NASCAR Cup Series: When will a third team win a race in 2019?

Two teams, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske, have combined to win the first nine races of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season. When will a third team win for the first time this year?

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin opened up the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the 61st annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway before Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski went on to win the season’s second race, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Since Keselowski took the checkered flag for the first time this season nearly two months ago, seven more Cup Series races have been contested. These seven races took place at a variety of different tracks, including a superspeedway, intermediate tracks and short tracks.

The third through ninth races of the season took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ISM Raceway, Auto Club Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway, respectively.

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These seven races have all been won by either a Joe Gibbs Racing driver or a Team Penske driver.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano won the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch went on to win the races at ISM Raceway and Auto Club Speedway.

Keselowski then got back to victory lane by winning the race at Martinsville Speedway before Hamlin did the same thing by winning the race at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch then recorded his series-high third victory by winning the race at Bristol Motor Speedway before Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. became the fifth driver to win a race this season by earning the first short track victory of his career at Richmond Raceway.

Never before had a Cup Series season featured only two teams with victories through the season’s first nine races, but Truex Jr. changed that. In fact, never before had a Cup Series season featured only two teams with victories through the season’s first eight races, but Busch changed that.

When will a third team find victory lane for the first time in the 2019 season?

While it won’t be today considering the fact that the today is Easter and is the first Sunday off for the Cup Series since before the season began, the one plus is that neither Joe Gibbs Racing nor Team Penske can add to their win totals this weekend for the first time in well over two months.

In addition to earning all nine victories through the season’s first nine races, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske drivers have also recorded six second place finishes. Truex Jr. and Logano have each recorded two while Busch and Keselowski have each recorded one.

The drivers of these two teams have also recorded a total of six third place finishes, four fourth place finishes and five fifth place finishes.

So through the season’s first nine races, non-Joe Gibbs Racing/Team Penske drivers have combined to record just three second place finishes, three third place finishes, five fourth place finishes and four fifth place finishes.

That results in a grand total of only 15 top five finishes by non-Joe Gibbs Racing/Team Penske driver through the first quarter of the 36-race 2019 season.

Here is a very short list of these 15 top five finishes.

2nd place
- Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott at Martinsville Speedway
- Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer at Texas Motor Speedway
- Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch at Bristol Motor Speedway
3rd place
- Kurt Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez at Texas Motor Speedway
- Clint Bowyer at Richmond Raceway
4th place
- Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway and Richmond Raceway
- Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola at ISM Raceway
5th place
- Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell at Daytona International Speedway
- Clint Bowyer at Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Kurt Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
- Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson at Texas Motor Speedway

While there have been several instances that have resulted in other teams coming close to getting to victory lane for the first time this season, it has proven to be a major challenge for all of these other teams to prevent Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske drivers from occupying several of the top positions at the end of each race.

If this continues to be the case, it would not be surprising to see these two teams continue to win each and every race. That said, even if it does continue to be the case, it is very possible that a driver, likely one of the drivers included in the list above, will end up leading that pack at the end of the race to end this streak of dominance by Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.

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NASCAR Cup Series action is scheduled to resume on Sunday, April 28 with the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, at which point it will have been more than two months since a team won their first race of the 2019 season. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox from the high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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