Some championship battles in sports will bring controvery. Something that either seems to always stir the pot weather it is broadcasted for everyone to see or behind the scenes. 2015 would definitely bring that for Joey Logano. He'd spend the beginning of his NASCAR Cup career with Joe Gibbs Racing and was even nicknamed "sliced bread" by Mark Martin who is one of the most legendary and most respected drivers ever. He would only win twice in his Gibbs years from 2009-2012. So the "sliced bread" driver was close to being forgotten as contact offers arose and if he chose to continue racing for Joe Gibbs he'd be demoted to the Xfinity series but Roger Penske decided to take a chance on you and offer him a ride in the number 22 Shell Pennzoil machine. It was an offer he could not refuse as he took it for 2013. He would make the chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and finish 8th in the standings. In 2014 he would score 5 wins 16 top 5s and 22 top 10s. He nearly won the championship that year but a disastrous final pitstop Logano would only finish 16th and 4th in the final standings. Even though in his time with Penske he would say that he thinks he was brought in the Cup series too soon but Gibbs did what he needed to do because he needed someone to replace 3 time champion Tony Stewart who drove for the team from 1999-2008. But Joey would say that he feels like there is just a better fit for him at Penske and it showed as when he joined Penske he just showed what he can REALLY do. So after a personal best 2014, 2015 would have high hopes for the Logono and company. And it started off brilliantly after the Hendrick Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joey was the only consistent driver that could contend with them and with 15 to go he made his move with help from Clint Bowyer. However there is still work to be done to come out of Daytona victorious.

Success! Joey Logano wins NASCAR's biggest race and all the better with the win and your in championship format meant the 22 team is now know they are guaranteed a spot in the 2015 chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup! At Atlanta he'd pick up where he left off from the pole and dominated early on in the race but the field as he put it post race just got faster as Logano comes home 4th after leading 84 laps. In Las Vegas for the 222nd start for the driver of the 22 after starting in 2nd and lead 47 laps early on but with the adjustments to the car didn't quite work and along with 2 pit road penalties made him finish 10th. Phoenix he lead early on yet again but fell back to 8th. California provided a quiet 7th place, Martinsville was a strong race for the 25 year old leading 108 laps and ran up front all race. Even getting spun around by Michael Annett couldn't stop him from finishing 3rd. At the lone star state aka Texas he finished 4th. So to start off the year with a win in the biggest race in NASCAR, 5 top 5s and all top 10s in 7 races Joey Logano and the 22 team had speed and they are gonna be hard to beat. However the top 10 streak came to an end at Bristol after he and teammate 2012 champ Brad Keselowski wrecked together. The top 10 streak would end for Joey but unfortunately there was worse news in NASCAR. Fox pit reporter Steve Byrnes who was diagnosed with an early stage head and neck cancer in late August 2013. With the aid of chemotherapy he was able to recover and deemed cancer free in early 2014. Sadly later that year in October the cancer returned in October and passed away 2 days after the race at Bristol which was the 2015 Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer. He was involved in NASCAR ever since 1985 and was loved and respected by the fans, drivers, teams, and colleagues for his work ethic, professionalism, and. His legacy will live on and never forgotten. At Richmond Clint Bowyer and Josh Wise did tributes with photos of Byrnes and his family on their cars for the show most go on. Joey Logano was the show being out front the first 94 laps but faded to 5th. At Talladega Logano wrecked early on resulting in a 33rd. Kansas the 22 was fast early on once again but faded a little bit off the pace. Things would be tougher after a pitstop just over a third of the way in when the gas man guy was over pit wall too soon. Normally the gas man is allowed to have his feet on the ground cause NASCAR doesn't want them to have to jump over the wall with a heavy gas can that can weight up to 94 lbs. Anyway Joey still charged his way up through the field only to have to do it all again after he straight up pitted when pit road was closed under caution in the middle stages. Plain weird mistake, but still in the last third of the race he drove all the way back up to 5th. The rollercoaster of results went down again at Charlotte starting 2nd to lead 17 laps to fall down to a mediocre 13th. He finished Dover 11th with another mediocre run. The shine of winning the biggest Cup race is starting to wear off, the new trend now has been leading laps and starting off strong but can't seem to finish sometimes regardless if it has been mistakes or bad luck, but one thing common is being unable to keep up with the track compared to the competition and that won't cut it when all the chips on the table by Homestead. Anyway the 22 got back on track at Pocono despite getting a speeding penalty early on he rallied back to a 4th place finish. A good finish yes but once again a error has made it on Logano's end would make their efforts have an extra amount of difficulty. In fact in the whole Penske organization knew they were slightly falling behind but with the summer heating up the crew chief of the 22 car Todd Gordon believes they have made progress. In Michigan and Sonoma Logano proved it by bringing his car home 5th in both races. While it is the 9th top 5 and 12th top 10 the one thing in common especially in the stretch from Pocono aka the tricky triangle, FAST paced track at Michigan to the road course Sonoma have all shown consistent speed throughout the races. Joey simply just finished around where he ran proving that the 22 was making progress and is on the right track. And speaking of right track we the next race is at Daytona where Logano started of the season right by winning the biggest race of NASCAR. Sadly he couldn't sweep the Daytona races after finishing 22nd. In the bluegrass state Kentucky Logano appeared to have winning speed for the first time in a while. True he has finished 3 of last 4 races in the top 5 but seemed like he was able to be a serious contender. Still he came up short in the end being the runner up. In Loudon 4th was the best finish available that day. Next up was the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Known in the NASCAR garage as a crown jewel racetrack and none know it better than Roger Penske who not only is a NASCAR team owner but is also owns cars in the Verison IndyCar Series and has won the Indy 500 16 times. Joey started of the race 2nd and in fact took the lead right at the start and lead the first 11 laps but needed to back off and get behind a car to remove debris from his nose in order to cool his car down. Now with a cooled down car he would continue on and in fact would use a little but of strategy to get the lead but got shuffled. Nothing to worry about though, he would get back up to the top 5. Now the finish comes around and restarts have been the name of the game and he actually put himself in position to win against his former team and teammate Kyle Busch. Crew chief Todd Gordon and bossman Roger Penske are encouraging to give it his best shot. A Cup win at the Brickyard is one of the few things Roger Penske the man known as "The Captain" hasn't accomplished in motorsports and it would mean the world to get a win here especially since his Xfinity car driven by Ryan Blaney was beaten on the final lap against Kyle Busch one day ago. Joey has been very good at restarts but Kyle Busch has been also, who shall win?

