The Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl champions. Conor Daly has too many football jerseys. The Supercross season completed six rounds, half of which have been in Anaheim, and it is a good opening third of the season. The Asian Le Mans Series started this weekend and the championship is halfway over, as it heads to the season finale next week. MotoGP tested in Indonesia and conditions were challenging. Formula One cars are being unveiled. NASCAR will not stop letting you know the Daytona 500 is next weekend. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
2022 Possible NASCAR Achievements
I have done this before ahead of an IndyCar season, and we will do it again ahead that season opener, but it works for any series. With NASCAR's season about to officially start, this is a good chance to look ahead. This season will be different, with the new car, a new track, a new order of races and plenty of driver changes.
But what else could we see this year?
Kurt Busch: Winning a NASCAR Cup race with fourth different manufacture
Busch is entering his 23rd NASCAR Cup season, and it will be with a new team, 23XI Racing.
The 2004 Cup champion has 33 Cup victories, putting him tied for 25th all-time with Fireball Roberts. Busch has won a race in eight consecutive seasons and in 18 of his 21 full-time seasons. But Busch could join an exclusive club this year.
He will be driving a Toyota for the first time in the Cup Series. He won with Ford at Roush Racing, and later Stewart-Haas Racing. He won with Dodge at Penske Racing. He won with Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas and Chip Ganassi Racing.
If Busch were to win this season with Toyota at 23XI Racing, he would become just the 19th driver to with four different manufactures in the NASCAR Cup Series. That might sounds like a high number, but this achievement is rarer than it sounds.
Of those 18 drivers, only five have won with four different manufactures in NASCAR’s Modern Era (Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnett). However, Busch would join Bonnett as the other driver to start a career in the Modern Era to win with four manufactures.
Some drivers have been close and a few active drivers have won with three manufactures. Brad Keselowski is on three, but he remains with Ford as he purchased into the Roush Fenway organization. Kasey Kahne won with three manufactures but couldn’t get a win with Ford. Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray each won with three manufactures but neither ever drove a Toyota in the Cup Series.
It could be a long time before any other driver comes close to joining this club again. NASCAR has only had three manufactures since the start of the 2013 season. With Dodge gone, and no other manufacture seriously considering entering the Cup Series, these drivers will likely never have the opportunity to win with four makes.
Busch is it for the time being.
Wood Brothers Racing: 100th Cup victory
We have been sitting on this for five years. Ever since Ryan Blaney won at Pocono in 2017, the Wood Brothers have been stuck on 99 Cup victories. It is not quite as long as the six years between 98 and 99 nor as long as the nearly ten years between 97 and 98.
The Wood Brothers have another young driver, rookie Harrison Burton behind the wheel. He is looking to become the 19th driver to win for the team, joining the following drivers:
Glen Wood - 4
Speedy Thompson - 2
Tiny Lund - 1
Marvin Panch - 8
Dan Gurney - 4
A.J. Foyt - 5
Curtis Turner - 1
Cale Yarborough - 13
Donnie Allison - 1
David Pearson - 43
Neil Bonnett - 9
Buddy Baker - 1
Kyle Petty - 2
Dale Jarrett - 1
Morgan Shepherd - 1
Elliott Sadler - 1
Trevor Bayne - 1
Ryan Blaney - 1
Kaulig Racing: Multiple winners in one Cup car
Kaulig Racing is expanding into Cup full-time in 2022, and Kaulig is doing it with two cars. Justin Haley will be full-time in the #31 Chevrolet, but the #16 Chevrolet will be split between three drivers. A.J. Allmendinger and Noah Gragson will each get 14 races, while Daniel Hemric is looking to make eight starts.
Last year, Allmendinger scored Kaulig Racing's first Cup victory at Indianapolis. Another road course victory is highly probable for Allmendinger and Kaulig, but with the new car, and after seeing Kaulig's pace as a part-time team, it is possible either or both Gragson or Hemric could be a surprise winner.
Hermic has already been a full-time Cup driver. He is also the defending Grand National Series champion. Gragson is still looking to make his first Cup start, and it could come at the Daytona 500 with Beard Motorsports, but Gragson showed good speed in 2021 and it felt he reined in his aggression.
Neither driver can be ruled out, but should Kaulig Racing have multiple winners, it begs the question, when was the last time one car had multiple winners in a single Cup season?
It was 2002. Sterling Marlin won twice in the #40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing, but a broken neck late in the season forced him out of the car. In slid Jamie McMurray, who won in his second Cup start at Charlotte.
There have only been two other occasions in NASCAR’s Modern Era where one entry has had multiple winners. It happening in 1979 with Dale Earnhardt and David Pearson in the #2 Chevrolet for Rod Osterlund, and it also happened in 1972 with A. J. Foyt and David Pearson in the #21 Mercury for the Wood Brothers.
This could really happen for any team, but Kaulig Racing is the most likely option with its lineup.
Jeremy Clements and Justin Allgaier: 400 NASCAR Grand National Series starts
There is more than just the Cup Series and there are plenty of drivers in NASCAR's lower divisions looking to reach milestones in 2022.
Clements and Allgaier established themselves as second series regulars in the 2010s. Allgaier has been a regular championship contender while Clements has had some competitive moments and his only victory was at Road America in 2018.
