Only Yesterday: Winning Races but Not a Championship

In case you haven’t heard, what’s old is new again. Collectors are clamoring for VHS cassettes, pop hits are sampling Elton John tunes and a band shirt you had in 1994 could be worth more than one you bought last week.

This appears to also be the case with the NASCAR championship. After more than two decades of various playoff systems, it sounds like we could be headed back to the future, with a full season points format gaining momentum as a distinct possibility.

Proponents claim that it will lessen the likelihood that an undeserving driver will wind up hoisting the big trophy. After all, while each of the three national touring series has its season win leader still in the hunt on the final weekend, it could easily come to pass that none of them win the title. One might consider that a travesty, but such an occurrence is most certainly not limited to the playoff era of NASCAR.

Not by a long shot.

Now, we have mentioned these situations in the Cup Series before. For example, Bill Elliott coughed up a championship lead in 1985, letting an 11-win season morph into Darrell Waltrip‘s third series crown, even though Waltrip won just three races.

But there have been many more years with similar outcomes, as Jeff Gordon could tell you. From a statistical perspective, his 2007 season was one of the best of his legendary career. But fellow Hendrick Motorsports star Jimmie Johnson was on another level in the playoffs during that era and he stole what would have been Gordon’s fifth championship.

However, even in a full-season format, Gordon had one pulled out from under him by a teammate. In 1996, Gordon racked up 10 wins, his first of three straight years with double-digit victories. His final win of the year, the last Cup points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway until 2025, gave him a 111-point lead with four races to go.

It only took Terry Labonte one afternoon to erase nearly the entire advantage. While Gordon’s car was stricken with mechanical trouble at Charlotte, Labonte marched to his second win of the season. That win, coupled with Gordon’s 31st place finish, moved Labonte to just a single point behind Gordon.

Labonte finished higher than Gordon in each of the next two races, leaving him only needing to come in eighth or better to clinch the title. Labonte wound up fifth in the finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leaving Gordon with his 10 race trophies but not a championship one.

Gordon wasn’t the only big winner to miss out on the biggest prize in 1996. As he had the previous season, Mike Skinner collected eight Craftsman Truck Series wins that year. Although 1995 ended with the series title, eight would not be enough wins for a repeat performance in ’96.

However, unlike Gordon, Skinner spent the majority of the year as pursuer rather than being pursued. The consistency of Ron Hornaday Jr., his championship rival, was suffocating to Skinner’s championship hopes. Hornaday finished eighth or better in each of the first 19 races that year. A 22nd-place result at North Wilkesboro (the same weekend as Gordon’s 10th Cup win) was Hornaday’s only finish outside of the top 10, and he wrapped up the championship in the final event of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

With a points system that doesn’t reset for a playoff-type format, it is consistency that most often is rewarded. In the current winner-take-all version, it’s less about the quantity of a driver’s wins and more important for a win to come at the right time. For all of the championship hopefuls, the right time is this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Denny Hamlin, Connor Zilisch and Corey Heim may have each won the most races this year in their respective series, but they would likely agree that their most important victory is the next one. Otherwise, they too might end up as yet another driver to win the most battles without winning the proverbial war.