The 2023 NASCAR season kickoff is less than a month away with the annual Busch Light Clash, but the real season begins in February with Speedweeks and the Daytona 500. 

Often called the Super Bowl of NASCAR and the Great American Race; it is one of the biggest races of the NASCAR Cup Series.  And while getting off to a good start is important; winning the 500 is not a sign of how the remainder of the season will go.  In fact, in the 65 years of NASCAR running the Daytona 500, there have been only 12 times that the same team owner has won both the 500 and the Cup Series championship in the same year among five racing teams – Petty Enterprises, Junior Johnson, Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and Team Penske.

Lee Petty driving for Petty Enterprises won the very first Daytona 500 in 1959 and then went on to win the championship that year.

Petty Enterprises did it again in 1964, this time with Richard Petty behind the wheel for both the 500 win and the championship.  And “The King” would repeat the feat twice more in 1971 and 1974.

In 1977 Junior Johnson’s driver Cale Yarborough took the checkered flag at the Daytona 500 and went on to win the championship.

In 1979, Richard Petty returned to give Petty Enterprises its fourth Daytona 500/Cup championship wins and the third such combination for Petty.

It would be 20 years before the feat was repeated when Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon took the checkered flag in the 500 and went on to win the second of his four championships.

Hendrick Motorsports would repeat in 2006 and again in 2013 when Jimmie Johnson would win the Daytona 500 and go on to win two of his seven Cup championships.

Joe Gibbs Racing would earn the honour in 2019 but with two different drivers when Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag at Daytona but it was Kyle Busch winning the second of his championships to complete the cycle.

Last year, Team Penske racked up another win when rookie driver Austin Cindric crossed the finish line first to win the Daytona 500 but it was Joey Logano who won his second championship…and got the season started off with a win in the inaugural Busch Light Clash at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles.

There were a number of driver changes over the off season among Cup Series drivers with one driver retiring from full time racing, one former champion joining a new team, and a some Xfinity Series drivers moving up to join the ranks of the Cup veterans.  Is anyone capable of adding their names to the hallowed list of winners who and raise a Harley J Earle and a Cup Series championship trophy in the same season????