With NASCAR officially set to reveal a new playoff format after the 2025 season, the big question is whether it would impact Joey Logano‘s chances of winning championships. The Team Penske driver has clinched three championships in 2018, 2022, and 2024. Speaking of the current season, he advanced into the Round of 8 after the race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval last weekend.

Logano recently revealed his liking for the current playoff format, saying that it helps create drama, while most other drivers have spoken against it. However, following NASCAR’s president Steve O’Donnell’s confirmation about the impending announcement of a format change, will it end the potential advantage Logano receives from the current playoff format?

The 35-year-old driver has emphasized his goal of winning championships, highlighting that a shift in the playoff format won’t affect him. Logano said:

“I’ll tell you, I am as simple-minded as it comes when it comes to what the goal is. It’s always to win the championship. It doesn’t matter what you did last year. Doesn’t matter how many you have. The goal is still the same, and you have to do whatever it takes to get there. Until I am done driving race cars, that is forever going to be the goal. No matter the format, no matter anything else, the goal is always to win that, because that is the biggest prize, period.”

Logano highlighted that any racing driver is measured by the number of championships they have won. He added:

“Hands down, the championship is what it’s all about. It’s what you’re measured by at the end of your career. How many championships do you have in any sport. How many rings do you got, right? That’s what they always ask. And for me, one, two, three — I just want four or five, you know? Like, I don’t care.”

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But with details of the new playoff format still kept a secret, it would be difficult to say whether or not the new format would have any impact on Logano’s chances of winning championships. He recently attracted criticism from former NASCAR driver and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his comments about the current playoff format. Newsweek Sports reported Dale Jr.’s comments, who said:

“The more Joey Logano gets out of his car and talks about the playoffs, the more I don’t like the playoffs. Oh, my gosh. The more he talks about it, and I know he’s defending it, and I know he believes what he believes, and I’m good with that for him, but the more he tells me why I should like the playoffs, the less I like him.”

He added:

“And so I can appreciate Joey Logano. He is a Hall of Famer, a multi-time champion, a true badass, clutch driver. Give him the car, he gets the job done. I’ve seen him do things that just really set him apart from most of the race car drivers on the racetrack. But yeah, I’m having a hard time watching this year’s playoff play out. I don’t know why.”