Same criteria as IndyCar, to be considered for the top ten drivers you have to win a race this decade. For NASCAR, if you could not win one of 360 races you definitely do not belong in the consideration for being one of the ten best NASCAR drivers of the decade.
So for fans of Michael McDowell, Tyler Dillon, Reed Sorenson, Landon Cassill, Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Suárez, Corey LaJoie, Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, William Byron, Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, David Gilliland, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Brian Scott, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Scott Speed, Andy Lally, Kevin Conway, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, Boris Said and Danica Patrick, they were not considered for this list.
Thirty-six drivers won a race this decade in the NASCAR Cup Series and I will cut to the chase, David Ragan, Paul Menard, Justin Haley, Trevor Bayne, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Brian Vickers, A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Regan Smith, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose and Jamie McMurray were not considered, never once considered.
That leaves 21 drivers for ten spots. Let's get after it.
10. Carl Edwards
Starts: 252
Wins: 12
Top Five Finishes: 63
Top Ten Finishes: 121
Pole Positions: 18
Average Finish: 13.3
Seasons with a Victory: 6
Championships: 0
9. Jeff Gordon
Starts: 224
Wins: 11
Top Five Finishes: 62
Top Ten Finishes: 116
Pole Positions: 13
Average Finish: 13.2
Seasons with a Victory: 5
Championships: 0
Reasons For the Rankings: It was difficult deciding between three drivers for the final two spots and though Tony Stewart won the championship in 2011, Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon made the top ten over Stewart because of consistency.
Gordon did not get a championship, he made two fewer starts than Stewart in the decade and had one fewer victory but Gordon had 19 more top five finishes and 38 more top ten finishes. Stewart had 15 or more top ten finishes in the first three seasons of the decade and then never reach double-figures in his next four seasons. Outside of 2016 when Gordon ran substituting for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his fewest number of top ten finishes in a season was 17. Stewart had only one season where he had ten or more top five finishes. Gordon had four seasons with double-digit top five finishes.
Edwards did not get a championship and made 26 more starts than Stewart. They were level on victories but Edwards had one more top five finish than Gordon and five more top ten finishes than Gordon. On top of that, Edwards was in the top five in four of his seven seasons this decade while Gordon was in the top five of the championship only once, his final season when he was third, and Stewart's only top five championship was his 2011 championship, which he won on tiebreaker over Edwards.
While Stewart defeated Edwards heads-up for that championship, Edwards had the more consistent decade with his fewest number of top ten finishes in a season being 13. He won multiple races in five of the seven seasons. Edwards had more top five finishes than Stewart in five of the seasons with one of the seasons the two drivers finishing level.
Stewart had a few injuries and was involved in a fatal sprint car accident where Stewart faced possible manslaughter charges and a civil suit. Physically and mentally, Stewart was strained for the final four years of his Cup career. Who knows what a fully fit Stewart would have been able to accomplish.
Gordon remained consistent. He never matched the flashy numbers of his early career but he was constantly in the top ten and running at the front. He was in the top ten of championship every season he was full-time this decade. He is ahead of Edwards because he did more in less time than Edwards. Was Edwards unfortunate to be at Roush Fenway Racing during the start of its decade-long decline? Absolutely and he found the right landing place but it only lasted the final two seasons of his career.
8. Matt Kenseth
Starts: 301
Wins: 21
Top Five Finishes: 86
Top Ten Finishes: 155
Pole Positions: 15
Average Finish: 13.3
Seasons with a Victory: 6
Championships: 0
Reasons For the Ranking: Kenseth proved to be one of the most consistent drivers of the previous decade and he continued it into the 2010s. Not only was Kenseth consistent but he ended up being more prolific.
After having only two seasons where he won more than three races in the 2000s, Kenseth had four seasons of three victories or more in the 2010s, eight of which he ran full-time. Of his eight full seasons, he never had fewer than 15 top ten finishes in a season. He had four seasons with 20 top tens. He had only two seasons where he had fewer than ten top five finishes.
The only season Kenseth was not in the top ten of the championship was 2015, when he was suspended from Texas and Phoenix after he took out Joey Logano while laps down at Martinsville. It was a season where he entered the playoffs seventh in the championship.
Kenseth had five victories in that 2015 season. A series of events knocked him out before the semifinal round. It felt like he would have been a threat in the final four. In 2013, he won seven races, most in the series and was second in the championship. The pace was there. The results never added up for that second championship.
7. Joey Logano
Starts: 360
Wins: 22
Top Five Finishes: 113
Top Ten Finishes: 193
Pole Positions: 22
Average Finish: 13.6
Seasons with a Victory: 8
Championships: 1
6. Denny Hamlin
Starts: 355
Wins: 29
Top Five Finishes: 114
Top Ten Finishes: 180
Pole Positions: 26
Average Finish: 13.5
Seasons with a Victory: 9
Championships: 0
Starts: 360
Wins: 29
Top Five Finishes: 114
Top Ten Finishes: 182
Pole Positions: 17
Average Finish: 13.5
Seasons with a Victory: 9
Championships: 1
Reasons For the Rankings: Similar to Stewart, Edwards and Gordon, the trio of Logano, Hamlin and Keselowski are nearly identical.
