In sports there are historic records that are almost unbreakable. They set the bar for the all time greatest athletes in their respective sport. Dale Earnhardt tried to break what was thought of a historic/unbreakable record in 1995. In the NASCAR Cup Series the man known as "The Intimadator" Dale Earnhardt has set outstanding records throughout his career that are respected highly by NASCAR fans and drivers to this very day. In his rookie season in 1979 he was already a natural talent winning a race with 11 top 5 and 17 top 10s getting a 7th place points finish for his efforts. In 1980 he would win his first career championship but afterwards slightly fell off the cliff. The next 3 years provided 7th 12th and 8th in the standings. But in 1984 something clicked off with Richard Childress Racing who believe it or not Dale raced for in the last 11 races of 1981. Richard didn't want the 1980 champion to struggle so he released him but in their time apart Earnhardt wanted to race for RCR because the two of them have similar backgrounds having to work so hard for everything they got, nothing was handed to them and when they worked together full time in 1984 success came with 2 wins 12 top 5s 22 top 10s and finished 4th in the championship standings. 1985 provided 4 wins but 10 top 5s 16 top 10s and 8th in the final points. But in 1986 the Earnhardt and Childress combination worked out with championship success. The following year in the number 3 car won his 3rd championship. The next 2 years he finished 3rd and 2nd but when the next decade arrived in 1990 RCR won his 3rd championship as an owner and Earnhardt became the sport's 2nd 4 time Cup champion. So his carrer then was already one of the greats in NASCAR history. But in 1991 he went on another level by getting championship number 5 but 1992 would be the worst finish tied for 1982, 12th. However in 93 he and his team made the previous year nothing but a distant memory becoming a 6 time champion of the sport's highest division. 1994 in an absolute landslide Dale Earnhardt became a legend by becoming the only driver since Richard Petty to ever win 7 championships. In 1995 he was seen as a favorite by many to go for a new record for something that was never done in the Cup Series, winning a record breaking 8th series title. Nobody has ever done it before and now Earnhardt was in the best position to pull off the job. The Daytona speedweeks started basically normal for the 3 team with winning the Busch Clash and his qualifying race. He began the Daytona 500 2nd and spent most of the race in the top 5. But with 40 to go Earnhardt got the lead with a fast pitstop. But 20 laps later he lost the lead to Sterling Marlin. And to make matters worse he fell back to 4th place, so with a late yellow flag with 14 laps to go the intimadator would pit for 4 tires. He would restart 13th with 11 laps to go and would really have to use his skill at this track to get up and win his first Daytona 500.

Unfortunately he was forced to be a bridesmaid in the Daytona 500 once again. Even though he would eventually win the 500 3 year later after all if the heartbreak in this from finishing 2nd, wrecking out, flat tires, pit mistakes, and even hitting a flying bird. Yeah after that he finally won the race in 1998 but this is about 1995 and right now he is 2nd in the standings 10 behind Marlin. But he wasn't planning on staying there for long. In a press conference Earnhardt had a message to deliver to his competitors. "I feel better about this year than I did in 94 starting out. I'm excited about it. I like to say were going to focus harder and I've been watching my health getting a little more physical. I think they're in trouble. I'm gonna bear down a little bit this year." Well, he wasn't called "The Intimadator" for nothing and he's saying basically he and his team are trying to improve from last year. Oh boy he is definitely confident and who can blame him, he has 7 championships so he's getting set to rock them at the rock or better know as Rockingham. After starting in 23rd he worked his way to the lead by lap 84. He would battle with Jeff Gordon for most of the next 80 laps until losing the top spot in the pits. Next he would pit under a caution flag setting him back slightly from being on a different strategy. But he would play catch up for most of the last half of the race, but it was still a good day for the GM Goodwrench sponsored team finishing 3rd in the Goodwrench 500 and even leading 72 of the 492 laps the 2nd most lead out of anyone all race. However he would no longer be second in the points after the 2nd race of the 31 race season now ahead by 29 over Mark Martin. Race 3 at Richmond was another strong performance from the 3 team, after starting 26th he would get up to the top 3 where he would mainly spend the rest of the day. As the race finished out he would be 2nd extending his lead to 53. Earnhardt was strong at Atlanta as well by starting on pole and lead the first 62 laps and finishing 4th. This extended his lead once again to 72. Darlington was an attrition race to say the least. Earnhardt had slight damage from a wreck that happened in front of him, however that did not stop him from staying on the lead lap and even leading late in the race. But he would lose the lead with 12 laps remaining to finish 2nd. His lead at the top over race winner Sterling Marlin was 67 now. This start was definitely strong and red hot. Even though he hasn't won a race yet in the first 5 races he has finished no lower than 4th and has lead at some point in every race so far with a total of 205 laps. At Bristol things