“Sesame Street” Muppett Count. On Count loves to count things; but apparently he isn’t the only one. There are entire droves of sports officials and enthusiasts who love to keep track of everything.
One such person is Steve Luvender whose passion is keeping track of where every NASCAR Cup Series driver finishes in a race.
While it has been a while since the Cup Series fielded a full roster of 40 drivers, it is a part of the rule book.
According to Luvender, a total of eleven drivers have completed a race in all 40 spots at some time during their racing careers. The most recent member of the “40 Challenge” Club is David Ragan. He joins Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Martin Truex Jr, and part time Cup driver AJ Allmendinger as members of the “40 Challenge”.
Every driver hopes and strives to finish the race in first place, but only one driver can be declared the winner; and on occasions like the race this past weekend at Daytona, mayhem can end a driver’s day very quickly and aid in acquiring some of those less desirable finishing spots that help to complete the “40 Challenge”.