NASCAR Cup Series: When will another two-time champion be crowned?

By Asher Fair | Jan 9, 2019

DARLINGTON, SC - SEPTEMBER 06: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller High Life Ford, races Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, and Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 6, 2015 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images) /

A two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has not been crowned since the 2007 season. When will another driver win his second career championship?

In the last 11 NASCAR Cup Series seasons, there have been drivers crowned champion for the first time, the third time, the fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time and the seventh time. But never during this span has a driver been crowned champion for the second time.

The most recent Cup Series driver to be crowned champion for the second time is Jimmie Johnson, who become a two-time champion in the 2007 season. He won the 2007 championship after winning his first career championship in the 2006 season.

Since then, Johnson has won his third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh career Cup Series championships. He won these championships in the 2008 season, the 2009 season, the 2010 season, the 2013 season and the 2016 season, respectively. He still drives full-time in the Cup Series, and he does so for Hendrick Motorsports.

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In other words, the Cup Series’ most recently crowned two-time champion is now a seven-time champion who hasn’t won a championship in either of the last two seasons.

Since Johnson was crowned a two-time champion in the 2007 season, which other drivers have won championships that have prevented there from being any two-time champions crowned?

After Johnson won five consecutive championships, the first five championship of his career, from the 2006 season through the 2010 season, Tony Stewart won the third and final championship of his career in the 2011 season. Brad Keselowski then won his first career championship in the 2012 season before Johnson won his sixth career championship in the 2013 season.

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch went on to win their first career championships in the 2014 season and the 2015 season, respectively, before Johnson won his seventh career and most recent championship in the 2016 season.

In the last two seasons, two more new champions have been crowned, as Martin Truex Jr. won his first career championship in the 2017 season before Joey Logano won his first career championship in the 2018 season.

There are currently eight former champions competing in the Cup Series. These eight former champions are seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, 2003 champion Matt Kenseth, 2004 champion Kurt Busch, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski, 2014 champion Kevin Harvick, 2015 champion Kyle Busch, 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr. and 2018 champion Joey Logano.

If Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Truex Jr. or Logano win the 2019 championship, the Cup Series will crown its first two-time champion in 12 seasons.

Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Truex Jr. and Logano should all be championship contenders in the 2019 season after finishing in seventh, eighth, third, fourth, second and first in the championship standings in the 2018 season.

However, Kenseth likely won’t be a championship contender in the 2019 season. He only competed part-time in the Cup Series in the 2018 season, and he likely will not return to the sport in 2019.

Since the current playoff format was introduced and the Championship 4 has been used, Keselowski, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Truex Jr. and Logano have combined to occupy 15 of the 20 Championship 4 spots, and they have combined to occupy all eight of them in the last two seasons.

In other words, the likelihood that one of these one-time champions becomes a two-time champion in the 2019 season is high, as the likelihood that they will occupy a majority if not all of the Championship 4 spots in the 2019 season is high.

That said, in each of the last two seasons, three of the four Championship 4 drivers entered the Championship 4 as one-time champions. Both of these seasons resulted in the driver who did not enter the Championship 4 as a former champion being crowned champion for the first time while the other three Championship 4 drivers were left still hunting for their second career championships.

Considering the fact that there are several competitive drivers who have not previously won a championship but could very well advance to the Championship 4 and win the championship in the 2019 season, there is certainly no guarantee that a driver will be crowned champion for the second time in 2019 even if three one-time champions advance to the Championship 4, as the last two seasons have shown.

These competitive drivers include but are not limited to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, who finished in fifth, sixth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th place in the championship standings in the 2018 season, respectively.

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Which NASCAR Cup Series driver will be the next driver to win his second career championship in the sport, and when will this driver win his second career championship? Be sure not to miss any of the 36 races on the 2019 schedule to see whether or not this happens in the upcoming season. The 61st annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the season underway at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on Sunday, February 17.

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