looked good again for Earhardt, despite starting in 25th he made his way to 2nd by lap 100. Unfortunately 16 laps later he'd wreck in turn 4. He would be placed exactly where he started at 25th 21 laps down behind race winner Jeff Gordon. Despite having his streak of top 5s and leading laps in a race come to an end he still had a lead of 17 over Sterling Marlin. At North Wilkesboro the 3 team wanted to strike back, after starting 5th he would get the lead by lap 42 and would mainly battle with Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace for top spot. Even though slight strategy was played throughout the race from Rusty's team a rough pitstop took him out of the picture. Earnhardt would not really need to worry about Gordon cause the 7 time champ reigned supreme at North Wilkesboro with his 5th victory at the track which was his first win of the season will extend his lead to 56 over Marlin. Martinsville however would crush the lead he just built up by being in the wrong place at the wrong time when Morgan Shephard and Terry Labonte wrecked right in front of him at lap 5. So he was relegated to a 29th place finish 25 laps off the pace leaving there with a slim 8 point lead over 2nd. At Talladega he would be his typical self, Earnhardt might not be dominating but he is definitely running up front. He had a chance to win late but however after being wrecked on the last lap he would finish 21st. This left him tied with Jeff Gordon for the points lead but due to the 24 having 3 victories and Earnhardt's singular win meant he is 2nd. At Sonoma he would right the ship by winning his very first road course after leading the last 2 laps after Mark Martin got loose in oil. The Intimadator would lead Martin by 9 with a third of the year over with now two thirds left to go. Even though Earnhardt needed to pit late for fuel in the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte he still finished 6th leading 38 laps and extending his lead to 80. The 7 time champ finished 5th in the first ever concrete Dover, yep the monster mile wasn't always concrete. At one point it was asphalt but that didn't change Dover from being Dover lol. You learn something new everyday, anyway Earnhardt briefly held a 100 point advantage over 2nd place Sterling Marlin. An 8th at Pocono for the 3 team meant their lead was now 77. At Michigan the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet would run strong all race. After slightly being shuffled back a little bit on pitstops he'd would be just inside the top 10. Unfortunately after wrecking in the turn 3 wall the 3 would have a couple firsts and none of the good kind. The first time since the Daytona 500 that he wasn't either tied or leading the points and first DNF of the year. 6 points is the gap now between the Intimadator and Sterling Marlin. At Daytona the 3 car would finish in position 3 which is good right? Well yeah, but he is now 3rd in points 16 behind leader Marlin and Jeff Gordon jumped past in the points race cause Gordon and Marlin dominated the race and finished 1-2 ahead of Earnhardt. New Hampshire is the official halfway point of the 1995. Race number 16 of 31 where the championship is slowly going to get more and more the topic on the weekend. Earnhardt had a decent day going running in the top 10 while Marlin was around there also but Gordon was leading laps up front. Earnhardt's deficit to the front of the points was extended however to 92 to race winner Jeff Gordon after a wheel was left loose on late pitstop costing him a lap. And to add salt to the wounds he had a lugnut loose again laps later which put him 2 laps down in 22nd. At Pocono Earnhardt's top 10 speed was all for not once again. It was a broken shock that lost him a lap on pit road in the middle of the race. And to add salt to the wounds he speed on pit road making it harder for the 3 to get his lap back. Newsflash, he never got his lap back. Just 164 points behind Gordon in 4th place now. Talladega looked good for Dale to get his championship challenge back on track. It's a restrictor plate and Earnhardt ran so well at Daytona and Talladega people thought he could see the air. He was just THAT good that any time he was in those races you knew you had to hold him off to win. Anyway Earnhardt ran up front all race long leading some laps while he was at it but here's the problem, championship rivals Jeff Gordon and Sterling Marlin led more laps than him. Late in the race Gordon got shuffled back to 8th while Earnhardt was 3rd after trying to get by Marlin who went on to win the race. Due to Gordon leading the most laps Earnhardt only closed to 146 points behind the 24 team. Indianapolis  would have a massive unknown, when would the race start? 4 hours late from rain. But to the pleasure of fans and drivers would get the green flag for the Brickyard 400. The 3 car began the race from 13th place and ran just inside the top 10 for the first part of the race. But before we knew it, he was working his way up through the field from an improving car and fast pitstops from his team. He was running up front and at the last pitstop everything fell into place for Dale Earnhardt, after some of his competitors faded and leader Rusty Wallace had to slow down to avoid a runaway tire the 3 machine was in the lead. But the caution came out for the only time in the race after Jeff Burton spun out right in front of him meaning a restart is afoot. So the green flag was back out and Earnhardt gets off to a good start and clear Wallace. But the 2 car was not going to surrender the win to Earnhardt without a fight in the final laps of the race.

