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Drivers who won first Cup Series race on a road course
By Staff Report | Published: March 24, 2023 14
Logan Riely | Getty Images
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Logan Riely | Getty Images
Tyler Reddick won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race July 3, 2022 at Road America. It was the third road-course race of the season, and Reddick was the third first-time winner in those three events. All told, there have been 19 drivers to win their first Cup race at a road course. Here's a look at the 13 who did so in the Modern Era (1972-present).
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Mark Donohue
Date: Jan. 21, 1973
Track: Riverside
Note: Donohue made six career Cup Series starts, all for Roger Penske. This win came in his fifth outing in the No. 16.
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Tim Richmond
Date: June 13, 1982
Track: Riverside
Note: This would be the first of five wins on road courses during Richmond's career.
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Ricky Rudd
Date: June 5, 1983
Track: Riverside
Note: Rudd reached Victory Lane two years after a breakout 1981 that saw him net 14 top fives, but no wins. He would go on to win 22 additional races in his 30-plus year career.
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Bill Elliott
Date: Nov. 20, 1983
Track: Riverside
Note: Elliott, of course, would go on to a Hall of Fame career. He and son Chase are the only father-son duo on this list.
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Steve Park
Date: Aug. 13, 2000
Track: Watkins Glen
Note: Park's win came for team owner Dale Earnhardt, with the No. 1 car leading the final 27 laps.
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Juan Pablo Montoya
Date: June 24, 2007
Track: Sonoma
Note: Montoya became the third foreign-born driver to win at NASCAR's highest level.
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Marcos Ambrose
Date: Aug. 15, 2011
Track: Watkins Glen
Note: Ambrose led 21 laps to win for Richard Petty. One year later, he'd win again at Watkins Glen in one of the best final laps in NASCAR history.
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AJ Allmendinger
Date: Aug. 10, 2014
Track: Watkins Glen
Note: This win launched Allmendinger and team owner Brad Daugherty into the postseason. It would be another seven years before Allmendinger's second Cup win -- also on a road course.
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Chase Elliott
Date: Aug. 5, 2018
Track: Watkins Glen
Note: A dominant closing push would portend Elliott's road-course dominance over the next five years as the Hendrick Motorsports driver would develop into one of the best road racers in NASCAR.
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Christopher Bell
Date: Feb. 21, 2021
Track: Daytona Road Course
Note: This was just the second-ever Cup Series race on the Daytona Road Course.
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Ross Chastain
Date: March 27, 2022
Track: Circuit of the Americas
Note: Chastain's last-lap heroics, in which he swooped past both Alex Bowman and AJ Allmendinger, also netted Trackhouse Racing its first team victory.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Daniel Suárez
Date: June 12, 2022
Track: Sonoma
Note: Suárez became the first Mexican driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race with his Sonoma conquest.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Tyler Reddick
Date: July 3, 2022
Track: Road America
Note: Reddick shook off five runner-up finishes without a win and passed perhaps the best road-course racer in the game -- Chase Elliott -- to win.