The 2023 NASCAR Cup playoff field has been set! After 26 races these 16 drivers have put themselves in position to become the 2023 Cup champion. They have combined won a total of 336 races, among them are 7 of the 75 greatest drivers in NASCAR history. In this the 75th anniversary of NASCAR the last 10 races will be something to watch. Who are these elite drivers? Let's meet them!

1st off there is a first time for everything and this young man has made his 1st career playoff appearance. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and drives the #23 23XI Racing Toyota, He aims to make history if he wins the championship.

Bubba Wallace

Things could have been so different for Bubba Wallace. Once upon a time when he was working his way up a part of the Toyota pipeline with Kyle Busch Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, 2015 came along and Bubba moved to Roush Fenway Racing and Ford in 2015. From 2015-2017 he was a full-time Xfinity driver. Or at least he was supposed to be full-time in 2017, after 12 races he was shockingly out of a job due to the lack of sponsorship. So, he did what anyone else would do, drive anything that was available hoping to land a seat. He made his Cup debut days after his last Xfinity race for Roush and found out how tough it would be to be a full-time Cup driver. Still after racing a handful of times in the national touring circuit, Bubba was able to race for Chevrolet and Richard Petty in the Cup Series full-time from 2018-2020. 2021 would begin a new era for Wallace returning to Toyota driving for NBA legend Michael Jordan and active Cup driver Denny Hamlin in a newly formed 23XI Racing. A new team with the long-term plan of being a championship contending team. Bubba was able to get his and the organization's 1st win at Talladega, last year he won at Kansas, and while he has not won a race yet this year, mission accomplished as far as making the playoffs for the first time in his career. Wallace was stressed and anxious to get this done and now that it's here. He's had a taste of it last year, Bubba temporarily drove the #45 which was in the owner's playoffs since it's regular driver was unfit to race. Wallace wheeled it to a 10th place finish in owner points, he was stressed and anxious to make the playoffs. Now it is ALL up from here.

Then there is one of the 75 best drivers, a man who has won all the crown jewel races in the 2 plus decades he has been in the sport. The Cup champion of 2014 drives the #4 Ford Mustang for Stewart Haas Racing, in his final season. They don't call him "the Closer" for nothing.

Kevin Harvick

This is it; Kevin Harvick is in his 17th and final playoff appearance. in 10 more races he will retire from NASCAR competition, in the 23 years he has done extraordinary things. Arguably his best career moment happened in 2001. He was originally planning to run the Xfinity car for Richard Childress Racing, that would change under tragic circumstances. On the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 we lost 7-time Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. NASCAR had gone through a lot, Richard Childress who was a close friend to Earnhardt was no different. He didn't have a choice but to put Kevin Harvick in a renumbered #29 car.  Kevin later called that the most pressure packed situation in his life, in his 3rd Cup start he would do something very special.

https://youtu.be/ZTx_-8NdiaM

THAT is how you make an entrance. That would be the first of many clutch wins in Kevin Harvick's career, from winning races to keep his title chances alive, having to win the last 2 races in 2014 to win the championship after joining Stewart Haas Racing. Even had to remind critics about the driver he still is last year. After going through a 65-race winless streak his ability behind the wheel was questioned. Just like he said when he snapped that streak in Michigan "Anyone who doubted us doesn't know us." Kevin also won the following race at Richmond to set a statement to never ever doubt him or that 4 team. They may be winless so far this year, but Harvick wants to get one last win before retirement and would really love a walk off 2nd championship. Once an undersized high school wrestler, 4EVER a NASCAR legend.

Next is the guy in his 2nd playoff appearance, he has been in the Cup Series for a long time and success is very hard to come by. A former 2-time Xfinity champion, and a man who has been in Cup for over a decade. Driver of the #47 Chevrolet for JTG-Daughtery Racing has impressed a lot of people this season.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr

