Another NASCAR championship weekend at Phoenix Raceway has come and gone. Joey Logano (NASCAR Cup Series), Justin Allgaier (NASCAR Xfinity Series) and Ty Majeski (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) were all crowned champions this past weekend following winner-take-all races. 

For Logano, it was his third career NASCAR Cup Series championship, while Allgaier and Majeski both celebrated as champions for the first time in their respective series. 

However, since the checkered flag waved on the 2024 season, all three drivers have had the “legitimacy” of their championships put in question. 

I'm here to tell you the legitimacy of their championships should not be in doubt. 

There have been loud complaints over the format used to crown a champion in NASCAR in recent weeks. In fairness, those complaints have existed since NASCAR announced on January 30, 2014, that the Cup Series would be a switching to a three-round elimination-style format that culminated with one winner-take-all showdown at the season finale for that season and beyond. 

There’s been a subset of fans that have disliked this format since the day it was announced, but those same fans were also the ones still clamoring for the old season-long format to return for the previous decade. Fans complaining about the championship format in NASCAR is nothing new.

But it’s grown louder this season, especially when Logano was given new life after Alex Bowman was disqualified for a post-race weight infraction at the Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval. Logano, who failed to advance into the Round of 8, was suddenly back alive. And he made good with his second chance by winning the next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and guaranteeing his spot in the championship finale at Phoenix.

The complaints became a loud roar when it became clear that Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon were acting as a moving roadblock to keep fellow Chevrolet driver William Byron from losing any more positions in the closing laps at Martinsville Speedway, effectively locking him into the championship race.

“Mickey Mouse,” “fake,” “devalued,” “illegitimate” were all terms used to describe how this group of fans would feel about whoever it was that would go on to win the Bill France Cup.

Honestly, all of that is just ridiculous. 

Before I go any further, just let me get this out of the way really fast. Yes, FloRacing/FloSports is a media partner of NASCAR’s. FloRacing is the home of all things NASCAR Regional, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, ARCA Menards Series East and West, the Virginia Triple Crown, and more. Yes, I am FloRacing employee. But no, NASCAR has never told us what opinion we are supposed to have publicly or private regarding topics in the sport, including the playoffs. These opinions are my own. And I am sharing them because I truly believe them.

You can debate the format all you want and what, in your opinion, would be the “best” way to crown a champion in NASCAR. I’m not here to debate why the playoffs are or are not “better.”

But I am here to dispute two arguments that have gained a lot of steam among the playoff detractors: the legitimacy of the championship and those who have said winning a NASCAR championship  holds no value now.

Let’s start with why these championships for Logano, Allgaier, and Majeski are still legitimate. And the answer is actually pretty simple. They won using the rules laid out in front of them. They played the game the best. 

Joey Logano had the “worst” statistical season of any Cup champion because he had the 14th best average finish at 17.1. He only had seven top-five finishes and 13 top 10 finishes, while others like Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Byron, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, and Alex Bowman all had more than 17 top 10 finishes. Okay. So what?

Under these rules, none of that matters. What does matter is race wins. And you know where Logano sits on that list? Second, only behind Larson. Logano had four points-paying victories, plus a million-dollar win in the All-Star Race. And guess when most of those wins came? During the playoffs when the best teams are expected to rise to the occasion in every sports league in the world. 

Logano won at Nashville to get into the playoffs, the first race of the first round at Atlanta, the first race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas, and the season finale at Phoenix to win the championship. He and crew chief Paul Wolfe played the format perfectly. This format does not reward most top 10 finishes. He didn’t need to have the most top 10 finishes. The format rewards timely race wins, and Logano scored timely race wins. 

Oh, and those “Winston Cup points standings” that are floating around on social media that people love to post? Those are fake news. They don’t mean a single thing because the drivers and teams are not racing under that format. If they were, they’d race a completely different way than they race now. 

"I don't like people talking that way."@joeylogano addresses the #NASCARPlayoffs and his run to the title. pic.twitter.com/m9s6V8Bl3B

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 11, 2024

Logano and his team are not racing to win the fake Winston Cup. They’re racing to win the real Bill France Cup. And they’ve now won it three times. Logano is now one of only 10 drivers in the 76-year history of the NASCAR Cup Series to have won the championship three or more times. That is something that should be celebrated. Not have to be defended. And yet, there Logano was, barely an hour removed from joining that select club of men, having to defend the legitimacy of his championships.

“I’ve got nothing to say to them. I’ve got a pretty sweet trophy right now. I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank,” Logano said.

After he was pressed further to defend his championship, Logano had more to say in a much more stern manner. 

“The only reason they don’t say this about other sports is because they didn’t change the playoff system,” Logano said. “But the playoff system in other sports is not much different than this is. You can have a great regular season, and it seeds you better for the playoffs. Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to go all the way to the Super Bowl, or the Stanley Cup Finals or the NBA Finals. That doesn’t matter. It might help you. It’s the same way in NASCAR with the rules we have now. You set yourself up much better. 

“So, for someone to say this isn’t real is a bunch of bullshit, in my opinion. That’s wrong. Everyone knows the rules when the season starts. We figured out how to do it the best and win. It’s what our team has been able to do for the last three years. I don’t like people talking that way. Because if the rules were the old way, we would play it out differently, wouldn’t we? People have to accept what the times are. Times change.”

There have been some people saying, “even the drivers feel like the championship has less value or meaning now.” Have any drivers other than Denny Hamlin said that?

Hamlin, who famously is the best driver in Cup Series history to never (as of now) win a championship with 54 wins, three of which came in the Daytona 500, has said that he’s at peace with it if he never wins the championship. He’s said that he just wants to hit 60 career wins.

That seems like a coping mechanism. Hamlin, who is 43 years old for another week, is starting to see his chances at winning a Cup Series title become less realistic, and he is likely trying to convince himself that it doesn’t matter. But deep down he knows that it does. If a 44-year-old Hamlin wins the championship in 2025, he’ll be celebrating like he’s 34 again. 

Look at Justin Allgaier on Saturday night. It took him seven trips to the championship four showdown for him to finally come out on top. And when he did, the tears flowed. He lost his voice from yelling in excitement and relief.

"I cannot say 'thank you' enough to anybody that's ever helped me in my career to get me to this point."

🥹 pic.twitter.com/Qia8JJnMyE

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) November 10, 2024

You can bet that Allgaier, who is 38 years old, was starting to convince himself that he’d be okay if he never won a NASCAR championship. He just isn’t as vocal as Hamlin. 

Lifting that championship trophy after a lifetime of work to get there had plenty of meaning to Allgaier. Forever having that patch that says “champion” on his firesuit for the rest of his career, will have plenty of meaning to Allgaier. 

People have pointed to Kevin Harvick saying “championships aren’t won the way Earnhardt and Petty won theirs” after losing in 2020 as another sign of how drivers don’t value an elimination-era championship. 

What people don’t point to is what Harvick said shortly after winning the first elimination-era championship in 2014, which was, “I think this Chase is about the best thing that has happened to this sport over the last decade.”

Drivers are always going to say something negative when they lose, and something positive when they win. The truth is somewhere in the middle. 

Joey Logano is the champion of the Cup Series for the third time. The playoffs, though they may change again, aren’t going anywhere. 

The times have changed. It’s time to accept that.