MARTINSVILLE, Va. — If Team Penske and NASCAR want to salvage even a shred of fan-respect heading into their knock-out showdown at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, they need to quietly root against Joey Logano. Yes—you read that correctly. Root against him. Because if Logano claws his way into Phoenix for a shot at an even bigger trophy, NASCAR, under the watchful gaze of Elton Sawyer and Jim France, will have shot its credibility in the foot—again.
Look, Logano is a solid driver. He’s a three-time Cup Series champion (2018, 2022, 2024) who knows how to turn wrenches and how to win. But here’s the problem: he’s become the poster child for everything wrong with NASCAR’s playoff gimmick, especially when it comes to short-track mayhem. Because if he pops one more championship under this flawed format—particularly after another chaotic Round of 8 at Martinsville—then the sport might as well start issuing participation trophies to viewers who just stuck around for the spectacle.
Elton Sawyer, yes that Elton Sawyer—the former racer turned corporate suit masquerading as the steward of fair play—has to realize that letting Logano hype-up another playoff win will tick off fans. Badly. We want to see drivers duke it out, not watch NASCAR hand out trophies like candy on Halloween. Sawyer spent years on short tracks banging fenders himself; now he sits in the tower, handing down interpretations and changes like a DMV clerk giving out licenses. If Logano advances again, the remaining die-hards—the folks who pop up at Martinsville rain or shine—will walk away muttering that the sport is decided in the boardroom, not on asphalt.
Sawyer cannot meddle this time. He must resist the urge to review every last bump, scrutineer every slide, and dig through team radio transcripts like a bored tax auditor. NASCAR needs to sit back, breathe, and let Martinsville unfold. The problem is, NASCAR has shown it loves to intervene—especially under Jim France’s watch, as if every bump needs retroactive reinterpretation. We don’t need that Sunday. What we need is raw, unadulterated short-track racing at its finest: contact, courage, chaos. No more post-race “did-he-technically break the rule?” fiascos.
Logano’s three championships don’t blind anyone—they highlight how the playoff format rewards the right timing, the right bump, the right moment, rather than a full-season performance. Critics point out that drivers like Kyle Larson won more races in the regular season but still got left out of the Final 4. NASCAR acknowledged as much, entering review mode on its playoff system after Logano’s 2024 title stirred outrage. That format, beloved by no one outside the marketing department, enables a mid-pack driver who turns up at the right moment to swipe a championship while others grind their guts out all season. Logano is good, no doubt—but in a full‐season points format, he might have zero championships.
So yes, NASCAR and Sawyer should hope Logano doesn’t make Phoenix. Don’t actively sabotage him—this isn’t a scripted soap opera—but don’t give him extras either. Let him fight his way through without assistance. If NASCAR wants the fanbase to trust it, to believe the win at Phoenix wasn’t predetermined by reset buttons and fancy algorithms, they must treat this Martinsville race like the reject from the boardroom finally letting the drivers fight it out in a parking lot. Sawyer needs to channel his short-track past—stop being the corporate gate-keeper and start being the guy who once raced for rubber and reputation, not budgets and broadcast deals.
On Sunday, the field will pack into Martinsville thinking one of them might survive the carnage and earn the right to race for a title. That’s the kind of drama fans want, not another “well, we’ll review this entire last lap and get back to you” moment. NASCAR has been stuck climbing out of its own mess—ratings wander, critics rant, fans grumble—and letting this race be clean, chaotic, and legitimate is the easiest fix in the book.
Logano, Blaney, Briscoe and the rest—these are the names we want to see in the mix, but the sport needs to see someone fresh grab the spotlight. Someone who earns it the old‐fashioned way: slipstream, bump-and-run, guts and glory, no committee needed. Jim France, Elton Sawyer—if you want to keep that corporate-suit job with a smidge of fan affection left, root for chaos, root for fairness, root for someone other than Joey Logano. Because another Logano win? That might very well be the nail in the coffin for the remaining NASCAR purists.
Let the cars talk. Let the bumps fly. Let the best, cleanest, toughest driver win—not the one picked by the reset button. Sunday, at Martinsville, is your chance NASCAR. Don’t blow it.
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