It’s official. The NASCAR 2022 Cup series season is over. Joey Logano won both the Championship and the race at Phoenix. Once again, the points system in place provided fans with no guarantees. The next gen car provided us with the parity that NASCAR leadership so desperately felt the audience needed. Behind all of this, though, something spectacular happened. A record was broken.
The record in question is one that is focused on consistency. It should be no surprise to anyone that the broadcast only mentioned it in a few words. NASCAR, as a sport, is no longer about consistency. These days, the audience has its eyes directed toward “game 7 moments,” manufactured suspense, and a multitude of different winners. In our current points system, competitors can even get what equates to a sick note to cover any number of missed races to get a race winner into the playoffs. Consistency and having a good run every week started becoming things of the past back in 2004.
While this record may not be as flashy as having 19 different winners this season, it certainly stands on its own as a true achievement. That record is for the most consecutive top ten finishes at a single track. It had been tied by Kevin Harvick back in the spring race at Phoenix.
Harvick earned his 18th consecutive top ten finish at Phoenix back in the spring, during the second longest win drought of his career, which tied him with two seven-time champions –Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. These two drivers both achieved their streak of top tens at the track which will host the all-star race next year, North Wilkesboro Speedway. Previously, Harvick had been tied with the sport’s other seven-time champion, Jimmie Johnson for second on this list. Johnson earned his 17 straight top ten finishes at Martinsville Speedway.
With his 5th place finish yesterday, Kevin Harvick now has 19 consecutive top ten finishes at Phoenix. Accordingly, he has set an all time record for consecutive top ten finishes at a single track. While many may look at the 19 different winners we had this year and be in awe, the old school NASCAR fan might, perhaps, be more in awe of those 19 consecutive top ten finishes. Any time a driver out performs the sport’s three seven-time champions, it is something to pay attention to.
While two-time champions (such as Joey Logano) are becoming rarer, such consistency at any individual track may become even rarer. The sport is moving in another direction. While we may get to see this record be broken again next season (by Harvick at Phoenix), it may be a very long time after that before we see it challenged again.
