Avondale, Arizona – Each of the four car drivers Hendrick finished before Joey Logano in the regular season ranking.
To see Logano wins the title of the NASCAR CUP series. After a regular season to a victory, he had to harm those who gathered solid regular seasons, but who could not sometimes equal it during the 2 -races playoffs and, for sure, in the final of the season at the Phoenix Raceway.
“Don’t get started,” said the quadruple Cup champion and vice-president of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, who won his four cup titles under a traditional point system in the middle of season.
Denny HamlinWho finished seventh in the regular season ranking and is still looking for his first cup title, did not also affect the format subject.
“You talk about all of this,” said Hamlin. “It’s a crazy scenario for sure. A wild ride.”
These comments had nothing to do with Joey Logano. This is the subject debated in the past 20 years to find out if a sport that, in most series, is based on a system of points in the middle of season should have an eliminatory style format to make it more in line with other sports.
In the style format elimination of Nascar introduced in 2014, no driver as low as the 15th in the regular season ranking had even reached championship 4, not to mention the title of the Cup.
But there was Joey Logano celebrating his third cup title in this format. He won three of the 10 playoff races after a regular season where he needed an end of five hours in Nashville to obtain the victory that earned him an automatic offer in the playoffs.
“So that someone says it’s not real, it’s a bull of bulls **** in my opinion,” said Logano. “It’s bad.”
Final Laps: Joey Logano secures his third cup series title
Nascar changed his system of qualifying series in 2004 with the first “chase”, a system where drivers who qualified for the playoffs would then be eligible for the title based on points won over the last 10 races. This decision came after a season in which Matt Kenseth won a race and finished the title A race before the final of the season.
After 10 years of prosecution, Nascar has moved to an eliminatory style and direct elimination format where the three races towers determine the champion. A victory for a driver still alive automatically qualifies the driver for the next round and the rest is advancing on points with a system that allows them to transport bonus points on turn depending on the victories and performance of the regular season.
Logano is not the first pilot to feel the anger of the fans he had no season worthy of a champion.
“The only reason they don’t say this about other sports is that they haven’t changed the qualifying series system,” Logano said. “But the qualification system in other sports is not very different from what it is.
“You can have an excellent regular season. It feels better for the playoffs. It does not mean that you are sure to go to the Super Bowl or to the Stanley Cup finals or to the NBA finals. It does not matter. It could help you.”
For three consecutive years, the Penske team pilots (Logano in 2022, Ryan Blaney in 2023 and Logano again in 2024) won the cup title.
“It’s something that everyone knows the rules at the start of the season,” said Logano. “We understood how to do it best and understood how to win. This is what our team has been able to do in the past three years.
“So I don’t like people who speak that way because if the rules were old-fashioned, we played differently, right?”
This valid point means that the teams scratch their heads on what thoughts to raise his play in the playoffs so much.
With the next generation car, where Nascar requires that the teams buy most parts and parts of suppliers with a single source, the teams cannot develop a room and hang there for the playoffs.
And with the bonus points allocated for the performance of the regular season, a team would not risk not winning these points which could help them in the playoffs.
“We seem to do a very good job throughout the offseason when we have time to really analyze all the data,” said Jeff Gordon. “Our drivers are doing an excellent job with this and the crew of the stands and we go out strong. You have to keep it throughout the year.
“I have the impression that we intensified and did everything we could. But for any reason, these guys have a little more than they come with, especially here in Phoenix in this championship race. And it is our work to go and do the same.”
Hendrick teams have continued the Penske teams in Phoenix in the fall for a few years. SMT data – data that shows the accelerator and braking – to which teams have access to all cars indicate that thought cars are stronger.
“It’s motivating,” said Gordon. “It will make us turn on. … You can see on SMT where their cars turn a little better at the accelerator and they are able to maintain this.”
Logano’s crew chief Paul Wolfe said that the team was concentrated each week to work well and not only focused on the last 10 events.
“Were we fast a lot of races this year?” Said Wolfe. “No. But we have executed in the format now, and that is why we are the champions. There are many cars that had speed at the start of the season which were unable to present themselves when it was, and whether it was the pressure or what it is, I don’t know.
“But as a team, we want to run every week. We know (also) when it is time that you must be your best and what it takes to prepare for this, and that’s what we were able to do.”
The playoffs are not going anywhere. NASCAR officials clearly said it at the Nascar state press conference on Friday.
“We will absolutely examine what form the playoffs take during the offseason,” said Steve Phelps, chief of Nascar’s exploitation. “You always learn, … But the playoffs in itself, you cannot contest the quality of the races that the playoffs have delivered.
“You can talk about the format if we do different things, but we will absolutely get there.”
Bob Pockrass covers Nascar for Fox Sports. He has spent decades to cover motorsport, including more than 30 Daytona 500, with stays in ESPN, Sporting News, Nascar Scene Magazine and Le (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow it on Twitter @bobpockrash.
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