Ca ching! Dale Earnhardt has officially become a winner at one of the most historic racetracks in the world! A very good day in the office after leading the last 28 laps Earnhardt obtains his 3rd win of the year now cutting his points deficit to 121 behind Gordon now. At Watkins Glen he'd want to continue this momentum to continue to close the gap between himself and Jeff Gordon. He was on course to do so with running in the top 10 early on behind the 24 car but a lot of race remains. But on Earnhardt's transmission remains 1st and 3rd gear, because 2nd and 4th gear were lost. And you want to know what else was lost? The ground he gained on Gordon as he trailed 197 points now. At Michigan Earnhardt was in the top 10 but yet again that speed was all for not. 87 laps into the race his car's engine gave up the ghost  after the timing belt broke on the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. And the time is running out for Earnhardt to get that 8th championship. And the intimadator is aware of that as he would say in his interview afterwards that the championship is "starting to stretch out on us." And stretch out is right, thanks to the 35th place finish from his timing belt failing he is now 314 points behind Jeff Gordon. In these last 10 races of the season Earnhardt can not afford to have anymore bad races. He needs to be at the TOP of his game and hope for Gordon to have a couple of bad races to catch up to the 24. At Bristol he needs to hit the ground running, and that he did with a top 5 run early on. However he hit the back of Rusty Wallace sending the 1989 champion into the wall on lap 32 of 500. Well that stinks so Dale tells his team to apologize to the 2 bunch for the wreck cause he didn't mean to do it. So that was pretty rough to start out accidentally putting spinning someone around right? And to add the salt to the wounds NASCAR sends Earnhardt to the back of the field for rough driving. Now he is on the back foot for this race trying to regain all of the track position that he lost. He would make ok progress getting up to around the top 20 positions, but you know what being back in traffic can do? Get you involved in a wreck. And Earnhardt JUST ever so slightly got a tap in the left rear of his car after Morgan Shephard spun around. No harm really for Earnhardt but he does come into the pits for tires because why not? At this point there are still over 390 laps to go at thunder valley so just take the time while you aren't going to take that big of a hit in track position. Well those adjustments worked out for Dale as he just took off at the restart. He is just slicing and dicing his way through cars like they were standing still. For a while he was slowly passing people but as the run went on the faster he appeared to be. From lap 122 to 173 he gets into the top 10, lap 184 the top 5 and 11 laps later he gets the race lead after restarting 27th! Dale Earnhardt takes the lead away from none other than Jeff Gordon the points leader! Turns out a part of Earnhardt's drive through the field was from 60 lap fresher tires after pitting on lap 112, but still he has a fast racecar there's no denying that. So after leading a bunch of laps Earnhardt lost track position again not by a penalty but by choice. The 3 car would restart 12th after choosing to pit under yellow and telling his crew chief Andy Petree that 4 tires work better for his car than 2 so that was the choice he made and it would work, about 40-45 laps later he got back to the front and was around there as the race went past halfway and through the 300 lap mark. After losing the lead the 44 year old veteran was 3rd on a restart with 150 to go and hits the back of Derrick Cope's car! Well for Bristol's standards it's not suprising that cars have battle scars from beating and banging on bumpers, especially when Cope missed a shift there is nothing Earnhardt could do. And man it might be more damage as it looks because now his car is smoking. And now Earnhardt is falling back! Things just get from bad to worse now for the Intimidator, is there damage to the radiator? If so this could be the end of his race and probably the end of the 8th championship in 1995. Well after multiple cautions came out the RCR crew get to work to diagnose and hopefully fix the problem for the reigning 7 time champion's car. Turns out after getting air to the radiator to cool down the oil and capping off the valve spring cooler he would not loose a lap but he has to play catch up for the THIRD time in this race and he has 100 laps to make up all the track position he lost. In typical Earnhardt would not go down without a fight. Despite jumbled up traffic he made his way back in the top 10 to be in 7th place with 50 laps to go but all of a sudden Earnhardt cranks up the whip, he was half a lap down in 7th with 50 to go but 25 laps later he's in the top 5 under 4 seconds back! Now he is in 3rd, no wait 2nd with 16 laps left in the race! After starting up front and going to the back to the front to the back to the front again is up to 2nd! Can Earnhardt catch and pass Terry Labonte in the final laps?

