Last Sunday’s Verizon 200 winner, Michael McDowell is just the latest driver to snap a long winless drought during the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started it with snapping a 199-race winless streak via his season opening Daytona 500 victory. Martin Truex Jr. was next this spring in Dover in scoring his first win in 54 starts at Dover. Ryan Blaney followed that up with breaking a 59-race skid in May’s Coca-Cola 600.

Sunday in Indianapolis it was McDowell’s turn as the latest driver to break a drought (94 races). Now, who’s next?

There have been 14 different winners this season and a 15th could happen this weekend.

Below are the winless streaks of the drivers that have not won this season.

Winless Streaks: Last Win Prior To The 2023 Season
Driver	Track	Date	Races Since	Attempts Since
Justin Haley	Daytona	07/07/2019	150	93
Brad Keselowski	Talladega	04/25/2021	86	86
Aric Almirola	Loudon	07/18/2021	74	74
AJ Allmendinger	Indianapolis RC	08/15/2021	72	43
Austin Cindric	Daytona	02/20/2022	59	59
Alex Bowman	Las Vegas	03/06/2022	57	49
Chase Briscoe	Phoenix	03/13/2022	56	56
Daniel Suárez	Sonoma	06/12/2022	44	44
Kevin Harvick	Richmond	08/14/2022	36	36
Austin Dillon	Daytona	08/28/2022	34	34
Erik Jones	Darlington	09/04/2022	33	33
Bubba Wallace	Kansas	09/11/2022	32	31
Chase Elliott	Talladega	10/02/2022	29	22

Three drivers that are looking for their first win of the 2023 season are former Watkins Glen International winners – Chase Elliott (2018, 2019), AJ Allmendinger (2014) and Kevin Harvick (2006).

Four NASCAR Cup Series drivers all-time have posted their first series career win at Watkins Glen International, and this weekend and someone like Ty Gibbs, a skilled road racer in his own right, is looking to become the fifth.

First-Time Winners at WGI	Starting Pos.	Crew Chief	Date
Steve Park	18	Paul Andrews	Sunday, August 13, 2000
Marcos Ambrose	3	Todd Parrott	Monday, August 15, 2011
AJ Allmendinger	6	Brian Burns	Sunday, August 10, 2014
Chase Elliott	3	Alan Gustafson	Sunday, August 5, 2018

With that said, with Watkins Glen and Daytona up next, could we realistically get to 16 different winners in the 26 race regular season?

If so, it would be the first-time since the inception of the Playoffs in 2004, that the series has produced 16 or more winners in the first 26 races of a given year. On average, the NASCAR Cup Series has produced 12.4 different winners in the first 26 races of a season since 2004.

The 2023 season is tied with the 2001, ‘07, ‘12, ’17 and ’21 seasons for the second-most winners through the first 24 races of a season in the Modern Era (1972-Present). The 2002, 2003, 2011 and 2022 seasons hold the record for the most winners through 24 races at 15 different winners each.

If we see two more different winners this regular season, the 2023 season will set the record for the most different winners in a 26-race regular season in the Playoff Era (2004-Present) at 16.