Make no mistake, Joey Logano is well aware of the NASCAR fans who boo him and criticize how he won his three Cup Series championships. He's actually quite grateful for them.
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They are the ones helping him win races and pushing him to continue contending for championships.
"That's the extra motivation, right," Logano told media members at Kansas Speedway after rain washed out qualifying and put him in pole position. "So, whether they know it or not, when they're doing that, they're helping me. So thanks.
"I just think that, again, when you hear those comments again, I say they don't matter, but they're also kind of like, 'Yeah, let me prove something to you. Let me show you that we can do it in different ways.' And this team can do that."
Logano captured the title for the first time in 2018 after winning three races. He had the fewest wins of the Championship 4 drivers, but he won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
This put him ahead of Martin Truex Jr. (four wins), Kevin Harvick (eight wins), and Kyle Busch (eight wins).
The 2022 season played out similarly. Logano reached the Championship 4 after winning three races, and he won his second title by winning the finale at Phoenix Raceway. He beat out Ross Chastain (two wins), Christopher Bell (three wins), and regular-season champion Chase Elliott (five wins).
The 2024 season marked the third time that Logano won the Cup Series championship, and it sparked the biggest outcry from his "haters."
This is the season in which he reached the playoffs by surviving a five-overtime finish to win at Nashville Superspeedway during the regular season. This win turned around what had been a lackluster season from the veteran driver and his team.
He then advanced to the Round of 12 with an overtime win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He advanced to the Round of 8 after NASCAR disqualified playoff driver Alex Bowman. This took Logano from being eliminated to being back in contention.
Logano then won his way into the Championship 4 after gambling on fuel strategy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He closed out the season by winning at Phoenix. He captured his third title over Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Tyler Reddick.
This third championship run is not the reason why NASCAR eliminated the playoff format and moved back to the Chase. It played a role along with many other factors, but many still pointed to Logano while discussing the change.
"I don't feel like I'm a villain, like, in any way," Logano said. "Like, I'm pretty happy. I'm the most smiling villain you've ever seen.
"Like I'm happy, I'm joking around, have a good time. Like I don't see the villain side that people try to put on me, you know, I think it's just... again, it's, I guess, it's the way we've won our championships, and that's just what it is."
The comments from the fans are one reason why he and the No. 22 Team Penske group put a sign in the hauler saying "4 the haters." They use the boos and critical comments as motivation while trying to win the championship for the fourth time.
They also enjoy these boos, something that Logano admits is no longer a secret. Honestly, he's just happy that people have picked a lane.
He loves having fans that rock his merchandise at the track and cheer. He also loves having haters that motivate him. He just doesn't want to walk out and have people be apathetic about him.
And while the format has changed, Logano's story is playing out as in years past. He had an average season before winning at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Richmond Raceway to get above the Chase cutline.
Now that the postseason has started, he's piled up points by running consistently and winning at Bristol Motor Speedway. He went from 70 points behind No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin to only 16 points back of new leader Larson. He is only 15 points back of Hamlin with seven Chase races remaining.
This gives him plenty of time to make another run and win another championship "4 the haters." And yes, he may boast a little, but just not too much.
"Richard Petty won the championship in many different formats; no one talks about that, right," Logano said. "He has seven. So I think for us, yeah, if we can win in a different format, that would be a feather in the hat for sure.
"If we can pull that off, yeah. am I going to be a little boastful about it? Probably, you know, because I've had to deal with all those comments about our championships not meaning anything."