Well, can't say he didn't try the bump and run maneuver. Lol so after the rollercoaster of a night he only gains 20 points on Jeff Gordon now 294 behind 1st place. And the long night didn't even stop there, Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt have a very heated discussion about what happened early in the race. So Earnhardt was talking to media and Rusty was trying to get his attention so he decided after he was done to throw a water bottle at him and then a screaming match started. But don't worry no fists were thrown and they just went on about their business by working it out heading to Darlington. Earnhardt was focused on a great performance after starting up front and he would after getting the lead to get his 5 bonus points, he might have lost the lead briefly he instantly got it back he went on to dominate the race gaining 5 more bonus points for leading the most laps. But after a caution came out for a big wreck into turn 1 Jeff Gordon pitted fearing he ran over debris on track. Turns out Gordon ran over debris and it cut his tire so he had a huge break catching that cut tire, in fact that wasn't the first cut tire he caught today AND he avoided a wreck barely and avoided totaling his car in the wall earlier so BOY was he lucky and good. Anyway after Gordon pitted Earnhardt and the rest of the field pitted fearing the same thing. That put the 3 car in 5th place for a restart with 90 laps to go. After a couple of cautions for single car spins Earnhardt was in 3rd position but would restart 2nd after everyone pitted to ensure fuel would not be a problem, so it's all about pure speed. Well someone that appeared to have speed was guess who, Rusty Wallace and is right up to Dale Earnhardt. The men who were having a screaming match a race ago are now racing for 2nd, my goodness how things work out. At one point they were championship foes battling each other for championships, wins, and for respect after Bristol to now for position on the racetrack. The Penske Ford would prevail in this battle but it wasn't enough to worry just yet for Earnhardt cause Wallace was out of the championship picture. You know who wasn't out of the championship picture? Jeff Gordon who was one of few drivers that had 4 tires and would take 3rd away from Dale Earnhardt. And that's the last guy he wants to see ahead of him now especially when he gets up to the lead! But another yellow flag came out to allow EVERYONE take 4 fresh tires. "Guys I want 4 tires. Give me 4 good ones clean the windshield and clean it well check the left front fender, don't touch anything else." That was what the 7 time champion wanted on what was his final pitstop of the race. His crew said to the media after that stop that this was "vintage" Earnhardt, that this was The Intimadator in his element with 40 laps to go in a race and the victory is right in front of him. This is going to be something else right here people. After restarting 4th he made his way up to 2nd and only one car was out in front of him now, championship leader Jeff Gordon. But Rusty Wallace wants a chance at that 24 car to and Earnhardt lost the spot to Rusty but it wasn't too long till he got it back but Jeff Gordon drove off into the sunset by then. However one more caution gave Earnhardt one last chance to get the win, but the 3 car was still 2nd behind the Dupont sponsored Hendrick team. After being dominant in this race leading 208 of 367 laps gained literally NOTHING on Jeff Gordon, well he gained a spot in the points up to 3rd but STILL 294 points are needed to be made up to pass the 24. At Richmond though Earnhardt would get pole but Gordon literally steals his thunder at lap 2 by getting the lead but that GM Goodwrench Chevrolet wouldn't go down without a fight and would regain his thunder at the top of the table early on but they both lost the control of the race to Rusty Wallace. So the title foes would race against each other for most of the rest of the race. Earnhardt in the end would finish 3rd and Gordon would claim 6th after fading late due to using up his tires. Dale climbed up to 2nd after championship rival Sterling Marlin had a bad rear end gear. 279 points was the gap with 7 races to go. At Dover Earnhardt Earnhardt started in 28th but Gordon started 2nd, in the end Earnhardt would have a solid day finishing 5th but the 24 absolutely kicked everybody's tail in that race, 500 laps were ran and Gordon led 400 of them. Definitely the last thing Earnhardt wanted to see further digging his hole to Jeff now 309 behind. At Martinsville mother nature rained out qualifying meaning Earnhardt would start 2nd to Gordon but the Intimadator refused to stay there for long by snatching the lead