Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series finale at Phoenix, bringing home the championship trophy for the second time in his 14th full-time season in the series.
The 32-year-old entered the final race as something of an underdog. Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain had better seasons overall, and Christopher Bell was driving what had been the fastest car for the two months prior.
Of course, as we’ve seen so many times over the course of the 2022 season, one should always expect the unexpected. Logano dominated the race, and his victory at Phoenix perfectly summed up the season as a whole.
Entering the year, the new Next Gen car was introduced, opening the door for more competitive racing in terms of easier passing, which ultimately led to many different winners and some veterans finding it hard to adjust to the new normal.
This season in NASCAR was all about the young guns. Veterans Kurt and Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Denny Hamlin won at least once, but 19 different drivers (including five first-time winners) won at least one race, tying the all-time Cup Series record.
Austin Cindric (Daytona 500), Chase Briscoe (Phoenix), Chastain (COTA and Talladega), Daniel Suárez (Sonoma) and Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indy Road Course, Texas) won their first career Cup races.
Chastain, Reddick, Bell (New Hampshire, Charlotte Roval, Martinsville), Bubba Wallace (Kansas) and Chris Buescher (Bristol) all won their second Cup races.
William Byron (Atlanta, Martinsville), Reddick, Bell and Erik Jones (Darlington) all won their third races. Byron, Bell and Austin Dillon (Daytona) won their fourth races.
You get the point. This season was dominated by guys who have much less experience in victory lane than, say, Kyle Larson does — or even Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski, each of whom is a regular championship contender but failed to win in 2022.