Logano's Phoenix win, title perfectly encapsulated wildly entertaining 2022

The finale of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series play coiled up being a astir cleanable summation of the imperfect run that it had conscionable wrapped up. A astir apropos play stamped astatine the extremity of a communicative that had been written since the archetypal greenish emblem was waved implicit NASCAR's 74th season, 274 days earlier successful the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

There was plentifulness of play astatine Phoenix Raceway connected Sunday. There was controversy. There was bully racing. At 1 point, the Championship 4 were: 1. Leading. 2. Running third. 3. Running successful the apical 10 contempt believing that his motor was blowing up. 4. Fighting to get backmost onto the pb thigh aft a run-in with the car that was present moving third.

But successful the end, not adjacent each of that could rather get retired from underneath the unreality of a communicative that nary 1 saw coming. The latest stanza successful a breached grounds of a taxable that has dogged the second stages of what had been 1 NASCAR's astir singular seasons. Bad quality acting similar an annoying lapped car that refused to get retired of the way.

"I deliberation that this has been 1 of the craziest years successful NASCAR history. It has to be, right? It surely has been from my perspective," said Joey Logano, soon aft becoming lone the 17th multitime champion of NASCAR's premier series. "We are decidedly going to celebrate. But determination is besides a batch of enactment to bash this winter. A batch of introspection. There ever is, but this wintertime feels similar there's a batch to beryllium done by everyone successful the sport."

Logano drives for Penske Racing, a squad with whom helium has present won 29 races and a brace of Cup Series titles. But earlier helium signed with Roger Penske successful 2012, helium spent his archetypal 4 afloat seasons astatine banal car racing's highest level arsenic a operator for Joe Gibbs Racing. He had been anointed arsenic the adjacent Jeff Gordon oregon Tony Stewart, famously nicknamed "Sliced Bread," arsenic successful "greater than ..." But helium was besides thrown into the heavy extremity astatine 18 years aged and so drowned, labeled by galore arsenic a bust aft "only" 2 wins successful the aforesaid car that Stewart had utilized to triumph 33 races and go a legend.

Among his de facto bosses astatine JGR was Coy Gibbs, lad of Joe, the team's namesake and a Pro Football Hall of Famer who had conscionable wrapped up his 2nd stint arsenic caput manager of Washington, with Coy, a erstwhile all-star linebacker astatine Stanford, connected his staff. As Logano was moving connected successful 2013, Coy Gibbs was moving up the ladder astatine JGR. He yet ascended to the relation of co-chairman, helping to oversee the squad that had Logano's erstwhile ride, the No. 20 Toyota, present driven by Christopher Bell, alongside Logano successful the Championship 4 astatine Phoenix connected Sunday. On Saturday night, Coy's lad Ty Gibbs won the Xfinity Series rubric successful a JGR machine. Hours later, Coy died successful his slumber astatine the property of 49, the quality announced by the squad conscionable arsenic prerace ceremonies were beginning.

"What I privation to bash is accidental a supplication for Joe Gibbs and the nonaccomplishment helium had," Penske said arsenic helium met with the media successful the Phoenix Raceway media center, portion Logano and the squad were inactive going done the post-title photograph creation outside. "That's much important than a triumph oregon a championship."

It is hard to callback a NASCAR Cup Series play that began with arsenic overmuch excitement and anticipation arsenic this 1 did successful February 2022. That historical accumulation contention successful the L.A. Coliseum generated a question of affirmative vigor that carried the athletics good into summer. That was followed by a Daytona 500 that acceptable the code for what has been, inarguably, the astir top-to-bottom competitory play since NASCAR's premier bid debuted successful 1949, with the shocking triumph of Penske's Austin Cindric, a rookie, winning "The Great American Race."

Cindric was the archetypal of an unthinkable 19 antithetic winners implicit 36 races and the archetypal of a singular 5 first-time winners. That parity adjacent managed to clang the postseason, arsenic fractional of the 10 playoff races were won by drivers who had already been eliminated from rubric contention.

The catalyst for this level playing tract was the alleged Next Gen contention car, a merchandise of years of unprecedented practice betwixt NASCAR and its 3 car manufacturers. It is simply a one-size-fits-all machine, the closest to an existent "stock car" that NASCAR has fielded successful much than 60 years. Next Gen was designed with the anticipation of cutting costs, narrowing the engineering spread betwixt small teams and superpowers, each portion producing entertaining door-to-door racing.

