The 2021 NASCAR season is now in the books.
With Kyle Larson winning the championship and scoring his 10th win of the season, immediately the conversation got started as to where this year's ranks in history. For me, I have only watched NASCAR since 2007, so that’s as far back as I can go. So let’s look at the five best championship seasons since then.
Photo by Andrew Coppley/HHP
5. Kyle Busch (2019)
5 Wins, 17 top-fives, 27 top-10s, 8.9 average finish, 1582 laps led
2018-19 was Kyle Busch at his finest. After tying a career-high with five wins and an 8.3 average finish in 2018, Busch continued the torrid pace early in the year. After just missing that elusive Daytona 500 win, he scored top-10s in each of the first 11 races, winning three times including his 200th national series win at Auto Club. He would score a fourth win at Pocono and continue riding a wave of top-10s to the regular season championship.
He really faced no adversity in the Playoffs until the third round, where Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin all won their way into the championship. A second-place finish at Phoenix was what Busch needed to edge out Joey Logano for the final spot. While Truex was the best of the final four early on, his crew made a fatal mistake by putting tires on the wrong side, giving Busch the final spot. As the final stage was caution-free, Busch drove away from the competition, taking the crown and cementing his spot as a top-10 driver of all time.
Photo by Michael Conroy/AP Photo
4. Jimmie Johnson (2009)
7 wins, 16 top-fives, 24 top-10s, 11.1 average finish, 2238 laps led
2009 is the quintessential Jimmie Johnson season. He was fairly under the radar during the regular season, with three wins at Martinsville, Dover and Indianapolis. While Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon were the cream of the crop during the regular season, Johnson was sitting third, waiting to pounce in the Chase, and what a Chase it was.
Johnson’s 2009 Chase was nothing short of dominant. The numbers speak for themselves: four wins, seven top-fives, nine top-10s and 986 laps led. Johnson torched the field. Even when Mark Martin won the first race and got a lead, the no. 48 went out and won three of five races at Dover, California and Charlotte. He reeled off top-fives every week, and even when he wrecked at Texas and finished 38th, he had his biggest margin of victory in any of his championships, besting Martin by 141 points. The title was his fourth straight, an unbreakable record.
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3. Martin Truex Jr. (2017)
8 wins, 19 top-fives, 24 top-10s, 9.4 average finish, 2253 laps led
Talk about coming out of nowhere, after three wins in his first 10 seasons, Martin Truex Jr. started to light the world on fire in 2016, scoring four wins including the most dominant win in NASCAR history at that year’s Coca-Cola 600. Even though a blown engine at Talladega derailed that championship run, the team came out firing on all cylinders in 2017.
Truex was the first driver in NASCAR to sweep all three stages in a race, doing so at Las Vegas. Stage wins were a common theme for the no. 78 crew, as their 19 stage wins were by far the most of anyone. After cruising to the regular-season championship, Truex kept the momentum going in the Playoffs. He opened up with a win at Chicagoland and grabbed two races in the second round at Charlotte and Kansas. With 52 playoff points and a pair of runner-up finishes in round three, Truex was locked into the championship before taking the green flag at Phoenix. He’d do battle with Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski at Miami, ultimately holding off Busch to score a championship that he and Furniture Row couldn’t have fathomed even three years ago. Truex’s 2017 is very likely the best season of the 2010s and he would’ve clinched after Phoenix in the old Chase format.
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2. Jimmie Johnson (2007)
10 wins, 20 top-fives, 24 top-10s, 10.8 average finish, 1290 laps led
This season is one that drove me crazy during, but have since grown to appreciate greatly. For those of you who may not know, I started watching NASCAR at the beginning of 2007, and as soon as I figured out who Jimmie Johnson was, he was winning his third race of the season at Martinsville. Simply put: Johnson was not the best driver this season, as while he was slumping in the summer, Jeff Gordon was setting a modern-era record with 30 top-10s. When they got to California on Labor Day weekend, Johnson got back into shape, winning that race and next week at Richmond to go into the Chase with six wins.
Johnson’s first five races in the Chase weren’t bad by any means, with three top-10s and a worst finish of 14th. The only issue was that Gordon’s first half was nearly flawless, with two wins and a worst finish of 11th. Gordon left Lowe’s with a trophy and a 68-point lead with five races left. What Johnson did in response was pull off the most iconic run of his career, scoring four straight wins at Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix, to become the first driver since 1998 to win 10 races and lock up the second straight championship for him and Chad Knaus. Johnson was the last driver to get double-digit wins until this year, which leads to the top spot.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
1. Kyle Larson (2021)
10 wins, 20 top-fives, 26 top-10s, 9.1 average finish, 2581 laps led
You had to know this was coming. What more can be said about Kyle Larson this year that hasn’t been said already? For a long time, people looked at Larson and wondered what he could do at Hendrick Motorsports. While nobody could’ve predicted the journey it would take to get there, he got his shot, in a car sponsored by Rick Hendrick himself, on a one-year “prove it” deal. What he delivered is the greatest performance I have ever seen.
It started at Las Vegas, where he debuted Ricky Hendrick’s scheme in style with a win. While he had some close calls early in the season, specifically at Kansas and Atlanta, the Coca-Cola 600 was exactly what the no. 5 team needed to go on a tear. He went on to win the next three races, two paying points, one being an All-Star. It took a blown tire at Pocono for him to get beaten. Another win at Watkins Glen propelled him to the regular-season crown. While the regular-season was amazing, his Playoff performance was the best we’ve seen since Tony Stewart in 2011.
The only adversity he faced was when he had alternator problems at the Charlotte Roval, a race that he still ended up winning. There was no doubt who deserved the 2021 championship. Even when he didn’t look to have the car at Phoenix, his crew delivered one of the best stops all year to get him back out front, where he took care of the rest. His 10 wins is the most since Jimmie Johnson in 2007. His 2581 laps led are the most since Jeff Gordon in 1995. His five Playoff wins are the most since the aforementioned Stewart in 2011. Speaking of Stewart, it seems rather significant that Stewart called Larson the greatest driver he’s ever seen.
To be clear as possible: Kyle Larson just ran the greatest season since Jeff Gordon in 1998.
What’s the best season you’ve ever seen? Leave a comment or tweet me @HBLoomis. Let’s talk racing!
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