Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
The Kansas City Cheifs won the Super Bowl. There was Jaguar-on-Jaguar violence in Hydrabad. Formula E announced its own development series, because we do not have enough development series in motorsports. The Asian Le Mans Series opened and American drivers did well. There was an American winner in New Zealander and she made history. Katherine Legge has herself an Indianapolis 500 entry. The Andretti Formula One program continues to be stuck in limbo. MotoGP has been testing, it rained, and Marc Márquez is not pleased. Kyle Busch might want to check his luggage more closely next time he travels. But NASCAR season is upon us and that is on my mind...
2023 Possible NASCAR Achievements
The NASCAR Cup Series season is less than a week away... or it started last week. Do we really consider the season as started when exhibition events commence? Do we consider it baseball season when all the teams are playing in the Cactus League or Grapefruit League? No, we don't, so the NASCAR Cup season is upon.
Drivers have switched teams. Race distances are changing. There will be a street course. It is a new season and after a record-tying 19 different drivers won a race in 2022, plenty of history can be made in 2023. I am not sure anyone saw 19 different winners coming when the 2022 season began, but it happened and it is important to prepare for what you could ahead of the new season.
What records could be broken? What milestones could be reached? Let's look at a few.
Hendrick Motorsports: 300 NASCAR Cup Series Victories
Already the most successful team in NASCAR Cup Series history, Hendrick Motorsports explores new ground with every race it wins, but nine more victories would have it reach the 300-victory milestone.
It was only two seasons ago it surpassed Petty Enterprises for most victories when Kyle Larson scored victory 269 in the Coca-Cola 600. That was the team's sixth victory that season and in the 57 races since Hendrick Motorsports has won 22 more times, a solid 0.3859 batting average.
After the last two seasons, nine victories feels almost certain, but from 2016 to 2020 it never won more than seven races in a season. At worst, it feels like Hendrick will at least come close to 300 if doesn't completely reach it. Ending the year on 299 wouldn't be a bad things heading into 2024, but with the lineup of Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowamn, it feels almost foolish to think this group will win fewer than nine races.
The earliest Hendrick could reach the milestone is by sweeping the first nine races and it coming at Martinsville, fittingly the location of Hendrick's first victory 39 years ago. Nine wins on the spin would be a fairy tale start for the organization, but that likely will not happen.
In 2021, it took 18 races for Hendrick to reach nine victories. Last year, it took 25 races. In the previous four seasons Hendrick won at least nine races (2012-2015), it reached nine victories in races 34, 34, 23 and 35. That averages out to the ninth victory coming at 28.16667 races. That would be between the Kansas and Bristol playoff races.
Prepare for this to be something reached around autumn if it is reached at all in 2023.
Kevin Harvick: 800 NASCAR Cup Series Starts
This will be Kevin Harvick's final season in the Cup Series. At least that is what he announced. If this is it, Harvick could leave his mark on the NASCAR record book. Starting with starts.
Entering this season, Harvick has 790 starts. Barring some incident, he will likely become the tenth driver to reach 800 starts. An exclusive club, but he could finish the season eighth all-time in this category. Jeff Gordon is ninth on 805 and Darrell Waltrip is eighth on 809.
Twenty starts and Harvick will be eighth. If he starts all 36 races, he will end on 826 starts, two behind Bill Elliott for seventh and three behind Kyle Petty for sixth.
Harvick: Second Most Times Running at the Finish
Taking the checkered flag has definitely becoming a 21st century thing. Parts are more reliable. Cars are more durable. This is a statistic that skews to the contemporary period, but a driver still has to get there, and even compared to his fellow drivers, Harvick is one of the best.
He is currently third in this category, having finished 743 of his 790 starts. Mark Martin is second on 761. It will only take seeing the checkered flag in 19 of 36 races for Harvick to move into second, only behind Richard Petty's 835 times running at the finish.
Based on Harvick's 94.05% rate of running at the finish, he is on track to at least see the checkered flag in 33 races. If he does that, he would end his career with 776 times running at the finish.
Harvick: Third All-Time in Top Ten Finishes
We have one more for Harvick, three for Harvick on his way out. Top ten finishes are a little more universal. Everyone loves a top ten. David Letterman. Sportscenter. Your grandmother understands what making a top ten means.
Harvick is currently fifth all-time on 430. He is 16 behind Bobby Allison and 23 behind Mark Martin. This one could be close. Harvick has had at least 17 top the finishes in ten consecutive seasons, but last year he had just 17. In that stretch, he had 24 or more top ten finishes six times, including in four consecutive seasons from 2018 to 2021.
Allison feels plausible. Martin will be a stretch but not impossible. This is another category where Richard Petty is safe on 712 top ten finishes and Jeff Gordon is safe from Harvick as Gordon has 477.
Kyle Busch: 20,000 Laps Led
Moving to a new team, Kyle Busch will look to increase on his laps led total with Richard Childress Racing. Busch already ranks tenth all-time and Jimmie Johnson is only 33 laps away in ninth. Busch is 1,092 laps away from the 20,000 laps led milestone. If he reaches it, he will become the eighth driver to reach the mark and pass Rusty Wallace also in the process.
There was a time when this would be a guarantee to happen this season, but Busch has not been out front in as many races over the last few seasons. From 2008 to 2019, Busch led at least 1,100 laps in ten of 12 seasons. In the previous three seasons, Busch has led 516, 334 and 627 laps respectively. Those 1,477 laps led in the last three seasons is 105 laps fewer than what Busch led in 2019.
