Twelve months ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Josh Berry drove the historic No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford into Victory Lane to become the 206th different winner in NASCAR Cup Series history.
It was a surprise victory with Berry leading for only 18 laps, and since then no other driver has added his name to the list of NASCAR Cup Series winners.
Advertisement
Before Berry, Harrison Burton won for the first time in 2024, and Shane van Gisbergen in 2023, so there is usually at least one new winner most years. 2022 was an exception with four first-time winners in the Next Gen car’s first year: Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and Chase Briscoe who became the sport’s 200th different Cup winner.
But who will follow Berry and become the 207th? It’s already almost happened this year, and there are a handful of drivers who are clearly the most likely to get the job done. Of the 36 full-time drivers, eleven have never visited Victory Lane in a money race, but here are the top candidates to join this 200+ member club:
1. Carson Hocevar – Best result of 2nd
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
It’s clear that Hocevar is incredibly close to Victory Lane. He led at the white flag for the 2026 Daytona 500 and returned to the front row for the final restart in Atlanta. The Spire Motorsports driver recently signed a contract that will keep him with the team until the 2030s, so his only goal is to win. The 23-year-old has four top-five finishes, including two runner-up finishes during the 2025 season, and he has led 141 laps. It’s a question of when, not if, he wins a Cup race.
Advertisement
2. Ty Gibbs – Best result of 2nd
Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Gibbs almost won a few days ago in Phoenix. He was leading the race when Ryan Blany passed him with around ten laps to go, and former series champion O’Reilly still managed to score his second consecutive top five. Gibbs has the unfortunate distinction of having the most starts of any driver in JGR history without a race victory, but he’s been close. In 127 starts, Gibbs has 19 top fives, 35 top tens, two poles and 852 laps led. No other winless driver comes close to these numbers. It’s shocking that he hasn’t won a race yet, and his grandfather’s team does everything they can to help Ty finally reach Victory Lane.
Advertisement
3. Ryan Preece – Best result 3rd
Clash winner Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Clash winner Ryan Preece, RFK Racing Ford
Preece won a Cup race, but not a points-paying race. The RFK Racing driver scored an impressive victory in the Clash rain/snow/dry exhibition race at Bowman Gray earlier this year. It was an emotional victory and only served to further motivate Preece in his quest to win an “official” race at Cup level. He has already achieved victories in the lower two national levels and finished third in the Cup. He also had a second-place finish in a photo finish at Talladega last year, but was later disqualified for a technical infraction. He has 227 starts since 2015, so he is one of the most experienced drivers on this list. That includes seven top five finishes, including three last year alone. 133 of his 313 career laps led also came during the 2025 season.
Advertisement
4. Connor Zilisch – Best result: 11th
Connor Zilisch, Track Running
Connor Zilisch, Track Running
The rising star and Cup rookie had a rough start to his first full-time season, with falls and gremlins hampering his efforts. But we have seen flashes of speed, particularly at COTA. Without two restart laps, he could have won this race, and there are still three road/street courses remaining on the 2026 schedule. This also resembles his rookie season at O’Reilly, where he got off to a slow start before everything suddenly clicked. He still doesn’t have a top ten as a Cup driver, but he also only has seven starts. He has plenty of time to figure it out and get rid of this bad luck streak.
Advertisement
5. Zane Smith – Best result of 2nd
Zane Smith, Ford motorsport front row
Zane Smith, Ford motorsport front row
It’s a name we might not have ranked fifth on this list just a few weeks ago, but the Front Row Motorsports driver is doing an impressive job in early 2026. He almost won the Daytona 500, had another good result at Atlanta and, if not for an incident on the final restart at COTA, he could have opened the year with three straight top tens. Although FRM hasn’t won a Cup race since 2023 and Smith’s most realistic shot is on a draft track, he’s still worth paying attention to. And even that being said, Smith’s best finish came at Nashville in 2024, finishing second, and he also had an impressive third place at Bristol last year. So, he could potentially do it at any track on the calendar.
Advertisement
Other full-time drivers without a win: Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, John-Hunter Nemechek, Riley Herbst, Ty Dillon, Cody Ware.
Watch: Josh Berry earns first career Cup Series victory at Vegas in 2025
To read more articles on Motorsport.com visit our website.
