Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Joey Logano has never talked to crew chief Paul Wolfe about winning a title in 2024 in order to accomplish something only nine other NASCAR Cup Series drivers have achieved.

For the two-time Cup champion Logano, it just goes without saying. The goal every year is to win a championship, so the fact he will vie for his third Cup title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway doesn’t include the additional incentive for him to join the elite three-time champion club. 

“He hasn’t mentioned anything about it, honestly,” Wolfe said. “It hasn’t been discussed. Some guys have two, but to get three, obviously would put him in an elite group.”

Logano will look back at his career one day and see where he ranks among the all-time greats, but the only time talk of winning a third title enters the conversation is when someone mentions the Team Penske driver already has two, not what it would do for his legacy nor the company he would join.

“I can’t say I really thought of it that way,” Logano said. “My goal every year is the same — whether we’ve won one, none, five, doesn’t matter. The goal is to win the championship.

“So the conversation between me and Paul doesn’t have to happen. We know that. That’s just the end goal.”

If Logano wins his third title on Sunday, it will rank as his most unlikely. Having finished 15th in the regular-season standings, a win in the chaotic five-overtime Nashville race vaulted him into the playoffs. He then won the opening playoff race at the drafting-style Atlanta event and then used a fuel mileage strategy to win at Vegas in the semifinal round.

The Vegas victory gave him an automatic bid to race for the title at Phoenix, where the best finisher among Logano, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick (the entire 40-car field competes in the race itself) captures the title.

So Logano should feel a little pride. No driver since the elimination-style format started in 2014 has gone from 15th in the regular season to having a shot at the championship in the final race.

Logano, whose six Champ 4 appearances rank as the most since the inception of the elimination-style format in 2014, is sort of impressed to have another shot at the title.

“Making the Championship 4 is an accomplishment of itself,” Logano said. “Getting here is not easy. You have to have a regular season that helps set you up to get through the playoffs. And if you don’t, then you have to have a hell of a run through the playoffs and win the best races, the most important races.

“We didn’t have the best regular season. We figured out how to have a solid playoff, winning a couple of them and put ourselves in the Championship 4.”

So this is a big deal just to have a shot, right?

“It’s an accomplishment to make it, but nobody remembers who finished second last year,” Logano said. “I don’t. I don’t know who I don’t know who it was

“And so it’s all about winning is what that means. It’s great to make it, but it’s really all about winning at this point.”

Logano has made a name for himself as the driver who seems to perform the best when it matters the most. He has won in two of his five previous Champ 4 appearances, including the most recent in 2022.

“It’s about a team that never gives up, and knows that you’re never out of it,” Wolfe said. “This format, more than ever, allows for that to happen, It keeps you motivated and working hard every week because even though we’ve had a pretty up and down year and had our fair struggles, there’s still an opportunity.

“And ultimately, everyone on the team has been able to rise to that occasion and make it happen.”

If Logano and the team make it happen Sunday, not only will Logano own three titles, he’ll be just the third driver to have won three titles in the 2000s (Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart the others) and the 34-year-old will be just the fifth to accomplish it when under the age of 35.

“So I’ve got some years [to win more],” Logano said. 

Right now, the focus is just on Sunday to see if he can join Johnson, Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty.

“There would pride in that absolutely,” Logano said. “I don’t know if that’s what drives me to do it, but it would be obviously a really cool piece of winning another championship.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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DANNY MURPHY has said he was left “upset” by TNT Sports’ decision to throw Noel Gallagher on co-commentary for Manchester City’s game against Sporting Lisbon.

The Oasis star surprised fans by appearing on comms alongside Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist.

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And he soon proved to have the commentators curse as his club lost 4-1, with the first goal for the Portuguese side coming moments after Gallagher had remarked “how easy” the game had been for City.

However, the decision to hand musician Gallagher the job over an ex-professional left him “annoyed”.

Speaking on talkSport on Wednesday, Murphy said: “It would upset me. I wouldn’t want to hear that.

“Partly from a selfish perspective.

“Because I know how much work I put in and how difficult it is to try and see things, engage things, spend years watching different techniques and games to try and analyse them.

“So, yeah, that would annoy me.

“I’ve got no problem with listening to different types of people watching football, pre [or] post [match], maybe even after.

“As co-commentary, it’s neither here nor there. It doesn’t add much value for me.

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“It’s a very difficult job. I know from doing it. As a third one [like Gallagher], it’s fine.

“But there’s not much there you’re going to learn.

“I’d rather see him before or after the game, giving his little anecdotes about Pep [Guardiola] and the players. 

“He gives you something different. Some people will like it because of the novelty.

“I wouldn’t want to hear it every week, put it that way.”

Murphy has been a regular pundit on Match of the Day since retiring.

The broadcast team calling the fights for the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson card has finally been revealed ahead of the event airing on Netflix on Nov. 15 from AT&T Stadium just outside Dallas.

