NASCAR
Longest Winless Droughts for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season
2025 marked year four of NASCAR’s Next Gen era in the Cup Series, bringing with it 14 different winners. This marked a low for any year since 2022, leaving a lot of big names out of victory lane. As the calendar soon shifts to 2026, here are the five active Cup drivers with the most starts since their last win. Can any of these winless streaks end in the new season?
Cole Custer – 133 races* (Best Finish, Fourth)
It’s been over five years since Cole Custer shocked the racing world in July, 2020 by winning at Kentucky Speedway. Then a Cup newbie, this win vaulted Custer into the Playoffs and eventually to Rookie of the Year honors. Custer has yet to repeat this triumph on Sundays, but he’s far from a stranger to success. In 2023 and 2024, Custer went back down to the Xfinity Series. This two-year span saw him win the 2023 series championship, and be runner-up in 2024. Following five wins in this span, Custer was brought back to Cup in a revitalized Haas Factory Team for 2025. His high points from this past year were superspeedways, earning a pair of top-fives at Daytona summer and Talladega fall. These were two of the three top-10s that saw team 41 place 32nd in points.
Haas Factory will rebrand as a Chevrolet-powered team once again in 2026. Rejoining their past Hendrick Motorsports technical alliance will ideally bring a step forward in performance. At 27 years old and with over 150 Cup starts, Custer is far from an inexperienced driver and knows what it takes to win. This past year’s Daytona 500 saw the 41 battling for the lead on the last lap; a superspeedway breakthrough could be in Custer’s near future.
Cole Custer’s No. 41 Haas Tooling/Bonanza Ford Mustang on the grid at Phoenix Raceway before the Cup Series Championship Race on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Photo Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Erik Jones – 115 races* (Best Finish, Third)
Legacy Motor Club’s veteran presence Erik Jones has now seen three years pass since his most recent win. In year one of the Next Gen Car, Jones and the iconic No. 43 upset Denny Hamlin in the Southern 500. Since then, Richard Petty’s team has undergone great transformation off-track, with Jimmie Johnson now guiding the ship at Legacy Motor Club. 2024 can largely be characterized as an off year for Jones and this entire team. Not only were they adjusting to new surroundings in Toyota, but Jones also broke his back that spring. This injury forced Jones to miss two races, and he only had one more top-five all year. 2025 saw Jones place 24th in the championship on the strength of five top-10s, amidst what he called a rebuilding year for LMC. This included back-to-back top-fives at Daytona and Darlington.
Legacy MC will largely run it back in year two with the same personnel lineup behind the scenes. Turning 30 during next season, Jones should be only entering his prime years as a driver. The Michigan native aims to be a regular threat again.
Erik Jones’ No. 43 Ziploc/Dollar Tree Toyota Camry on the grid at Phoenix Raceway before the Cup Series Championship Race on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Photo Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Kyle Busch – 93 races (Best Finish, Second)
It has now been over two-and-a-half years since Kyle Busch last pulled into victory lane. The past champion and future Hall of Famer remains amidst a career-long winless streak with Richard Childress Racing and the No. 8 team, but it’s not been all doom and gloom. The last outing for Busch in the 2025 season finale at Phoenix ended in fifth, one of three 2025 top-fives.
Busch has likewise gone two years without even a Playoff berth, but he’s been within sight of multiple wins across his drought. Chevrolet No. 8 will see a new man atop the pit box in 2026, promoting Jim Pohlman from the Xfinity Series. Justin Allgaier took Pohlman to much success over the past three years, capped off with the 2024 Xfinity Series championship. This move is a bit of a homecoming for Pohlman, who used to be RCR’s head of research and development. Optimism abounds across Welcome with a new perspective coming onto the 8 team. Busch will turn 41 years old in 2026. At this age, he hopes to find the same fountain of youth that Denny Hamlin uncovered in 2025.
Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet on the grid at Phoenix Raceway before the Cup Series Championship Race on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Photo Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Michael McDowell – 84 races (Best Finish, Second)
2025 saw a career-defining change for Michael McDowell, who last won at the Indy Road Course in 2023. Moving on from his seven-year home at Front Row Motorsports, McDowell became the veteran anchor presence at Spire Motorsports. The No. 71 Chevrolet did see some standout runs on road courses, highlighted by three top-fives.
Admittedly amidst a transition season, McDowell was proud of his team’s progression across 2025. The 71 did end the season on a high note, finishing Phoenix in eighth. 22nd in points led the three-man Spire effort. Likewise, this team has a very solid base to propel into year two together.
Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Tide Chevrolet on the grid at Phoenix Raceway before the Cup Series Championship Race on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Photo Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Daniel Suarez – 71 races (Best Finish, Second)
The record-close three-wide triumph for Daniel Suarez in Atlanta now falls one race shy of two full seasons ago. Career victory number two for the Trackhouse Racing driver sent him Playoff-bound for the second time, where he ended 2024 ranked 12th. Success was far more fleeting for Suarez in 2025, however. The No. 99 Chevrolet only recorded seven top-10s this year, capped off by two runner-up results. This lackluster effort led Suarez and Trackhouse to part ways at season’s end.
The racing pride of Monterrey, Mexico now inherits the No. 7 Chevrolet at Spire Motorsports. As shown with the aforementioned McDowell and Carson Hocevar, Spire can put race-winning capable cars on track. Following an adjustment period, expect Suarez to be in contention across the second half of 2026’s racing campaign. Suarez’s 71-race winless span includes three second-place finishes, with two being on drafting tracks. Do not count Suarez out of the running for another breakout win on a superspeedway or possibly another road course masterclass.
Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Freeway Insurance/Thanks Daniel Chevrolet on the grid at Phoenix Raceway before the Cup Series Championship Race on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Photo Credit: Peter Stratta/TSJSports
Amidst the high-stakes and pressure-packed world of the NASCAR Cup Series, winless streaks are a stark reminder of the sport’s unforgiving competitiveness. Even the greatest champions aren’t safe from enduring prolonged droughts with ever-evolving paths to success. Timely historical slumps to end include Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s 199-race wait before his 2023 Daytona 500 triumph. More recently, Bubba Wallace ended a 102-race skid with a thrilling Brickyard 400 victory, and Chase Elliott snapped 45 dry races at Atlanta in June. These periods equally test drivers’ perseverance and teams’ resolve. History continues to show that persistence often does pays off. Thus proves in NASCAR, victory lane is never permanently out of reach for those who keep pushing the limits.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen and David Jensen/Getty Images
