NASCAR: 5 most disappointing Cup drivers of 2022
By Asher Fair
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is officially halfway over following Sunday’s race at Road America. Who are the most disappointing drivers of the year thus far?
Sunday afternoon’s race at Road America marked the halfway point in the 36-race 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Additionally, following this race, the 26-race regular season is now more than two-thirds of the way over, as there are just eight races remaining before the four-round, 10-race playoffs.
While there have been plenty of impressive drivers so far in the 2022 season, there have been quite a few drivers who have disappointed as well.
Here are the top five.
Most disappointing NASCAR drivers in 2022: No. 1 – Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick earned nine victories, a career-high, in the 2020 season. No driver had won nine races in a season at that point since Carl Edwards pulled it off in 2008.
But since earning his ninth victory of the season in September 2020 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Harvick hasn’t found victory lane. The 2021 season was his first winless season since 2009, and his 61-race win drought is his longest since his 115-race win drought from 2007 to 2010.
It would be easy to pin his struggles on Stewart-Haas Racing, which clearly haven’t been at their best since last season, but Harvick didn’t even qualify for the 2020 Championship 4. Additionally, Stewart-Haas Racing did win a race last season with Aric Almirola, and they have done so this year with Chase Briscoe.
Like last year, Harvick can say that he is the highest Stewart-Haas Racing driver in the point standings. However, if the regular season ended today, he would fail to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2009, and Briscoe would take over as the team’s top driver in points.
Briscoe is only currently seated in the playoff picture thanks to the fact that he earned his first career Cup Series victory at Phoenix Raceway back in March.