Every NASCAR Cup Series playoff champion through the years

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season will conclude on Sunday in Phoenix, and four drivers have a shot to win a championship. Two drivers, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin, will try to win their first career Cup Series title, while Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are racing to win their second.

Before 2004, the NASCAR Cup Series championship was awarded to the driver who accrued the most points over the course of the entire season. In 2004, NASCAR launched what was then called the “Chase for the Cup,” a 10-race playoff series to cap the season that has been tweaked repeatedly over the years.

The “Championship 4” winner-take-all final race was first introduced in 2014, and was run at Homestead-Miami Speedway every year until 2020, when the schedule was rearranged.

Since 2014, the Cup Series champion has won the season finale an impressive six out of six times – which means the four remaining drivers will likely have to take the checkered flag at Phoenix if they hope to win a title.

Here’s a look back at every NASCAR Cup Series champion since the series switched to a playoff system in 2004.