Did You Notice? … We’re 10 races into the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season already? It’s been a year so chock full with news (a new race car will do that to you), we’ve seen a couple of under-the-radar storylines overlooked. It’s not easy to cover it all in a year where parity (eight winners in 10 races) and surprises have reigned supreme.
So let’s breathe, take a step back and a look through the camera lens of NASCAR 2022 in the form of 10 quirky stats that define it. Look through and think … would you ever have expected any of these back before the season began in February?
1) Chase Elliott has just one top-five finish, the worst average start of his career … and he’s the point leader.
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver has found himself behind a trio of Hendrick Motorsports teammates, all of whom have combined for four wins, 11 top-five finishes and 25 playoff points. By comparison, Elliott’s totals in those categories are just zero, one and two, with just a fourth-place result at Circuit of the Americas as his season best. Elliott’s worst top-five total over a six-year Cup career is 11 for a full season; he’s currently on pace for just four.
That said, Elliott has flashed the type of consistency we saw from a winless Denny Hamlin throughout much of the 2021 regular season. A career-best 10.5 average finish and a league-leading seven top-10 finishes has masked a lack of overall speed. The No. 9 team has hung around in a lot of races only to fade in the final stage; can crew chief Alan Gustafson find that extra gear to get Elliott up front?
2) Austin Cindric has more wins at Team Penske this season than Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano combined.
The rookie came out of the box strong, winning the Daytona 500 in only his eighth career Cup start. Since then, it’s been a dose of reality for the freshman who has only one other top-10 finish: an eighth at COTA back in March.
At least Cindric can still boast a potential playoff-clinching…
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