"I'm like, 'Holy s**t!'": Denny Hamlin gives first-hand account of Joey Logano's breakneck speed in Phoenix
Denny Hamlin recently shared a first-hand account of Joey Logano's superiority at Phoenix on Sunday. The Team Penske driver, along with his teammate Ryan Blaney, dominated the championship race, with the #22 winning his third Cup title.
This win was a topic of discussion on Denny Hamlin's podcast show, Actions Detrimental, with guest Steve Letarte. During their conversation, while talking about Logano, Denny Hamlin asked him how he, as a crew chief, puts so much speed in a racecar overnight.
Letarte replied that in his opinion, the #22 wasn't the best car. Instead, it was Ryan Blaney who had the best, the fastest racecar in Phoenix. The HMS veteran claimed Logano and William Byron had 'almost the same' speed.
But then Hamlin made his case for Joey Logano being the fastest car as he said:
"I would argue that. The #22 I'm telling you, the green flag run, this was probably 150 laps to go. I came out right in front of him, he pitted one lap later. He passed me and drove all the way to the lead. This is the end of stage 2, drove, I was running fifth or sixth, he drove, he passed me, passed the next guy, I mean just motored up there and nearly won stage 2. This is when Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney were battling and so at that point I'm like, 'Holy s**t! I'm not even remotely in that league.' I'm sitting here trying to figure out how can I go a couple hundreds faster every lap and I mean, he just goes by me and leaves me in the dust so something flipped." [27:00]
Denny Hamlin knew what Joey Logano winning at Phoenix would bring NASCAR
A big narrative that Joey Logano's playoff campaign birthed in the 2024 season was the unfairness of the current playoff system to drivers who excel in most major and minor stats. Logano's first win of the season came at Nashville, in the 19th race of the year.
Having made the playoffs, the Penske driver won the first race of the post-season at Atlanta to advance, then won at Las Vegas to make the final four, and then won at Phoenix to win it all. This trajectory was something that many fans and insiders saw as evidence of NASCAR's broken playoff system which doesn't reward drivers like Kyle Larson (most wins) or Chase Elliott (best average finish).
But before last Sunday's race at Phoenix, Denny Hamlin had warned on his podcast that if Logano ended up winning the title, it'd create a lot of backlash against NASCAR.
"The dam of legitimacy with NASCAR right and there's been so many cracks over the years and you know again I believe Joey Logano's title next week would be icing on the cake as to Holy sh*t, what are we doing," he said.
Denny Hamlin claimed that while it wouldn't be Logano or anyone's fault if the #22 won his third title, there'd be 'a wrath on social media' regarding the format.
Interestingly, both of those things came true, as Joey Logano not only won the 2024 Cup championship, but his win also brought attention to NASCAR's playoff system.