Four-hundred starts might not sound like a lot, but only eight drivers have reached 400 starts in NASCAR's second division. Kenny Wallace is the all-time leader at 547 starts ahead of Jeff Green (535), Jason Keller (520), Mike Wallace (497), Joe Nemechek (453), Morgan Shepherd (463), Tommy Houston (417) and David Green (404).
Clements only needs two starts to reach 400, and he will likely end the season seventh all-time in starts. Allgaier has a little more work to do. He needs to make 28 starts, so he is on track to join the club at Talladega.
In case you are wondering, the next active driver in starts is Kyle Busch at 362, but with Busch being full-time in Cup, and Busch announced he will not run in this series in 2022, it is unlikely he will reach 400 starts. The next driver is J.J. Yeley on 351 starts.
Matt Crafton: 500 NASCAR Truck Series starts
Crafton is already the all-time leader in Truck starts, and he is 138 starts ahead of Ron Hornaday, Jr. in second all-time. The closest active driver in Truck starts is Johnny Sauter on 311 starts. Only seven drivers have reach 300 starts. Only 15 drivers have reached 200 starts.
There have been 643 Truck races all-time. Crafton has been in 498 Truck races, 77.449% of every Truck race to take place in 27 seasons. Crafton should reach 500 starts at Las Vegas. Here are his other milestone starts:
1st start: Fontana October 28, 2000 (9th)
100th start: Atlanta March 18, 2005 (14th)
200th start: Atlanta March 7, 2009 (11th)
300th start: Iowa July 11, 2014 (3rd)
400th start: Las Vegas September 14, 2018 (5th)
Kyle Busch: 8th all-time in Cup Series laps led
Busch has accomplished a lot in his Cup career and he still has a few years before he turns 40 years old. While being the active leader in Cup Series victories, Busch is also the active leader in laps led, but we kind of lose track of how many laps he has led.
Currently tenth all-time with 18,281 laps led, Busch is 2,499 laps led ahead of the next active driver, Kevin Harvick. Busch has a chance to put a few drivers between him and Harvick. Busch needs to lead 661 laps to pass Jimmie Johnson for ninth all-time, but eighth is highly likely, as Busch only needs 671 laps to pass Rusty Wallace for eighth. Seventh is not really practical, as Busch is 4,853 laps behind Darrell Waltrip.
What is the likelihood Busch gets to eighth? He only led 516 laps in 2020 and 334 laps last season, his lowest total as a full-time Cup driver, but he did lead over 700 laps in each season from 2015 through 2019, he led over 1,000 laps in four of those and he led over 2,000 laps in 2017.
It could be a stretch, but Busch hits it off in the new car, he could be moving up the laps led order.
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick: 60th career Cup Series victory
Speaking of Busch and Harvick, they both have a historic milestone in reach. Only eight drivers have won at least 60 Cup races. For the longest time, there was a massive gulf in the record book with Dale Earnhardt's 76 victories to Rusty Wallace's 55 victories. While, now Busch and Harvick fill that gap, but they have some work to do before they will get to Earnhardt.
Sixty is the next thing in each of their windscreens. Busch only needs one more victory. Harvick needs two after coming off a winless season. Both driver should win races, and both drives should reach this milestone. But who gets there first?
Harvick is more hungry after a disappointing 2021 season. They should both get to 60 early in the season.
Denny Hamlin: 50th career Cup Series victory
While Busch and Harvick are going for 60, Hamlin is four victories away from 50 Cup victories. He would become the 15th driver with 50 career victories, but more importantly if he gets to 50, he will tie Junior Johnson's record for most victories for a driver without a championship.
Of course, Hamlin is looking to shed that distinction as well. I think he would rather take three victories and a championship than five victories and still without a championship.
Hamlin only won two races last year, but he won six times in 2019 and seven times in 2020. In only three other seasons has he won at least four races (2009 - 4, 2010 - 8 and 2012 - 5). Four victories is not a guarantee for Hamlin, but none of us would rule him out.
Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland: First 21st century Cup winner
We are entering the third year of this decade and we are also entering the point where the children of the 21st century are now becoming adults. Odd, I know. We have yet to have a 21st century driver win a Cup race. Justin Haley is the closest, born April 28, 1999.
Gilliland was born May 15, 2000, and will drive the #38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports this season. We know Burton will drive for the Wood Brothers, and he was born October 9, 2000.
It is not highly likely either driver will win a race this year, but we know they will have a shot, and should it happen, we will hear nonstop that they were born in the year 2000. Oh joy!
Winners From the Weekend
You know about the Los Angeles Rams, but did you know...
Pascal Wehrlein won the Mexico City ePrix, his first career victory.
Jason Anderson won the Supercross race from Anaheim, his second of the season.
The #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca-Gibson of Matt Bell, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales swept the two Asian Le Mans Series race from Dubai. In race one, the #3 CD Sport Ligier-Nissan of Nick Adcock, Edouard Cauhaupé and Michael Jensen won in LMP3, the #7 Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsport McLaren of Ben Barnicoat, Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy won in GT. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Axcil Jefferies, Roman Ziemian and Francesco Zollo swept the races in GT-Am.
In the second Asian Le Mans Series race from Dubai, the #8 Nielsen Racing Ligier-Nissan of Colin Noble and Anthony Wells won in LMP3, and the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Rino Mastronardi, David Perel and Davide Rigon won in GT.
Coming Up This Weekend
Daytona 500.
The final two Asian Le Mans Series races from Abu Dhabi.
Minneapolis hosts Supercross.
