NASCAR extends incredible record at Phoenix
By Asher Fair
Chase Briscoe’s first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Phoenix Raceway extended an incredible all-time record that dates back to last October.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe became the 200th different NASCAR Cup Series race winner in Sunday’s Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
His first career victory made him the fourth different winner of the 2022 season, and it made him the second different first-time winner of the year.
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It also extended a remarkable all-time record which illustrates just how prevalent the “youth movement” is at stock car racing’s highest level.
Going back to early last October, NASCAR hasn’t seen a driver over the age of 29 win a race.
A total of 10 races have been contested since then, and all have been won by drivers in their 20s. There has never been a streak of this many races without a single winner aged 30-plus.
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, then 27, got things started by earning his first career victory in a rain-shortened race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, 29, then won the next three races at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Alex Bowman, 28, then won at Martinsville Speedway before Larson won the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Team Penske rookie Austin Cindric, 23, got the 2022 season underway by winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Larson and Bowman then won at Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively, before Briscoe, 27, earned his first career win at Phoenix Raceway.
And that isn’t the craziest part of the streak.
The last time a driver not in his 20s won a race was in September at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, then 40, took the checkered flag. But the last time a driver in his 30s won a race was five races before that.
A.J. Allmendinger, then 39, delivered Kaulig Racing their first victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last August.
Ryan Blaney, then 27, won the next two races at Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway before Hamlin won the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway and teammate Martin Truex Jr., 41, won at Richmond Raceway. Larson then won at Bristol Motor Speedway prior to Hamlin’s aforementioned win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
And it gets even crazier.
The last time a full-time driver in his 30s won a race was all the way back in mid-July, when Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, 38, won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Larson won the following race at Watkins Glen International before Allmendinger, a part-time driver, earned his historic win.
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Will this streak continue? The fifth race on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 20. Sign up for a free trial of FuboTV today if you haven’t yet done so!