The championship hangover is not unique to NASCAR, however America’s hottest auto racing sequence has a behavior of handing them right down to its champions.
After successful his first Cup Collection championship in 2012, Brad Keselowski adopted up his championship run with a 14th-place factors end. To today, 2013 is the third-worst season of Keselowski’s profession.
Tony Stewart entered the 2006 season as a three-time champion, having received his third Cup Collection title in 2005. In 2006, Stewart regressed to an Eleventh-place factors end — the worst of his profession till 2013.
This 12 months, it is Joey Logano who should try and dodge the dreaded championship hangover following his third Cup Collection championship in 2024.
Even with a 3rd Invoice France Cup in his trophy case, nevertheless, Logano enters 2025 amid a two-year hunch. After sneaking up on the sphere to win his second championship in 2022, Logano was eradicated within the Spherical of 16 in 2023. Whereas he received the championship in 2024, he did so with solely 13 top-10 finishes and a median end of 17.1. With out the NASCAR playoff format, Logano would not have been close to the championship dialog, and the drop-off in pace over the previous two years needs to be a trigger for concern.
Whereas Logano has been capable of win championships in years the place the No. 22 clearly would not have championship-caliber pace on a constant foundation, that will not all the time be the case. The Cup Collection discipline solely continues to get stronger, and if groups which might be constantly quicker than Logano’s decide to make use of the Crew Penske philosophy of putting extra of an emphasis on playoff races, Logano’s path to a fourth championship will turn into rather more tough.
The 34-year-old Logano is able to dominating a race on any given weekend, however a scarcity of race-winning pace over the past two seasons would not encourage as a lot confidence in that assertion. Whereas the No. 22 group confirmed up late within the playoffs, it was an afterthought for a lot of 2024.
If Logano desires to keep away from a championship hangover in 2025, crew chief Paul Wolfe and Crew Penske should discover some solutions, or it may very well be an extended season for the defending champ.
