Joey Logano drove with his wife, Brittany, and their three young children on the night of November 6 to Phoenix Raceway, the site of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship race four days later. With his children in the back seat, he asked, “Are you ready to go out there and get the flag after we win?”

After his children’s enthusiastic response and emphatic approval, Logano realized he should probably keep his end of the bargain.

“I knew I better make it happen,” he told TODAY.com.

Logano did just that, emerging victorious after preventing teammate and 2023 champion Ryan Blaney from passing his Dark Horse Ford Mustang on the final lap. This is his third championship in six years, having won in 2018 and 2022.

“It always hits you,” says Logano, 34. “It’s hard to sleep. It’s hard to put all the feelings into words, just because it’s so important. It’s so hard to play these championships.”

Logano facing a teammate with a championship on the line would be an unusual scenario in most sports, but teams like his Team Penske understand the sacrifices necessary to achieve victory. Logano stayed in the zone, kept his moves precise and outlasted his teammate for the win.

“There’s no other sport where you’re in the Super Bowl, if you will, competing against your teammate,” Logano said. “It’s a tricky kind of thing, but we also know that we have to work together if we want to even have a chance of winning. So you have to be OK with finishing second behind your teammate. … With that approach, that allowed us to be quite strong. We were really the two best cars.

This is Logano’s third championship victory thanks to elimination from the sport. playoff format this has been in play since 2014. During 10 races, drivers go through elimination stages until the final race, where only four drivers in the car field are eligible to win the championship.

This victory was accompanied by its share of internet controversies. Fans have criticized the format as “gimmicky” in the past, but Logano said during an appearance on the 3rd hour of TODAY it sets up “high-pressure moments that fans love to watch.”

And Logano lives for those high-pressure moments.

“Personally, I do better under pressure. I just do it,” Logano told TODAY.com. “I don’t know what it is, but I have to find ways to lean against the wall so I can put pressure on myself, and I’m getting better.”

Logano is now one of five drivers in NASCAR history to win three championships before the age of 35. One of the other drivers in that select group is NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, now vice president of Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon was quick to congratulate the champion amid criticism of the playoff format.

“He’s a champion driver, he’s a champion team and they proved it again today. I knew that when he made it to that final four, that no matter what he did the rest of the season – and it was debatable whether he deserved to be here or not – you knew that he was going to be a major factor. », Gordon told NBC Sports in November. 10.

“That’s really cool, it’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Logano said of Gordon complimenting him on his championship win. “Jeff Gordon is one of the greatest of all time. He’s top five, so to get a compliment from him is really special.”

It’s hard for Logano to appreciate his own work when he’s in control during a race. After his victory in Phoenix, Logano watched highlights on social media of his victory celebration.

“As a racing driver, you don’t immediately feel the raw emotion of everyone else because you’re in the car,” Logano says. “Now you can see some of those movies with the guys partying on pit road immediately after crossing the finish line. That stuff hits you hard…you just keep reliving it in your mind.”

This is the first championship Logano gets to celebrate with his 2-year-old daughter, Emilia. Logano also has two sons: Hudson, 6, and Jameson, 4. Hudson became a fan of auto racing; Jameson, not so much.

“I don’t think he completely understands all of this. I don’t think he cares,” Logano says with a laugh.

Logano may be one of the best drivers in NASCAR, but it’s clear that his family is his best team. He mentions a photo he saw of his family walking for the checkered flag after his victory in Phoenix, a moment that separates the third championship from the first two.

“It’s fun to dream about things sometimes,” Logano says. “But actually living the dream is a whole other level. … The trophy is cool, but the memories are in these photos.”

The original plan was for the whole family to get in the car to drive in victory lane once the race was over. But his daughter ultimately wasn’t into the idea, according to Logano.

Logano picked up his sons one by one and placed them in the car. Hudson wore a checkered flag shirt while holding the checkered flag his father had promised him a few days earlier. His two sons were able to sit with their father while they had a good to drive on the path to victory.

“The sport will continue without me,” Logano said. “I hope it is. You want it to be. But it will be, and I will be forgotten, and all you have right now is your memories, your family. That’s it .Your family becomes extremely important because you know it is your future.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com