Most NASCAR Championships (Cup Series)

Three drivers share the record for the most NASCAR Cup Series championships, with seven each: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson. No one has won an eighth, so the top of NASCAR’s title list has been a three-way tie since 2016.

The three came from different eras and won in different ways, which is part of what makes the tie so hard to break. Petty and Earnhardt built theirs under season-long points; Johnson won his in the playoff era, including a run no one has matched. Here is the full championship leaderboard, how the tie holds, and why Johnson’s five-in-a-row stands apart.

Most NASCAR Cup Series championships

The drivers with the most Cup Series titles, through the 2024 season.

Championships	Driver	Era
7	Richard Petty	1964-1979
7	Dale Earnhardt	1980-1994
7	Jimmie Johnson	2006-2016
4	Jeff Gordon	1995-2001
3	David Pearson	1966-1969
3	Darrell Waltrip	1981-1985
3	Cale Yarborough	1976-1978
3	Tony Stewart	2002-2011
3	Lee Petty	1954-1959
3	Joey Logano	2018-2024

Seven is the ceiling, held by three drivers. Below the trio, Jeff Gordon’s four stands alone, and a cluster of drivers sit on three, including Joey Logano, who joined that group by winning in 2024.

The three-way tie at seven

Richard Petty set the mark first, winning seven titles between 1964 and 1979 during NASCAR’s early boom, a period in which he also piled up a race-win record that still stands. Dale Earnhardt matched him with seven from 1980 to 1994, becoming the face of the sport’s national growth.

Jimmie Johnson completed the trio, winning seven between 2006 and 2016 with Hendrick Motorsports. Because his titles came under the Chase and playoff formats rather than season-long points, his seven are sometimes debated against Petty’s and Earnhardt’s, but the record book counts all three equally. The tie has held since Johnson’s last title in 2016, with no driver yet reaching eight.

Johnson’s five in a row

Within the seven-title tie sits a record that belongs to Johnson alone: five straight championships from 2006 through 2010. No other driver in Cup Series history has won more than three consecutively.

Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough each managed three in a row, the next-best streaks, which shows how far clear Johnson’s run sits. Winning one title takes a full season of consistency across many tracks; stringing five together, against deep modern fields and through late-season pressure, is why the streak is often rated among the toughest records in the sport.

Jeff Gordon and the three-time champions

Jeff Gordon is the best of the rest, with four titles between 1995 and 2001. He was Johnson’s teammate and mentor at Hendrick, and the same organisation that backed Gordon’s four went on to power all seven of Johnson’s, making Hendrick Motorsports the most successful team of the modern era.

Below Gordon, a group of drivers share three titles each: David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Tony Stewart, Lee Petty and, most recently, Joey Logano, who reached three with wins in 2018, 2022 and 2024. That Logano climbed into the group so recently shows the three-title tier is still active, even as the seven-title mark stays out of reach.

Why the eras do not compare cleanly

Comparing championship counts across NASCAR history means comparing different scoring systems. Petty and Earnhardt won on season-long points, rewarding consistency across an entire year. Johnson and every champion since 2014 won under an elimination playoff that can turn on a single final race.

The trophies count the same, but the roads were not identical, which is why the debate over the “real” greatest keeps running even with three drivers level on paper. For the race-win record rather than titles, see the most wins in NASCAR history, and for how the modern title is decided, our explainer on how NASCAR playoffs work. Seven is the number to beat, three drivers hold it, and no one has reached eight.