A NASCAR Cup Series race polesitter has not gone on to win the race itself in nearly nine months, making the pole-to-win drought the longest it has been in several seasons.
Furniture Row Racing folded following the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the 2019 season is already nearly 20% complete. But they are still the most recent team to field a car for a Cup Series race polesitter who went on to win the race that he started from the pole position.
Martin Truex Jr. drove his #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to victory lane in last July’s race at Kentucky Speedway in dominant fashion after starting the 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kentucky Speedway oval in Sparta, Kentucky from the pole position and leading 174 of its laps.
Since Truex Jr. won this race, 24 Cup Series races have taken place, including the final 17 races of the 2018 season and the first seven races of the 2019 season. None of these 24 races have been won by the race polesitter. In fact, none of them have been won by a front row starter.
More from NASCAR Cup Series
- NASCAR Cup Series: New team set to compete in 2024
- NASCAR: Surprising name continuously linked to new seat
- NASCAR driver at risk of missing the Daytona 500?
- NASCAR set for rare appearance last seen 13 years ago
- NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500
A total of 14 different drivers have combined to take the 24 pole positions for these races. Eight of these 14 drivers (Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin) have even won at least one race during this 24-race span.
In fact, these eight drivers have combined to win a whopping 19 of these 24 races, and only one driver (Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski) is responsible for winning the other five. But none of these eight drivers won any of these 24 races after starting from the pole position.
Elliott has a chance to end this 24-race pole-to-win drought in this Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Food City 500. His pole position for this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee made him the eighth different polesitter through the season’s first eight races and the ninth different polesitter in the last nine races.
The last time the Cup Series pole-to-win drought was this long was back in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. After Ryan Newman won the 2011 season’s 19th race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, 30 races (five-sixths of an entire 36-race season) were contested before a race polesitter returned to victory lane. The driver who broke this 30-race pole-to-win drought was Logano, and he did so in the 2012 season’s 14th race at Pocono Raceway.
The live broadcast of the Food City 500 is set to air on Fox Sports 1 from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 7. Will the 24-race NASCAR Cup Series pole-to-win drought come to an end with a Chase Elliott victory in this race?