NASCAR: 10 future Hall of Famers among 2020 drivers

Asher Fair

Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, and Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Among the NASCAR Cup Series drivers from 2020, who will end up being a Hall of Famer? Here are 10 competitors who should be voted in.

Last February, NASCAR changed the Hall of Fame voting process so that there are only three new inductees each year, beginning with the Class of 2021. The total had been five inductees per year prior to this change.

Two inductees are now selected from the 10-person Modern Era Ballot, which is for competitors who have competed in NASCAR for at least 10 years, have been retired for at least two years and whose careers started within the past 60 years.

The other inductee is selected from the five-person Pioneer Ballot, which is for competitors whose careers began more than 60 years ago or who have been on the Modern Era Ballot for at least 10 years.

The Class of 2021 was announced under this format back in June and included Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Stefanik from the Modern Era Ballot and Red Farmer from the Pioneer Ballot.

But who among the sport’s drivers from the 2020 season will end up in the NASCAR Hall of Fame?

Some of these drivers are nearing retirement. In fact, some retired after 2020. Others are in the peaks of their careers and probably have several good years left. One is probably still getting warmed up.

Without further ado, here are 10 NASCAR Cup Series drivers from last season who should be future Hall of Famers. We’ll start out with the obvious one, the one who won as many championships as eight of the other nine drivers combined and who confirmed late in 2019 that he would be retiring after 2020.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #1 – Jimmie Johnson

Jimmie Johnson is not only a surefire Hall of Fame bet but a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer given the illustrious career he had.

Johnson is one of only three drivers to win more than four championships, and he is a seven-time champion along with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. Johnson won five of his championships in consecutive seasons, and he won all seven in an 11-year span.

Petty and Earnhardt never won more than two in a row. Petty won his seven titles in a 16-year span while Earnhardt won his in a 15-year span. The only other driver in Cup Series history to win more than two titles in a row is Cale Yarborough, who won three straight from 1976 to 1978.

Unfortunately, Johnson’s career ended on a lengthy win drought that dates all the way back to June of 2017. But even with that factored in, he has 83 career wins to his name, tied for sixth place on the all-time list, and he won at least two races in 16 consecutive seasons.

Aside of Johnson, only Petty has ever pulled that off (18 from 1960 to 1977). Aside of Johnson and Petty, only David Pearson won at least one race per year for at least 16 years in a row (17 from 1964 to 1980).

Johnson spent his entire Cup Series career behind the wheel of one car, the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and he missed just one race after becoming a full-time driver in 2002, with that being last year’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway because he tested positive for COVID-19.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #2 – Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch only turned 35 years old last year, and he is already in 10th place on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list with 57 victories, despite having endured some lengthy win droughts in recent years, including a 33-race win drought to start the 2020 season.

While his Cup Series achievements will be what propel him into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, especially since he is currently riding a 16-year winning streak, you also cannot ignore what he has done in the Xfinity Series and the Truck Series, including as a team owner in the latter.

Busch holds the all-time wins record in the Xfinity Series with 97, nearly twice the amount of second place Mark Martin (49), and he holds the all-time wins record in the Truck Series with 59.

Before full-time Cup Series drivers were ineligible to compete for the Xfinity Series championship, Busch secured a title at NASCAR’s second highest level of competition back in 2009.

All in all, he is the winningest driver across NASCAR’s top three series with 213 victories, and he broke the former record of 200, held by Richard Petty, in March of 2019 before he even turned 34 years old.

Busch’s success as a Truck Series team owner includes two championships with Kyle Busch Motorsports, one with Erik Jones in 2015 and another with Christopher Bell in 2017.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #3 – Kevin Harvick

It’s hard to call Kevin Harvick a “late bloomer” considering the success he had early on in his career. But the success he has had in recent years, specifically since joining Stewart-Haas Racing ahead of the 2014 season and winning the championship in his first year with the team, shows that the 45-year-old is nowhere near retirement.

Harvick continues to climb the all-time wins list and has improved several positions in recent years, including seven last year alone. His recent success has propelled him inside the top 10 with 58 career victories, which is twice the number of victories as the winningest driver who is not either a Hall of Famer or an active driver.