Stenhouse fresh off of Xfinity championships in 2011 and 2012 joined the Cup ranks for Jack Roush in 2013. He went on to win the rookie of the year award finding his way in the car Matt Kenseth drove for a long time. Unfortunately, he joined the Roush team just when they were beginning to fall of the front of the field. In 2013 he finished 19th in the points standings, from 2014-2016 his best points finish was 21st. However, that was after a progression from 27th in 2014 and 25th in 2015. In 2017 it looked like the start of the year was a little bit better and it came to fruition at Talladega

https://youtu.be/eua6lP9JRLE

Stenhouse even won the summer Daytona race to show that this was no fluke. For the first time since 2014 Roush were Cup winners. It looked like after a 13th points finish that this would be Ricky's path to the top, that was not the case. It just looked like Roush had the same issues it had in previous years. Stenhouse also at times made mistakes that is easy to make, pushing way too hard trying to get a finish unattainable to where the equipment can go. It made a lot of drivers mad especially at superspeedways and by the end of 2019 he would not return to Roush. JTG Daughtery came calling in 2020 and their goals were to show that they might not be one of the powerhouse teams in NASCAR, but they can still be competitive. It was a tough 3 years but this season they got the biggest win in their careers'.  Winning the 2023 Daytona 500 put all of the "Wrecky Spinhouse" memes to bed. We have seen that race make a lasting impact before, Front Row Motorsports are more competitive in Cup and won the 2022 Truck championship, the Wood Brothers after being a part-time team for so long eventually returned to full-time competition after winning the 500. Where can Stenhouse and this single car team go from here?

Originally this guy was known for a big and scary wreck but now is having the time of his life. Everything seems to be coming together for this team to dare I say be a championship contending team in the late 2020's. The driver of the #34 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports has been there for 6 years now and will be back for next year, 

Michael McDowell

It is incredible to think about where McDowell came from. Originally, he was coming up through open wheel racing with the goal to race at the Indy 500, now he just plain dominated the road course to clinch his spot in the playoffs. This is the 3rd time this organization will be in the posted, 1st was in 2016 when Chris Buescher won a fog-shortened Pocono race, then Michael McDowell in 2021 was able to win the Daytona 500. He raced 357 times without winning a race, but that night Michael added himself in the history books along with another Michael, Michael Waltrip that is to wait the longest before getting their 1st career win. Since that historic night, McDowell has been arguably overachieving in that 34 car. However, credit should go to Front Row as well. Last year they got 2 top 5s and 12 top 10s, they didn't make the playoffs, but for that company it was amazing. Let's also remember and appreciate that last year that they won the Truck championship with Zane Smith. Imagine telling someone in the 2010s that not only would they be Truck champions, that they would have 3 wins, 2 of those wins not be at a superspeedway, AND even without McDowell's Indy Road course win that they would have enough raw speed to make the playoffs. Especially considering a vicious Texas wreck is what McDowell was remembered for such a long time. After grinding out for so long for McDowell and company, they have turned some heads and have gotten strong. They might not be a powerhouse Cup team yet but let's see what they can do this year!

This guy is one of NASCAR's fan favorites, arguably if Chase Elliott wasn't in the field than this drover would have a run at most popular. a lot of hype still surrounds this young man to be having a breakout season and be championship contender. This will be the 7th consecutive year he has made the playoffs. The man drives the #12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, he is nicknamed "YRB" is "Young" 

Ryan Blaney! 

This will mark Blaney's 8th full season in NASCAR's highest level. He is the son of Dave Blaney who was a longtime NASCAR driver and an elite world of outlaws racer. Hope was up sky high when Ryan got his start into racing. He impressed in his Truck days contending for the championship in 2014, while he came up short his future was still bright. In 2015 he'd run a split schedule between the Wood Brothers in Cup and Team Penske in Xfinity. In the 13 Xfinity starts he won twice and finished in the top 10 for 10 of those races. In 2016 he officially made his first full season in the Cup Series for the Wood Brothers. Obviously, he needed some time to get his feet underneath him, cause in 2017 he got his 1st win. 

