Joey Logano is now a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, which puts him in a fraternity of six.

The other five are NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers, and there’s no doubt Logano will eventually join them. Regardless of how you feel about the system that led to his third title, it’s just another in a line of unique paths that led to a championship trifecta.

The first timer was also one of the most recognizable legends in American auto racing history. Lee Petty entered 1959 with a pair of titles already to his name and was at the top of his game.

There were 44 events that paid points in 1959, which is not unusual for the era. That season also featured the first Daytona 500 and certainly provided a memorable finish. Petty was in the middle of a three-wide formation with an opposing car and possibly runner-up Johnny Beauchamp. Without the benefit of modern technology, it took three days to determine that Petty, not Beauchamp, had won.

Petty would use the win to launch his title run. In his 42 starts (yes, the eventual champion missed two events that year), he won 11 times and finished in the top 10 in all but seven races. Unlike the other three-time champions, Petty won his third near the end of his career, as 1960 would be his last full-time season.

The next three-timer is a man who needs minimal introduction as the winner of 105 Cup races, David Pearson. Pearson claimed his three titles in the space of just four years, winning in 1966, 1968 and 1969. His final year was a clinic of consistency in which he not only finished 42 of his 51 races , but all 42 finishes were tops. five.

For Pearson, his lack of additional championships was due to his frequent part-time schedule. After 1969, he started less than three-quarters of the races each year for the rest of his career, finishing better than 13th in points just twice.

Cale Yarborough took note of Pearson’s cramming of three titles in a four-year span and thought he would take it a step further. After winning the crown in 1976 and 1977, Yarborough capitalized on Richard Petty’s first winless season in 18 years to secure his third straight triumph.

He totaled 28 wins in 90 races during his three-year Cup Series dominance. But like Pearson and so many others of that era, he just didn’t compete full-time for very long. Yarborough moved to a part-time role beginning in 1981, ending his tenure as a championship contender. Like Pearson, he continued to run well, winning 14 races as a part-time entrant, including two consecutive Daytona 500s.

The way Darrell Waltrip won his first two titles is quite similar to the drivers we’ve already touched on, with pure dominance being the driving force. But that was not the case in 1985.

Bill Elliott almost won it all in 1985. He earned his first Daytona 500 victory and won the inaugural Winston Million bid, earning his 10th win of the year in just his 20th Southern 500 event at Darlington Raceway. With just eight races to go, Elliott led Waltrip by 208 points.

But after Darlington, things were decidedly less great for Awesome Bill. In the next four races, Waltrip finished first, second, second, and 14th, while Elliott finished 12th, 20th, 17th, and 30th. This resulted in Waltrip cutting into the lead each week , moving to the top of the standings after Elliott’s four-race meltdown.

Elliott won the penultimate race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and found himself just 20 points off the lead heading into the finale at Riverside International Raceway. But while Waltrip finished seventh, Elliott wobbled home in 31st, giving DW its third and final Cup Series title. Although he raced for another 15 years, Waltrip never won another Cup title after leaving Junior Johnson & Associates, the team with which he and Yarborough won their three titles.

Tony Stewart holds plenty of records in his storied career, but there’s one in particular that no other Cup legend can claim. He is the only driver to win a championship in both the full season and the playoff points system. Stewart lifted his first major trophy after 2002, then followed it up with a title in the playoff era in 2005.

But in 2011, he added yet another accolade to his resume, becoming the first driver to win a championship on a tiebreaker.

At that time, a driver did not have to win to be eligible for the 10-race Championship Chase. He just had to be in the top 12 points after the first 26 races, which Tony was. He didn’t win through those 26 starts, but that would change in a hurry. Stewart won the first two races of the playoffs and would claim back-to-back victories just over a month later.

Carl Edwards entered the final just three points ahead of Stewart. Edwards had one win to Stewart’s four, giving Stewart the lead in the event of a tie. This meant that in almost any scenario, Carl simply had to finish ahead of Tony.

Edwards finished second in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but unfortunately for him, Stewart was the winner. The final standings were a dead heat, but Stewart won his third and final Cup title by five wins to Carl’s.

Logano can end his career with three titles or continue to add to his total in the years to come. Like it or not, his unconventional path to winning a third championship certainly makes for an intriguing bit of history and a pretty good story.

As are the other five drivers with three Cup Series championships.