Before Kyle Larson's hot streak to begin the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason, which saw him ascend to the points lead, much was made about the overall lack of success from him and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team during the regular season.
Larson set a new record for the longest win drought by a reigning champion in Cup Series history, and he finished seventh in the standings, a whopping 303 points behind regular season champion Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing.
But as far as Hendrick goes, the struggles we should have been focused on during the regular season weren't those of Larson, or even those of Chase Elliott, who recorded just two top 10 finishes in 15 regular season races after his second win of the season in May at Texas Motor Speedway.
They were the struggles of William Byron.
Byron was eliminated from the regular season championship battle with four races remaining on the regular season schedule, one year after winning the regular season title and advancing to the Championship 4 with his fourth consecutive multi-win season. He was the only driver who qualified for the Championship 4 in each of the final three seasons of the "win and in" era.
Byron's championship hopes were pretty much over even before the postseason started, and the first seven races of the 10-race Chase playoffs have all but confirmed it. He's 190 points behind and sits 14th in the standings, ahead of only RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece.
And if he doesn't find victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, or Homestead-Miami Speedway to wrap up the 2026 season, it will continue a trend that began when the Next Gen era did in 2022.
Never has the regular season champion during the Next Gen era won a single race the following year (0 for 141).
Chase Elliott won the 2022 regular season title, and his 2023 season was his first winless season since 2017. Martin Truex Jr. won the 2023 regular season title, and he never won another race; his 2024 season was his first winless season since 2014.
Tyler Reddick won the 2024 regular season title, and the 2025 season remains his only winless season since 2021. And that brings us to 2025 regular season champion Byron, who hasn't been winless over a full season since 2019.
It has long been speculated that the 2027 season will be Hamlin's last. Hamlin, who is set to turn 46 years old next month, is the Cup Series' oldest full-time driver, and he has said himself that he doesn't plan on signing an additional contract extension.
If this regular season winless trend continues in 2027, perhaps the 2026 season might truly be his final chance to become a Cup Series champion.
Hamlin hasn't won a race since mid-June as it is, and he has fallen from the points lead to fourth place in the standings since the playoffs began. But having gone from 49 points out of the lead to just 31 this past weekend at Phoenix Raceway, even in a race that saw him finish near the back due to a flat tire and a pit road speeding penalty, he is still very much in the mix to win the title.
Perhaps the best possible way this trend can continue is by Hamlin winning this year's championship and retiring on top; that would technically make him winless in 2027, wouldn't it?
But if he doesn't, it might be extra challenging for him to get to the top in 2027. It would require him to do something that no Next Gen regular season champion has ever done.
The antepenultimate race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is the YellaWood 500, which is set to be shown live on NBC from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, October 25. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from the Lincoln, Alabama oval!
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