https://youtu.be/tBlk_NKqk-A

After that success the door was open to return to Team Penske headquarters in 2018. Steadily he has been able to win a race every year and was able to improve his other stats, but winning a single race every year was getting old. Just like any other driver, they want to win multiple races and be contenders week in and week out.  Roger Penske decided to shift all of the teams around in 2020 in a quest to make everyone better. This meant Blaney would get Joey Logano's entire team that won the championship in 2018. Initially, Blaney had improved speed, but things fell off at the end. Ryan would get eliminated from the 2020 playoffs in the first round. At least he matched his top 5 total from a year ago and set a career high in laps led during a season. 2021 was the year Ryan finally won multiple races in a season but still could not make the championship 4, this also ended up being his crew chief, Todd Gordon's final full-time year on top of the box. Last year has a lot of new things, a new car, and a new crew chief Johnathan Hassler. 2022 was weird, Blaney got a career high top 5s with 12 but did not win a single point race that year. The all-star race at Texas was the highlight of his season. This year Blaney was able to snap his 59-race winless streak and get Hassler's first win as a crew chief in NASCAR's longest night, the Coca Cola 600.  While not having (at this moment) a top 5 ever since then, that 12 team has made deep playoff runs before. We've seen athletes defy the odds before, perhaps Ryan Blaney will do that this year.

Still a young man with a long career ahead of him and is already a legend. A part of the 75 greatest drivers with 32 wins and the defending 2-time series champion, the driver of the #22 Team Penske Ford Mustang is definitely a fighter and absolutely loves and lives on the pressure packed situations.

Joey Logano

Once upon a time, Joey was fighting for his career. It started out with a lot of hype, Mark Martin firmly believed that Joey would be one of the best NASCAR drivers ever, nicknaming him "sliced bread" when Logano showed up to town it was history in the making. Logano in his 3rd Xfinity start became the youngest winner in that series history! Keep in mind this was in 2008 when Joey was a teenager. He made his Cup full-time debut in 2009 replacing Tony Stewart for Joe Gibbs Racing and at New Hampshire became the youngest Cup winner ever. Besides that, there was little to cheer for in the next few years. After giving the bump and run to Mark Martin of all people at Pocono he got his 2nd career win in 2012 that arguably saved his Cup career. Team Penske got Logano into their company and the rest is history. Sucess came with some enemies. How Logano went about some things on the racetrack came back to haunt him like in 2015 when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him in Martinsville, but it also came with championships in 2018 and 2022. Despite it being a very lean season with only a single win Joey has been able to defy the odds in pressure packed situations. Could he go back-to-back for the first time since Jimmie Johnson in 2009-2010?

A slow and steady rise to NASCAR's top level but now that he is here, the NASCAR world know he is an amazing talent that will push all the way from start to finish. He won't hesitate to run the high side inches off the wall when the opportunity presents itself. Undoubtedly one of the sport's future stars with a bright future in the Cup series in his 4th full-time season. The 2020 rookie of the year pilots the #45 Toyota for 23XI Racing

Tyler Reddick

Reddick came from grass roots karting and dirt racing. Originally cut his teeth on late models and sprint cars. He made his Arca debut in Rockingham in 2012............AND WON. Winning any NASCAR sanctioned race in your debut is insanely hard to do. That made a lasting impact, so he got to make his Truck debut a year later. Despite it not going well, Brad Keselowski Reddick him to driver for him in the Truck Series for most of the races in 2014 and would go full-time in 2015. Started off that season pretty well.

https://youtu.be/jCceBLfTXQw

Tyler was a championship contender but came up short to Erik Jones.  Despite missing the inaugural Truck playoffs in 2016 he was able to win a race before leaving the Trucks to join Chip Ganassi Racing in 2017 for a part-time basis. In the 18 races he got 6 top 10s, 4 top 5s which looked like a disappointing year he won his 1st Xfinity race at Kentucky in dominating fashion. Another career changing moment lands Reddick a full-time Xfinity ride at JR Motorsports for 2018

