Drivers to claim first three career Cup wins in one season

Chase Elliott joined the ranks of an intriguing group with his Sunday victory at Kansas Speedway. Elliott posted the third win of his career in NASCAR's top division, with all three victories arriving in the same season. Of the 102 drivers with at least three wins on NASCAR's all-time win list, 25 achieved their first three in a single season. Here's a look at the group of two dozen (listed by the number of career wins) who kept the momentum going after notching their breakthrough triumph.

Richard Petty

Career wins: 200.

Year of first three wins: 1960.

Noteworthy: After scoring his first victory at Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte, the "King" prevailed at Martinsville and Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina, to cap a three-win season. He finished second in the standings to Rex White.

David Pearson

Career wins: 105.

Year of first three wins: 1961.

Noteworthy: The Silver Fox entered just 19 of the 52 races in his second season, but made the most of them with three big wins -- in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, the annual July event at Daytona and a 400-miler at Atlanta.

Bobby Allison

Career wins: 84.

Year of first three wins: 1966.

Noteworthy: Allison's first win came in his 29th premier series start at historic Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine. Two races later, he won again at Islip, New York, then capped his trifecta with victory from the pole at Beltsville Speedway in Maryland.

Jimmie Johnson

Career wins: 83.

Year of first three wins: 2002.

Noteworthy: His 13th start proved lucky for the eventual seven-time champion, scoring a first-time win in his home state at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson later became a three-win rookie by posting a season sweep at Dover International Speedway.

Junior Johnson

Career wins: 50.

Year of first three wins: 1955.

Noteworthy: Wins came in bunches for the NASCAR Hall of Famer in his first season competing in the majority of races. Johnson won five times in '55, posting his first three at Hickory, Raleigh and New Oxford, Pennsylvania.

Tony Stewart

Career wins: 49.

Year of first three wins: 1999.

Noteworthy: Smoke's first three visits to Victory Lane came late in his rookie season, first at Richmond and then on consecutive weekends at Phoenix and Homestead. Stewart led 527 total laps in those three triumphs.

Kurt Busch

Career wins: 30.

Year of first three wins: 2002.

Noteworthy: Busch's second full season brought wins in multiples -- four in total. He grabbed his first two on short tracks (Bristol then Martinsville) before notching No. 3 at Atlanta.

Carl Edwards

Career wins: 28.

Year of first three wins: 2005.

Noteworthy: Before Elliott accomplished the feat of recording his first three wins in a single season, Edwards was the most recent to do it as part of his four-win '05 campaign. Edwards' victory trail went from Atlanta, Pocono and back to Atlanta.

Fred Lorenzen

Career wins: 26.

Year of first three wins: 1961.

Noteworthy: The Elmhurst Express opened his star turn in the 1960s with three big prizes, victories at Martinsville, Darlington and Atlanta for the formidable Holman-Moody team. Lorenzen kept rolling with multiple wins in each of the next five seasons.

Jeff Burton

Career wins: 21.

Year of first three wins: 1997.

Noteworthy: Burton didn't land victory No. 1 until his fourth full season, but it opened the floodgates to the win column. Burton became the winner of the first-ever Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, then followed up by conquering New Hampshire and Martinsville to get to three.

Bobby Labonte

Career wins: 21.

Year of first three wins: 1995.

Noteworthy: Labonte made his first Victory Lane venture in a big way at the Coca-Cola 600. A season sweep later that year at Michigan International Speedway followed.

Geoff Bodine

Career wins: 18.

Year of first three wins: 1984.

Noteworthy: A clutch first victory for Bodine at Martinsville Speedway was also a first for Hendrick Motorsports. The win that famously kept the organization from closing its doors led to more success that year -- at the Nashville Fairgrounds and the old Riverside road course in California.

Dick Hutcherson

Career wins: 14.

Year of first three wins: 1965.

Noteworthy: Hutcherson's first full season was a nine-win bonanza for the Holman-Moody organization. All nine came at tracks under a mile in length, with the Iowa native going Greenville-Nashville-Greenville for his first three triumphs.

Dick Rathman

Career wins: 13.

Year of first three wins: 1952.

Noteworthy: After first finding pay dirt in the spring at Martinsville, Rathman heated up with a three-race winning streak (Langhorne, Darlington, Dayton) on the way to a five-win season.

Jim Reed

Career wins: 7.

Year of first three wins: 1958.

Noteworthy: Reed was an occasional entrant in parts of seven seasons before finally taking his win No. 1. Those first three came at long-since-gone venues at Old Bridge, New Jersey, Roanoke, Virginia, and Buffalo, New York.

Marshall Teague

Career wins: 7.

Year of first three wins: 1951.

Noteworthy: Teague was a pioneering star for the Hudson Hornet racing contingent, notching five wins in just 15 starts in the '51 campaign. Those victories came at the Daytona Beach-Road Course, Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California, and the Arizona State Fairgrounds.

Ralph Moody

Career wins: 5.

Year of first three wins: 1956.

Noteworthy: Moody enjoyed success in his brief driving career before moving on to become a famed engine builder and team co-owner. His opening three wins came in a 14-race span, at LeHi, Arkansas; Old Bridge, New Jersey; and Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Pete Hamilton

Career wins: 4.

Year of first three wins: 1970.

Noteworthy: Hamilton rode the wave of a powerful, winged Plymouth Superbird from Petty Enterprises to a major first victory in the Daytona 500. Superspeedway performance was contagious for the Massachusetts native, who followed up with a Talladega season sweep.

Hershel McGriff

Career wins: 4.

Year of first three wins: 1954.

Noteworthy: The West Coast competitor who would become known for his racing longevity enjoyed a flourish of success in 1954, winning in San Mateo, California, then heading east to log back-to-back wins at Macon, Georgia; and Charlotte.

Billy Wade

Career wins: 4.

Year of first three wins: 1964.

Noteworthy: The Houston native followed his Rookie of the Year Award in 1963 by becoming the only driver to post his first four wins consecutively. He did so for team owner Bud Moore in a sweep of northern venues -- first at Old Bridge, New Jersey, then a triple dip at New York tracks at Bridgehampton, Islip and Watkins Glen.

Glen Wood

Career wins: 4.

Year of first three wins: 1960.

Noteworthy: The NASCAR Hall of Famer lived up to his "Master of the Madhouse" nickname, scoring his first three wins all at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Three years later, Wood's fourth and final premier series win also came at the historic quarter-mile track.

Chase Elliott

Career wins: 3.

Year of first three wins: 2018.

Noteworthy: It took a wait until his 99th Cup start to break through, but Elliott now holds a modest hot streak of three wins in an 11-race span. Like his father, Bill, Elliott's first victory came on a road course. He followed his Watkins Glen triumph with wins at Dover and Kansas in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Dick Linder

Career wins: 3.

Year of first three wins: 1950.

Noteworthy: The Pittsburgh sprint-car standout also produced wins in stock cars in NASCAR's earliest years. Linder won on pavement and dirt, prevailing in Dayton, Ohio, Hamburg, New York, and Vernon, New York.

Frank Mundy

Career wins: 3.

Year of first three wins: 1951.

Noteworthy: The Atlanta native landed the first victory for the Studebaker nameplate from the pole position at Columbia, South Carolina. Two more wins followed that year, first at Martinsville then in the 1951 season finale at Mobile, Alabama.

Gwyn Staley

Career wins: 3.

Year of first three wins: 1957.

Noteworthy: Staley won his first premier series race in the last Cup event for Coastal Speedway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. His next two came on historic dirt tracks in the north -- the New York State Fairgrounds and treacherous Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway.