NASCAR
The 3 Best Active Drivers Besides Denny Hamlin Seeking Their First NASCAR Cup Series Championship
John Moriello started covering sports in 1982, began digital publishing in 1995, and joined Sports7 in 2020. A graduate of St. John Fisher University, he finds inspiration in the underdogs and the fascinating stories sports can tell (both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat). John expertly covers all aspects of NASCAR. Beginning with his 2014 coverage at Fox Sports of the aftermath of the dirt-race tragedy in which Kevin Ward Jr. died after being struck by a car driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, John has excelled as a journalist who specializes in the motorsports world. He previously spent more than three decades covering high school sports and worked as a beat writer covering Big East football and basketball, but NASCAR is now where the true expertise falls. John is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), the President of the New York State Sportswriters Association, and a two-time Best of Gannett winner for print and online collaborations whose work has appeared on FoxSports.com and MaxPreps.com.
All posts by John MorielloUpdated14 Jun 2022
Every Denny Hamlin victory these days is accompanied by a reminder that the 18th-year NASCAR Cup Series driver is closing in on both a milestone and a dubious achievement. With two more victories, Hamlin will reach 50 for his career. That will tie him with Junior Johnson for an unwanted distinction: most wins without a series championship.
Hamlin has won twice this season and gets 20 more chances to add to his total beginning in two weeks in Nashville. Interestingly, he is 21st in points heading into the Cup Series’ bye week. Thus, the irony would be obvious if he somehow pulled off a championship at Phoenix to conclude the season.
Short of that, the minority owner of 23XI Racing may have to settle for the same consolation Johnson earned, winning season titles in his role as an owner.
With that as the context, here’s a look at the three best active Cup Series drivers aside from Hamlin still waiting for that first championship.
Alex Bowman and William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports
At this juncture, it’s close to a toss-up as to whether we should be discussing Alex Bowman or Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron first in the context of best drivers without a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Bowman, 29, continues to get the nod for now based upon seven career victories. Four of those wins came last season, but Bowman was still an early out in the playoffs and finished 14th in points. Sixth place in the 2020 season is his best finish in the standings, though he’s playoff-bound again this fall.
Byron is coming on quickly, with two victories this year doubling his career total. Though still looking for his first appearance in the Championship 4, Byron is on his way to the playoffs for a fourth straight season.
At 24 years old, his championship potential is typically spoken of in the context of when rather than if.
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
Ryan Blaney, who had a run-in with Denny Hamlin at Sonoma, has averaged 11 top-five finishes a year since 2019, and he’s right on pace to match that this season despite being winless thus far.
Blaney, 28, came to Team Penske from Wood Brothers in 2018 and has logged six of his seven wins since. That includes three a year ago, with two of them closing out the regular season.
He’s made it to the final eight in two of the last three seasons and is in the hunt for the regular-season title this time around.
All stats courtesy of Racing Reference.
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