Team Penske’s Joey Logano claimed his second NASCAR Cup Series championship after winning Sunday’s season finale race at Phoenix Raceway, giving Ford Mustang its first championship at NASCAR’s highest level.
Logano dominated the weekend as he won the pole on Saturday and then led the first 87 laps of the 312-lap event. He took the lead for good after passing fellow Ford driver Chase Briscoe with 29 laps to go and never looked back as he won for the fourth time this season.
“Amazing. It felt like it took too long to get back to this point, but it’s so special to win championships. It’s what you want. It’s the only thing I race for. Race wins are nice, but championships are what it’s all about,” said Logano, who led a race-high 187 laps. “We worked so hard the last couple weeks trying to put ourselves in position. And everything that happened in 2020, I knew we just wanted to have a solid run and do this today. I can’t thank Ford and Shell-Pennzoil enough for supporting me over the last 10 years and getting us a couple championships.”
The championship is the second for Logano, who claimed the 2018 title after winning the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the first for Mustang in NASCAR’s top series since becoming Ford’s flagship model in 2019. It’s the third series title for car owner Roger Penske.
“I knew going into this thing that we were going to win the championship. I told the guys we were the favorite from Daytona, and we truly believed it, and that’s the difference,” said Logano, who started the season by winning the Clash at the Coliseum and finishing it with a victory in Phoenix. “I had a good team with a bunch of confidence, and we had all the reason in the world to be confident. I’ve never been truly this ready for a championship race, and yeah, we did it. I can’t believe it.”
Logano becomes the 17th driver to capture more than one series title and only the second Ford driver to do it, joining NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson who won championships in 1968 and 1969. It also marks the 10th Cup Series driver’s championship for Ford.
It also capped a weekend that saw Ford drivers go 2-for-2 in championship races with Zane Smith winning the Camping World Truck Series title on Friday night.
“Joey is a racer who pays attention to every single detail and especially getting locked in early like he did. That’s all he’s been focused on the last three weeks, with (crew chief) Paul Wolfe and the entire team. He’s just so committed and so strong and executed every lap today,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “At the end of the day and at the end of the season it’s the championship that matters, so to get the Truck championship and the Cup championship means so much, “
Logano’s win capped a dominant day in which Ford led 310-of-312 laps and had four drivers post top five finishes, with Ryan Blaney second, Chase Briscoe fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.
Ford Performance PR
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