The 2022 Cup Series Season By The Numbers

By: Tom Luttermoser

2022 saw some pretty impressive numbers across the NASCAR Cup Series. Here is a list of just a few of, in my opinion, the most impressive numbers of the season.
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• 19 Winners. The NextGEN car was supposed to bring parody to the Cup Series and it did just that. 19 points paying Cup race winners with no dominant force in victory lane all season long. Chase Elliott earned 4 wins and was granted a 5th with the DQ of Hamlin and Busch at Pocono. The second most race wins went to Cup Champ Joey Logano at 4 with 3 drivers tied at 3 wins a piece for 3rd (a lot of 3s) with Bell, Larson and Reddick.
• With all races included we had 21 different winners including Brad Keselowski's Duel win and Ryan Blaney's All-Star victory.
• Kyle Busch broke the record for of 17 consecutive seasons with at least 1 points paying win in the NASCAR Cup Series previously held by Richard Petty with his win at Bristol putting him at 18 seasons
  
• Ty Gibbs became the first driver to win a NASCAR National Series title being born after the turn of the century (Jan 1, 2000) 
• We had the fastest 4 tire pit stop in NASCAR Cup Series History @ 8.6 Seconds. That record belongs to the Joe Gibbs Racing #18 team at Kansas Speedway
• For the First time in Truck Series history in back-to-back seasons, the same 2 drivers occupied the Top-2 in points 
• Kevin Harvick broke the record once held by both Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the longest Top-10 streak. In 2022 Harvick scored 19 Top-10s in a row at the end of the Cup Series Season. 
• For the first time since 1960 and only the 4th time ever, No Cup Series driver broke the 1,000 lap led mark. Chase Elliott was closest at 857 laps led.
• The Most on track incidents was led by Kyle Busch at 26
• The least was Justin Haley at 7
• Chase Elliott's average finish of 12.47 was the worst for a Series leader in the 73 year history of the sport
• Phoenix championship weekend marked only the second time in history all 3 Series drivers won the Pole and the Race
• Joey Logano became only the 17th driver in Cup history to have more than 1 Series title
• Kevin Harvick is now the 7th driver in history to start evert NCS race for 20 consecutive seasons
  

Season Leaders

Laps Led: Chase Elliott    857
Stage Wins: Ryan Blaney    8
Stage Points: Chase Elliott    292
Wins: Chase Elliott    5
Top-5s: Ross Chastain  14
Top-10s: Ross Chastain    21  
DNFs: (Tie) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ty Dillon    9

Champion's Statistics: Joey Logano
Laps led:  784
Stage Wins:  7
Stage Points:  269
Wins:  4
Top-5s:  11
Top-10s:  17
DNFs: 4

Runner Up Statistics: Ross Chastain
Laps led:  692
Stage Wins:  6
Stage Points:  233
Wins:  2
Top-5s:  15
Top-10s:  21
DNFs: 5

3rd Place Statistics: Christopher Bell
Laps led:  537
Stage Wins:  4
Stage Points:  207
Wins:  4
Top-5s:  12
Top-10s:  20
DNFs: 6

4th Place Statistics: Chase Elliott
Laps led:  857
Stage Wins:  6
Stage Points:  292
Wins:  5
Top-5s:  12
Top-10s:  20
DNFs: 4