Joey Logano joined the two-time club of NASCAR Cup Series champions in 2022. Across the season he produced four victories, but it was his execution in the playoffs that truly sealed this deal. Two wins, including the all-important Phoenix finale, gave team supremo Roger Penske a unique double of NASCAR and IndyCar titles in the same season.
It’s Logano’s second title in five years, and in two different generations of car, as Penske came out swinging with the Next-Gen machine. Logano won the pre-season Busch Clash at the LA Coliseum too.
How Logano spearheaded Penske’s historic double
Team Penske mastered NASCAR’s Next-Gen car in 2022, and while it didn’t dominate the regular season, it rewarded legendary team boss Roger Penske with three landmark NASCAR achievements along the way.
Logano started the season by winning the first-ever race with the car, the pre-season Busch Clash at the LA Coliseum. Team-mate Austin Cindric scored victory on Penske’s 85th birthday in the year’s most important race, the Daytona 500 – even if he had to put his team-mate Ryan Blaney in the wall on the sprint to the finish line – and Logano delivered Penske’s third Cup Series title at the Phoenix finale, making it a unique double for ‘The Captain’ after Will Power’s IndyCar series title.
“I think we’ve tried it for 31 years,” says Penske of achieving that double. “So it’s about time.”
Penske impressed upon Logano that he was the team leader following the departure of stalwart, and its first Cup champion, Brad Keselowski.
“I said to him at the beginning of the year to really put his arms around the whole team,” adds Penske. “And I think we’re a lot more transparent now as a group.
“Obviously to win the first race at the Coliseum and then cap it off [with the title] was pretty amazing when you think about it because, during the season, we weren’t quite as competitive as we wanted to be, as we got to know the car. And, again, this teamwork we talk about made a big difference.
“I hate to say one is better than the other, but I’d have to say — put them all together, they’re all first place as far as I’m concerned. I say to people who are in the investment business, it’s like having your quarterly earnings every weekend, so it had better be good. We don’t win every day, do we, but it teaches us how to win and how to stay in the game.
“But really three super days, super accomplishments for the team. I can’t say one is better than the other. I’m just glad to be here.”
