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Kyle Petty came to Joey Logano’s defense after a fan critiqued the No. 22 driver for winning the championship. Petty said the fan pointed out everything aside from the fact that the driver was a three-time Cup Series title holder.
Petty is a NASCAR driver turned racing commentator known as the son of seven-time champ, Richard Petty. He was among the NASCAR personalities to congratulate Logano for winning the championship at Phoenix Raceway amid concerns about whether he deserved it or not.
In an X post by Petty, the former stock car racing driver told Auto Racing Analytics that its stats didn’t even recognize Logano as a three-time champ.
“Neither does that ‘3 time champion’ beside his name! Whiners gonna whine, haters gonna hate, and winners gonna win! Facts!” Petty wrote.
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The stats posted on X showed Joey Logano’s performance on the track. Auto Racing Analytics stated Logano was the 10th fastest, 22nd best restarter, and 31st most efficient passer.
While the post congratulated the Connecticut native for being the ‘best by the system’, Auto Racing Analytics asked whether fans want to see the non-top driver, stats-wise at least, win the championship.
During the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Joey Logano was under fire for getting back into contention after he was eliminated at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 34-year-old driver was reinstated following Alex Bowman’s disqualification for failing the post-race weight requirements.
Logano had the most race wins in the playoffs with three. He won the postseason opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway followed by another victory at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Round of 8. The most important win was in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway where the driver secured his third championship.
He is the 10th driver to win at least three Cup Series championships.
Kyle Petty defended NASCAR point system against the opposition
After the Martinsville playoff race, Kyle Petty answered a fan question asking whether changing the system would benefit the sport. The 64-year-old had no issues with NASCAR’s point system, telling fans they could ‘whine and moan’ about it but rules are rules.
In an episode of the Petty Race Recap, the former driver said:
“You can whine and moan all you want to but everybody knew rolling into Daytona what the point system was. Everybody knew what the playoffs were. Everybody knew what the rules were. So you can whine all year long, whine all you want to, call whoever you want to. That's the rules we play under.”
He added:
“You just race to whatever the point system is and that's how you win races, or that's how you win championships. There are guys that do that and guys that don't and I'm sorry.”
The fan question followed the controversial finish at Martinsville Speedway where the playoff drivers scrambled for points. This led to alleged race manipulation, which Kyle Petty felt otherwise and said drivers were just racing to the point system.
