We all know the drivers who broke their losing streak in 2023, such as Ryan Blaney, who broke his AND won a title. But today, we look at previous winners who either went winless in 2023 or added to a longer losing streak.
Let’s do this list in, say, shortest to longest, shall we?
Chase Elliott
2023 marked Chase Elliott’s first winless season since scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series Victory at Watkins Glen in 2018. It has been 41 races since his last win at the Fall race at Talladega in 2022. Many may argue that he did not compete in 7 races due to injury and suspension, so if you’re one of those… call it 34 races.
Bubba Wallace
Wallace broke a nearly 1-year winless streak when he won at Kansas in the Fall of 2022, but he went winless in 2023. Wallace’s best chance came at the Playoff Texas race after a dominating performance was hindered by cars with fresh tires after late-race restarts. Wallace currently sits at 44 races since his last Cup Series victory. (43 if you do not include his 2022 Homestead suspension)
Erik Jones
That Jones boy scored his 3rd and most recent Cup Series victory at the 2022 Southern 500 in the iconic 43 car in what would become the last victory for a Richard Petty owned car in the sport’s history. It has been 45 races since that Jones Boy has graced Victory Lane.
Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon scored a Game 7 type of win at the regular season Cutoff race at Daytona in 2022 the week before Jones’s win at Darlington. Dillon’s 4th career win gave him his 4th Playoff run, but he came up winless in 2023 adding up to 46 races without a trip to Victory Lane.
Kevin Harvick
Everyone wanted that Cinderella story for Kevin Harvick in 2023. One last win to top off a Hall of Fame career. Unfortunately it never came and Kevin Harvick scored his last career Cup Series win at the Summer Richmond race in 2022. Harvick came oh so close at Phoenix in the Spring, but ended his career with a 48 race winless streak.
Daniel Suarez
Suarez scored his first Cup Series victory on the road course in wine country for TrackHouse Racing. Sonoma Raceway was good to Daniel and his Amigos in the Summer of 2022, but it has now been 56 races since Daniel has seen Victory Lane.
Chase Briscoe
Briscoe scored his only Cup Series victory early in 2022 at Phoenix Raceway 68 races ago, the 14 team from Stewart-Haas Racing hadn’t shown a ton of speed in 2023 and unfortunately that left Chase Briscoe out to dry compared to the competition.
Alex Bowman
Bowman the Showman won in the 3rd outing for the Net Gen car at Las Vegas early in 2022 in a late race restart. Bowman’s 7th career win was not much of a surprise after they were one of the most dominant Hendrick cars in 2021. Since Las Vegas however, Bowman has been injured twice, missing 8 races. 5 in 2022 and 3 in 2023. Bowman has now gone 69 races without a win in his 61 starts.
Austin Cindric
in 2022, Austin Cindric blocked Wallace and Blaney to score the most coveted win in NASCAR, the Daytona 500. Not half bad for your first full-time start. But it has been a rough road for the Team Penske 2 team that has only scored 5 Top-5s since, leaving Austin with a 71 race winless streak.
Aric Almirola
AA has 4 career wins in the Cup Series and his late season announcement confirmed that 2023 would be his final full-time Cup Series season. Almirola showed a bit of speed at some short tracks in 23, but he is the first driver on this list who you have to go all the way back to 2021 to find what would become his last career win at New Hampshire. 86 races ago.
Brad Keselowski
Bad Brad is a mystery on this list. Sure he moved over to an ownership position at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and 2022 saw some growing pains, but the team emerged from the ashes in 2023 with 3 wins from teammate Chris Buescher. Brad came close a few times in the last 2 years, but you have to go back 98 races to find his last trip to Victory Lane at the 2021 Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Image: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