https://youtu.be/cy4kOvBoR9w

After 5 overtimes, the most in NASCAR ever Reddick again wins at Daytona. This time it would be the closest finish in NASCAR EVER. .0004 seconds was the margin. Tyler this time started the season with a win at Daytona then finishes 2018 winning the season finale and with it, the 2018 Xfinity Series championship. Somewhat pulled off an upset being considered an underdog, still Reddick would stay in Xfinity in 2019. But not for JRM, believing that a switch to RCR would give him his best chance to get to the Cup Series. 6 wins, 24 top 5s, and 27 top 10s, and a 2nd Xfinity title later Tyler Reddick has officially arrived. Now racing at the top of the NASCAR ladder would see what Reddick was made of. Richard Childress Racing has been struggling to find consistent success lately. Reddick showed improvement from 2020 to 2021 and then the question would become "When will Reddick win?" He almost won the 2022 Bristol dirt race just to be spun out on the last lap. However, in Road America he had to beat the best active road course racer, 2020 Cup champion Chase Eliott. That is a way to score your first win beating a champion like that at one of their best disciplines of racing. Getting the first win just lifts all of that weight off a young driver confirming to himself and the garage that he can take on the best of the best drivers. Big things were in Reddick's future, 9 days after getting his first Cup win it was a surprise that it announced he would leave RCR to drive for 23XI not in 2023 but in 2024. It stunned everyone that Reddick signed a multi-year deal for 23XI and Toyota after being a Chevy man since 2017. Richard Childress was definitely surprised and not happy about it saying that the timing of the announcement could not have come at a worse time. Tyler said it shouldn't have been a big surprise since it looked like an unknown if he could race at RCR in 2024, but early 2022 RCR exercised the option to bring Tyler back in 2023 and was revealed to most of the public before the 23XI announcement. So why is Reddick at 23XI now? Rumors started that RCR may release Reddick a year early but both sides reiterated that they will be working together in 2023. Kyle Busch was announced to join RCR but would get Tyler's entire team.  The plan was still to have Reddick race at RCR but for a third car in the organization. Sadly, Kyle Busch's brother Kurt suffered a concussion in a qualifying crash at Pocono and could never recover. Kurt would have raced the #45 in 2023 but he still had lingering symptoms from the Pocono wreck leaving him no choice but to retire from full-time racing. Now without a driver 23XI bought Reddick out of his RCR contract to replace Kurt and join the team a year earlier than planned. Unfortunate circumstances to begin the next chapter in your career but perhaps that is extra motivation to make a strong run at the championship.

In the 14 years this man has been Cup racing a lot has changed. From what a lot viewed as a punk kid who was in a lot of incidents is now a very respected driver by his peers and fans alike. Along the way he got 35 wins and is the 2012 Cup champ, he was on NASCAR Race Hub when his 2 daughters surprised him with news of him being added to the 75 greatest drivers list. The driver of the #6 Ford Mustang puts "Keselowski" in Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.

Brad Keselowski

For many fans who only watched the Cup Series in the late 2000's- early 2010's Keselowski was basically an unknown. He won his 1st career Cup race at Talladega in controversial fashion racing hard with Carl Edwards and ultimately wrecking him in the trioval on the last lap. In 2010 Keselowski was full-time in both Xfinity and Cup for Team Penske, in Xfinity he won the title that season. Cup was very different, a 25th place finish in points. In 2011 he would solely focus on Cup and would get his crew chief that he got the Xfinity championship with, Paul Wolfe. Things got better for Brad now in the flagship #2 car by running way better and pulled of a brilliant fuel mileage win at Kansas, won Pocono after getting injured the previous week breaking his ankle in a test at Road Atlanta, and won Bristol which is arguably the toughest short track NASCAR goes to. After a breakout season with a 5th place points finish came the 2012 Cup title. While Clint Bowyer was the runner up Brad had to go heads up against Jimmie Johnson, one of the best drivers ever in NASCAR. Many more wins would come Brad's way but not another championship, rumors began that he would pursue being a Cup owner and in 2022 that would be the case with what is now RFK. Initially it looked like a step backwards but this year they are the best Ford team. While he has not won a race this season and is currently on an 88-race winless streak he is getting stronger as the season goes on. Brad is one of the key reasons in Roush's turnaround, but he still wants to remind the field he is a great racecar driver with plenty left to give.

Once upon a time this man was a watermelon farmer. Now after years of grinding and trying to get a premier seat, he now wants to show the NASCAR world that he has what it takes to become a Cup champion. Driver of the #1 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, an exciting guy to watch on the racetrack because you know he'll make something happen. 

