Richard Petty,Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson are 3 of the most recognizable names in Nascar with all of them having 7 career championships on there resumes but during there time they missed out on winning more than 7 championships and today I'll look back on each year that each driver should've won championship.
Richard Petty had the most grueling schedule during his time as the season usually lasted 44 or more races which mean mental fatigue was going to set in which forced him to sit out race while being in championship battle during 1962 and 1963 season he managed be in championship contention with 39 top 10's during both seasons but Joe Weatherly would take both championships away from him by large margin of victory. Richard Petty would remain in championship picture but grueling schedule would finally get to him which resulted in him more races than expected but 1969 brought opportunity to win the championship after scoring 10 wins,31 top 5's and 39 top 10's but David Pearson would top every stat Petty had during the season to score his 3rd championship.
Richard Petty would get breath of fresh air after nascar announced lighter schedule which allowed him to continue racing at high level while giving him more shots of winning the championship but 1977 was his final shot of collecting another missing championship as Richard Petty was battling Cale Yarborough for the championship but consistency wasn't on his side which allowed Cale Yarborough to pull away to championship as Richard Petty finished 2nd in points with 5 wins,20 top 5's and 23 top 10's. Richard Petty would capture his final career championship in 1979 but after that the King would hit massive decline in performance while getting up in age which resulted in 8 year losing streak to close his career while managing to finish inside top 10 in points once during final 7 seasons of his career before retiring following 1992 season where currently owns the 43 car at Petty Motorsports.
Dale Earnhardt's career began with many ups and downs while trying to find race team that truly wanted him while winning his 1st championship in 1980 but another opportunity to win the championship happened in 1984 when Dale Earnhardt quietly moved into championship contention with his new home at Richard Childress Racing while leading the point standings with 10 races to go but late season collapse would drop him out of championship picture and finished 4th in points with 2 wins,12 top 5's and 22 top 10's. Dale Earnhardt continued to compete at high level as he would win 2 consecutive championships in 1986 and 1987 but Dale would miss opportunity to win 4 consecutive championships in 1988 and 1989 when he was bested by Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace during both those seasons which lefted him 3rd and 2nd in points during both seasons as Dale Earnhardt would win 6 of the next 9 seasons but missed 2 opportunities of winning more championships but riddling injuries during final 6 years of his career would derail his competitive fire but the pain went away the magic would get stopped in 2001 following crash during Daytona 500.
Jimmie Johnson was brought in by Jeff Gordon to Hendrick Motorsports to drive the 48 Lowes Chevrolet but during his Rookie season he would have opportunity to win the championship with 7 races to go but after getting involved in on track issue before start of EA Sports 500 at Talladega which resulted in late season collapse down to 5th in points with 3 wins,6 top 5's and 21 top 10's but didn't win ROTY. Jimmie Johnson proved himself to everyone that he was ready to compete against the best but 2004 and 2005 were missing opportunities as Jimmie would make large comeback in 2004 to have mathematically chance to win the championship but Kurt Busch would avoid trouble which allowed Kurt to win his 1st championship were Jimmie finished 2nd in points and Tony Stewart would get red hot during the summer of 2005 while Jimmie Johnson struggled to slow down Tony Stewart's momentum but ultimately stopped himself as Jimmie Johnson would crash out of championship picture and finished 5th in points.
Jimmie Johnson would win the next 5 championships in row to place himself into GOAT conversation but 04 and 05 were missing opportunities to help Jimmie Johnson to win 7 consecutive championships but 5 championships is fine but his streak would end at 5 after finishing 6th in points during 2011 season. 2012 was climb from tough start to the season then getting red hot at the right time which lefted him in duel with Brad Keselowski but cut tire at Phoenix would derail his opportunity to win another championship that Brad Keselowski would claim but Jimmie continued to compete at high level were he earned his 6th and 7th championship in process but the dynasty team would fall apart following 2016 championship run and now all parties parted ways while Jimmie Johnson is competing in his final season were he attempts to break the tie with potential 8th cchampionship.
These 3 drivers have accomplished so much during there nascar career's but those seasons were they missed opportunity to class of there own forever haunts each person but there legacies are forever enshrined with greatness no matter what other goals that were missing.
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