Logano gets knocked down to seventh, one because of fewer victories but also because of a slow start to the decade. He had one victory over the first three seasons. He didn't finish in the top fifteen of the championship in any of those seasons. There is also the 2017 season, where Logano won a race at Richmond, failed inspection and had it encumbered, meaning it did not qualify him for the playoffs. He was still fifth in the championship after Richmond but went on to drop to 15th entering the Richmond regular season finale and failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Logano did win a championship, he had over 20 top ten finishes in five of the last six seasons and he has picked up double-digit top five finishes for seven consecutive seasons but these few seasons stand out.
Hamlin and Keselowski could not be anymore identical. Equal on victories, top five finishes, average finishes and only two top ten finishes separate them. If Hamlin had won the championship at Homestead this year, I think he would have ended up fifth. That is really the one thing that puts Keselowski ahead of Hamlin.
The only time Hamlin did not make the postseason was 2013 when he missed four races from a broken back from an accident with Logano at Fontana. That was a season where one simple victory could not lift a driver up into the title fight. Once Hamlin missed those races, his championship hopes were toast for that season. Outside of 2013, his worst championship finish was 11th in 2018.
Keselowski's decade started poorly in his first full season with Team Penske in the third car. He had only two top ten finishes. Sam Hornish, Jr. only had one. Kurt Busch won twice and was 11th in the championship. In two seasons, Keselowski was champion. The following year he failed to make the Chase, getting knocked out at Richmond. Since then, Keselowski has had at least three victories in five of the last six seasons.
One thing to take into consideration is the five races Hamlin missed this decade, four due to his back injury and one because he had a piece of metal in his eye before Fontana in 2014. If you look at the 355 races all three drivers contested together, head-to-head Hamlin finished ahead of Logano 182 times to 173 times and he finished ahead of Keselowski 182 times to 173 times. In the 355 races Hamlin and Keselowski contested, Hamlin had 180 top ten finishes to Keselowski's 179 top ten finishes and Hamlin's would best Keselowski on average finish 13.5 to 13.6.
There really was next to nothing between these three drivers and it took a deep dive into the statistic to find any separation.
4. Martin Truex, Jr.
Starts: 360
Wins: 25
Top Five Finishes: 89
Top Ten Finishes: 168
Pole Positions: 15
Average Finish: 14.1
Seasons with a Victory: 6
Championships: 1
Reasons For the Ranking: Truex, Jr. won a championship with Furniture Row Racing.
I know that sounds too simple of a reason but talk about doing more with less.
Yes, Truex, Jr. did not win a race in four seasons. Yes, Truex, Jr. was outside the top fifteen in four seasons and outside the top twenty in two seasons. Yes, 19 of Truex's 25 victories came in the last three seasons but really think about Truex, Jr.'s decade.
He moved to Michael Waltrip Racing when the team was still stumbling. The team had only once had a driver finish in the top twenty of the championship. Its only victory was David Reutimann in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 in 2009. The team had five top five finishes in three seasons.
Things seemed to be going right. Clint Bowyer was second in the championship for MWR in 2012 and in 2013, Truex won at Sonoma. He was fighting for a Chase spot and then the infamous team orders came. Bowyer caused a caution that Truex didn't end up needing. Bowyer and Truex were each docked 100 points. The penalty took Truex out of the championship. Bowyer stayed in the Chase. NAPA Auto Parts announced its departure from the team and it left Truex without a ride.
He found a ride at Furniture Row Racing in 2014 but was 24th in the championship with one top five finish and five top ten finishes.
Truex's career could very well have gone the way of Reed Sorenson, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, David Ragan and so on from there. He could have become a field-filler, a guy that hangs around but is just there, not really adding anything to the scenery.
One year after being 24th, Truex made the Championship 4 in this playoff format in 2015. The season after that Furniture Row Racing switched to Toyota and won four races.
Then came the historic 2017 season, eight victories, 19 top five finishes and 26 top ten finishes. In an aggregate championship, Truex would have locked up the title with two races to go. He has finished runner-up in the championship the last two seasons.
I think many try to diminish Truex's accomplishments as a driver ending up with the right manufacture at the right time but no single-car was supposed to be that successful in NASCAR. Kurt Busch may have finished tenth in the championship with Furniture Row Racing but Truex took it to a higher level and the group did it with two manufactures. To confirm it was not just the team, Truex entered Joe Gibbs Racing and immediately won the most races in the team. It was no fluke.
We have watched the late blooming of Truex, Jr. and we will watch to see whether or not it can continue into the 2020s.
3. Jimmie Johnson
Starts: 360
Wins: 36
Top Five Finishes: 110
Top Ten Finishes: 184
Pole Positions: 13
Average Finish: 13.8
Seasons with a Victory: 8
Championships: 3
Reasons For the Ranking: Johnson had the most championships this decade. He hasn't won a race the last two seasons. He still ended up with the third most victories this decade.
It just goes to show how dominant Johnson was and the last two seasons have fogged out the first eight years of the 2010s. Johnson had five victories or more in a season five times. He had four victories or more six times. He had 20 top ten finishes in the first six seasons of this decade.
