For the first time, no Cup driver led 1000+ laps in 2022

Started by Mile501, Nov 06, 2022, 06:25 PM

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Mile501

Nov 06, 2022, 06:25 PM Last Edit: Nov 06, 2022, 06:42 PM by Mile501
For the first time in known Cup Series history (aside from the 8-race 1949 season), no driver led over 1,000 laps during the 2022 season. Chase Elliott ranks first in laps led with 857.

The only other time this almost happened in the modern era was during the ultra-competitive 2002 season, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the only driver to barely surpass 1,000 laps led.

(I say "known history" because there is a possibility that this happened in 1958 or 1960, but laps led data is incomplete that far back.)

Two reasons for this come to mind: The great variety of winners and leaders that we've experienced this season, combined with the fact that the Cup Series races fewer laps than they have throughout much of NASCAR history (due to an increased number of road courses, one Bristol race that is half the length that it used to be, and other factors).

Spen

#1
Nov 07, 2022, 03:57 PM
There were at least more laps this season than last. 2021 had the fewest total laps run since 1955.

While I do think that 1958 is only on the list due to lack of info (Fireball is at 875 with two of his wins still unaccounted for, including the 500 lapper at Asheville-Weaverville), I think we can give 1960 some credence. There are 2620 unaccounted for laps at present. Glen Wood has the most led at 766, but there's only one race that he ran that still has missing info, and while he had the pole, he fell out on lap 232. Even if he'd led every lap until then, the highest total he could get is 998. Fireball's second, but all of his races are accounted for. That leaves Ned, who has led 579 of the 7061 known laps. If he led the same percentage of the unknown laps (a big assumption admittedly) that would give him an extra 215, giving him 794 for the year. He needs a minimum of 421 to break 1000, which seems like a tall order when White, the Pettys, Junior Johnson, Jack Smith and Buck Baker also probably have a decent share of the missing laps. An unusually high number of competitive drivers running at least 75% of the races, plus the then record number of 31 drivers leading at least ten laps contributed to no one really dominating the year.

Out of curiosity, how does this year rank on your competitiveness metric?

AndersonWhitt

#2
Nov 08, 2022, 01:19 AM
Maybe one of these days I'll try to calculate the percentage of each race led by the top lap leaders for the most competitive seasons, and see which ones had the lowest percentages from the driver who led the most laps. (Some of that may have already been compiled by other former Racing-Reference commenters.)
NASCAR fan since late 2003, and started using Racing-Reference in 2007 or 2008. In the 2010's, I started reading the comments section, and in mid-2018, started posting on forums that sprang from it.

My username comes from Jordan Anderson and Cole Whitt, who have been two of my favorite drivers.

yaera

#4
May 01, 2025, 05:18 AM
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