Despite coming up just short Logano and crew went onwards to the next race, Pocono he was 3rd and ran in the top 5 at the start, but as the quarter mark came around the 22 took control of the race. For the first time since early on in the season Joey appears to have shown dominant speed. And instead of fading late in the race he was quiet very early but looks to end the race with the victory. However fuel mileage became the name of the game. In the 160 lap race everyone can go anywhere from 33-36 on a full tank of gas. The 22 was on pit road with 37 laps left in the race and was under enormous pressure by yet again Kyle Busch. As the run went on Logano was able to keep the 18 at bay but still being on the edge of getting to the checkered flag but it turned onto a game of chicken. How fast do you want to go? Who will burn the most fuel? How slow are you willing to go? Well with about 20 laps to go Logono was told to save if he had the opportunity. Another thing was that Busch was also on the same plan so saving a little would be worth it in the long haul. Then as laps continue to click down as Joey was told to save hard with 3 and a half laps to go so the fuel might be a little but lower than originally thought and the 22 runs out of gas a lap later on the backstretch! Joey Logano has went from hero to zero finishing 20th after leading 97 of 160 laps. The annoyance was real in his interview, he is just getting tired of getting beat for wins being so close. Especially more times than not now by Joe Gibbs Racing. If it ain't Kyle Busch its Matt Kenseth now. In fact, 4 out of the last 5 races a JGR car won and in the last 4 consecutive races Penske Fords had been second fiddle to the Gibbs Toyotas. But Joey just says that if they keep up their work that they will win again. Going to Watkins Glen now is a place that hadn't been kind to the 22 driver early on in his career but like Todd Gordon says that they try to strengthen their weaknesses and now they truly see a chance for wins especially with fuel might in the cards once again. Restarting the race 14th with 30 laps remaining in the 90 lap race this fuel window is 30-32 laps. Logano pitted with 32 to go so at least they are actually in the window this time. If anything with the uncertainty of a green white checkered. Nobody has told Joey to worry about fuel so simply his mission is to push everyone ahead of him to either go faster than they want forcing them to run out of gas or to the point when they slow down to make it to the finish. About 10 laps to go and he gets told that the remaining drivers ahead cant make it but he can as he now gets up to 2nd. Now the only guy left ahead is defending champion Kevin Harvick.

