HOMESTEAD, Fla. _ Joey Logano was relatively quiet during the four-driver media availability leading up to NASCAR's final races of the season.
"Sometimes it's best to keep your mouth shut, just go out there and kick ass," he said.
Consider it done.
Logano, the wild card in the mix of NASCAR's four playoff drivers, outlasted all of them to win his first NASCAR Cup Championship on Sunday evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Logano took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. with 12 laps to go in the Ford EcoBoost 400 and cruised to the victory by 1.725 seconds. Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Kyle Busch, as all four drivers chasing a title finished in the top 4.
"We did it! We won the championship! I can't believe it!" he said on pit road after the race!"
The exclamation points were well-deserved. Logano was the only driver among the Championship 4 not to win a Cup title entering the race. And away from the insular crowd at Team Penske, he was hardly a favorite among many fans.
Logano was the first of the four to qualify for the championship mix in Homestead, although under contentious circumstances. He roughed up Truex's car during a last-lap bump-and-run three weeks ago at Martinsville Speedway, squeezing him out of the way.
Having been rough-housed, the normally-affable Truex Jr. promised payback.
"I have a free pass," Truex said during his media availability Thursday. "He already told me I could. He told me he's fair game. So here we go."
It never came to that as Logano easily finished in first place.
"He beat these guys fair and square," team owner Roger Penkse said.
Penske had a bit of blind faith in July of 2012, after one of his drivers, AJ Allmendinger failed a drug test. A ride opened up, and Logano slid into the slot of the recommendation of Brad Keselowski.
Logano, who had struggled in his first four Cup seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing, did not disappoint.
Logano, 28, had 20 victories going into Sunday's race and had finished no lower than eighth all but one season since 2013. The glitch is 2017 and a 17th place finish.
"I've worked my whole life to win a championship," he said. "We've been so close. ... I was going to pass that car no matter what."
Leading up to Sunday's race, Logano said that championships don't always define careers.
"There are some great race car drivers, some of the best _ Mark Martin comes to mind _ that I think of as a champion in a lot of different ways."
Joey Logano will no longer need any asterisks on his resume. He is a NASCAR champion.
