With four different winners to start the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, the question begs, ‘Will we see a fifth?’.
It has happened before. In the Modern Era (1972-2021) five different winners to start the season has happened 14 times (2017, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2005, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1993, 1991, 1986, 1984, 1979).
The Modern Era record of different winners to start a NASCAR Cup Series season is 10 set back in 2000. Dale Earnhardt Jr. snapped the streak winning his second race of the 2000 season at Richmond (Race No. 11).
Season | Race No. | Winners | Track | Date |
2000 | 1 | Dale Jarrett | Daytona | Sunday, February 20, 2000 |
2000 | 2 | Bobby Labonte | Rockingham | Sunday, February 27, 2000 |
2000 | 3 | Jeff Burton | Las Vegas | Sunday, March 5, 2000 |
2000 | 4 | Dale Earnhardt | Atlanta | Sunday, March 12, 2000 |
2000 | 5 | Ward Burton | Darlington | Sunday, March 19, 2000 |
2000 | 6 | Rusty Wallace | Bristol | Sunday, March 26, 2000 |
2000 | 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Texas | Sunday, April 2, 2000 |
2000 | 8 | Mark Martin | Martinsville | Sunday, April 9, 2000 |
2000 | 9 | Jeff Gordon | Talladega | Sunday, April 16, 2000 |
2000 | 10 | Jeremy Mayfield | Auto Club | Sunday, April 30, 2000 |
In the Modern Era (1972-2021), the record for the most different NASCAR Cup Series winners in a single season in its entirety is 19 set back in 2001. The series has also seen a total of 18 different winners (second-most) in a single season twice – in 2002 and 2011.
There are seven former NASCAR Cup Series Phoenix winners entered this weekend looking for their first win of the 2021 season: Kevin Harvick (nine wins), Kyle Busch (three), Denny Hamlin (two), Joey Logano (two), Ryan Newman (two), Chase Elliott (one) and Kurt Busch (one).