Both Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick have been driving in the NASCAR Cup Series for only less than a decade. But despite that, they’ve joined much more experienced and accomplished drivers like Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin in an impressive NASCAR stat.
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While Larson and Hamlin both have recorded 16 top-3 finishes in the next-gen era, Chastain and Reddick too, were able to tie with them.
Top 3 finishes with the NextGen car
Denny Hamlin – 16
Ross Chastain – 16
Tyler Reddick – 16
Kyle Larson – 16
Kyle Busch – 15
William Byron – 14
Joey Logano – 14
Christopher Bell – 13
Chase Elliott – 12
Ryan Blaney – 12 pic.twitter.com/N5rfoeQz4i— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) January 27, 2024
Reddick struggled in his first couple of seasons in the Cup arena before he finally came under the spotlight with his first three victories in the first year of the Next Gen era. Interestingly, two of those wins came at Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, both of which are road courses.
In the following year and also his first season with 23XI Racing, Reddick made his longest run in the playoffs, advancing to the round of 8. In the playoffs alone, he finished inside the top-10 thrice, second at Darlington, and won at Kansas. Sadly, a tough day at Martinsville booted him from the playoff picture.
However, for Ross Chastain, 2022 was indeed a breakthrough year. Until 2021, the highest number of laps he led in a season was 62. But that number shot up to a whopping 692 in 2022. He earned his first two Cup wins that year, and qualified for the coveted Championship 4 race, finishing closely behind the then-Cup champ Joey Logano.
In 2023, Chastain earned his second consecutive playoff spot with a win at Nashville. Although he failed to be one of the four championship drivers, he gave the reigning champion Ryan Blaney a run for his money and ultimately won the Cup Series grand finale at Phoenix Raceway.
How have Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin fared in the next-gen era?
The first season of NASCAR introducing the Next Gen cars was not a standout in Larson’s career. Despite winning three races, five poles, and leading 635 laps, he got ousted from the round of 12 owing to a 35th-place finish at the Charlotte ROVAL.
Perhaps his biggest woe was the 22-race winless streak because he recorded eight top-5 finishes during that period. Although he qualified for the Championship 4 in 2023, he got slammed with eight DNFs, his most since 2019.
For Hamlin, the story in 2022 was bittersweet. After yet another solid campaign, one where he hoped to win the ever-elusive Cup title, he qualified for the round of 8 in the playoffs. But Ross Chastain’s video-game move at Martinsville put the Trackhouse driver in the Championship 4 and hurled Hamlin out of contention.
In 2023, Hamlin had seven top-10 finishes and five top-fives, with a victory in the 10-race-long playoff stint. With an average finish of 12.4, the #11 driver closed the season fifth in overall points.
