Joey Logano has been one of the most controversial drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series since he made his debut as a teenager. The reactions to winning his third championship in Phoenix are proof enough that he’s still not a fan favorite. But is his greatness unfairly ignored? Former driver Kyle Petty thinks so. Compared to Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson to make a case.

Petty recently explained on GoPRNLive how Busch has 63 wins and two championships and Larson has 29 wins and one championship. Logano, on the other hand, has 36 wins and three championships.

He used this statistic to defend why Logano should be considered more than the other drivers. He said, “I mean he separated himself from that group in terms of the championship.”

“When you look at it, I don’t know why we don’t want to talk about Joey Logano in the same breath that we talk about Kyle Busch or Kyle Larson or Denny Hamlin and guys like that.”

“Looks like we’re just pooping. You know what Joey Logano did. But he put up some phenomenal numbers.” So why isn’t the Team Penske driver getting the credit he’s due?

He was an easy driver to dislike from the start. He got into fights with drivers fans loved, spoke his mind without filter and used questionable racing tactics at key points in his career. Petty understands all of this. But he doesn’t agree that they are reason enough to dismiss his performances and achievements which are right up there with the best.

Are fans wrong to dislike Joey Logano?

He sees the appropriate hypocrisy in the way Logano is being treated by fans for his supposedly “undeserved” third championship. He noted this by citing how Tony Stewart had said he didn’t even deserve to be in the playoffs when he won his last championship in 2011. But the fans didn’t hate him for it.

Petty continued, “You take Joey Logano, and all we want to do with Joey is take down and pick out the parts that we don’t like, that we don’t agree with as fans and you pick out the little pieces. You say, he deserves it? Or not. He got the trophy, man. He is three times… He goes on. He doesn’t care what you think.”

Logano has always been someone who didn’t pay much attention to the number of fans chanting his name in the stands. He’ll move on and try to win a fourth championship, as Petty says. But there’s also no denying that he gets more than his fair share of hate from the NASCAR community. Perhaps history will be kinder to him.