This feels like a stretch. Johnson he should surpass. Wallace is 1,043 laps ahead of Busch. If he gets Wallace, he will likely get 20,000 laps as well. Also not in Busch's favor is Richard Childress Racing has not had a driver lead over 1,000 laps in a season since Dale Earnhardt in 1995. Last year, Tyler Riddick's 503 laps led were the most for a Childress driver since Kevin Harvick led 269 in 2013.
This could be an uphill battle for Busch.
Busch: 60 Runner-Up Finishes
Nobody likes to finish second, but second is still good. It is better than third and doubly better than fourth. It beats the crap out of 20th, and no one can brag about finishing 40th. Great drivers win races, but great drivers also finish second.
Richard Petty won more races than anyone else in NASCAR Cup Series competition. Well, Petty also finished second more than anyone else in NASCAR Cup Series competition. It goes both ways.
Busch is only one second-place result away from his 60th, which would make him the eighth driver to reach it. It would break a tie with Cale Yarborough. Nobody wants to be known as the guy who finished second a lot in the season (see Kasey Kahne), but Busch could surpass Mark Martin for seventh most runner-up finishes with three this season and Kevin Harvick is currently the active leader with 62.
Chase Elliott: Active Leader in Average Finish
Elliott is about to participate in his eighth full season in the Cup Series. He has never had fewer than ten top five finishes in a season and he has had at least 20 top ten finishes in five of his first seven seasons. His worst championship result is tenth and he has cracked the top five in four seasons.
It has been a good opening stanza to the Georgian's career, good enough that he is currently ranked 24th all-time in average finish amongst drivers with more than 100 Cup starts.
With an average finish of 13.043 he is ahead of Jimmie Johnson (13.12) and Denny Hamlin (13.192). Entering 2023, he is second amongst active drivers behind only Kevin Harvick at 12.699. Harvick will retire at the end of the season but there is a chance Elliott could be the top active driver before Harvick even hangs up his helmet.
The strange thing is Elliott has never averaged a top ten finish in his Cup career. His best season was 11.4 in 2021. If Elliott was to average 10.0 over 36 races, his average finish would drop to 12.668, meaning Harvick would need to average a 11.972 in 2023 just to be level with Elliott to the third decimal point. This could be fun to watch.
Kyle Larson: 300th NASCAR Cup Series Start
Hendrick Motorsports is closing in on 300 Cup victories. Larson is closing in on his 300th Cup start. Larson will almost definitely reach this milestone, and he will likely do it in the fifth race of the season at Atlanta.
Larson is already 99th all-time in starts. He will become the 15th active driver with at least 300 Cup starts. If Larson starts all 36 races this year he will be up to 331 starts, moving him into 88th all-time.
Denny Hamlin: 35th Pole Position
There is nothing all that special about 35 pole positions. It would only move Hamlin into a tie with Ned Jarrett for 20th all-time, which is still notable. There was a two-season stretch where qualifying was almost non-existent due to the pandemic. Surprisingly enough, Hamlin is the active leader in pole positions, at least among full-time drivers. Jimmie Johnson has 36 pole positions but will only be contesting a limited schedule in his return to Cup competition with his own team Legacy Motor Club.
The only other drivers with 30 pole positions or more are Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. The only other driver with at least 20 pole positions is Joey Logano.
Kyle Busch or Joey Logano: Third NASCAR Cup Series Championship
A third championship doesn't sound like much, but it is a separation point in NASCAR Cup Series history. Only nine drivers have won at least three championships. Either Busch or Logano could become the tenth to reach that milestone. A third title coming in 2023 for either driver would make a fourth championship highly possible.
How historic is a fourth championship? Well, only four drivers have reached that level.
Richard Petty
Dale Earnhardt
Jimmie Johnson
Jeff Gordon
That it's. That is the list. Becoming the fifth would put any driver in a special place in NASCAR history.
Champion From the Weekend
You know about the Kansas City Chiefs, but did you know...
Charles Wurz won the Formula Regional Oceania championship with finishes of fifth, third and first from Taupo Motorsports Park.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Charlie Wurz, but did you know...
Jean-Éric Vergne won the Hydrabad ePrix, his first Formula E victory in 31 starts.
Ott Tänak won Rally Sweden.
Cooper Webb won the Supercross race from Tampa, his first victory since the 2021 season finale at Salt Lake City.
The #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca-Gibson of James Allen, John Falb and Kyffin Simpson won the first Asian Le Mans Series race from Dubai. The #29 Ligier-Nissan of Jérôme de Sadeleer, Vyacheslav Gutak and Fabien Lavergne won in LMP3. The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW of Nicky Catsburg, Chandler Hull and Thomas Merrill won in GT.
The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson of Nolan Siegel, Christian Bogle and Charles Crews won the second ALMS race from Dubai. The #5 DKR Engineering Duquesne-Nissan of Valentino Catalano and Tom van Rompuy won in LMP3. The #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW of Catsburg, Hull and Merrill swept the GT races.
Callum Hedge and Chloe Chambers split the first two Formula Regional Oceania races from Taupo.
Coming Up This Weekend
The 65th Daytona 500
Supercross hopes second time is the charm to race in Oakland.
Asian Le Mans Series ends its season with a doubleheader at Yas Marina.