Harvick has won at least one race in each of the last 11 seasons, and it isn’t too far-fetched to see him challenging Richard Petty’s record of 18 by the time his career ends, considering the fact that more than half of his wins have come in the last six seasons alone and the fact that he is already signed through the 2023 season.

He has missed just one race, that coming at Martinsville Speedway due to a suspension in 2002, since becoming a full-time Cup Series driver in abrupt fashion following the tragic passing of Dale Earnhardt in 2001, and he well-is positioned to challenge Jeff Gordon’s all-time record of 797 consecutive starts as well. He currently has 676.

Matt Kenseth, NASCAR — Matt Kenseth, Chip Ganassi Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #4 – Matt Kenseth

The Brett Favre of NASCAR, Matt Kenseth worked his way back onto this list by becoming an “active driver” for the third time in his career in 2020 and second since he initially stepped away from the sport following the 2017 season when he was replaced by Erik Jones at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Kenseth initially returned to competition as a part-time driver in 2018 with Roush Fenway Racing before again stepping away following the 2018 season. When the 2019 season was his first season since 1997, which was before he had ever competed in the Cup Series, without any starts, it seemed clear that he was done.

Then Chip Ganassi Racing came calling after Kyle Larson used a racial slur and ended up being fired by the team after losing several sponsors. All of a sudden, the 48-year-old Kenseth, who was the oldest driver in the 2020 field by more than three and a half years, found himself back in the saddle, and on a full-time basis.

While it was clear throughout the 2020 season that the 2003 champion is well past his prime (and his third time walking away from the sport will probably be his last), there is no mistaking the fact that he is a surefire Hall of Fame bet.

His 39 wins, tied for 21st place on the all-time list, and one championship, tied for 17th, make him a lock. No former driver with at least 29 wins has not been inducted, and the only former driver who won a title and is not a Hall of Famer is Bill Rexford. He won just one race.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #5 – Joey Logano

He may not be there yet, but Joey Logano’s achievements so far in his NASCAR Cup Series career put him well on pace to become a Hall of Famer.

As noted in the slide about Matt Kenseth, only one driver has ever won a championship and not been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Logano is already a champion, having won the 2018 title, and he has 26 career wins to his name, three shy of the current lowest total by a non-Hall of Famer.

Most notably, he only turned 30 years old last May. Only five other drivers in Cup Series history had won at least 20 races before turning 30, and only three had won at least 25.

All of those drivers, sans the active Kyle Busch (29 wins), are Hall of Famers, with Richard Petty leading the way at 60 wins, followed by Jeff Gordon at 55. Junior Johnson and Fireball Roberts, both of whom never won a championship, had 22 and 20 wins, respectively, to their names by their 30th birthdays.

Accomplishing historic feats well before most drivers is nothing new for Logano. He is the youngest race winner in Cup Series history and the youngest polesitter in Cup Series history.

Keep in mind, he was fired by Joe Gibbs Racing after four seasons that netted him just two wins. But Team Penske took a chance on him in 2013, and the rest is history.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #6 – Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin is the first driver on this list and the only one who has not been crowned NASCAR Cup Series champion. Even with that in mind, there is no argument against him as a Hall of Famer, especially considering the modern-day championship format.

Hamlin, who has only ever driven for Joe Gibbs Racing, has many times pointed to the fact that he won’t consider his career to be incomplete if he never wins a championship since he could technically win 35 races and finish in second place in the season finale and lose the title fight under the current format — possibly to the driver who finished the regular season in 30th in points, no less.

It’s hard to argue against him. Many thought Hamlin was washed up after his winless 2018 season, the first winless season of his 13-year career at that time, but he has forced everyone to think otherwise ever since.

With new crew chief Chris Gabehart, the 2016 Daytona 500 winner added to his trophy collection with another Daytona 500 win to open the 2019 season. Following a six-win season that saw him advance to the Championship 4, he won the race for the third time in 2020, and he had an even better season with seven more wins.

The only driver with more wins than Hamlin and no championships is Junior Johnson, who never actually ran a full season. Hamlin has 44 wins to his name; Johnson had 50.

