NASCAR: 11-year championship trend in jeopardy -- again

The NASCAR Cup Series hasn’t seen a driver crowned champion for a second time in 12 years. That has a 75% chance of changing this Sunday, but this isn’t the first time this streak has been in jeopardy, yet it has managed to stay intact.

For the third consecutive season, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. are set to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, this time alongside Denny Hamlin, who hasn’t been to the Championship 4 since he made an appearance in its inaugural season back 2014.

Harvick, Busch and Truex are all former champions, winning the titles in the 2014, 2015 and 2017 seasons, respectively, while Hamlin has never won a championship.

This means that there is a 75% that an active streak of 11 seasons comes to an end this Sunday afternoon in the Championship 4 race, the Ford EcoBoost 400, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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Not since Jimmie Johnson was crowned a two-time champion in the 2007 season has a Cup Series driver won his second championship. We have seen one-time champions, three-time champions, a four-time champion, a five-time champion, a six-time champion and a seven-time champion crowned since then, but never a two-time champion.

Johnson won his third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh titles in the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2016 seasons. Tony Stewart won his third title in the 2011 season. Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Busch, Truex and Joey Logano won their first titles in the 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 seasons, respectively.

Naturally, the only driver who can keep this trend alive in this Sunday afternoon’s 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida is Hamlin, meaning that there is a 75% chance that it will end.

But this isn’t the first time that this trend has come under threat. In fact, it has faced extinction in each of the last four Championship 4s.

In 2015, one-time champion Harvick competed in the Championship 4, and in 2016, one-time champion Busch competed in it. In 2017, Truex was the only non-one-time champion, and he won the championship. In 2018, the same could be said for Logano.

Now, for the third consecutive season, can the only driver who can possibly keep this trend alive keep it alive?

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Based on these past scenarios going back to the 2015 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, this trend only had a 3.52% chance of still being intact entering 2019, yet here it is. Can Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch or Martin Truex Jr. put an end to it by becoming a two-time champion this Sunday, November 17, or will Denny Hamlin run it to 12 consecutive years by winning his first title?

NBC is set to broadcast the Championship 4 season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 400, live from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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NASCAR: 11-year championship trend in jeopardy — again

By Asher Fair | Nov 13, 2019

The NASCAR Cup Series hasn’t seen a driver crowned champion for a second time in 12 years. That has a 75% chance of changing this Sunday, but this isn’t the first time this streak has been in jeopardy, yet it has managed to stay intact.