Above The PackCale Yarborough's three-straight Winston Cup titles, in 1976, 1977, and 1978, stand among the highest achievements in NASCAR. No other driver has won three championships consecutively, and no driver will duplicate the feat anytime soon given the nature of the sport.
Incredibly, Yarborough and his Junior Johnson-owned team were in the hunt for a fourth title in 1979, finishing 226 points back in fourth, but Richard Petty claimed his final title that year.
Petty won consecutive titles in 1974 and 1975 and earned seven altogether.
Johnson's success winning titles as a team owner was phenomenal in itself. In addition to the three titles by Yarborough, Johnson's team won consecutive titles with Darrell Waltrip in 1981 and 1982. Waltrip's championship in 1985 gave Johnson's team six titles in 10 seasons.
Team owner Richard Childress and Dale Earnhardt won each of their six championships in pairs, first in 1986 and 1987, then in 1990 and 1991 and again in 1993 and 1994, giving them six titles in nine seasons. Earnhardt also won in 1980.
"When you look at Winston Cup championships," says Jeff Gordon, the last man to repeat as champion, "just having your name on that list says something. But when your name is on the list more than one time, it says a lot about that driver and it says a lot about that team, especially if they've done it back to back."
Drivers with repeat titles in NASCAR's modern era (since 1972)Richard Petty 1974-75Cale Yarborough 1976-77-78Darrell Waltrip 1981-82Dale Earnhardt 1986-87; 1990-91; 1993-94Jeff Gordon 1997-98