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Power Rankings: Hall of Fame cases among active drivers
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 21, 2020 12
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The NASCAR Hall of Fame houses the greatest faces in the sport's history, and with so much talent racing behind the wheel these days, it's likely several current-day drivers will be enshrined down the road. NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 10 active drivers with the best Hall of Fame resumes.
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Honorable mentions: Johnny Sauter, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon
Comment: These three drivers are worth taking a look at, but likely still have some work to do the rest of their careers before warranting strong consideration. As of April 2020, Sauter has 24 Gander Trucks wins and one championship; Bowyer has 10 Cup Series wins, eight Xfinity Series wins and one championship and three Gander Trucks wins; Dillon has two Cup Series crown-jewel wins to his credit (Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600) and a pair of titles between the Xfinity Series and Gander Trucks.
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10. Matt Crafton
Accolades: 14 Gander Trucks wins; three Gander Trucks championships
Comment: The driver who has best exemplified the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series since Ron Hornaday Jr. retired and was elected to the Hall of Fame, Crafton is likely the next Gander Trucks lifer to be elected. His win count pales in comparison to Hornaday's (51 wins), but three titles is nothing to pass over.
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9. Ryan Newman
Accolades: 18 Cup Series wins, including the 2002 All-Star Race, 2008 Daytona 500 and 2013 Brickyard 400; seven Xfinity Series wins; one Gander Trucks win
Comment: In addition to now being arguably the most resilient driver in NASCAR history, Newman has also been wheeling it for two decades at the Cup Series level -- a feat in itself. In that time he's established himself as a big trophy hunter, rising to the occasion in some of NASCAR's biggest races while also contending for a championship or two. His 51 career Busch Pole Awards are the most of a generation and rank in the top 10 all time.
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8. Martin Truex Jr.
Accolades: 26 Cup Series wins, including two Coca-Cola 600s, one Southern 500 and the 2017 Cup championship; 13 Xfinity Series wins and two Xfinity championships (2004-05)
Comment: Truex at eighth feels low, solely because of how dominant he's been the past half decade. His Furniture Row/Joe Gibbs Racing years have been among the finest a driver has ever put together in the modern era, and the back nine of Truex's career has been a lesson in years of hard work paying off -- it would have been unfathomable to consider him a Hall of Famer as recently as 2014. And now he's a potential lock.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Kurt Busch
Accolades: 31 Cup Series wins, including the 2010 Coca-Cola 600, 2017 Daytona 500 and 2004 Cup championship; five Xfinity Series wins, four Gander Trucks wins
Comment: Though Busch has never had a full season of true dominance (his best outputs were two four-win seasons), he's been consistently great to excellent for the better part of two decades. As such, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has compiled enough wins and marquee moments -- along with a title in the first season with a playoff format -- to garner strong consideration.
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6. Joey Logano
Accolades: 25 Cup Series wins, including the 2015 Daytona 500, 2016 All-Star Race and 2018 Cup championship; 30 Xfinity Series wins, one Gander Trucks win; 2007 ARCA Menards Series East championship
Comment: Logano is 29 years old, could retire today ... and still be a potential first-ballot Hall of Famer. "Sliced Bread" took a little bit of time to rise, but Logano's career kicked into overdrive after moving to Team Penske ahead of the 2013 season. Barely into his prime, the only question that remains is what Logano does with the next 10 years -- and if he becomes one of the greatest of all time.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Brad Keselowski
Accolades: 30 Cup Series wins, including the 2018 Southern 500, 2018 Brickyard 400 and 2012 Cup championship; 39 Xfinity Series wins, including the 2010 championship
Comment: Keselowski's Gander Trucks resume is truly baffling -- really, look it up -- but lucky for him, his numbers in the higher series are sterling and have him very much on the path to Hall enshrinement. He won a title at the height of the Jimmie Johnson era, which probably doesn't get enough credit, and has racked up some major wins and an Xfinity title to boot.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4.Denny Hamlin
Accolades: 38 Cup Series wins, including the 2015 All-Star Race, three of the last five Daytona 500s, two Southern 500s and five Martinsville clocks; 17 Xfinity Series wins; two Gander Trucks wins
Comment: Obviously, the one knock on Hamlin is that he's yet to hoist a Cup title trophy. Other than that, though, the Virginian has put together one of the strongest NASCAR careers in modern history, with one of the most impressive things we've seen the past decade -- wins in three of the last five Daytona 500s. He's in as it is; a championship would just be icing on the cake.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Kevin Harvick
Accolades: 49 Cup Series wins, including two All-Star Race wins, two Brickyard 400s, two Coca-Cola 500s, one Daytona 500, one Southern 500 and one Cup championship; 47 Xfinity Series wins and two Xfinity titles; 14 Gander Trucks wins
Comment: Harvick was put in an extremely difficult position to begin his Cup career, replacing the late Dale Earnhardt on short notice. I don't think anyone could say he didn't rise to the occasion and exceed every bit of expectations, becoming one of the fiercest competitors in the sport over the next two decades with a boatload of wins and inserting himself as a fixture in the Championship 4. Easy first-balloter.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Kyle Busch
Accolades: 56 Cup Series wins, including the 2017 All-Star Race, 2018 Coca-Cola 600, two Brickyard 400s and two Cup championships; 96 Xfinity Series wins, including the 2009 championship; 57 Gander Trucks wins
Comment: Debate the 200 wins all you want, there's no denying Busch is an absolute lock as a Hall of Famer. Widely considered the most talented driver of his generation, Busch has piled up victories at a dizzying pace, proving himself time and again on any type of track in any series, while doing it with an unmatchable flair for the dramatic. The quintessential Hall of Famer.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Jimmie Johnson
Accolades: 83 Cup Series wins, including two Daytona 500s, four All-Star Races, four Brickyard 400s and seven Cup championships; one Xfinity Series win
Comment: Only one Xfinity Series win? Better hope the judges don't hold that against him. Kidding -- Johnson being a first-ballot Hall of Famer is the surest thing in the history of sure things. "Seven-Time" already had this in the bag before the calendar even turned to 2010, and he only cemented his legacy over the past decade. Arguably the greatest driver in the sport's history.