Historical past signifies that Joey Logano will not be going to have a simple 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 degree 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 of the most effective NASCAR drivers ever to by no means win a Cup Sequence championship, Denny Hamlin is working out of time to climb the best mountain within the sport.
Will 2023 be his yr?
Though 42 years outdated Undoubtedly nearing the top of his profession, Hamlin has given no indication of dropping a beat almost about his expertise behind the wheel. a Championship 4 In qualifying in three of the final 4 seasons, the Tampa native has come agonizingly near successful 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 most important hurdle for 2023 often is the yr Hamlin celebrates the championship that narrowly eluded him, often is the inevitable distractions that may come from his ongoing contract negotiations with Joe Gibbs Racing, the place his present contract is – and longtime major 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 affect 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 might not be capable of put his finest foot ahead on the monitor. His probabilities of successful the match may very well be considerably affected consequently.
Chase Elliott
Like Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott has develop 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 match 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 collection. in wins, solely to hit the skates huge 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 nearly 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, actually, 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 robust, nonetheless. Moreover, they recommend that Larsson has established himself as one of many sport’s finest drivers for the foreseeable future.
Does that imply he shall be adequate to take down Joey Logano and the others in 2023? Nicely, 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 shall 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, successful two championships and his 56th profession up to now in NASCAR’s premier collection. Whereas it’s possible that he’ll want a while – perhaps even a complete 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 performed so in 2008 after three years with Hendrick Motorsports.
In that point, Bush hit the bottom working to Victory Lane in a Cup Sequence excessive eight instances in JGR’s first yr. this It’s unlikely to occur In his first season with RCR, however Busch will very possible be in competition for the championship proper out of the gate and even be the one to finish the reign of Joey Logano – considered one of his fiercest rivals.
Austin Cendrick
It’s a must 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 Yr Honors On second era drivers Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland.
Cindric might 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 tools. In spite of everything, he and Logano lead for a similar group, which shares a bunch of sources amongst its three Cup Sequence groups.