NASCAR: What makes ‘Chasing 8’ titles seemingly so impossible?

It’s not just Jimmie Johnson; several NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers have tried dozens of time to win an eighth title. None have succeeded.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson announced in November that the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season will be his 19th and final season as the full-time driver of the #48 Chevrolet.

While he did not rule out a future return to the series, perhaps even driving one of Rick Hendrick’s cars, he did confirm that the 2020 season will mark his fourth and final attempt to become the sport’s first eight-time champion.

Johnson’s first three shots to become an eight-time champion after winning his record-tying seventh title in 2016 have not gone as planned by any stretch of the imagination.

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He won three of the first 13 races of the 2017 season, continuing his hot streak that included three wins in the final seven races of the 2016 season.

But since then, he hasn’t won a race. His longest win drought was previously 24 races; it now sits at 95 races. After winning at least two races in each of his first 16 seasons, he went winless for the first time in 2018, and he went winless again in 2019, this time without qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in his career.

As such, he continues “Chasing 8”.

But looking back at the success of past seven-time champions, it’s clear that the struggles with which Johnson is dealing as a seven-time champion aren’t limited to the 44-year-old El Cajon, California native — not even just in NASCAR, but in other forms of motorsport as well, including IndyCar and Formula 1.

Looking across the Cup Series, IndyCar and Formula 1, there are five seven-time champions. Johnson, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt are the three seven-time Cup Series champions while A.J. Foyt is the lone seven-time IndyCar champion and Michael Schumacher is the lone seven-time Formula 1 champion. Six-time champion Lewis Hamilton is favored to join Schumacher next year.

Combined, they are 0 for 31 in terms of trying to become eight-time champions.

Johnson, as noted, is 0 for 3. Petty went 0 for 13, winning his seventh title in 1979 and retiring after 1992. Earnhardt was killed in the season opener of his seventh attempt in 2001 after winning his seventh title in 1994.

Foyt won his seventh championship in 1979 and didn’t retire until 1993, although he only spent three full seasons as a seven-time champion. Schumacher won his seventh championship in 2004. While he didn’t retire until after 2012, he only spent five more seasons in the sport attempting to become an eight-time champion.

Considering how hard it is to stay at the top for an extended amount of time, 0 for 31 isn’t all that shocking.

But considering we’re talking about five seven-time champions, it actually is, especially when you look at the numbers of five-time champions becoming six-time champions and six-time champions becoming seven-time champions.

As for the five-time champions, NASCAR’s only five-time champions are all seven-time champions. After winning his fifth title in 2010, Johnson won his sixth in 2013 (1 for 3). After winning his fifth title in 1974, Petty won his sixth in 1975 (1 for 1). Earnhardt won his sixth title in 1993 after winning his fifth in 1991 (1 for 2).

IndyCar’s only five-time champion aside of Foyt is Scott Dixon, who is currently 0 for 1 in his quest to become a six-time champion after winning his fifth title in 2018. Foyt won his sixth title in 1975, eight years after winning his fifth in 1967 (1 for 8).

Schumacher won his fifth title in 2002 and followed it up immediately with a sixth in 2003 (1 for 1). Likewise, Hamilton won his fifth title in 2018 and following it up immediately with a sixth in 2019 (1 for 1). The only other five-time Formula 1 champion is Juan Manuel Fangio. After winning his fifth title in 1957, he no longer competed full-time.

Combined, these drivers are 6 for 16 (5 for 8 if you take out Foyt) as five-time champions becoming six-time champions.

As for the six-time champions, Johnson won his seventh title in 2016 after winning his sixth in 2013 (1 for 3). Petty won his seventh in 1979 after winning his sixth in 1975 (1 for 4). Earnhardt won his seventh in 1994, one year after winning his sixth (1 for 1).

Foyt and Petty took a similar path, as Foyt won his seventh championship in 1979 after winning his sixth in 1975 as well (1 for 4). Schumacher, meanwhile, became a seven-time champion in 2004, one year after winning his sixth title (1 for 1). Hamilton has not yet had the chance to drive for his seventh title.

Combined, these drivers are 5 for 13 as six-time champions becoming seven-time champions.

Yet nobody has been able to win that elusive eighth title, and unless Johnson has some sort of miraculous bounce-back year in 2020, that 0 for 31, a winless streak that has been mounting for more than four decades now, will become 0 for 32.

There’s just something about “Chasing 8” in not only NASCAR but IndyCar and Formula 1 as well that nobody seems to quite understand. Maybe Jimmie Johnson will finally end that in his final full season. Maybe Lewis Hamilton will end that by winning the 2020 and 2021 Formula 1 championships. Or maybe they, like all the all-time greats before them, will fall victim to the same trend.