With a weekend off for Easter, NASCAR Cup Series drivers have a chance to regroup and collect themselves after the first seven races to begin the 2026 season have only produced four winners.
Notably, Tyler Reddick became the first driver to win each of a season's first three races and still maintains an 82-point lead over Ryan Blaney after a season-worst 15th place finish at Martinsville Speedway.
The driver with the most momentum entering the off weekend, though, is Chase Elliott, who picked up his first win of the season at Martinsville, taking advantage of a clever pit call from crew chief Alan Gustafson.
While those two have a lot to be pleased with through seven races, the off weekend could not come soon enough for some drivers. With a grueling stretch of races on tap, these three drivers need a reset the most to get their season heading in the right direction.
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Coming off a historic season in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity Series), Zilisch entered the 2026 Cup Series campaign with a lot of high expectations. After all, he recorded a stretch of 18 consecutive races with a top five finish and completely dominated, despite coming away without a championship to show for it.
Given the huge transition from the O'Reilly Series to the Cup Series, it should not be a huge surprise that Zilisch has struggled out of the gate. With that said, he has not exactly flashed many positive signs, either, with a best finish of 14th at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and five finishes of 26th or worse. As a result, he finds himself mired in 33rd in the standings, having scored the third-fewest points among all drivers who have competed in every race.
A break could not come at a better time for Zilisch, who simply just needs to start stringing some positive results together. He should not be expected to immediately go out and compete for wins on a routine basis, despite the hype coming into his rookie season, but this is not the start that many envisioned for him. Perhaps a reset will help get him back on track, not to mention some additional speed from Trackhouse Racing as an organization.
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
The two-time Cup Series champion is now staring at a 100-race winless streak after his 24th place finish at Martinsville. He had an uncontrolled tire penalty in that race and finished outside the top 20 for the third consecutive race.
Kyle Busch only has a best finish of 12th at COTA and has scored 29 points or fewer in each race, which speaks to his overall lack of performance through the season's first seven races.
When Busch joined Richard Childress Racing before the 2023 season, he immediately found success with three wins, including his most recent triumph at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Not only has his average finish plummeted since then, but his eight combined top fives the past two seasons are fewer than the 10 he recorded in 2023, further highlighting the No. 8 team's struggles to find pace.
It is safe to say that it has not been a good start for Busch with former O'Reilly Series champion crew chief Jim Pohlman, who made the transition from serving as Justin Allgaier's crew chief at JR Motorsports. Busch did not have grand expectations heading into the season, but this is certainly not the start he envisioned after how poorly the past two seasons had gone.
Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota
After making a Championship 4 appearance in 2025, the 2026 season has not been too kind to Chase Briscoe in his second year at Joe Gibbs Racing.
While teammate Ty Gibbs has been on a tear and continues to make strides, Briscoe has failed to capitalize on the speed in his No. 19 Toyota this season. He finished runner-up at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway), but aside from an eighth place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he has not finished better than 12th in any of the other races.
In fact, he has three finishes outside the top 30 and has made numerous mistakes, both on pit road and on the race track, which has only compounded his problems. As a result of those poor finishes, he is currently last of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in points (21st) and has yet to crack the top 15 in points all season. Like Busch, Briscoe has not accumulated many points, only tallying more than 32 points just once.
With a week off to regroup and get prepared for the grind ahead, one area of focus for Briscoe should be on qualifying better. As someone who started on pole seven times in 2025, he has failed to back that up with only two starts inside the top 17 this season. If he can improve on that, the results should take care of themselves after what has been a slow start out of the gate.