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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the chairman of

1953. The current Drivers' Champion is Jimmie Johnson, who won his fifth consecutive championship in 2010
.

Prior to 2004, the championship was decided by a cumulative point total based on finishing position in each race throughout the season, which meant drivers could clinch the championship before the final racing event. Since then the Sprint Cup Series changed its points system to make the battle for the championship more competitive. It is called "Chase to the Sprint Cup", in which after twenty-six races the top ten point positions will change based on wins while the last two positions will be filled by whoever has more victories who is 11-20 in points. Each race victory adds three extra points for the driver when the "Chase" starts.

Overall, twenty-eight different drivers have won the Championship, with Richard Petty[2] and Dale Earnhardt[3] holding the record for most titles at seven.

By season

Season Driver Owner(s) No. Manufacturer Starts Wins Top 10s Poles Points (margin)
1949
Red Byron Raymond Parks 22 Oldsmobile 6 (8) 2 4 1 842.5 (117.5)
1950
Bill Rexford Julian Buesink 60 17 (19) 1 11 0 1959 (110.5)
1951
Herb Thomas Self-owned 92 Hudson Hornet 34 (41) 7 18 4 4208.45 (146.2)
1952
Tim Flock Ted Chester 91 33 (34) 8 25 4 6858.5 (106)
1953
Herb Thomas (2) Self-owned 92 37 (37) 12 31 12 8460 (646)
1954 Lee Petty 42 Chrysler New Yorker 34 (37) 7 32 3 8649 (283)
1955
Tim Flock (2) Carl Kiekhaefer 300 Chrysler 300 39 (45) 18 33 18 9596 (1508)
1956 Buck Baker 300B 48 (56) 14 39 12 9272 (704)
1957 Buck Baker (2) Self-owned 87 Chevrolet 40 (53) 10 38 6 10716 (760)
1958 Lee Petty (2) 42 Oldsmobile 50 (51) 7 43 4 12232 (644)
1959 Lee Petty (3) 42 Plymouth 42 (44) 11 35 2 11792 (1830)
1960 Rex White 4 Chevrolet Impala 40 (44) 6 35 3 21164 (3936)
1961
Ned Jarrett W.G. Holloway, Jr. 11 46 (52) 1 34 4 27272 (830)
1962 Joe Weatherly Bud Moore 8 Pontiac 52 (53) 9 45 7 30836 (2396)
1963
Joe Weatherly (2) 8 53 (55) 3 35 6 33398 (2228)
1964 Richard Petty Self-owned 43 Plymouth Sport Fury 61 (62) 9 43 8 40252 (5302)
1965
Ned Jarrett (2) Bondy Long 11 Ford Galaxie 54 (55) 13 45 9 38824 (3034)
1966
David Pearson
Cotton Owens 6 Dodge Charger 42 (49) 15 33 7 35638 (1950)
1967 Richard Petty (2) Self-owned 43 Plymouth Satellite 48 (49) 27 40 18 42472 (6028)
1968 David Pearson (2)
Holman-Moody
17 Ford Torino 48 (49) 16 38 12 3499 (126)
1969 David Pearson (3) 17 51 (54) 11 44 14 4170 (357)
1970
Bobby Isaac Nord Krauskopf 71 Dodge Charger 47 (48) 11 38 13 3911 (51)
1971
Richard Petty (3) Self-owned 43 Plymouth Satellite 46 (48) 21 41 9 4435 (364)
1972 Richard Petty (4) 43 31 (31) 8 28 3 8701.4 (127.9)
1973 Benny Parsons L.G. DeWitt 72 Chevrolet Chevelle 28 (28) 1 21 0 7173.8 (67.15)
1974
Richard Petty (5) Self-owned 43 Dodge Charger 30 (30) 10 23 7 5037.75 (567.45)
1975 Richard Petty (6) 43 30 (30) 13 24 3 4783 (722)
1976
Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson 11 Chevrolet Chevelle 30 (30) 9 23 2 4644 (195)
1977
Cale Yarborough (2) 11 Chevrolet Malibu 30 (30) 9 27 3 5000 (386)
1978 Cale Yarborough (3) 11 Oldsmobile Cutlass 30 (30) 10 24 8 4841 (474)
1979
Richard Petty (7) Self-owned 43 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 31 (31) 5 27 1 4830 (11)
1980 Dale Earnhardt Rod Osterlund 2 31 (31) 5 24 0 4661 (19)
1981 Darrell Waltrip Junior Johnson 11 Buick Regal 31 (31) 12 25 11 4880 (53)
1982
Darrell Waltrip (2) 11 30 (30) 12 20 7 4489 (72)
1983
Bobby Allison
Bill Gardner
22 30 (30) 6 25 0 4667 (47)
1984
Terry Labonte Billy Hagan 44 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 30 (30) 2 24 2 4508 (65)
1985
Darrell Waltrip (3) Junior Johnson 11 28 (28) 3 21 4 4292 (101)
1986
Dale Earnhardt (2) Richard Childress 3 29 (29) 5 23 1 4468 (288)
1987
Dale Earnhardt (3) 3 29 (29) 11 24 1 4696 (489)
1988
Bill Elliott
Harry Melling
9 Ford Thunderbird 29 (29) 6 22 6 4488 (24)
1989
Rusty Wallace Raymond Beadle 27 Pontiac Grand Prix 29 (29) 6 20 4 4176 (12)
1990
Dale Earnhardt (4) Richard Childress 3 Chevrolet Lumina 29 (29) 9 23 4 4430 (26)
1991 Dale Earnhardt (5) 3 29 (29) 4 21 0 4287 (195)
1992
Alan Kulwicki Self-owned 7 Ford Thunderbird 29 (29) 2 17 6 4078 (10)
1993
Dale Earnhardt (6) Richard Childress 3 Chevrolet Lumina 30 (30) 6 21 2 4526 (80)
1994
Dale Earnhardt (7) 3 31 (31) 4 25 2 4694 (444)
1995 Jeff Gordon Rick Hendrick 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 31 (31) 7 23 8 4614 (34)
1996 Terry Labonte (2) 5 31 (31) 2 24 4 4657 (37)
1997 Jeff Gordon (2) 24 32 (32) 10 23 1 4710 (14)
1998 Jeff Gordon (3) 24 33 (33) 13 28 7 5328 (364)
1999 Dale Jarrett
Robert Yates
88 Ford Taurus 34 (34) 4 29 0 5262 (201)
2000 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs 18 Pontiac Grand Prix 34 (34) 4 24 2 5130 (265)
2001 Jeff Gordon (4) Rick Hendrick 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 36 (36) 6 24 6 5112 (349)
2002 Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs 20 Pontiac Grand Prix 36 (36) 3 21 2 4800 (63)
2003 Matt Kenseth
Mark Martin
Jack Roush
17 Ford Taurus 36 (36) 1 25 0 5022 (90)
2004 Kurt Busch Jack Roush 97 36 (36) 3 21 1 6506 (8)
2005 Tony Stewart (2) Joe Gibbs 20 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 36 (36) 5 25 3 6533 (35)
2006 Jimmie Johnson Jeff Gordon
Rick Hendrick
48
Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
36 (36) 5 24 1 6475 (56)
2007 Jimmie Johnson (2) 48 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
Chevrolet Impala SS
36 (36) 10 24 4 6723 (77)
2008 Jeff Gordon (5) Rick Hendrick 24 Chevrolet Impala SS 36 (36) 6 24 3 6684 (69)