My oh my how a week turns. Joey Logano goes from losing a race after dominating at Pocono on fuel mileage to get his 2nd win of the year at Watkins Glen a track he'd never think he could win on fuel mileage by only lead out of the last turn on the last lap! Going to Michigan Logano says the 22 is so much better than they were last year from pure speed, chemistry and is very excited to get this chase started. Joey finished the race 7th but at Bristol early on the 22 was in the edge of the top 5. But as the night raged on in the last great colosseum the Penske man got stronger. He was racing the JGR cars once again but after mistakes and bad luck took them out of contention Logano dominated. But it wasn't easy now having to fend off another driver to be victorious at Bristol.

Now getting his 3rd win of the year momentum grew more with the now defending the win he got in the very same race one year ago proving that this team is gonna be a threat to be reckoned with for the title after leading 176 of 500 laps. With a 4th at
Darlington after being out front for 29 laps and finishing 3rd at Richmond after leading 25 laps finishing off the regular season. Now......its chase time! The way this chase system works is that 16 drivers will start in the challenger round based on wins. The 22 began the chase in 4th 3 points behind leaders Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth. Anyway the chase has 4 rounds, the first 3 rounds have 3 races in it. If a chaser wins a race than he automatically advances to the next round. But the 4 drivers with the least amount of points without a win at the end of each round will be eliminated. Round 1 will downsize from 16 to 12, then the next round will eliminate 4 more drivers leaving 8 in contention. Round 3 will leave the final 4 drivers to battle it out in one race, the season finale race where plain and simple out of the 4 championship contenders whoever finishes the highest will win the 2015 Sprint Cup championship. Now let's dive into the championship battle, race 1 of the chase begins at Chicagoland aka the windy city. The 22 had a quiet and uneventful race and just simply came home in 6th. 15 of the 16 chasers finished in the top 19 proving how tough the competition is. Logano is 5th in points 20 ahead of cutoff driver Jamie McMurray. Next on the calendar is the magic mile Loudon a place that can be known for a higher difficulty to pass making strategy on tires and fuel mileage very crucial to be successful at this track. Crew chief of the 22 Todd Gordon plans on in baseball terms is a "base hit", in other words not overdo what they need to do just execute what they can do. Well Joey ran in the top 10 virtually all race long but then just like it does often in Loudon fuel mileage became the hot topic. The fuel window is 82-88 laps and Logono pitted like most of the field wit 88 laps to go. However another caution 24 laps later gifted the opportunity for the 22 crew to be on offense where he can just push on fresh tires and the assurance of knowing he can make it to the end no problem even if green white checkereds are in affect. Logano got a 3rd place run out of the race which is a strong success at what is the closest thing to his home track. That meant he was tied for 4th with the best position cushion out of all his rivals being 33 points ahead of 13th place Kyle Busch going to the monster mile, Dover. Dover is a track made of concrete with banked turns making it a self cleaning racetrack where the road gets blocked real fast and could end your race. All Logano needs to do is just get his car to the finish line in one piece. A 10th place was more than enough to do the trick and advance onward in the championship. Now the Contender round where the 12 driver's are all reset to 3,000 points. The first race in this round is in NASCAR'S home ground Charlotte. It would be a night race but it would be a day race due to rain. And Loga no loved it believing he has a better chance at one of his worst tracks. Early on he ran in the top 5 but got the lead after the race leader Matt Kenseth pitted off sequence. Joey was able to pull away from the field while the 20 is stuck back in traffic. For the most part the 22 would have little competition while some of his fellow chasers had their own misfortunes from errors or even little bit of rotten luck. Still it wouldn't be easy with chase rival Kevin Harvick in his mirror. The final pitstops came around and both crews made fast pitstops but Harvick got beat off of pit road by a lap car that was actually a teammate. But Kevin was stuck in traffic for his out lap while the 22 had a clean track. Still with the 4 behind he still has to execute. Leading laps has been a normal thing almost every week for Kevin Harvick, in fact Logano was asked about the speed Harvick showed in the last 2 races when the 4 had to win a race to keep his hopes alive. Joey felt like Harvick has shown his hand, knowing that he had to give it his very best shot to stay in the battle that the 22 crew knows where they need to improve to be on their level when all the cards are on the table If Harvick does in fact get to Homestead again. What is interesting also is that Logano says that the best for his team has yet to come. If that is the case than as the pressure rises than they can be very dangerous, they sure have been very dangerous in this race and have absolutely done fabulous by winning at Charlotte with such a performance by leading 227 of 334 guaranteeing an advancement to round 3 of the chase! The Connecticut native called this race the defining moment of his season last year automatically giving them the opportunity to emphasize more focus on round 3 and of course they advanced all the way to Homestead and now this year Logano basically has a get out of jail free card for the contender round. Still as awesome as that is they still want momentum to carry on arriving to Kansas City, Kansas. The 1.5 mile track used to be a abrasive track but has became treacherous since the 2012 repave. Ironically it's somewhat like when the track was first built and put on the Cup calendar. But just like all tracks with age comes multiple grooves and a little bit more tire wear, some more than others. Anyway the 22 showed swift speed yet again spending almost the entire race in the top 3 and leading from time to time. But still couldn't dominate the way he did at Charlotte. But a late race restart came with 20 laps to go the opportunity came to give everything he has at race dominator Matt Kenseth. At times the 22 has been able to match him but in the end he couldn't keep up. After gaurnteeing a round 3 spot Logano simply wants to apply all the pressure he can on his fellow rivals. And in this case it's not only about applying pressure but to prevent them from advancing to the next round with a win AND leave them all worrying about Talladega the ultimate wild card. The 22 is breathing down the neck of the 20 trying to get by him to prevent Kenseth from getting his 6th win of the year with tight and close racing between the two.

