Throughout NASCAR’s history, 204 drivers have walked away from the track as a winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. However, as drivers retire and step away from the sport, the top spot for the winningest active driver remains ever-changing. So, in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, who is the winningest full-time driver?
These drivers fall below the mark of less than ten or fewer career NASCAR Cup Series wins. This is a common trend on the Cup Series all-time wins list, as 143 of the 205 all-time Cup Series race winners in the series have less than ten or fewer wins.
While some of these drivers will not break out of this group, there are some clear favorites to do so. This year, we will likely see Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick move up on the all-time wins list, and, as time goes on, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, and Shane van Gisbergen are potential candidates to move past the ten-win mark.
The newest member of the 11 to 20 wins club is Christopher Bell, who began the season with nine career wins but has shifted up the list with back-to-back wins through three races.
All of these drivers are a part of the current group of series stars and are making their cases for future hall-of-fame consideration. Chase Elliott can likely pull away from this group in 2024. However, it would take multiple wins to do so this season, something he has not accomplished since 2022.
Kyle Larson is currently the driver with the best combination of age and wins. Larson started his career slow, with six wins in his first six full-time seasons. However, since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has taken a generational turn.
In his four completed seasons at HMS, Larson has won at least three races each year. In his debut season, he won ten races and the championship. His winning ways fell off with the introduction of the NASCAR Next Gen Car in 2022. However, Larson has continued to win more each year since then.
Former teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano sit tied at 36 career wins.
During their time together at Penske, Keselowski was the dominant driver. However, since Keselowski departed Team Penske for RFK Racing, Logano has had a chance to catch up. For example, at the end of the 2021 season, when Keselowski left the team, Brad had 35 wins compared to Logano’s 27.
When looking at winning trends between the two drivers, Logano is likely to pass Keselowski this season. However, since Brad found victory lane at Darlington last season, the veteran may continue to improve in 2025.
The most controversial driver in NASCAR finds himself all alone in no man’s land with 54 wins.
Denny Hamlin started his NSACAR Cup Series career with consistent multi-win seasons from 2006 to 2017. However, Hamlin really ramped up from 2019 to 2024, in which he almost doubled his career wins by winning 23 races.
Hamlin had a tough end to his 2024 season, going winless for the entire second half of the year. While he could fall off in 2025, the veteran rebounds just as quickly.
Hamlin is, of course, chasing the winningest active driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Busch. Busch, who is also the all-time combined winningest driver in the three NASCAR National Series, put up previously unheard-of numbers during his time with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch entered JGR in 2008 with four wins and left in 2023 with 60. That averages out to roughly 3.73 races a season. However, since joining RCR, Busch’s winning ways have fallen off dramatically. This stretch with RCR includes the loss of his 20-year winning streak and a career-long losing drought.
If Busch and Hamlin’s trends remain the same, Hamlin could take the number one spot. However, as both drivers age and fall off in competition, Busch may remain in front of Hamlin.
This list will be updated race to race as the season continues.
