NASCAR might have seen a 63-year streak end in 2021

While we probably won’t know for sure for decades, NASCAR may very well have seen a 63-year streak come to an end in the 2021 Cup Series season.

When seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson announced after the 2019 season that the 2020 season would be his final season as the full-time driver of the #48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, he did not completely shut the door on a return to the Cup Series in some capacity.

But that return did not come in 2021, as he was preoccupied with commitments in other racing series, specifically IndyCar, where he competed as a rookie for Chip Ganassi Racing behind the wheel of the #48 Honda in the road and street course races.

The 2021 Cup Series season ended up being the first season not competing in the Cup Series since 2000. He made his series debut in 2001, and he competed full-time from 2002 to 2020.

And because of it, the 2021 season may have been the first season since 1957 without a seven-time champion or an eventual seven-time champion.

Johnson became the third seven-time Cup Series champion in 2016, joining Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Petty competed in the series for 35 years from 1958 to 1992. He ran his first full season in 1968, though he was classified as a full-time driver for the first time eight years prior in 1960.

As for Earnhardt, his career was cut short in 2001 when he was killed in a last-lap crash in the season-opening Daytona 500. He made his series debut in 1975 and competed every year from then through 2001. He became a full-time driver in 1979 and continued in that role until his passing.

So the 2020 season was the 63rd straight season with at least one seven-time champion or eventual champion competing in the Cup Series.

But what about 2021?

Of course, we won’t know right away if this streak did indeed end in 2021, as there are several drivers who could technically still become seven-time champions before their careers are over.

Kyle Busch is the sport’s lone active two-time champion, though there are seven other former champions in the field, including reigning champion Kyle Larson as well as Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Chase Elliott.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway with the 64th annual Daytona 500, which is set to be broadcast live from Daytona International Speedway on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 20.