If the polesitter does not win the Coca-Cola 600, the NASCAR Cup Series pole-to-win drought will be tied for the longest that it has ever been.
Continuing the 2019 NASCAR season’s trend of number of fairly obscure records being tied and broken, the Cup Series pole-to-win drought has a chance to become the longest that it has ever been in this Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The last time a polesitter won a Cup Series race was in mid-July of 2018 when Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. won the race at Kentucky Speedway. Since then, 29 races have taken place, including the final 17 races of the 2018 season and the first 12 races of the 2019 season, and polesitters have not won any of them.
Prior to this 29-race pole-to-win drought, only twice in Cup Series history have at least 29 consecutive races taken place without a race polesitter winning. One such pole drought was a 29-race pole-to-win drought, and the other pole drought was a 30-race pole-to-win drought.
The active pole-to-win drought is tied for the second longest pole-to-win drought in Cup Series history with the pole-to-win drought that spanned 29 races in the 1989 and 1990 seasons.
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Rusty Wallace took the pole position and won the 29-race 1989 season’s second race at North Carolina Speedway. It took until the 29-race 1990 season’s third race at the same track for another polesitter to win, as Kyle Petty won this race after starting from the pole position.
If somebody other than the polesitter wins Sunday evening’s 400-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Charlotte Motor Speedway oval in Concord, North Carolina, the active pole-to-win drought will tie the all-time record pole-to-win drought that spanned 30 races in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
Ryan Newman won the 36-race 2011 season’s 19th race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It took until the 36-race 2012 season’s 14th race at Pocono Raceway for another polesitter to win, as Joey Logano won this race after starting from the pole position.
Will the polesitter win Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to prevent the active pole-to-win drought from becoming tied for the longest in NASCAR Cup Series history? Tune into Fox at 6:00 p.m. ET on Memorial Day Sunday, May 26 for the live broadcast of the 36-race 2019 season’s 13th race to find out.