The second of three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races on a road course during the 2018 season is this weekend with the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International in New York. Martin Truex Jr. is the defending race winner.
Truex also won the most recent road course race in the series, at Sonoma Raceway in California in June. That gave the New Jersey native his third career road course victory in Cup Series competition, making him the 17th driver with at least three Cup Series wins on a road course.
The drivers with the most road course victories in Cup Series competition are those drivers who grew up on dirt tracks in Indiana. Jeff Gordon holds the record for road course wins with nine, followed by Tony Stewart’s eight. Each won at Watkins Glen five times in Cup.
Four other drivers have at least six wins on road courses, their names synonymous with winning virtually everywhere: Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace. Dan Gurney won all five of his career Cup Series races at Riverside International Raceway; Darrell Waltrip also has five road course wins, all of them coming at Riverside.
Of course, when you’re winning at least five races on road courses, you’re bound to be listed among the greats in the Cup Series. Of the eight drivers with five or more road course wins, five of them are among the top 10 all-time in Cup Series victories (Petty, Gordon, Allison, Waltrip and Wallace), and six of them (the previous five listed plus Stewart) have reached 49 wins or more in Cup Series history.
When you look at the top 10 all-time in Cup Series wins – all 10 drivers have won at least one road course race. David Pearson, second on the all-time list with 105 wins, won four races on road courses; Cale Yarborough, seventh on the list with 83 wins, triumphed three times in road course races; and Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt and Lee Petty each scored a single win on a road course. Johnson still seeks a victory at The Glen.
Not to mention, many drivers that have won on road courses have also been listed as Cup Series champions. Of the 32 different drivers with at least one title (since 1949), 21 of those drivers have at least one victory on a road course.
In total, 57 different drivers have combined to win 133 races on road courses (including races on the beach road course of Daytona Beach). Denny Hamlin was the most recent to add his name to the list of road course winners, when he won the 2016 race at Watkins Glen.
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