"I stayed calm and they didn't": Joey Logano reveals how he capitalized on William Byron and Christopher Bell's mistakes in the Championship 4 race

NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano recently talked about the specific moment when he got his opportunity during the Phoenix race to win the title for 2024, and what his mindset was throughout the whole ordeal. Logano detailed the moment after the final restart of the race where his competitors' errors gave him the opening he needed to win the race and the cup.

Talking to Greg Olsen, host of the podcast Youth Inc., the #22 driver described his point of view during the final restart when William Byron in the #24 car was leading right in front of his teammates, the #5 of Kyle Larson and the #9 of Chase Elliott who were followed by the #20 of Christopher Bell, and behind all of them was Logano. Logano said that Byron made an error after the pressure started getting to him which allowed the #20 and #22 cars to get up ahead. Bell also made a mistake in his leader position, which allowed Logano to take the spot by getting past him. The title winner said what helped him was:

“The whole time I was fully prepared for what can happen and I stayed calm and they didn't and opened up the door for us to take the championship.” [35:34 - 34:42]

After securing the lead, Logano held the position until the end, even though he had to hold off Ryan Blaney, he took the checkered flag with a 0.330s gap between first and second place.

Joey Logano's 2024 championship win was his third title win overall, making him the tenth driver to win three or more championships. He finished the season with four race wins, seven top fives, and 13 top 10s, scoring a total of 5040 points.

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Joey Logano described the first four years of his Cup career as "challenging" and "important"

Speaking on the Youth Inc. podcast, Joey Logano discussed his first four years driving full-time in the Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing as being difficult but lesson-learning years for him as a driver.

During his time at JGR, Logano only scored two wins, which was difficult for the driver to handle after having a lot of success early on in life. Talking on the podcast he said:

“Those first four years were the most challenging of my career because I had to learn to lose for one thing, learn how to go to work, and I got to the fourth year of my contract and it wasn't good enough." [16:01 - 16:13]

However, the 34-year-old driver did also mention how significant those four years were.

“[Those four years of struggle] were the most important years of my life and I didn't realize it at the time because it was awful. But, that's when you learn the most about yourself is in the trenches,” Joey Logano said. [17:24 - 17:33]

During his time with JGR, apart from his two wins, Logano also secured 16 top fives and 41 top 10s. He joined Team Penske in 2013 and has been with the team since, driving the #22 car, with which he has won his three NASCAR Cup Series championships.