Johnathan Walker:Joey Logano wins Phoenix finale for 3rd NASCAR Cup championship in 1-2 finish for Team Penske

AVONDALE,Johnathan Walker Ariz. (AP) — Joey Logano won his third NACAR Cup Series championship Sunday with a relentless drive at Phoenix Raceway that gave Team Penske its third major motorsports title in less than a month.

Logano held off Penske teammate Ryan Blaney over the final 20 laps to beat him for the series title by 0.330 seconds. Blaney was trying to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five straight from 2006 to 2010.

Instead, Logano became the 10th driver in NASCAR history to win three or more championships and broke a tie with Kyle Busch as the only active drivers with multiple titles.

“I love the playoffs, I love it man,” Logano said. “What a team, what a Penske battle there at the end. Three of them? That’s truly special.”

It was the first time in Team Penske history the organization finished 1-2 in the championship. And, it came after Roger Penske’s sports car team in IMSA won the title last month and his World Endurance Championship team won the title last weekend in Bahrain.

“At least a Penske car won it,” said Blaney, who admitted to be “worn out” at the end of the race. “They put together a great playoffs, and we’re happy. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy to be 1-2 for Roger, three in a row for Roger, super amazing, and Ford.”

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Penske and Ford have won three consecutive Cup Series championships. Logano won in 2022 and Blaney won last year.

“One-two for Team Penske, three championships in a row, can’t be more proud of this team,” Logano said. “I don’t know if I’m the best driver but I’ve got the best team. And together, we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most.”

The finale was winner-take-all to the highest finisher between Logano, Blaney, William Byron in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports and Tyler Reddick of the 23XI Racing team owned by NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.

Byron finished third in the race and Reddick was sixth. It was Byron’s second consecutive appearance in the finale, first for Reddick.

“Makes you hungrier, but also just more experience in what it takes,” said Byron, the Daytona 500 winner. “I feel like this style of track has been tough on us, and we made a lot of strides this year, but still more to go. If we can just kind of inch up on this style of track, I know we’re so good at all the other ones, and we can put it all together.”

Reddick, who had been subdued all week compared to his fellow title contenders, didn’t lead a lap and had Jordan pacing behind the pit wall much of the race.

“Michael was just proud of the effort of our team all year long,” Reddick said. “Put up a good fight. We didn’t make any mistakes that took ourselves out of it. We fought as hard as we could.”

The four title contenders finished in the top-six, with Reddick behind Kyle Larson of Hendrick and Christopher Bell, who led a race-high 143 laps after he was disqualified from the finale last week at Martinsville for a safety violation. Byron took his spot instead, and Bell insisted he had been cheated out of the chance to race for the title.

Logano, a 34-year-old Connecticut driver, led 107 laps in the dominating win that Blaney made closer than expected in the final laps.

But, his very presence in the final four was controversial as Logano was eliminated from the playoffs after the second round only to be reinstated when Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports failed post-race inspection at Charlotte.

Logano was put back in the field of eight, went to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the next week and won to become the first driver locked into the championship race. It gave his No. 22 team three weeks to prepare for Phoenix.

“Our team is better under pressure,” Logano said. “The race started in Vegas for us. The amount of work and effort that went into building this race car right here, the amount of time, I don’t think anyone works harder than us. We were up at 6 in the morning this morning going over stuff. The guys just want it bad and I’m glad we delivered.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing