Later this year, Jimmie Johnson will notch 800 Cup Series race starts in his historic career when he starts the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca Cola 600.
It is a common belief among NASCAR that a driver needs 100 starts before they can truly be expected to win races. It takes around thee years (36 races per season) for a driver to come fully acquainted with the cars and understand how to properly run each track. There are and have been exceptions; but 100 seems to the be the benchmark number.
Currently there are only 16 drivers in the Cup Series who have made more than 100 race starts.
Drivers with at least 100 Cup Series starts: (numbers include the 2025 Daytona 500)
Justin Haley has 126
Chase Briscoe has 145
Ross Chastain has 145
Austin Dillon has 158
Daniel Suarez has 180
Christopher Bell has 181
Tyler Reddick has 181
William Byron has 253
Michael McDowell has 296
Ryan Blaney has 326
Kyle Busch has 350
Ricky Stenhouse Jr has 365
Denny Hamlin has 392
Brad Keselowski has 545
Joey Logano has 577
With the retirement of Martin Truex Jr who had 685 starts, Joey Logano takes over the lead as the active driver with the most race starts.