Joey Logano has responded sharply to his critics after securing his third NASCAR Cup Series championship in the 2024 season claiming that they can "kiss my a**".
Logano, driving for Team Penske's No. 22, clinched victory at the iconic Phoenix Raceway, further solidifying his status as NASCAR's most successful active driver and joining a distinguished cohort of three-time champions.
Despite a challenging regular season, Logano's ability to peak during the playoffs allowed him to triumph over more consistent performers, sparking debates over the playoff system's fairness.
Logano's journey to the championship was not without obstacles. Entering the playoffs, he was positioned behind frontrunners like Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Tyler Reddick in terms of points. However, his ability to win essential races enabled his progression through each playoff round.
Whilst speaking to former driver Kenny Wallace (below), Logano explained:
"So, my point is, it helped them get all the way to the Championship 4 when they did not have a solid nine races before that at all. We beat all of them, pretty much. I'm not taking anything away from them, but my point is the regular season matters so much, and we had to play behind the eight ball the whole time."
Logano's critics pointed to his lackluster performance in the regular season, positing that his playoff success did not seem justified when considering the entirety of the season's performances. However, Logano asserted that the playoff system is designed so all competitors understand the rules from the start and confirmed the importance of winning when it counts.
"We still had the opportunity to win the championship even though we didn't have a great regular season. But we got hot when it mattered, we won the races that mattered and we won the championship because of that. And if you don't like that, you can kiss my a**. That's how I feel about it."
The three-time Cup Series champion concluded:
"All of that matters a lot because there's a three-race series. Those guys showed up. The 45, the 5, the 11— those guys showed up with like 30 more points than me in every round. We had to overcome that. We started behind all of them.
"The facts are that they didn't have a good playoff. If they didn't have those playoff points, they're not getting to the Round of 8. The 45 barely made it in at the Roval. If he didn't have the playoff points, he's not in."
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