Five to Watch: Road-course ready standouts

By Jeff Wackerlin, MRN.com | Friday, January 8, 2021

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With the recent addition of the Daytona International Speedway Road Course to the 2021 NASCAR Cup schedule, the series will now have seven points-paying races at road courses. Only eight active full-time drivers have won a NASCAR Cup Series race on a road course. Here's a look at five drivers to watch this year when the cars turn left and right.

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Chase Elliott has been king when it comes to road courses as of late, winning the last four. Elliott's first career NASCAR Cup Series win – and first of five on road courses - came at Watkins Glen International in 2018, and he repeated the feat the next season. Elliott has made a total of 12 starts at road courses and has an average finish of 8.9. He has combined to lead 176 laps in the last four races, with his closest competition in that category during that span being William Byron (50).

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Martin Truex Jr. is the only driver who has finished in the top 10 in each of the last five road-course races, dating back to his win at Sonoma Raceway in 2019. Three of Truex's road-course victories have come at Sonoma with the other being Watkins Glen in 2017. In the two races last year at Daytona and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Truex posted respective finishes of third and seventh, with crew chief James Small.

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Kyle Busch is a four-time winner at road courses with his last coming in 2015 at Sonoma. Busch hasn't had much luck in the races at the hybrid road courses of Daytona and Charlotte, but he is looking to turn around that trend in 2021. If Busch can win this season at a road course, it would mark his fourth with a different crew chief, this time with Ben Beshore. In 2008, he completed the season's road-course sweep at Sonoma and Watkins Glen with crew chief Steve Addington. Busch is the active leader in laps led at road courses with 364.

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Ryan Blaney is the only driver without the last name Elliott or Truex who has scored a win in the last nine road-course races. Blaney's win at Charlotte in 2018 came in a wild finish, sparking the first of four consecutive finishes of eighth or better at road courses. His seven road-course top 10s have come in his last 10 starts.

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Chase Briscoe will look to carry over a strong record on road courses from the NASCAR Xfinity Series to his rookie year in the Cup Series. Briscoe owns seven top 10s in nine Xfinity road-course starts, including wins at Charlotte and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was added to this year’s Cup slate. The last time the No. 14 went to Victory Lane at a road course came with Briscoe's childhood hero and owner, Tony Stewart, at Sonoma in 2016. If Briscoe can accomplish the feat, he would become the first rookie to win at a road course since Juan Pablo Montoya at Sonoma in 2007.

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Other active Cup Series road-course winners: Kevin Harvick (2), Kurt Busch (1), Denny Hamlin (1) and Joey Logano (1).

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