Kyle Larson won more races than any other driver in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series, but failed to qualify for the Championship Race.
The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver secured his first win and his place in the NASCAR Playoffs at the third race of the season at Las Vegas. Larson went on to win at Kansas, Sonoma and Indianapolis in the regular season to cement himself as a title contender.
But the 32-year-old missed out on the regular season championship to Tyler Reddick, after he missed the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Larson had been attempting to run the Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren and the NASCAR race on the same day, but the delayed start to the former meant this could not be possible.
In the playoffs, Larson secured his place in the Round of 12 with victory at Bristol and then for the Round of 8 by winning at the Roval, taking his tally to six wins for 2024.
Kevin Harvick says Joey Logano was the ‘best driver’ as he turned a poor car into a championship-winning car
But in the Round of 8, Joey Logano and Reddick secured their places in the final four with wins at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami respectively. Larson finished third at Martinsville but it was not enough to qualify for the Championship Race at Phoenix, as Ryan Blaney took the win and William Byron got in via points.
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Logano went on to win at Phoenix over Blaney and Byron to secure his third Cup Series title; the 10th driver in history to achieve that feat.
For Kevin Harvick, the No. 22 driver was the best of the year, as he said on his Happy Hour podcast that Logano turned an underperforming car around in the playoffs and into a car that won the title.
Discussing his pick for driver of the year, Harvick said: “I did not pick Kyle Larson. I picked Joey Logano, and I picked Joey Logano because, I thought Joey Logano was the best driver over the last 10 weeks.
“In the end, Joey Logano was the best driver of the year because he took a complete c— car with his team and turned it into a championship-winning car by the time they got to the end of the year.
“And every moment that they had, they capitalised on to put themselves in position to win a championship and left with the trophy, the cheque, everything that they had.
“And that’s hard to do. When your team is off, the best driver shine. And they get back to the top quicker than the guy who don’t know anything about their car and can’t communicate with their team well.”
Joey Logano won three races in the NASCAR Playoffs on his way to the title
By his own admission, Logano endured a ‘rough’ start to the season with one top 10 finish from the opening six races. Logano saw his tyre test at North Wilkesboro as the ‘turning point’ for his season as he carried his learnings through to the playoffs.
The Team Penske driver secured his spot in the playoffs with victory at Nashville; his only win of the regular season. Logano only finished inside the top 10 eight times before the playoffs.
But as he has done two times before, the 34-year-old found that extra gear when it mattered as he secured his place in the Round of 12 immediately with victory at Atlanta.
Logano was initially eliminated from the playoffs in the next round, but was reinstated after Alex Bowman was disqualified at the Roval. The No. 22 driver took advantage of his second chance by winning at Las Vegas and later the Championship Race to secure his third NASCAR crown.