Kyle Busch will be the only driver in the 16-driver playoff field to have won more than one Cup championship when the NASCAR Cup playoffs get underway on Sunday with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
In fact, among all playoff and non-playoff drivers, Busch, the champion in 2015 and 2019, is the only regular in the Cup Series to have won more than one championship.
Additionally, since Jimmie Johnson ran five consecutive championships from 2006 to 2010, the Cup series has not crowned back-to-back winners.
Kyle Busch is about to choose his future
Multiple championship stacking used to be common. Famously, Johnson, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. each scored seven points, Jeff Gordon scored four, and Lee Petty, Tony Stewart, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, and Darrell Waltrip all scored three.
However, successful current drivers Joey Logano (29), Martin Truex Jr. (31), Brad Keselowski (35), and Kevin Harvick (60) have not been able to repeat as champions.
Keselowski put another championship on his list as soon as he won his 2012 championship, claiming that two-time champions were destined for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He's still waiting, and since he didn't make the playoffs in his first season as an owner-driver, it won't happen this season.
Those aiming for multiples or streaks are hard times at the mountain's summit.
When the Chase format was adopted in 2004, the championship landscape underwent a significant transformation due to fewer drivers being eligible to win the championship in the closing weeks and the introduction the 10-race run to victory. Round-by-round eliminations and a "final four" group of drivers competing for the championship in a winner-takes-all format in the season finale in 2014 marked an even bigger change.
Drivers' strategies in the season's final weeks have changed due to the elimination rounds. It's not always about winning, even when doing so guarantees progression to the next round. Another important goal is to prevent finishes in the 30s while driving a less-than-ideal car to a respectable finish.
Chase Briscoe, one of four drivers competing in the playoffs for the first time, along with Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Cindric, remarked, "You don't have to win." "You don't always have to win the race or attempt to take a car in 12th place and win with it, and that's hard for me to understand. You may 'point' your way there. You must be able to run ninth with an automobile that is in 12th place.
Due to the rocky playoff experience, reaching the championship race, which will once again be held at Phoenix Raceway, has become a focus of attention for Cup drivers. Claiming one of the four Championship 4 slots in the Cup Series has evolved into a badge of honor in its own right, much like making it to the Final Four in college basketball, the College Football Playoff, or the College World Series.
Only three drivers—Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex—have participated in the Championship Four since 2014. Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin have made it four times to the top of the leaderboard.
Cindric said, "The format is substantially more difficult. It is what it is—teams and drivers who can win a race change yearly. Throughout the season, you can see that evolving.
Ryan Blaney
Hamlin and Harvick hold the record for the most playoff appearances with 16, which dates back to when Kurt Busch won the inaugural championship under the new system in 2004. Hamlin's best result was second, achieved in 2010.
The playoffs have seen regular appearances from Ryan Blaney (six), Alex Bowman (five), Austin Dillon (five), and William Byron (four), but none of them have emerged victorious. Only Blaney and Bowman have advanced to the round of eight out of that group.
The road to a first championship — or a repeat — starts on Sunday.
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