Leading the commentary and handling play-by-play duties is veteran broadcaster Mauro Ranallo, who has called dozens of championship fights during his career dating back to his days working with PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Ranallo is joined in the broadcast booth by former multi-division boxing champion and former Tyson opponent Roy Jones Jr. The third person in the broadcast booth is actually actress Rosie Perez, who has often talked about her passion for boxing and now she’ll get to call one of the most talked about fights of the year.

Kate Scott, a veteran broadcaster from CBS, is set to host the event during the broadcast with retired boxing champion Andre Ward providing analysis from the booth before and after fights.

Sean Wheelock joins the broadcast as the rules and scoring expert with Sibley Scoles and Ariel Helwani reporting from inside the arena. Tyson’s son Amir Tyson is actually serving as the in-arena reporter alongside Scoles during the preliminary fights on the card.

Kody Mommaerts, who currently serves as the announcer for BOXXER and BYB Extreme Fighting, is handling the in-ring announcer duties for the card.

The broadcast team lineup was first revealed by Variety.

The main card airs exclusively on Netflix for no additional cost to subscribers with the broadcast starting at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 15. The preliminary card kicks off at 5:30 p.m. ET

Here’s the full card for Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

MAIN CARD

MAIN EVENT: Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

Amanda Serrano vs. Katie Taylor

Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos

Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes

PRELIMS

Shadasia Green vs. Melinda Watpool

Lucas Bahdi vs. Armando Casamonica

Bruce Carrington Jr. vs. Dana Coolwell

Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson hopes experienced defender Shane Duffy will bring “steel and leadership” after being recalled to the squad for the forthcoming Nations League matches against Finland and England.

The 32-year-old central defender has been included in a 23-man group for the Group B2 fixtures against the Finns at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 14 November and the trip to Wembley three days later.

The Norwich City player’s only appearance for the Republic in the past 12 months came in a 2-1 friendly victory over Hungary in June under then interim head coach John O’Shea.

His impressive club form in the Championship has seen him regain a place in the squad and his international boss believes the 61-times capped defender can bring some qualities that the Irish side was missing in their win over Finland and defeat in Greece in the last international window in October.

“I wanted to see the upcoming exciting younger centre-backs so in the beginning we went for younger players but I felt – especially last camp and before – there were some areas we can improve,” said Hallgrimsson.

“For example, we lost a lot of duels, especially against Greece in the first half, and his leadership, his character will probably help us in that area.

“It’s good to see what he brings in and I hope they will be the attributes he will come in with, with leadership, a little bit more steel and winning duels, especially set-pieces, etc.

The MotoGP finale has been switched from Valencia to Barcelona because of the devastating floods in Spain.

The last round of the series was scheduled for the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia but the venue has been impacted by the floods caused by torrential rain.

More than 200 people have been confirmed dead following the floods, with the number expected to rise.

The original date of 15 to 17 November will remain.

“MotoGP made the request to the authorities to race in Barcelona as it was the best possible choice,” said MotoGP organisers.

“The track is the easiest option for fans who were already planning to attend the MotoGP season finale. The location and circuit are also the most efficient choice, providing a close to seamless alternative for personnel and logistics.”

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya also hosted the sixth round of the championship in May.

Spanish Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin leads the standings and has a 24-point advantage over defending champion Francesco Bagnaia.

Martin, 26, finished runner-up in 2023 and is aiming for his maiden MotoGP title.

His 27-year-old Italian rival won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 and has a third in his sights.

The last rider who won three titles in succession was six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez in 2019.

Daniel Cormier doesn’t rule out the possibility of Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou happening.

If you ask UFC CEO Dana White, he’ll tell you there’s zero chance of that becoming a reality. White recently went off Ngannou, and their relationship appears to be as soured as ever.

Heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) makes his first title defense against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 headliner Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden. Both him and his coaches have hinted at retirement after the fight.

But Jones’ coach Greg Jackson said a big paycheck could make Jones stick around. A matchup with PFL heavyweight superfights champ Ngannou (17-3) could definitely deliver that, and if there’s one man that could make it happen, Cormier says it’s Turki Alalshikh.

“If Turki and Francis and Jon can make these dollars make sense, why wouldn’t they do it?” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I’m not sitting up here saying it’s going to happen because Dana does not like Francis. That is a massive problem – massive problem.

“But hell, when in the world do you put that above business? I don’t know that he will. He’s one of the smartest, sharpest businessman you’ve ever met. If the dollars make sense, the fight could potentially happen.”

Ngannou and his team seem to think a fight with Jones could happen. Despite the UFC being heavily against cross promotion, Cormier says sharing the same broadcast partner definitely makes things easier.

“If Francis is to be believed, and Francis has had these conversations, we’re now entering a world where multiple partnerships already are established in this realm,” Cormier continued. “ESPN UFC, ESPN PFL, Riyadh Season UFC – ladies and gentleman, maybe, just maybe, we get that fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 309.