Historical past signifies that Joey Logano is just not going to have a straightforward time repeated as NASCAR 2023 Cup Sequence Champion.
However for Logano to overlook out on changing into the primary back-to-back champion since then Jimmy Johnson Greater than a decade in the past, another person must step as much as the proverbial stage and dethrone the Penske wheeler.
Let’s check out 5 drivers – together with a shock contender – who’re able to doing simply that subsequent season.
Denny Hamlin
Broadly thought-about among the best NASCAR drivers ever to by no means win a Cup Sequence championship, Denny Hamlin is operating out of time to climb the best mountain within the sport.
Will 2023 be his yr?
Though 42 years previous Undoubtedly nearing the tip of his profession, Hamlin has given no indication of shedding a beat close to his expertise behind the wheel. a Championship 4 In qualifying in three of the final 4 seasons, the Tampa native has come agonizingly near profitable the title on a number of events however ultimately has at all times fallen in need of the mark. That is regardless of selecting up a formidable three Daytona 500s alongside the way in which.
The largest hurdle for 2023 stands out as the yr Hamlin celebrates the championship that narrowly eluded him, stands out as the inevitable distractions that can come from his ongoing contract negotiations with Joe Gibbs Racing, the place his present contract is – and longtime main sponsor FedEx. – It is because of finish after this season.
If Hamlin and FedEx can get again along with JGR early within the yr, uncertainties about 2024 and past will not have a lot of an influence on Hamlin’s efficiency. But when contract negotiations proceed into the latter a part of the season like they did final season with Hamlin’s former JGR teammate Kyle Busch, Hamlin could not have the ability to put his finest foot ahead on the observe. His possibilities of profitable the event might be considerably affected in consequence.
Chase Elliott
Like Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott has turn into a default fixture in Championship 4, however — in contrast to Hamlin, who missed cuts in 2022 — Elliott has made it to Phoenix among the many quartet of event finalists in every of the final three seasons.
Though Elliott solely left the Valley of the Solar with the champion {hardware} as soon as, he’s sure to enter the 2023 season with a small chip on his shoulder and a fireplace in his abdomen after reaching the common season title final yr and main the sequence. in wins, solely to hit the skates massive time when the 10-race playoff rolled round and let everybody know Precisely how he felt about it.
If Elliot – NASCAR’s hottest perennial driver – He can keep away from a disappointment in 2023 just like the one he suffered in 2022, he has pretty much as good an opportunity as anybody to face between Joey Logano and one other title.
Kyle Larson
Just one season has been faraway from the Cup Sequence Championship, Kyle Larson proved it in 2022 That it was no marvel for one yr. Positive, Larson did not repeat as champion and, in reality, did not even return to Championship 4, however the Hendrick Motorsports driver has been to Victory Lane thrice, scored 19 top-ten finishes, and led solidly 635 laps alongside the way in which.
Whereas these numbers weren’t near the earlier season’s numbers, they had been sturdy, nonetheless. Moreover, they counsel that Larsson has established himself as one of many sport’s finest drivers for the foreseeable future.
Does that imply he will probably be adequate to take down Joey Logano and the others in 2023? Properly, not essentially. However he actually has the expertise and the group to go all the way in which if good luck smiles at him.
Kyle Bush
No stranger to Cup Sequence championships, Kyle Busch will probably be in an odd place, of kinds, this season when he debuts the No. 8 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing.
Busch has spent the final 15 years in a Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing, profitable two championships and his 56th profession thus far in NASCAR’s premier sequence. Whereas it’s probably that he’ll want a while – possibly even an entire yr – to take action Adapting to life With a brand new crew chief, a brand new manufacturing facility and a brand new group, this is not the primary time he is modified employers, having accomplished so in 2008 after three years with Hendrick Motorsports.
In that point, Bush hit the bottom operating to Victory Lane in a Cup Sequence excessive eight occasions in JGR’s first yr. this It’s unlikely to occur In his first season with RCR, however Busch will very probably be in rivalry for the championship proper out of the gate and even be the one to finish the reign of Joey Logano – one among his fiercest rivals.
Austin Cendrick
It’s important to return to 1980 for the final time a driver gained a championship in his second full season as a NASCAR Cup Sequence driver. And this driver — eventual seven-time NASCAR Corridor of Fame champion Dale Earnhardt — was a uncommon breed certainly.
Given all this, the chances look like stacked firmly in opposition to second-year Cup Sequence driver Austin Cindrick who did what Earnhardt final did over 40 years in the past. Then once more, Cindric has already defied the chances as soon as when – in a surprising means Grew to become the primary rookie driver to win the Daytona 500.
The son of Penske chief Tim Cindric did not cease there, making it to the Spherical of 12 within the Cup Sequence playoffs and handily claiming the Rookie of the 12 months Honors On second era drivers Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland.
Cindric could not have the expertise to beat Joey Logano or the opposite veterans of the game for a NASCAR Grand Prix in 2023, however he ought to have the gear. In spite of everything, he and Logano lead for a similar group, which shares a number of assets amongst its three Cup Sequence groups.