Joey Logano is now a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, which puts him into a six-member fraternity.
The other five are NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers, and there’s little doubt that Logano will join them eventually. Regardless of how you feel about the system that resulted in his third title, it’s just another in a line of unique paths that led to a championship trifecta.
The first three-timer was also one of the most recognizable legends in the history of American auto racing. Lee Petty came into 1959 with a pair of titles to his name already and was at the top of his game.
There were 44 points-paying events in 1959, not unusual for the era. That season also featured the first Daytona 500, and it certainly delivered a memorable finish. Petty was in the middle of a three-wide formation with a lapped car and eventual runner-up Johnny Beauchamp. Without the benefit of modern technology, it took three days to determine that Petty, not Beauchamp, had won.
Petty would use the victory to launch his title run. In his 42 starts (yes, the eventual champion didn’t participate in two events that year), he won 11 times and finished in the top 10 in all but seven races. Unlike the other three-time champions, Petty won his third near the end of his career, as 1960 would be his final full-time season.
The next three-timer is a man who needs minimal introduction as a winner of 105 Cup races, David Pearson. Pearson claimed his three titles in a span of just four years, winning in 1966, 1968 and 1969. His final year was a clinic in consistency, in which he not only finished 42 of his 51 races, but all 42 finishes were in the top five.
For Pearson, his lack of additional championships was due to his frequent part-time schedule. After 1969, he started fewer than three quarters of the races every year for the rest of his career, finishing better than 13th in points only twice.
Cale Yarborough took note of Pearson cramming three titles into a four-year span and figured he would take it a step further. After winning the crown in 1976 and 1977, Yarborough capitalized on Richard Petty‘s first winless season in 18 years to secure his third straight triumph.
He totaled 28 wins in 90 races during his three-year domination of the Cup Series. But like Pearson and so many others in that era, he simply didn’t race full time for very long. Yarborough transitioned to a part-time role beginning in 1981, ending his tenure as a championship…
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