"Maybe a two-race final" - Joey Logano voices his opinion on championship format changes after 2024 NASCAR Cup title

Joey Logano, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion, recently shared his thoughts on the playoff format and pondered over the idea of a two-race finale change. Logano earned his third championship this year even though his team struggled early in the season.

The No. 22 Team Penske driver turned things around in the playoffs and won three of the four races in the final stretch. This helped him beat out other drivers like Kyle Larson, who dominated in wins and laps led.

In a recent media interaction, Logano said he could see the appeal of having two races for the championship and explained that this could give drivers a chance to recover if something goes wrong.

"The only thing that I would even remotely think about a little bit would be maybe making it a two race final race for the championship. But at the same time, I can talk myself right out of that, because you have the big moment, like right there in the championship race, like everybody's right there. It had that Super Bowl feeling, and spreading that over two weeks wouldn't be as special," Logano said.

Logano also pointed out that having a two-race finale might take away from the excitement of the championship moment.

"But as a fan in the sport, and you look at the Xfinity Series and the Truck series, and I watch those races, I wouldn't change anything," he concluded.

Logano had a low average finish of 17.1 this year compared to the best of 11.7 by Chase Elliott.

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"He took a complete crap car and turned it into a championship-winning car" - Kevin Harvick defends Joey Logano as best driver for 2024

In the latest episode of the "Happy Hour" podcast, Harvick picked Joey Logano for his NASCAR Driver of the Year award for 2024.

"In the end, Joey Logano was the best driver of the year because he took a complete crap car with his team and turned it into a championship-winning car by the time they got to the end of the year. Every moment they had they capitalized on to put themselves in position to win a championship," Harvick said (31:22).

Before Logano won his championship, NASCAR discussed the playoff format at a press conference. NASCAR officials, including COO Steve O'Donnell and President Steve Phelps, defended the current system but said they might review it.

Many fans criticize the current playoff format in NASCAR, saying it favors the later half of the season. The debate about the fairness of the format has grown and according to the Sports Business Journal, some changes could come in 2025. However, big ones might wait until 2026.