So........ that was their views on this but oh boy. Welp Kenseth is now out of the picture for the victory on the line but difference in opinion if the 22 got shoved into the wall by Kenseth or if Kenseth just got wrecked. But still there are other chasers that are trying to get a win to advance to the next round in a green white checkered finish.

Vvictory number 5 has come for Joey Logano and has successfully stopped anyone from getting an automatic pass thru to the next round. I briefly mentioned it earlier but now is Talladega the restrictor plate race where ANYTHING can happen. You could be on the way to victory on the last lap but instantly get wrecked out and finish 30th. Kenseth sure felt like the Kansas incident could have been avoided and had this to say.

You could tell by those comments that Kenseth is still very upset about Kansas and was basically put in a must win. The rac went on as the first set of green flag pitstops Logano made a late move to pit with Matt and a few other cars because with restrictor plates the more cars you have together the faster you'll go. But the 22 and 20 made contact leaving the 20 driver to say this on his radio "Go tell that 22 I'm gonna knock his (expletive) out after the race! You tell him! Tell him to hide behind his daddy! Came from the third lane I didn't even think he was going to pit, turned right down in front of me and brake checked me!" Well Logano was told about Matt's rant and simply went on about his business. Joey was up towards the front after the field. Yet again the chance for victory is upon Logano after getting the lead on the final set of pitstops and is possibly on his way to sweeping round 2 but he has a hungry pack of cars behind but one car driven by Greg Biffle is trying to stretch the fuel but after a late race caution made the field gather for a late race restart. With Biffle pitting for fuel Logano is now the leader but things are different. According to NASCAR due to "means of saftey" which is most likely for a horrific wreck at the July Daytona race, there will only be a single attempt at a green white checkered when normally there will be 3 but not this time. Only a single attempt and if the caution comes out at any time then the race is over. Coming into the restart and the 48 spins! The 42 is also around and the caution is out! Just like that the race is over but the restart was deemed not an attempt by NASCAR. So the leader never got to the start finish line under green officially getting the race restarted is the explenation NASCAR has given. So the field has to do it once again to the displeasure of Logano. "It's not an attempt?! They threw the caution! You gotta be freaking kidding me. That's an attempt, the green flag waved. Come on!" Frustration has been real right there especially since he would have won the race if it was official then but that's not the case. So now he has to beat the field on a restart once again.

Jr nation may not have liked it but for Joey Logano this round could not have been ANY better. Joey Logano has won all 3 races in the Contender round of the chase. Also something I have to clear up is that as controversial as this finish was some say that Dale Jr who is in a must win situation was out front at the moment of caution well I got a screenshot for you to look at REAL close Joey appeared to be leading. Plus NASCAR isn't gonna rig a race for anyone so relax, there is no conspiracy theory folks.