It's Ross Chastain

Ross has dreamed of an opportunity like this. It was a long road here and was known as an underdog for a long time. For most of the 2010's he was in underfunded equipment just doing what he can with what he had. In 2018 Chip Ganassi gave Ross a chance of a lifetime driving his Xfinity car for 3 races. He dominated Darlington before getting in a wreck, won his first NASCAR race at Las Vegas, and finished 2nd in Richmond. It looked like he'd run full-time for Chip in 2019 but after sponsorship issues Ross would initially run races for multiple teams in Cup Xfinity and Trucks. Ultimately, he found the most success in Trucks being runner up in points that year. In 2020 it would be a full-time gig with Kaulig. While he did not win his consistency warranted a quality Cup ride with Ganassi in 2021. An unexpected change came when Trackhouse announced it was buying Chip's NASCAR team and hiring Chastain. That would be the start of a beautiful relationship. Ross got his first Cup win and finished 2nd in points. There were MANY adventures along the way, he had gotten into several incidents with many drivers. Most notably Denny Hamlin, the most insane incident was Ross's "hail melon" at Martinsville.

https://youtu.be/sOY9p5gFa5Q

This year he has also been criticized about how he races and gets into drivers by Rick Hendrick himself. While the speed has not been the same after a statement win at Nashville, Ross has that farmer grit and would love to celebrate by smashing watermelons in victory lane.

Another driver with another bright future is on our hands. This will be his 3rd career playoff appearance in his 4th year in the Cup Series, still in his 20's he has a long time to get some of NASCAR's biggest and best prizes around. The driver of the #20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing originated from dirt racing but can still race excellently on the paved tracks. While he hasn't started this tradition, perhaps someone should ring a BELL if he wins it all, folks it is......

Christopher Bell

Many people think C Bell has the talent to be a future Cup champion one day. Looking at his career would definitely prove that. He came into the NASCAR national world in the Truck Series driving for Kyle Busch.  In 54 starts for KBM he got 7 wins, 26 top 5s, and 41 top 10s. All that included the Truck championship in 2017 where in 23 races that year he missed the top 10 twice. Once for a wreck and another from a mechanical issue, that was a near perfect season. In 2018 and 2019 he ran in Xfinity full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing. 16 wins, 41 top 5s, and 46 top 10s in 74 starts. While he may not have a Xfinity championship, the Cup Series was a must for Bell in 2020. While it was for a satellite team Leavine Family Racing, Bell still demonstrated he can drive with 2 top 5s and 7 top 10s in a car that traditionally doesn't compete for wins. In 2021 a spot was open at JGR and Christopher hopped abord the 20 train. In his 2nd race after being paired with a 2-time champion crew chief Adam Stevens, Bell became a NASCAR Cup winner at the Daytona Road course. Christopher last year officially broke out and showed the talent he has in himself; Bell went from being eliminated in the round of 12 in 2021 to making the championship 4 after being put in 2 must win scenarios. He backed them up by being the best driver at JGR in 2022 and if it wasn't for a freak accident in the last pitstop at Phoenix, he might have won the championship. He might be a little bit under the radar going in the playoffs with only 1 win, but this is when he hit his stride a year ago. Bell will definitely be fast.

Next up is a driver that is heavily thought of as the best driver on the grid ever in the Cup Series, and some dare even put him as one of the best drivers in the world. His Cup numbers definitely back up him being one of the 75 greatest drivers, the 2021 Cup champion drives for Hendrick Motorsports in the #5 Chevrolet. Nicknamed "Yung Money" is....

 Kyle Larson

When he joined the Cup ranks in 2014, people already compared him to Jeff Gordon, who is 3rd on the all-time wins list and a 4-time series champion. Larson began his career at Chip Ganassi Racing and would win the rookie of the year honors in 2014. However, it took him 99 races to score win number 1 in 2016. In 2017, he had his breakout season, and at the midway point, he led the standings, but a points penalty took some wind out of his sales and before the playoffs started falling behind. Despite that, he got a total of 4 wins and was considered a favorite that if he got to Homestead, which hosted the finale, he'd win it all. An engine failure at Kansas would end his championship hopes and was forced to settle for an 8th place finish and watch the title fight in front of him between Martin Truex Jr and Kyle Busch. Since then, from 2018-2020, he only got one more win. It'll shock you to know he had a 75-race winless streak. He had speed at multiple places, but bad luck and other circles got in his way. It looked like in 2020 after getting a top 5 and 3 top 10s in the first 4 races that it would be a string season for him, and he was in a contract year at Chip Ganassi. Speculation started that he would go to Hendrick Motorsports and replace Jimmie Johnson, who was retiring. Kyle Larson all but hit the self-destruct button on his career after using a racial slur in an iracing event during the pandemic. It looked like he'd never race again after getting fired and indefinitely suspended. Kyle took a hiatus from social media and devoted himself to right the wrongs he caused and to better educate himself. Racing has always been Larson's passion. Anytime a local dirt track was hosting a race, he wanted to be in it and win it. While doing all of that racing and becoming a better person off the dirt track, Hendrick Motorsports gave Larson a second chance in the renumbered 5 car from Jimmie Johnson's old team. Kyle didn't waste that second chance, winning 10 races, leading 2500 plus laps that year, and getting the championship. One of the best seasons ever in history is going to be extremely hard to match, 2022 showed how hard NASCAR is after Kyle got eliminated in the round of 12. This year has been a rollercoaster to say the least with 12 top 10s, 10 of them are top 5s and 2 wins, every other race has been a finish of 14th or worse including 6 DNFs. Not all of it is on Larson, if he can keep his cool and have some luck, he can definitely be a title threat.