By drivers

Richard Petty, shown here in 1983, was the first to reach seven Drivers' Championships.
Dale Earnhardt, also shown here in 1983, is the other driver to have won seven Drivers' Championships.
Driver Total Seasons
Richard Petty 7 1964, 1967,
1979
Dale Earnhardt 7 1980,
1994
Jimmie Johnson 5 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Jeff Gordon 4 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001
Lee Petty 3 1954, 1958, 1959
David Pearson
3
1966
, 1968, 1969
Cale Yarborough 3
1977
, 1978
Darrell Waltrip 3 1981,
1985
Tony Stewart 3 2002, 2005, 2011
Herb Thomas 2
1953
Tim Flock 2
1955
Buck Baker 2 1956, 1957
Joe Weatherly 2 1962,
1963
Ned Jarrett 2
1965
Terry Labonte 2
1984, 1996
Red Byron 1
1949
Bill Rexford 1
1950
Rex White 1 1960
Bobby Isaac 1
1970
Benny Parsons 1 1973
Bobby Allison 1
1983
Bill Elliott 1
1988
Rusty Wallace 1
1989
Alan Kulwicki 1
1992
Dale Jarrett 1 1999
Bobby Labonte 1 2000
Matt Kenseth 1 2003
Kurt Busch 1 2004

By manufacturer

Chevrolet, shown here with a car driven by Rex White, has been in the sport since its inaugural season.
Manufacturer Total
United States Chevrolet 32
United States Ford 8
United States Plymouth 5
United States Pontiac 5
United States Dodge 4
United States Oldsmobile 4
United States Hudson 3
United States Chrysler 3
United States Buick 3
Japan Toyota 0

Manufacturers in bold are still competing in the Sprint Cup Series Championship.

Records

Ten drivers have achieved consecutive wins in the Sprint Cup Series Drivers' Championship.

Championships Driver Seasons
3 Cale Yarborough
1976
–1978
2 Buck Baker 1956–1957
Lee Petty 1958–1959
Joe Weatherly 1962–
1963
Richard Petty
1974
-1975
Darrell Waltrip 1981–
1982
David Pearson
1969
Dale Earnhardt
1994
Jeff Gordon 19971998

See also

References

General
  • "Sprint Cup Series Driver's and Manufacturer Champions". Racing-Reference. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  • "Manufacturer Championships 1949 - 2009". Jayski.com. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
  • "List of NASCAR All-Time Sprint Cup Series Winners". Jayski.com. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
Specific
  1. ^ "Red Byron — First NASCAR Champion". Decades of Racing.Net. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  2. ^ "Richard Petty Information". NASCAR.com. Retrieved 22 June 2010.
  3. ^ "Earnhardt Information". Sport Illustrated. Retrieved 22 June 2010.

Category:NASCAR related lists