‘The game has changed’: Logano keeping an open mind about NASCAR’s new championship format

Joey Logano was one of the biggest supporters of NASCAR’s playoff format, but he’s ready to chase a championship no matter the system.

“Honestly, I’m OK with whatever they tell us because the rules are the same for everybody, just like they were before,” Logano said during Tuesday's test at North Wilkesboro Speedway. “Everyone started with the same set of rules. We all knew what we had to do to try to win a championship. Now, we have a different set of rules with all of us starting at zero again, and we have to change the way that we go win the championship. The strategy of how you race and prepare and all those things is different.”

Announced Monday, all three NASCAR national series will compete under a chase format beginning this season. It looks similar to what NASCAR introduced in 2004, when it first went to a postseason format, with the final 10 races in the Cup Series deciding the champion. But the field this time around is bigger, with the top 16 drivers from the championship standings reset.

Logano won three Cup Series titles under the elimination-style format, introduced in 2014. The Team Penske driver did so in 2018, 2022 and 2024. But it was the third title that caused the most uproar, and led to a push by fans and then the series to change the format from a winner-take-all race to something that better represented a driver’s body of work across a season.

The reason Logano became the example was that he finished the regular season 15th in the standings with one victory. But he then won when he needed to in the postseason, doing so in the first round to advance to the second round and then winning in the third round to advance to the championship. Logano then won the finale to win the championship.

“There’s no doubt it’s very different,” Logano continued about the new format, which he raced under from 2009 through 2013. “You just have to kind of go back to the drawing board and do something else. That’s fine. I don’t really care. 

“Personally, I was one of the rare people who liked the old one just from a fan perspective. I enjoyed it, but if the majority doesn’t like that, then, sure, we’ll change it and we’ll go race another way, and that’s OK with me, too. That’s kind of where I’m at with it.”

NASCAR never crowned a back-to-back champion in the elimination format. Logano was one of only three drivers to win multiple titles under the format, alongside Kyle Busch (2015, 2019) and Kyle Larson (2021, 2025).

The Chase produced first-time champions in Kurt Busch (2004), Jimmie Johnson (2006), and Brad Keselowski (2012). Johnson was the most successful driver under the system, winning five straight championships from 2006 through 2010 and a sixth in 2013. The other only repeat champion under the format was Tony Stewart in 2005 and 2011.

Logano began as a full-time Cup Series driver in 2009 with Joe Gibbs Racing and struggled during his first few seasons at the top level. In the Chase format, the highest Logano finished was eighth in the championship standings in 2013, his first season at Team Penske.

“I don’t know that it’s fair to say it’s easier or it’s harder,” Logano said. “It’s hard to win a championship no matter any way you look at it, but it’s different. There’s no doubt it’s different. The things that stand out to me immediately are the bad days are going to be harder to recover. Consistency is going to pay off more.

"Looking at it, I think if you’re 12th or so going into the playoffs, I don’t think you can win it from that far back. You’re going to be 70-plus points back, without knowing the real numbers, and you’re going to have to make that up against the best cars in 10 weeks. Boy that’s going to be tough. That’s going to take a lot to make that happen. You’re going to have to be really, really, really good, really special to do that. 

“So that just tells me that you’ve got to be pretty solid throughout the regular season to make sure you’re within that top five or so when the playoffs start. I think it’s a pretty big jump to get yourself into championship contention if you’re too far back. The game has changed. It will change the way we do everything all the way through. It’ll change what we see on the racetrack for racing and what the fans see. I’ll be interested to see how it plays out. It’ll definitely be interesting.”