Chase Elliott ended a 26-race win drought on Monday, but three NASCAR Cup Series champions are still seeking their first victories in more than a year.
In Monday’s rain-postponed NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott earned his first win since he won at Road America last July, ending a 26-race win drought.
Elliott had never been on a win drought that long since he earned his first victory at Watkins Glen International in August 2018, and he is now on a five-year winning streak.
However, three other former series champions are riding even longer win droughts and haven’t visited victory lane in over a year.
Winless NASCAR champions: No. 1 – Kevin Harvick
When Kevin Harvick earned his ninth win of the 2020 season at Bristol Motor Speedway, he still had seven races to become the first driver to win 10 races in a season since Jimmie Johnson in his 2007 championship-winning season. Those seven races instead began a massive drought that is still being extended on a weekly basis.
Harvick, who dominated much of the 2020 season, ended up failing to qualify for the Championship 4, and he went winless in 2021, making it his first winless season since 2009.
While Stewart-Haas Racing struggled as a whole in 2021, Aric Almirola still earned a win. The team have improved in 2022 and Chase Briscoe has earned the first win of his career, yet Harvick is still without a victory since September 2020. He has led just 229 laps since the start of last year after leading a series-high 1,531 in 2020 alone.
Harvick has four runner-up finishes during his current 54-race win drought. He earned them in October 2020 and May 2021 at Kansas Speedway, September 2021 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and April 2022 at Richmond Raceway.
His 54-race win drought is his longest with Stewart-Haas Racing, and it his longest since his 115-race win drought when he won the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway for Richard Childress Racing and then didn’t win again until the April 2010 race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Winless NASCAR champions: No. 2 – Joey Logano
Joey Logano hasn’t had a winless season since 2011 when he was still with Joe Gibbs Racing, but his and Team Penske’s struggles as of late, plus the fact that he finished no higher than third place at any point from April 2021 until the end of the 2021 season, have made some question whether his 10-year winning streak will be extended in the first year of the Next Gen car.
Logano won just one race in the 2021 season, and of all the races he won, he won the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway, something that not many expected. But during races in which you’d expect him to be a contender, he really wasn’t.
In 40 races since the dirt race, he hasn’t found victory lane. His best finish during this drought is his second place finish at Martinsville Speedway last month. In 11 races this year, he has only led 35 laps.
This win drought is his longest win drought as a Team Penske driver. He went 48 consecutive races without a win in 2012, his final season with Joe Gibbs’s team, and in 2013, his first season with Roger Penske’s team. But only 22 of those 48 races came behind the wheel of the #22 Ford.
As for the rest of Team Penske, Ryan Blaney has been consistent in 2022, but despite sitting in second place in the point standings, he has not finished higher than fourth in any single race. And while rookie Austin Cindric won the season-opening Daytona 500, his only other top 10 finish is an eighth place effort at Circuit of the Americas, and he is down in 18th in the standings.
Winless NASCAR champions: No. 3 – Brad Keselowski
Speaking of Team Penske, Brad Keselowski’s 12-year run with the team didn’t end in the most ideal way last season. He earned his final win with Roger Penske’s organization all the way back in April 2021 at Talladega Superspeedway.
In 37 races since then, Talladega Superspeedway has produced his top finish: a runner-up finish last October. And in the first 11 races of 2022, Keselowski has just one top 10 finish: a ninth place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 .
After the 2021 season, Austin Cindric replaced Keselowski behind the wheel of the #2 Ford, and Keselowski moved to Roush Fenway Racing, joining the team as not only a driver but a co-owner. He replaced Ryan Newman behind the wheel of the #6 Ford, and the team changed their name to RFK Racing upon his arrival.
While Team Penske have struggled in 2022, RFK Racing have struggled even more, and Keselowski’s 100-point penalty basically puts him in a must-win situation to qualify for the playoffs, something he has done in each of the last eight seasons.
But in addition to his playoff streak, could his 11-year win streak end, just like Kevin Harvick’s did last year?
Keselowski’s 37-race win drought is his longest since the 37-race win drought he endured between his win at Dover Motor Speedway in September 2012 and his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2013. While he went on to win the 2012 championship, he missed the 2013 playoffs.
His current win drought is only one race away from becoming his longest win drought since the 60-race win drought he endured between his first career win at Talladega Superspeedway for Phoenix Racing in April 2009 and his first win for Penske’s team at Kansas Speedway in June 2011.
Which of these three former champions will be the next to find victory lane? Will any of them do so in the remaining 25 races of the 2022 season?