PHOENIX, AZ -- Column By Tom Baker -- Photo by Chris Graythen / Getty Images --Everyone saying that Joey Logano didn't win enough to deserve the championship either just doesn't like Joey Logano or they don't like the playoff system and they are taking it out on Joey.  

Joey did everything he needed to do to win the championship, and he got the most wins down the stretch. 

You can say that the playoff system should be tossed and that's fine. Many people will agree with you. 

But you cannot argue that Joey didn't deserve to win the championship under the current system.  

Tony Stewart won, what, five races down the stretch in 2011 to TIE Carl Edwards and win the championship on a tiebreaker?  

Was that illegitimate? 

If this year's champion had been Kyle Larson or Martin Truex or almost any other driver who only won one regular season race and had an average finish like Logano's but won three of ten playoff races and won the title, few would be complaining.  

Most of you are only complaining because it's Joey Logano and you love to hate him.  

He won a regular season race at Nashville, which put him in the playoffs.  

He dominated the All-Star race as well.  

Then, he won the first playoff race at Atlanta, won again at Vegas, and the finale at Phoenix.  

It doesn't matter what his average finish was the rest of the year.  He did what was required. 

Once teams get their required win to get into the playoffs, they often shift their focus to trying new setups knowing that they are now safely in the hunt.  

I am not saying that's why Joey's average finish was not great, but often times stats don't tell the whole story. 

When Kyle Busch got hurt in 2015 and missed 11 races in the regular season, he was given a waiver to become playoff-eligible and went on to win the championship.  

Was that illegitimate?  

Logano won six races that year and if he hadn't been pile-driven into the wall under yellow by Matt Kenseth at Martinsville, which cost him a shot at the final four,  he would have had an excellent chance to win that championship as well.  

In any other sport, the more you do in the regular season, the higher seed you earn for the playoffs - but you still have to win IN the playoffs to be the champion. 

If you make the playoffs with a losing record as an NFL wild card, but then win every playoff game (including one on a bad call by the officials) to make the Super Bowl and then win that, you are the champion.  

Is that illegitimate? 

Joey earned his way into the playoffs with one win, won the first playoff race at Atlanta, got a break when The Hendrick No. 48 Team messed up to advance to the round of 8, and then took full advantage of that break by winning the next race (Vegas) and then won Phoenix.  

Kyle Larson won six regular season races but did NOT win when it counted made some mistakes down the stretch to eliminate himself.  

This is how sports playoffs work and how they have worked for decades.  

I am not arguing about whether we should keep the playoff system in NASCAR or trash it. 

I would have no issue with getting rid of the playoffs and stages and going back to the boring old season-long points system and drivers riding around just to finish races when their cars aren't handling well because there's no incentive to push their luck.

I just think fans would regret that soon enough because the racing at half of the tracks is awful in the Cup Series now because of the new car, and now you'd have racers racing conservatively which would make the racing even less exciting.  

NASCAR says they'll review the playoff format, but there's no chance the playoff itself ever goes away because TV wants the drama that goes with it, and everything with NASCAR's Cup Series now revolves around TV because they want the billions that go with that.    

Everyone on every team knows what has to be done when they get to Daytona if they want to win a championship, and they plan their strategy from week to week accordingly as the season unfolds. 

I will never say that anyone in the current system who wins their way into the playoffs and then wins three of the last 10 races is illegitimate because that's simply not the case.