Anyway with 3 wins in 3 races this made him the sole driver to beat for the championship. The momentum was all on his side and it was only emphasized by going to Martinsville for the Eliminator round with the points reset to 4,000. Martinsville is known as the paper clip and in fact the oldest track in NASCAR history. This short track is known like any other short track. We got bumper to bumper, close contact, even some tempers flaring and a place to get revenge. The 22 crew know that there still might be hurt feelings from the 20 for Kansas. Todd Gordon simply told Logano to be smart and Joey just said to the media that at some point they are gonna race so he'll just have to deal with it when the time comes. In qualifying he set a blistering time for pole position. He lead right out the box but early on he had pressure early on but he still was very fast By lap 82 Logano officially started to show his muscle by taking the lead. Things could not get much better for team Penske as teammate 2012 champion Brad Keselowski gets up into the mix and leads some laps also. In fact with the pace the Penske duo was setting they had decided to work together on restarts. The preferred line is on the bottom of the track so whoever is leading would go out of their way to pick the outside while the other hesitates to go a little so they can get in line and drive away. It has been a success for the both of them but the finish was getting closer so the competition wasn't gonna let them get away with it but still they did it with 65 laps left in the 500 lap event but crash turn 2! Kenseth spins and Keselowski also has damage along with Kurt Busch! So that's 2 chasers out of contention as the 2 car goes to the garage. Well now the 22 is the lone warrior left on the racetrack from Penske. But as fast as he was before Keselowski went up to the front it shouldn't affect his performance. In fact Jeff Gordon tried convincing Logano to do the same thing he did with the 2 with no success. Joey Logano got the preferred line by choice and just pulled away like he did for a lot of this race but with 47 laps to go this occurred.

And their responses to each other were

By the way for clarification sake soon after Kenseth did admit that he did that on purpose. Well at a short track this kind of stuff can happen and even some of the very best drivers loose their cool and for Logano Kenseth could not have lost his cool at a worse time. Kenseth was parked for the next two races for his actions while the 22 instantly went from 227 laps lead and being in the catbird seat for Homestead to in a deep deep hole 28 points in the hole to be exact behind Harvick after a 37th place finish. Logano is going to need a extremely strong performance while others struggle ahead of him or most likely a victory at Texas or Phoenix to advance to Miami. At Texas he ran in 4th after qualifying there for the start of the 500 mile race at the track people are starting to compare to Atlanta with the abrasive surface creating high tire wear and multiple grooves in the lone star state. The 22 as a whole aren't even ready to panic yet despite the situation that they are in. After having 3 consecutive wins and looking set to take a 4th who could blame them? Crew chief Todd Gordon isn't even gonna bother changing the team's approach and Logano said in the prerace pep talk over the radio "Let's show them what we're made of." Confidence is still sky high as the quest for his first championship continues on. Lap 10 the caution comes out but for Joey Logano! Logano has blown a left rear tire! If he was not in a must win scenario to get to Homestead he definitely was now! With the damage done to his car he was forced to take it to the garage, finishing 40th and officially meaning he HAD to win Phoenix. No ifs ands or buts about it, that is his only ticket to Homestead for him to get his first championship. To make the penultimate race have more build up it was turned to a Sunday night race instead of a Sunday afternoon in the hot desert track. Logano had the speed running in the top 5 for most of the race who was minding his time but so far didn't have the speed to compete for the win. A rare occasion though has arrived in the desert, rain and with the field under yellow for a wreck just gave the rain more time to hit the track and the nerves were starting to build. "Come on man let us freaking race!" Logano exclaimed on the radio knowing he isn't out front but lies in 3rd knowing that's not good enough for him to get to Homestead to win the championship. Now the cars are being brought onto pit road and the race is red flagged. The nerves are high all around especially for Joey hoping the rain would just stop and go away knowing he has to win and is currently 3rd. Unfortunately he would have to kiss his championship hopes farewell because the race would never get back started from the rain. After looking set to go to Homestead and winning the championship in the span of a month he won't even have that chance. Logano did hold his own at Homestead leading 72 of 267 laps finishing 4th in the race and 6th in the points. Proving how strong he became when he jumped into the 22 car continued on in the next 4 years after this. In 2016 he was the runner up, 2017 looked like another chance to go to Homestead with a shot to win but after a win at Richmond was encumbered it didn't count to getting him in the show. In fact he missed the playoff cut all together. It was a gut punching blow for the 22. It suprised everyone, nobody expected a 17th points finish to happen. 2018 the 22 came out of the ashes of a disappointing season came another chance to get a shot at the final race and he maximized it and would go on to win his first championship. But with all that being said many fans look back at 2015 and ask "What if Kenseth never wrecked Logano at Martinsville? What if the Phoenix ran the full distance?" Oh and another thing. So far Joey hasn't won more races, scored more top 5s, top 10s, laps lead, and poles since. A definite what might have been for Joey Logano, or as the Iceberg said "What if in 2015 Joey Logano had captured his missing ring?"