Among drivers who have completed at least one full season, Hamlin is the winningest driver without a title. Second place on that list is Mark Martin with 40, and he is a Hall of Famer, as are several others.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #7 – Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch is in situation similar to that of Matt Kenseth, having won a championship many years ago back in 2004, the first championship decided in the playoff era, and having won more than enough races to be considered for the Hall of Fame based on his win total alone.

While Busch hasn’t had the success that his younger brother has had and he hasn’t won more than two races in a year since 2005, when he recorded his fourth straight season of three or more wins, he sits in 27th place on the all-time wins list with 32 victories and a championship.

Only 17 retirees have amassed at least 32 wins and a championship, and all of them are in the Hall of Fame. Five other drivers from 2020 have done so, of whom four have already been discussed in this article. Don’t count on any of them not making the cut, either.

What is unique about Busch in terms of the sport’s modern-day drivers is how his win total has been accrued. He has competed in the sport since 2000 and recorded eight of his victories during the Winston Cup era, the most among the 10 drivers in this article.

In fact, only three of the other nine drivers in this article won any races during this era: Matt Kenseth (seven), Jimmie Johnson (six) and Kevin Harvick (four). Ryan Newman actually leads all active drivers with nine.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #8 – Martin Truex Jr.

A few years ago, Martin Truex Jr. as a future Hall of Famer would have seemed as far-fetched as the scenario I described in Denny Hamlin’s slide about the 30th place driver winning the championship over a driver who wins the first 35 races.

But now, it is all but a lock.

Truex entered the 2016 season with three victories to his name in 10 full seasons of competition. His fourth place finish in the championship standings from the year before was his first ever top 10 finish after he finished in 18th place or worse in five of his first nine seasons.

Since the 2016 season began, there is a case to be made that Truex has been the best driver in the sport.

For two years in a row, he more than doubled his career win total, winning four races in 2016 to raise his total to seven and then winning eight in 2017 to raise it to 15. In 2017, he secured his first championship as well, and only once has he finished lower than second place in the championship standings since then. He now has 27 career wins to his name.

Only one driver ahead of Truex on the all-time wins list is not either a Hall of Famer or an active driver, and Truex trails him by just one win. That one driver, Carl Edwards, who actually drove the #19 Toyota that Truex now drives, could very well end up in the Hall of Fame eventually anyway, and he never even won a championship like Truex has.

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #9 – Brad Keselowski

In the slide about Kurt Busch, it was referenced that five other active drivers have won at least 31 races and one Cup Series championship, and none of the four who had been discussed at the time were even remotely close to not being considered for future Hall of Fame induction.

The fifth one isn’t close to that lack of consideration either.

Brad Keselowski has only ever driven for Team Penske as a full-time driver, and he has competed full-time since 2010. In just his third full season back in 2012, he won a championship, and he did it during an era that had been dominated by Jimmie Johnson. At that time, he had only nine career wins to his name.

Tony Stewart won the 2005 and 2011 championships, and Johnson won each championship from 2006 to 2010. Any new champion would’ve been surprising in 2012, let alone a driver who entered the year with just two years of experience and just four career wins. He more than doubled his career win total with five that year to win the title.

Keselowski, who is up to 24th place on the all-time wins list with 34 victories, has only ever had one winless season, his first, driving for Team Penske, and he has won at least three races in each of the last five years.

With 10 consecutive winning seasons, the 36-year-old driver of the #2 Ford could very well find himself challenging Richard Petty’s record of 18 straight before he retires.

Only 16 retirees have amassed at least 34 wins and a championship, and all of them are in the Hall of Fame. Keselowski has a great chance to keep adding to his win total before he joins them.

Chase Elliott, NASCAR — Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Future NASCAR Hall of Famers: #10 – Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott is only five years into his NASCAR Cup Series career. But let’s look beyond the current generation of future Hall of Famers, because surely the inductions won’t stop there.

No, he is not there yet. But I also don’t think I’m jumping the gun here. Talent-wise, and based particularly on what he achieved in 2020, Elliott is a sure Hall of Fame bet if he can continue at the pace he has been on since finally notching his first career victory back in August of 2018 during his third season as a full-time driver.