away from the 24 at the start. He would be challenged though by Rusty Wallace and by lap 62 he'd get by the 3 car. Earnhardt would get the lead back after Wallace was spun out by a lap car. So it's pit stop time and of course Earnhardt takes 4 tires while some others take 2, it would not take long once again for the 3 to show his competitors who's boss by taking the lead again to dominate the first half of the race. Then the 3 was beat out of the pits by Terry Labonte, hey if it has to be a Hendrick car leading for the sakes of Earnhardt's title challenge at least it isn't Gordon. But Earnhardt would fall back ever so slightly to 3rd place for a while slightly losing the handle of his GM Goodwrench Chevy. Things still might be turning up Earnhardt ad Jeff Gordon struggled with his car running as low as 14th. If Earnhardt wins the remaining races on the calendar and Gordon averages lower than 10th than the 8th championship is still very possible. But somehow the caution came out from various incidents JUST as the 24 was about to lose a lap. However after a set of caution flag pitstops Earnhardt got the lead and in perfect timing to cause Labonte nearly lead the most laps. Earnhardt was back in charge yet the yellow flag ruined his plans once again bringing strategy into play. Earnhardt takes 2 tires to win the race off of pit road but Wallace stays out on track in a play to gain track position. So the laps are winding down and Earnhardt is hounding the back of the 2 Penske Ford and with 9 to go Dale has a peek down the inside but Rusty slams the door and he goes up the track and Dale Earnhardt takes the lead! Rusty Wallace drove into turn 3 so hard he lost the back end of his car without Earnhardt making contact! Well they don't call him The Intimidator for nothing as he gets his 67th career win in the Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt after leading 253 of 500 laps wins at the paper clip! Typical day in the office for the RCR team but rival Jeff  Gordon recovered his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy back to 7th meaning the gap between them is 275 with 5 races to go. North Wilkesboro comes around and the top 2 in points were running up front all day, Earnhardt just off the lead and Gordon mostly just outside the top 5. That would all change when first Earnhardt loses a cylinder but around the 5/8 mile track it actually isn't the worst thing to the 3 car. Nope! It's when durning a cycle of green flag pitstops Earnhardt drove straight through the pits because a car spun out on track but no caution comes out! Meaning he lost his lap and would never get it back. While Earnhardt finished 9th Gordon finished 3rd extending the lead to 302 points. The championship at this point has slipped away, with so short time left in 1995 it is getting closer and closer to getting clinched for the 24 and to just salten the wounds Dale Earnhardt has to take a champions provisional which basically is a get out of jail free card from being so high up in points to avoid missing the race back in the day, AND he is starting dead last. Typical Earnhardt fashion however arose through the field in a rapid pace. So by lap 30 he was up towards the front. But he doesn't have the best car, so far one of them was the 24 who was up leading some laps as the race progressed on. A yellow comes out on track for oil which causes a set of caution pitstops at lap 139 and what is going on with Jeff Gordon? His crew is pushing him behind the pit wall! What has happened to the 24 of Jeff Gordon?! Oh man it was a broken pinion gear in his transmission that puts him 13 laps down and out of the conversation of winning the race but for Dale Earnhardt this could be huge for his championship hopes here! So he was running in the top 5 ever since and the race ended under a long green flag run. After the final pitstops were made race leader Terry Labonte took 2 tires while Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt, and Mark Martin are on 4 tires trying to run him down. So the 2 tires failed for Labonte but finished 3rd behind winner Martin and Earnhardt. 