In the wake of Johnson announcing his retirement at the end of the 2020 season, it is still not clear how it has gone so wrong the last two years. He has just lost it but it cannot all be gone.
Entering the final race of 2019, Johnson was potentially going to be the only driver to have won multiple championships in the decade. If that had been the case, I think I would have put him at number one because we would have had six consecutive different champions in the Cup Series, matching the longest streak in Cup history. In one of NASCAR's greatest periods of parity, no one broke through as much as Johnson did. He did it in different generations of cars and in different championship systems. Everything NASCAR threw at the drivers and Johnson would have been the only one to master the different formats and regulations.
How one race can change everything. Johnson still won three championships. He was the one guy that could constantly pull it out. That is what separates the very good from the great. Plenty of drivers won a championship this decade but it takes more than one to stand out when the air starts to get thinner.
The last two years may show Johnson being a shell of his former self but he has eight years where most could not beat him.
Starts: 360
Wins: 38
Top Five Finishes: 145
Top Ten Finishes: 233
Pole Positions: 26
Average Finish: 10.5
Seasons with a Victory: 10
Championships: 1
Reasons For the Ranking: Excellence but slightly not enough. The numbers show Harvick was stout across the board, most top five finishes, most top ten finishes and best average finish, he was in the top three of the championship eight times with his championship finish in the other two seasons being eighth.
He won the first championship in the Championship 4 format and he has made the final round four times since. Harvick's decade is something that is comparable to Scott Dixon in IndyCar. Every driver would take Dixon's worst season in the 2010s and the same is true for Harvick. The only difference is Dixon won three championships to Harvick's one.
Harvick is a driver that doesn't put a wheel wrong. Of 360 races this decade, he was running at the finish of 337. That is 93.6% of the races. He completed the fourth most laps. Most races you know Harvick can finish in the top ten. How much confidence can a team have when it goes into 36 races and feels like it should at least finish tenth? That is what Harvick brings each race.
Starts: 348
Wins: 40
Top Five Finishes: 144
Top Ten Finishes: 211
Pole Positions: 27
Average Finish: 12.3
Seasons with a Victory: 10
Championships: 2
Reasons For the Ranking: Kyle Busch was a threat to win every race.
In how many races this decade was Busch not mentioned for the first 75% of it and then in the final 25% he would emerge in the fight for the victory? No other drivers did it as often as Busch did that is for sure.
This season concluded with his second championship and it a title that was a long-time coming. He won four races or more in seven of ten seasons. Two seasons he only had one victory. The other season he had three victories. He was in the top five of the championship for six seasons.
A lot of people downgrade his 2015 championship because of the format. Busch missed 11 races due to injury. In the 25 races he did compete in, he won five times, he was in the top five on 12 occasions and he had 16 top ten finishes. On top of that, he finished 23 of 25 races and was on the lead lap in 20 of 25 races.
Yes, in no other NASCAR season could a driver only run 70% of the races and win the championship but looking at the percentages, he was on point with any other top driver.
If any driver could win a championship after missing 11 races it is Kyle Busch and it was almost the motivation needed for him to take the title. Who else was going to do it? People wrote Busch off after his injury and when all he could do was rack up victory after victory to get back into the Top 30 of the championship and qualify for the playoffs, he did it and he did it comfortably.
This season, when the winless streak continued for Busch into September and October and every other Joe Gibbs Racing car was winning races, he was written off again. Busch has a way of blowing up his own season. He will overstep the boundary. It happened plenty of times in 2019 where a promising result was ruined because of slight body damage and the car was gone. Busch is a stick of dynamite, he can get the job done but he can also blow all your fingers off.
There were plenty of times between Pocono in June and Homestead in November where Busch could have gotten another victory. He only lost to his brother Kurt by 0.076 seconds at Kentucky. The Southern 500 was really Busch's but when he came out second to Erik Jones on the final pit stop he lost the clean air and there was nothing he could do. He led over half the Richmond race later that month. He was knocking on the door at Phoenix.
Busch was always there and when it came time for Busch to win a race, he won it. It felt like Busch was more or less playing with his food for the first nine playoff races. As much as he wanted to win, he knew he just had to advance from each round. When he had to win, he would get it.
At Homestead, his three championship rivals had won the previous three races, two of which were his teammates. Many seemed to have no confidence Busch could pull it out because he had not pulled out a victory in five months. Even in the race itself, it appeared to be Truex, Jr.'s day.
But, as I wrote before, how many times have we seen Busch not be in the conversation for the first 75% and then pull it out in the final 25%? He did it again. It might not have been as extreme as Busch not factoring for the first 75%, he did lead 120 of 267 laps after all, but for the first half, Busch was not there. The team improved the car and in the closing laps, he had enough of a gap over Truex to win the championship.
We do not talk enough about Busch's intelligence as a driver and that is why he can go from nothing to something in races. He can take the first 50% or 75% and work on the race car so it can be competitive in the closing stages. He can take a car not of his liking, keep it in the hunt and then be in a position to pounce.
