NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano Poses for a photo on Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Celebrating a season full of first-time winners and a popular repeat champion, the NASCAR industry arrives in Nashville, Tennessee this week to officially crown Joey Logano as the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Champion.
The NASCAR Awards and Champion Celebration will be held Thursday night at Nashville’s Music City Center.
Logano, the 2018 title winner who now joins Kyle Busch as the only multi-time NASCAR Cup Series champions among active drivers, will be feted along with NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs and Camping World Truck Series champ Zane Smith.
The Most Popular Driver from each series – as selected in a fan vote – will also be revealed in what is always a highly-anticipated evening of celebration. Chase Elliott, the 2020 season champion, is the four-time defending winner of the award in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“We are delighted to bring the celebration to Nashville once again, as the city’s energy and passion for motorsports never cease to amaze us,” NASCAR’s Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer Pete Jung said in announcing the return of the awards event to Nashville for the third year.
Logano dominated the November 6 NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway – leading 187 of the 312 laps – to claim his second series title – besting the Championship 4 of Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell and Elliott. It marked the first time either Chastain or Bell had earned a place in the Final 4 – both advancing thanks to clutch performances in the dramatic penultimate race of the schedule at Martinsville.
Similarly, Gibbs led a race best 125 of the 200-laps at Phoenix to definitively claim his first major NASCAR title in just his first fulltime Xfinity Series season. JR Motorsports teammates Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry rounded out the foursome who advanced to the final round.
Smith took his first NASCAR championship in the Camping World Truck Series after finishing runner-up for the big trophy in the last two seasons. Talking Rock, Georgia’s Chandler Smith and ThorSport Racing teammates Ben Rhodes – the 2021 series champion – and Ty Majeski rounded out the series’ title contenders.
The NASCAR Cup Series saw 19 different winners in the debut of the Next Gen car – the most diverse winner’s slate since 2001, tying a modern-day record. It notably included a remarkable five first-time race winners, including Chastain, his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez, rookie Austin Cindric, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe.
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