Approaching the tense last laps of the finale, Alex Bowman, in his first race back after suffering a concussion, collided with Michael McDowell on the back straight on lap 268, which brought out the sixth caution of the race.
All the lead-lap cars duly pitted, with Chase Briscoe first off pitroad. During the caution, a fire erupted under the #Ford of Brad Keselowski as it rounded Turn 4. He was able to safely exit the car as the fire was extinguished.
When the race returned to green on lap 280, Briscoe led the way followed by Ryan Blaney and Logano, with Ross Chastain seventh, the highest of the chasing title contenders.
Logano ran down Briscoe and passed him for the lead with 29 of 312 laps remaining, and then held off his Penske team-mate Blaney by 0.301 seconds to win the race and his second Cup title to go with his first from 2018.
It caps an incredible 2022 for Penske, after Will Power gave the organisation its 17th IndyCar title back in September, while Logano’s second NASCAR championship, both scored with the team, is Penske’s third overall.
Chastain – the fastest car on the track at the end – finished third, 1.2 seconds behind Logano. Without a late caution, Chastain did not have enough time to catch Logano or Blaney to attempt a pass.
Logan notched up his fourth win of the 2022 season, with two of them coming in the playoffs.
“We did it! We’re champions again, yes! Oh, my God, I’m so excited,” Logano said. “Thank you to everybody, my team. You guys are amazing. Gave me a good race car, good pitstop there at the end, got us up in front. Boy, that was just intense there at the end.
“It’s all about championships. That’s what it’s all about, and we worked so hard the last couple weeks trying to put ourselves in position. And everything that happened in 2020, I knew we just wanted to have a solid run and do this today.
“It’s such a big deal to win these championships. It impacts so many people’s lives.”
Logano also addressed the death early Sunday morning of Joe Gibbs Racing vice chairman Coy Gibbs, father of 2022 Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs and son of NASCAR and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs.
“Obviously the news this morning with Coy, too, I don’t know what to think. But obviously my condolences go to the Gibbs family,” he said. “But just an incredible day for us, and kind of mixed emotions at the moment.”
Despite having looked a likely contender for the win, Briscoe ended up finishing fourth just ahead of Kevin Harvick fifth.
The other two title contenders, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, endured a tough season finale, with Bell down in 10th place while Elliott finished 28th having been involved in an early crash.
That put Chastain as championship runner-up ahead of Bell and Elliott.
NASCAR Cup Phoenix results – 312 laps