NASCAR: Joey Logano title completes never-before-seen sweep

Prior to Sunday, never before had drivers become two-time champions in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula 1, and IndyCar during the same season.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano won Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway, and in doing so, he secured his second career championship and his first since 2018.

Logano became the 17th driver to win multiple championships in Cup Series history, which dates back to the 1949 season when Red Byron won the first title. Herb Thomas, who won the 1951 title, became the first driver to win a second title when he won again in 1953.

Last month, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen became the 17th driver to win multiple Formula 1 world championships, and the month prior, Team Penske’s Will Power became the 27th driver to win multiple American open-wheel racing titles (fifth in IndyCar specifically). Verstappen won his first world title last year, and Power won his first title in 2014.

Prior to this year, there had never previously been a season in which all three series crowned a champion for the second time.

In fact, from 2006 to 2001, the only time that the champions of two of the three series became two-time champions in the same season was in 2019, when Kyle Busch became a two-time Cup Series champion and Josef Newgarden became a two-time IndyCar champion.

The Formula 1 world champion that year was Lewis Hamilton, and his title was the sixth of his record-tying seventh.

Prior to Busch’s 2019 title, the Cup Series hadn’t seen a driver become a two-time champion since Jimmie Johnson won the second of his record-tying seven titles in 2007. Prior to Verstappen’s back-to-back titles, Formula 1 hadn’t seen a driver become a two-time world champion since Hamilton won his second title in 2014.

Prior to Newgarden’s 2019 title, IndyCar hadn’t seen a driver become a two-time champion since Dario Franchitti won the second of his four titles in 2009.

The 2022 Formula 1 season isn’t quite over yet, despite Verstappen having already clinched his second world title. It is scheduled to end on Sunday, November 20, and the 2023 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 5. The 2023 Cup Series season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 19, and the 2023 IndyCar season is also scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 5.