NASCAR Cup Series: Ryan Blaney nearly ended a 66-year streak

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney finished just 0.330 seconds behind teammate Joey Logano in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway, and Logano was crowned champion for the third time in his career.

Blaney had a chance to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five titles in a row from 2006 to 2010. He also had the chance to end a streak that dates back to 1958, but that streak has now officially reached 67 consecutive years.

On only one occasion in the history of NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula 1 have the three champions been the same in multiple seasons. It happened in back-to-back seasons back in 1956 and 1957.

In 1956 and 1957, Buck Baker won the Cup Series championships, Jimmy Bryan won the USAC Championship Car (IndyCar) championships, and Juan Manuel Fangio won the Formula 1 world championships.

We have never seen the same set of champions in any two seasons since, yet it nearly happened again in back-to-back seasons.

Blaney won last year's Cup Series championship while Alex Palou won the IndyCar championship and Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 world championship. Palou also won this year's IndyCar championship.

Verstappen has yet to clinch the 2024 Formula 1 title, but all he really needs to do is avoid a total meltdown over the final three race weekends of the season. He owns a 62-point lead over McLaren's Lando Norris with 86 points left on the table. As long as he competes, he should have no trouble clinching his fourth straight title.

So had Blaney won on Sunday, it would have done everything but officially seal the deal.

But with Logano having been crowned this year's Cup Series champion, that streak will live on for at least another year. When he won his first title in 2018, Scott Dixon won the IndyCar championship and Lewis Hamilton won the Formula 1 world championship. When he won his second in 2022, Will Power won the IndyCar title and Verstappen won the Formula 1 title.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, February 16 with the 67th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Fox is set to provide live coverage.