3 races to go and the 3 is 205 points behind the leader now. The championship might still be a realistic possibility. So going to Rockingham this meant that clinching scenarios are WAY out of rang for Gordon currently. So the race was pretty average for the 3 car making his way to the top 10 early on. Meanwhile Jeff Gordon has the lead, well at least the title fight will likely carry on to Phoenix after what happened at Charlotte. And now a big twist is afoot, Jeff Gordon pits with a flat tire and you think it's a blessing in disguise? Well no cause there was no flat tire it was just extremely worn but a caution came out for a crash so he lost a lap! Gosh all of a sudden everything almost appears to be going wrong for the championship leader. Wait things got worse, the 24 year old trying to pit gets spun out by a lapped car. It's just getting harder and harder for him to get his lap back which is music to Dale Earnhardt's ears while he is closing in bit by bit. Holy cow luck is not on Gordon's side today, he pits for a scheduled stop JUST AS THE CAUTION COMES OUT! This officially traps him 3 laps down now and the 3 car had gotten his bonus points for leading a lap. Dale Earnhardt is doing everything he can to apply as much pressure as he possibly can and even though he faded back to the top 10 at least a solid gain of points is in the future for the Intimidator. The final stop is under green and it is a solid stop but NASCAR wants him back in! Oh no, Dale Earnhardt left the pits without all the lugnuts fitted to his car and by NASCAR rules he has to have all 5 lugnuts installed but NASCAR says the pit crew didn't get them on! The crew are talking to the official but it's not going to work! After all of that work and the championship might have been in reach but this meant that the 8th title was realistically over. Hold the phone, Earnhardt pits and the lugnut was ALREADY ON! The crew were actually right! This is gonna cost Dale Earnhardt a lap and he's in 14th place! It turns out that on that day the lugnuts on Dale Earnhardt's car were painted daylight orange as a visual aid to the crew guys to make sure the lugnuts were on and so did NASCAR but while changing tires the original one fell off so the tire changer had a spare lugnut without any paint and put it on which confused the NASCAR official and it cost Earnhardt big time. So long story short NASCAR decided to throw the caution out to give the 3 car his lap and position back trying to undo their mistake, then Earnhardt pitted saying his tire is flat as well as some others towards the back, some people like Jack Roush were furious cause they believed that the cars who pitted unfairly gained an advantage, everyone got to pit and the positions out on track were untouched. After all of that Earnhardt finished 7th while Gordon finished 20th. So going to the penultimate race at Phoenix Dale Earnhardt is 162 points behind Jeff Gordon. So the championship can still be decided in this race, if Earnhardt leaves the race 185 points behind the 24 it's over however if he ranges from 151-184 points basically unless Gordon gets extremely sick, hurt or is somehow unable to participate in the season finale for whatever reason than Earnhardt can't win it. So as the race begins the 3 was 2nd and the 24 was 3rd but Earnhardt is doing exactly what he needs to do by getting the lead while Gordon slightly struggled. After a caution came out Dale lost the lead by choosing 4 tires while Ernie Irvan put on 2. But Earnhardt couldn't get by him however with Gordon fading to 11th if the race ended right then the points gap would be 112. But the Intimadator sees more points staring right at him and if he could get out front he can get to 102 points within Gordon. However Irvan eventuall surpassed Earnhardt on the most laps lead list so the sooner Earnhardt can get past the better. That's exactly what would happen but unfortunately it's at the expense of Ernie Irvan having an engine faliure. And what's a little bit worse is that the 5 points are out of reach for Earnhardt and he is slightly fading while Gordon is rising up. The gains that looked to be in Earnhardt's favor were microscopic after Gordon finished 5th while he finished 3rd. Dale was 147 points behind going into the season finale at Atlanta. He was an extreme longshot going in that most knew it over unless a miracle happened. But it never happened, by lap 61 Jeff Gordon was the champion. However that did not stop Dale Earnhardt from dominating the race leading 268 of the 328 laps to win. When it was all said and done Earnhardt was 34 points away from the title after Gordon struggled. Little did anyone know that this was the changing of the guard. The 8th championship was not meant to be for The Intimidator and RCR actually since 1994 have never won a Cup series championship while Hendrick Motorsports would win 11 more championships after 1995 with Jeff Gordon 3 times, once with Terry Labonte, and 7 times with Jimmie Johnson. And so far to this day no driver has won 8 championships in the Cup series and it makes multiple people ask themselves What if he never DNFed both Michigan races? What if he was never wrecked on the last lap in the first trip to Talladega? But for the record that looked to be nearly broken multiple ask "What might have been?"