after barely outpacing his teammate Ryan Blaney during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. It’s the third time, and first since 2022, that Logano has hoisted the Bill France Cup as he led 107 laps to give Team Penske its third consecutive Cup Series title after Blaney won it last year.
“We have three of them, and that’s really special,” Logano told NBC reporters afterward. “What a team effort to fight through today. We had a little bit of adversity throughout the race. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team. We’re a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters.”
Logano, who earned his fourth victory of the season, joined esteemed company as only one of six drivers to be named three-time Cup Series champions. One of the highest paid drivers in NASCAR (reportedly earning $9 million per year), the 34-year-old will add more to his bank account as he’ll take the lion’s share (eight to 10 percent) of the race’s purse pool, which increased slightly to $11,700,064 this year.
The exact breakdown of the prize money handed to each Cup Series Championship driver is unknown. NASCAR distributes purse money to teams. As such, the figures are not made public.
Logano’s No. 22 Ford overcame some pre-race adversity as it failed pre-qualifying technical inspections twice. Penalties were likely to come for the infractions, which included the ejection of car chief Tommy Ellis and cost his team the first pick of pit stalls. Nonetheless, Logano’s car managed to pass the third time and avoided being forced to start in the back of the field on Sunday.
The race concluded the NASCAR Cup Series season which started back in February. For 36 drivers, the race was an opportunity to finish out the season strong. But for the Championship 4–Blaney, Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing), William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports) and Logano–the finale had far more weight as they were vying for the Cup Series title.
Blaney, who was edged by .330 seconds at the finish by Logano, was trying to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five straight (2006-2010). It was the first time in Team Penske’s history that it finished 1-2 in the championship.
The NASCAR Cup Series win gave Team Penske its third major motorsports title in less than a month. Roger Penske’s sports car team in IMSA won the title last month and his World Endurance Championship team won the title last weekend in Bahrain.
(Logano’s team is owned by Roger Penske and is not related to Penske Media, the parent company of Sportico.)
