Joey Logano Insists the Controversy Around the Current Championship Format Will Not Taint the Legacy of Its Champions

Joey Logano has long stood behind NASCAR’s winner-take-all playoff system. But with the sport considering multiple races for the Championship 4 round and rotating venues for the finale each season, the system that fueled Team Penske’s three-year streak of dominance may soon be a thing of the past.

Logano loves the current system’s intensity and unpredictability. But as the sport prepares to overhaul the championship format, this could be the final season crowned under its current rules. Still, Logano isn’t losing sleep over his legacy. In fact, he’s drawing perspective from one of the sport’s greatest, Richard Petty.

Ahead of the Phoenix finale, Logano reflected on a recent conversation with The King. “I was talking to Richard Petty yesterday, and he said he won five championships in five different formats. He’s won seven championships, but five of them were in different formats… so there’s a certain point where no one is even gonna know.”

“It’s gonna go to whatever the next one is, and if you’re a new fan, you’re not even gonna know what this format was,” Logano continued. “It’s just gonna be a stat… We might know, and everyone is gonna have their opinion on it, and that’s fine. I will always remember it personally because it’s affected my life in so many ways, good and bad, being on the good side and the bad side.”