It mostly accomplished each of the above, and NASCAR was rewarded with rising TV ratings, summons income and that desired parity. Suddenly, second-tier teams specified arsenic Trackhouse Racing were rubric contenders. Trackhouse's Ross Chastain was the racer chasing Logano to the checkered emblem astatine Phoenix, successful the postseason via his triumph astatine the Circuit of the Americas roadworthy people and the Talladega Superspeedway, vastly antithetic races won successful the nonstop aforesaid car.

But arsenic summertime gave mode to fall, the caller instrumentality besides began producing concerns astir an unforeseen terms being paid by the drivers down the wheel. Veterans specified arsenic Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin had voiced information concerns passim the year, and Harvick's scramble from his car arsenic it burst into flames during the Southern 500 astatine Darlington became a ocular flashpoint for the debate. Then a brace of would-be rubric contenders successful Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch had their efforts chopped abbreviated by concussions, with Busch yet stepping distant from full-time racing. Racers said that the framework of the car is excessively stiff to decently support them during rear impacts. Then they said they were frustrated by NASCAR's refusal to heed their warnings during the season's blistery start.

In the midst of that precise nationalist information debate, Bubba Wallace received a one-race suspension for a rage-fueled clang of Kyle Larson astatine Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the archetypal Cup Series operator parked by NASCAR for an in-race incidental successful 7 years. Not for the combat that came aft the accident, but alternatively for committing the eventual racing sin: purposely hooking a competitor's car successful the close rear portion racing astatine velocity and successful traffic.

In the 2 races that followed, the absorption returned to the racing itself and the buzz astir the buildup to the Phoenix showdown of Logano, Chase Elliott, Bell and Chastain, who singlehandedly turned the speech to on-track enactment erstwhile helium utilized a wall-riding video crippled determination astatine Martinsville Speedway to marque the Championship 4 successful the last crook of the year's penultimate race. Even erstwhile that turned into a "Should drivers bash that?" argument, astatine slightest it was a racing-based debate.

For 312 laps, Phoenix provided flashbacks of each section of the 2022 NASCAR story. There was the quality astir Gibbs that deflated each bosom successful the paddock. The Next Gen instrumentality provided bully racing erstwhile again, but it besides erstwhile again sent a racer -- Logano's erstwhile teammate Brad Keselowski -- scrambling retired of a occurrence aft a seemingly run-of-the-mill wreck. When Bowman, successful his archetypal contention backmost aft 5 weeks connected the sidelines, deed the partition to bring retired the race's last caution, 1 couldn't assistance but intermission and interest if helium had reaggravated his concussion-like symptoms.

Ultimately, evening arrived with a closing-laps showdown betwixt Logano and Chastain, a aboriginal Hall of Famer driving for a superpower squad versus an upstart underdog employed by what was expected to beryllium a second-tier squad but has benefited each play from that aforesaid caller exemplary of car and the parity that came with it. Logano won, cementing his spot among the sport's all-time greats. Now NASCAR hopes that the play arsenic a full does the same, remembered successful the agelong tally much for the astonishing contention it produced alternatively of the atrocious quality that seemed to ever beryllium lurking successful the rearview reflector passim fall.

In effect to the complaints astir communication, NASCAR has held meetings with the drivers arsenic a radical passim the fall. The engineers astatine NASCAR's Research & Development Center spent October conducting clang tests connected a caller rear bumper and rear clip plan for Next Gen that volition beryllium implemented adjacent season. During his yearly "State of the Sport" quality league astatine Phoenix, NASCAR president Steve Phelps pledged to support those meetings going and support the enactment moving forward.

"I deliberation the connection betwixt the sanctioning assemblage and the drivers implicit this past 5 oregon six weeks has wholly shifted the communicative connected however the drivers are feeling astir the country of information oregon 'race ability,' immoderate it is the concerns are," Phelps said. "The conversations we're having with the drivers, you tin archer there's a quality successful however the drivers are speaking adjacent to each of you [in the media]."

Can the early-season vigor of 2022 beryllium recreated? Can the unpredictability of the 2022 racing results beryllium repeated? Can NASCAR contention its mode retired from the nether the specter of atrocious quality each the mode until a season's end?

The Daytona 500 volition beryllium present sooner than later. The 2022 rubric bout is over. Now NASCAR tin statesman its combat with fixing this car implicit the offseason.

But first, possibly conscionable a little intermission to drawback one's breath.

"I don't truly attraction astir 2023 close now," Elliott said pursuing the mishap with Chastain that knocked him retired of the title race, and unknowingly speaking for the full garage. "We had 5 wins connected the season, and we had -- you archer maine what the stats are. That's however you would measure it, right? I cognize we won 5 races. That's much than we did past year.

"But bash not archer maine what the countdown timepiece [to Daytona] is due to the fact that I don't privation to know."