NASCAR: Who will be the next driver to end a lengthy win drought?

Two drivers have ended lengthy NASCAR Cup Series win droughts in back-to-back weeks. Who will be the next driver to pull it off?

Entering the opening race of the round of 12 of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Dover International Speedway last Sunday, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson hadn’t won a Cup Series race in over two years.

He had had several great opportunities to do so, but he simply could not find victory lane over the course of the 75-race span immediately following his victory at Richmond Raceway to close out the 2017 regular season more than two years prior.

Yet it was the driver of the #42 Chevrolet who drove his way to victory lane at the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) high-banked Dover International Speedway oval in Dover, Delaware to lock himself into the round of 8 of the playoffs for the first time in his career.

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Skip ahead one week — or eight days considering the race was suspended from Sunday to Monday — to the second of three races in the round of 12 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Entering this race, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney hadn’t won a race in over one year, and when he won that race, he also hadn’t won a race in over one year.

After winning the race at Pocono Raceway in June of 2017, it took Blaney until the round of 16 of the 2018 playoffs to win another race, and he won the race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval in late September via a last-lap, last-turn pass.

Once again, Blaney made a last-lap pass to win, this time at the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama and this time in the round of 12 to lock himself into the round of 8 for the second time in the last three seasons, ending a 37-race win drought.

After consecutive weeks have seen win droughts of two-plus years and one-plus years ended, which driver will be the next to end a win drought?

Considering the fact that he has never won a race yet is still alive in playoff contention, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron comes to mind. He has driven in 67 races and still never found victory lane. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez (103 races) and Leavine Family Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto (171 races) are not in the playoffs, but they have come close to finding victory lane on a few occasions as well.

But as far as actual win droughts are concerned, there are a few candidates to consider.

One is Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, who is on a career-long 90-race win drought. His previous career-long win drought was only 24 races in length.

After struggling throughout the 2018 season, he seemed to pick up speed as a whole in the 2019 season, but he has been involved in so many incidents that he really had nothing to do with to the point where he was unable to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career. His career may very well be on the decline, but he still has the speed he needs to compete at the front of the pack.

Another candidate is Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman. Newman qualified for the playoffs in his first season driving for the struggling Roush Fenway Racing this year, and he came just 0.007 seconds from winning at Talladega Superspeedway over Blaney. His win drought sits at 99 races, but given the speed he has shown throughout the season, that drought could end in the near future.

Finally, sticking with the theme of Roush Fenway Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Chris Buescher is set to replace Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as Newman’s teammate next season. His win drought sits at 118 races, but could he put an end to that driving a car that clearly has the speed to compete at the front more often than many thought?

Playoff drivers Clint Bowyer and Aric Almirola of Stewart-Haas Racing are also among the drivers whose win droughts are over one year in length (52 races and 36 races, respectively), and it’s not too hard to imagine them putting themselves in position to end those win droughts.

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After two drivers with win droughts of over one season in length ended those win droughts in back-to-back weeks, who will be the next NASCAR Cup Series driver to win a race for the first time in a long time?

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