Combined, they won half of the Cup races last season, but those same nine drivers remain winless this season as the series heads to Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Southern 500.
Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney continue to search for their first win of the year with less than three months left in the season.
One name stands out in that list to Steve Letarte.
“He’s won 83 races, seven championships in multiple different formats and at every type of race track you can imagine, with different styles of race cars, with different styles of tires, with different rule packages, so, yes, Jimmie Johnson, when I look at this list, has surprised me the most just because of the career-long resume he brings to this list,” Letarte said on Tuesday’s NASCAR America.
It’s a sign of how dominant the Big 3 — Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — has been this year. Harvick, Busch and Truex have combined to win 17 of the 24 points races this season.
Of those nine who won races last year but have yet to do so this season, only three have won the Southern 500 at Darlington — Johnson (2004, ’12), Hamlin (2010, ’17) and Kenseth (2013).
“It’s just like the weirdest thing to me is that we’re so far into the season and we’re still talking about these drivers in terms of not getting to Victory Lane,” Parker Kligerman said on NASCAR America. “I just find it odd. When I was looking at these numbers, I was almost started.”
For more on what Letarte, Kligerman and Landon Cassill said about this group, check out the video above.
Here’s a look at how those drivers who won last year have fared this year with two races left in the regular season:
Kyle Larson
2017 wins: 4
2018 best finish: 2nd (Auto Club, Bristol I, Pocono I, Chicagoland, Bristol II)
2017 points finish: 8th
2018 points standing: 9th
2017 laps led: 1,352
2018 laps led: 382
2017 top 10s: 20
2018 top 10s: 13
Brad Keselowski
2017 wins: 3
2018 best finish: 2nd (Atlanta, Michigan II)
2017 points finish: 4th
2018 points standing: 8th
2017 laps led: 778
2018 laps led: 323
2017 top 10s: 21
2018 top 10s: 12
Jimmie Johnson
2017 wins: 3
2018 best finish: 3rd (Bristol I)
2017 points finish: 10th
2018 points standing: 14th
2017 laps led: 217
2018 laps led: 29
2017 top 10s: 11
2018 top 10s: 8
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2017 wins: 2
2018 best finish: 4th (Bristol I)
2017 points finish: 13th
2018 points standing: 16th
2017 laps led: 56
2018 laps led: 121
2017 top 10s: 9
2018 top 10s: 3
Denny Hamlin
2017 wins: 2
2018 best finish: 3rd (Daytona 500, Richmond, Coca-Cola 600)
2017 points finish: 6th
2018 points standing: 10th
2017 laps led: 710
2018 laps led: 259
2017 top 10s: 22
2018 top 10s: 12
Matt Kenseth
2017 wins: 1
2018 best finish: 13th (Pocono I)
2017 points finish: 7th
2018 points standing: 34th
2017 laps led: 421
2018 laps led: 0
2017 top 10s: 18
2018 top 10s: 0
Kasey Kahne
2017 wins: 1
2018 best finish: 4th (Daytona II)
2017 points finish: 15th
2018 points standing: 27th
2017 laps led: 41
2018 laps led: 30
2017 top 10s: 6
2018 top 10s: 1
Ryan Newman
2017 wins: 1
2018 best finish: 6th (New Hampshire)
2017 points finish: 16th
2018 points standing: 17th
2017 laps led: 46
2018 laps led: 57
2017 top 10s: 13
2018 top 10s: 6
Ryan Blaney
2017 wins: 1
2018 best finish: 2nd (Kentucky)
2017 points finish: 9th
2018 points standing: 7th
2017 laps led: 301
2018 laps led: 585
2017 top 10s: 14
2018 top 10s: 12
HOT couple days of testing @RichmondRaceway. Felt like we learned some things though that made our car better which is nice!
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) August 28, 2018
Day 2 here in Richmond. The car has been driving good, we are building off of a solid run from the spring race. pic.twitter.com/8p3e7aYCIt
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) August 28, 2018