<Li> 2013: Jimmie Johnson wins his third championship by 41 points over Kevin Harvick and 56 points over Matt Kenseth . Either way he would win . </Li> <Li> 2014: Jeff Gordon wins his seventh title by 37 points over Joey Logano, tying himself with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most Cup championships of all - time . </Li> <Li> 2015: Kevin Harvick wins his second championship, beating Joey Logano by 22 points . Jeff Gordon finishes eighth to conclude a 23 - year career and Kyle Busch finishes 20th despite missing 11 races . </Li> <Li> 2016: Kevin Harvick becomes the first driver to repeat as Cup champion since Jeff Gordon in 1998, collecting his third series title . He also is just the seventh driver in Cup history to win at least three championships . Joey Logano finished second for the third consecutive season, missing out on the title by 27 points . Kyle Busch was third, while three - time series champion Jimmie Johnson was eighth . </Li>

How does the race for the chase work