Will NASCAR ever break through the "19 different winners" barrier?

[Mile501]

5 seasons in NASCAR Cup Series history have featured 19 different winners. Three were in the early days of the sport  (1956, 1958, and 1961). It happened again in 2001, and with two races left in 2022, we again stand at 19 different winners.

Is 19 as far as we'll ever get in a NASCAR season? Will we ever break through to reach 20 different winners? If it's going to happen this year, we only have two more races (Martinsville and Phoenix) in which to do it.


Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex are the two best teams who have not won in 2022. Truex was in position to possibly be this season's 20th different winner at Homestead, but trouble on a late-race pit stop set him back. Blaney nearly won Talladega a few weeks ago but had to settle for 2nd.

Truex has 3 wins in the last 6 Martinsville races, so he certainly could win there again. Blaney has never won at Martinsville but has regularly finished in the top 5 over the last few years. A.J. Allmendinger also runs well at Martinsville and could be a dark horse candidate.

[Spen]

I don't see that barrier going down. Gibbs is going to be too focused on getting Hamlin into the final four, and I don't think Penske would want Blaney to get in at this point, since he wouldn't be eligible for the Owner's title, and he already has Logano in. And Phoenix will of course be won by whoever wins the title.

Down the road though, who knows? If we end up increasing the number of races to 40, I can see 20 winners happening for sure.

[AndersonWhitt]

We could've had 20 winners pretty easily this year, such as if Blaney had won in the finale (or in a lot of other races) or if Truex had won a race that a multi-time winner won instead. Or even 22 if both of those happened and Corey LaJoie had won the second Atlanta race, or 23 if Austin Dillon had managed to win the Coke 600 and Justin Haley or someone else won the second Daytona race.

In future years, I would guess there will be some more drivers figuring out what it takes to win multiple races, and if we didn't reach 20 this year, I'm doubtful that it will happen again anytime soon (though it could eventually, especially if the schedule gets expanded).

[Mile501]

We could've had 20 winners pretty easily this year, such as if Blaney had won in the finale (or in a lot of other races) or if Truex had won a race that a multi-time winner won instead. Or even 22 if both of those happened and Corey LaJoie had won the second Atlanta race, or 23 if Austin Dillon had managed to win the Coke 600 and Justin Haley or someone else won the second Daytona race.

In future years, I would guess there will be some more drivers figuring out what it takes to win multiple races, and if we didn't reach 20 this year, I'm doubtful that it will happen again anytime soon (though it could eventually, especially if the schedule gets expanded).

Agreed. I was hoping right up until the end at Phoenix, that Ryan Blaney would pull it off and get us to 20. But it was not to be. It's odd how 5 seasons have had 19 winners but none have broken through to 20.