Some things don't change no matter where you are, the goal is to win races and championships. This man up next is wired like that, he hates losing and loves winning. While it has bit him for sometimes just not accepting anything less than a trophy, it has got him to be one of the 75 greatest drivers and some might even consider him the best of his time. He drives the #8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing and is a 2-time Cup champion. Nicknamed "Rowdy"

Kyle Busch

When Busch hit the NASCAR world, we all knew he was going to be someone special. His older brother Kurt even said that he was a generational talent. Kyle has broken many NASCAR records, to name a few off are the winningest driver in Truck and Xfinity history, won the most Xfinity races in a season. Kyle has the most top 10s to start off a Cup season ever, and the most consecutive seasons with at least 1 win. In 19 full-time Cup seasons Busch has won a race in every one of them. With those kinds of stats, you can imagine the expectations are to win races and championships. It took longer than Kyle wanted after a brief stint at Hendrick Motorsports he spent a decade and a half at Joe Gibbs Racing, in 2015 after a lot of maturing and growing pains including recovering from a broken leg and foot Busch became a champion. That is always a major accomplishment, but Busch was hungry for more. In 2019 after making the final four the 5th straight year he got championship #2. 4 years later with a new team in 2023 Busch and RCR have the same goal, return to championship glory.

Who knew this next driver would be the one of 3 drivers to win 3 races in 2023? He looks like this is going to be a breakout season, it just might be the beginning for things to come. After all of the time he spent without the best equipment, he is showing what he can do with fast cars. The driver of the #17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing has quickly turned into a dark horse for the playoffs.

Chris Buescher

Chris Buescher is not the only guy in his family with NASCAR experience. No not by his father, grandfather, or sibling. It was his cousin James who raced in NASCAR and won the 2012 Truck Series championship.  3 years later Chris would become a Xfinity champion before joining the Cup ranks. Originally it was for Front Row Motorsports, and he surprised everyone with a win at Pocono. The next 3 years from 2017-2019 he drove for JTG-Daughtery Racing and honestly was outperforming where that equipment should have finished. Finally, into the 2020's and the opportunity came to reunite with Roush where they found previous success in the Xfinity Series with a championship. For a long time, it still looked like Roush could only peak as a mid-pack Cup team and it still was the case for 2020 and 2021. 2022 for the most part wasn't that much better even with Brad Keselowski becoming part owner of the organization. But Buescher was able to snap his 222-race winless streak which was the 2nd longest in NASCAR history in clutch fashion at Bristol. Hands down in 2023 especially the #17 are the most improved car from one year to the next. They won 3 of the last 5 races this season on a short track in Richmond, a fast intermediate style track in Michigan, and a superspeedway at Daytona! Don't sleep on the road courses for Chris either, since the NextGen car came out in 2022 he finished worse than 10th only once at all the road courses. Just like Dale Jr said on NBX, Buescher might not be a championship favorite, but he can spoil somebody's party.

