Halfway through the regular season of the NASCAR Cup Series, parity continues to reign supreme. Kurt Busch’s victory at Kansas Speedway on Sunday made him the 11th different winner so far in 2022. Only William Byron and Ross Chastain, each with two wins, have scored multiple victories.
The list of winners this year features several of the drivers among the top 10 in overall points, but also a few others like Busch, Denny Hamlin and Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric who have battled through up and down seasons. After watching Hendrick Motorsports roll over the competition at the end of 2021, the Gen-7 car appears to have leveled the playing field, at least for now.
A variety of winners to start the season means playoff spots are filling up quickly. Since race winners get first priority for postseason qualification, the 11 winning drivers of 2022 have likely punched their tickets to the playoffs already. There may only be five spots left for anyone else with hopes of participating in the postseason.
As the year continues, chatter about the possibility of reaching 16 or more winners before the playoffs will heat up. However, fans should not expect this scenario to happen. Since NASCAR implemented the elimination-style playoffs in 2014, the Cup Series has never had 16 different winners during the first 26 races. There have been a few seasons since then that started out like this one, where no single driver appeared to have a clear advantage on the rest of the field. Yet every time, the crème rose to the top during the summer months.
Just last year, there were 11 different winners through the first 14 races, and the buzz about a winner getting left out of the playoffs took off like a rocket. Then, Kyle Larson made like a rocket himself and won the next three races. The 2021 regular season concluded with 14 unique winners, 13 of which were playoff eligible. It ultimately took until Bubba Wallace’s victory at Talladega Superspeedway, the 31st race of the…
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