Who will be the next driver to snap a long winless streak?
The long wait for Kevin Harvick finally ended at Michigan International Speedway last Sunday (Aug. 7) in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he ended a 65-race drought for the 59th win of his Cup career.
It had been a long time coming for Harvick and the No. 4 team, especially when considering how many different drivers have visited victory lane during his drought. From his 58th win at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sept. 19, 2020, to his Michigan triumph last weekend, 21 different drivers took a checkered flag in the Cup Series, a number that includes eight first-time winners.
With Harvick’s streak over, there are five active Cup drivers with a winless streak greater than 65 races: Austin Dillon (77), Cole Custer (78), Erik Jones (106), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (186) and Chris Buescher (217).
Of the five, Jones has the best chance of ending his drought.
After a disappointing 2021, Jones has had a bounce back year in 2022 for Petty GMS Motorsports, with two top fives and eight top 10s in 23 starts. At his current rate, he is close to equaling the number of top 10s he had in all of 2020 with Joe Gibbs Racing (13). He has also led 77 laps this year, the most in a season since 2019 when he scored his most recent win at Darlington Raceway.
The laps led total passes the eye test, as Jones has been a contender at the front of the field on a handful of occasions. At Auto Club Speedway, Jones led 18 laps, ran in the top five all day and capped it off with a third-place finish. At Talladega Superspeedway, Jones was close to ending his winless streak, as he led the white-flag lap before ending up sixth at the stripe. Jones is back with the team for 2023 in a multi-year deal, and if Jones and the No. 43 team can continue building off of these impressive performances, a win is not out of the question.
As for Stenhouse and Buescher, they each had surprising second-place finishes at Dover Motor Speedway and Sonoma Raceway this season, respectively. Buescher had an average running position of third at Sonoma. If either driver can continue to put together these impressive runs, perhaps their winless streaks will be over sooner rather than later as well.
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