Being on the 75 greatest drivers means that you are a legend. This driver is one of the most accomplished drivers ever, he has won almost anything you could have asked for. From the biggest race to the longest race, and the most grueling race on the calendar he has a win in it. Still the quest to be better doesn't stop. He still has the drive to accomplish something he has never done; driver of the #11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing is in his 18th full-time season, 

Denny Hamlin

Denny is one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR, with 50 wins including 3 Daytona 500's, 3 Southern 500's, and last year's Coca Cola 600. He is currently tied with legends like Ned Jarett and Junior Johnson for 13th on the all-time wins list. So, what exactly can be missing from Hamlin's career? A championship. Denny has spent his entire career chasing a championship and has gone up against some of NASCAR's best drivers. Arguably the most memorable is in 2010 when he was battling Jimmie Johnson. The way the postseason worked back then was in the last 10 races after everyone was reseeded, whoever had the most points amongst the Chasers as it was known at the time would win the championship. With 2 races to go Hamlin had the points lead, but a bad strategy in Phoenix by the team and a mistake by the driver in Homestead cost the 11 team dearly. Since then, a lot of his critics hold that against him. Hamlin has also arguably become the most polarizing driver. Some of it is from his success, some of it is from incidents with some of the sport's most popular drivers like Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson who is a good friend of Denny's. Many successful drivers have been very polarizing where a lot of people either love or hate them. Darrell Waltrip is a 3-time Cup champion and at the peak of his success fans didn't like him. Another example can be both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. Whenever they raced each other people either wanted to see Gordon win and Earnhardt lose or vice versa. Hamlin will definitely create some kind of reaction anytime he is on the racetrack. The last 4 straight years his worst finish in points is 5th, so Denny is going to be a force to be reckoned with in these final 10 races.

This man doesn't need to brag or boast about his career, he is just a quiet and chill guy who lets the results do the talking for him. In my opinion he is a driver who is one of the most underrated elite talents in the garage, especially late in his career. With 34 career wins to his credit, one of the 75 greatest drivers in NASCAR history, he is the 2017 Cup champion, the driver of the #19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing

Martin Truex Jr

Beginning 2023, people were wondering if MTJ still had what it takes to win. A year ago, he went winless and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014. It's not like he ran bad He had top 5 speed in the regular season, but with so many new winners, and since he didn't win, it took him out. There are races like the 2022 Southern 500 where he could have won, but mechanical issues ended his race. 2023 was a little bit of a sluggish start, but a rain delayed race at Dover was what it took to officially jump off his season.

How about this next week for Martin, he snapped his 54-race winless streak a couple of days after his brother Ryan won his first Xfinity race and a few days later, was announced to be on the 75 greatest drivers list. After getting that monkey off his back, the momentum started building more and more. Despite all of that, there was one question: Now that he's consistently winning races again, will he retire? Truex was debating on retirement in 2022 but decided the competitive side of him was not done and returned for this year. Before the race at Michigan, he confirmed that he would return for 2024. Taking things a year at a time now, another chance awaits for Truex to win a 2nd title. Considering that he's been the runner-up in 3 of the last 5 years, if he gets to Phoenix, he'll have a strong chance to get it done.

From a unique and late start by today's standards to racing, this young man is showing that he has what it takes to go up against the sport's best drivers and win. Driver of the Hendrick Motorsports #24 Chevrolet is arguably the top dog in that organization right now.

William Byron

William started his career on a computer, seriously he did. Byron was an elite iracer when he was a kid but at age 15 in 2012, he'd race local legend cars for the first time. He won the championship in that year. Continuing to race legend cars he got started in late models for JR Motorsports in 2014 being the runner up in the title race that year. 2015 in his first K&N Pro Series season he became the champion in his rookie year, then in 2016 Byron officially arrived to the national stage. He would set the record for most wins in the NASCAR Truck Series by a rookie ever with 7. Despite that an engine failure in the penultimate race of the year would cost him the championship. The 2017 Xfinity championship would be Byron's leading him to Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series in 2018. Now being at the top in such a rate he needed time which HMS gave him a long-term contract. The cars were a step down in 2018, in 2019 Byron made the playoffs for the first time then got his first career Cup win in 2020. Every year since has been better, 2021 Byron was one of the most consistent drivers, then in 2022 for the first time he won multiple races and made his deepest playoff run into the round of 8. This year he has the most wins out of any driver this year with 5. People consider him a favorite to win it all, just because you are a favorite does not automatically mean you'll get it done. HMS is the most successful organization, so they have the tools to get it done.

Let me hear you! Who do you think will make the championship 4 in 2023? Let's chat it up in the comments! This weekend is going to be fun!