Joey Logano claimed the 2022 NASCAR Cup two weeks ago. It’s his second championship in his career, making him just the second active racer to be a multiple-time champ.
NASCAR on NBC’s Twitter account asked their followers if this championship puts Logano in the top-25 of all-time, and that did get me thinking. There’s been so many incredible names and champions that have come through in NASCAR’s 74-year history. So, I got to work on a list.
I took every driver that has won 10 races or more in their career (with a few exceptions), and began adding weight to their wins. The amount of championships and crown jewel events (Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500, etc.) increased their scores to go along with their career win totals.
Out of the 203 drivers that have at least one career win in NASCAR Cup competition, 63 drivers qualified for ranking. So let’s see if the newly-minted two-time champ made the cut.
Right out of the gate, “The King” Richard Petty is the undisputed best driver in NASCAR history. He takes the No. 1 spot with 200 career wins (most all-time), seven championships (tied most all-time), seven Daytona 500s (most all-time) and more crown jewels to add on. He takes the throne, and it’s not even close.
For fans who have been watching since the 1990s and through the 2000s and 2010s, the next two are incredibly ironic. Amazingly, after multiple number and fact checks, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon ended with identical numbers.
Johnson gets the tiebreaker for being tied for most championships compared to Gordon’s four. The two Hendrick drivers combined for five Daytona 500s, seven All-Star titles, seven Coca-Cola 600s, eight Southern 500s, and are first and second in Brickyard 400s.
The third and final seven-time champ, the late Dale Earnhardt, takes fourth on this list. I know this will ruffle feathers because accolades aside, Earnhardt may have been the most talented and polarizing figures in the sport. He’s most certainly top-five, but many rightfully argue he’s top-three.
Spots five through eight are all superstars before my time that lit up the stat sheet: David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison. While I wasn’t alive to see them race, I’ve done my homework. I know full well that these four men were the absolute superstars of the sport during its initial growth in national attention.
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart round out the top-11 spots. The 2010s were in the stranglehold of Harvick and Busch, while Stewart consistently crashed the party held by Johnson and Gordon.
So did Logano make it? Yes he did, but it was close. He takes 23rd as of now with 31 wins, a Daytona 500 and All-Star win to go with his two titles.
He’s safe for now, but drivers like Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are on the outside looking in. Compared to Logano’s past few seasons, these two have been smoking him in win totals. He may be there now, but he’s not guaranteed a seat for long.
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here
