What Is the Owners Championship in NASCAR? Why Is It More Important Than Driver’s Championship?

If one happens to question a NASCAR fan about the favorites to win the championship, chances are that they respond with an answer that describes the odds of some of the best drivers in the Cup Series. The answer would suffice if the question focused purely on the Drivers’ Championship rather than the one that goes under the radar, more often than not, the Owners’ Championship. However, the owners’ championship is arguably the most crucial trophy a team can aim for in the Cup Series. So, let us dive deeper into a relatively unexplored territory.

How does the NASCAR Owner’s Championship work?

During a regular NASCAR season, drivers compete for race and stage points, adding to their tallies for the driver’s and the owners’ standings. However, driver’s standings are the basis of measurement solely for an individual driver and put the driver in the spotlight. On the other hand, the owner’s points are mainly related to a car, charter, or crew the team owner owns.

On a side note, although these point systems are identical to each other, the implications and importance of both are different. NASCAR evaluates the position of teams solely based on the owner’s standings, and as a result, it has become a matter of importance for teams. The payouts from NASCAR at the end of a season depend significantly on how a team finishes in these standings.

Teams with a fixed roster of full-time drivers who manage to drive in every race of the season end up above the groups who utilize part-time drivers or some of whose drivers miss few races. Chase Elliott is a great example and the most notable one in the current situation, having missed six season races with a tibia injury. However, as Rick Hendrick chose to field Josh Berry, Jordan Taylor, and Corey LaJoie in the #9, Hendrick Motorsports still earned stage and race points for the car.

That is also why Chase Elliott is still in contention to lead his team to an owners’ championship. The #9 had 30 more points than Bubba Wallace‘s #23 in the playoff standings and, in theory, has to drive remarkably well in the playoff races to have a genuine shot.

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Who won the owner’s championship in NASCAR in 2022?

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2022 had a nail-biting finish to the owner’s championship. Defending champion Joey Logano and Team Penske held on to their lead in the tournament and took the #22 Ford Mustang to the title with 5040 points at the end of the season. Trackhouse Racing’s #1 Camaro, driven by Ross Chastain, finished second, six points behind Logano, followed by Kyle Larson and HMS’ #5 with 5028 points.

All cars in the top 3 ran all 36 races in the season, underlining the importance of a vehicle running in as many races as possible. An anomaly in the system last season was Kurt Busch, who had to pull out of the season after a violent crash at Pocono and was replaced by Bubba in 23XI Racing’s #45.

What NASCAR team owner has the most championships?

Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in NASCAR history. The team achieved the milestone of 300 wins in the Cup Series with #24 William Byron’s victory at Texas Motor Speedway last month. HMS legend Jimmie Johnson is also the winningest driver in history alongside Dale Earnhardt, with seven drivers’ championships to his name. With Kyle Larson’s latest win at Las Vegas, the tally has now increased to 301 as they keep going for more and more.

HMS’s performance in the owners’ championship reflects its drivers’ success in NASCAR history. With 14 Cup Series owners’ and drivers’ championships, Rick Hendrick is the team owner with the most titles. With the former driver of the #24, Jeff Gordon, buying a stake in the team, he now co-owns the #48 car of Alex Bowman as well.

Why is the Owners’ Championship more important than the Driver’s Championship?

As Jeff Gordon implied, the Owner’s championship should be getting a lot more attention than it has. While fans do not display much of an allegiance to team owners or teams, at least not as much as the drivers, the Owner’s Championship has a big hand in the financial status of a team.

Although driver’s standings do bring some money into the team, the majority of the amount goes to the driver and his crew members. To the fans, it might seem like a money-minded race for the owners, but a major financial boost can work wonders for teams who want to better themselves and are not already well-established in the Cup.

NASCAR hasn’t done a great job in promoting the championship so far and that could also be the reason many people wouldn’t know that this season has still something left to offer to Chase Elliott. A way to bring some attention towards it is probably making the earnings public and provide an account of how teams expend it based on their needs and this could even rope in some TV partners to popularize it in that case.

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