Winning a crown jewel race in the NASCAR Cup Series is an impeccable achievement. Ross Chastain became the latest driver to accomplish this when he won the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. In light of the same, here’s a curated list of the active drivers with the most crown jewel race wins.
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Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has won a crown jewel race seven times. His resume includes three Daytona 500s, three Southern 500s, and one Coca-Cola 600. The Brickyard 400 is the only event he hasn’t won yet. On Sunday, Hamlin came close to adding another Coca-Cola 600 win to the list. Unfortunately, he faced a fuel shortage before he could close his day out with a win.
The two-time Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch, has won a crown jewel race four times. He won the Southern 500 in 2008, the Brickyard 400 in 2015 and 2016, and the Coca-Cola 600 in 2018. Rather disappointingly, he has never won the Daytona 500. But he did finish as the runner-up in the 2019 iteration of the event.
Daytona 500. Coke 600. Brickyard 400. Southern 500.
Ross Chastain became the 15th active full-time Cup Series driver to win one of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel races. pic.twitter.com/KbxXZ6pD4n
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) May 27, 2025
The third active driver with the most crown jewel wins is Hendrick Motorsports superstar Kyle Larson. He won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2021, the Southern 500 in 2023, and the Brickyard 400 in 2024. Like Busch, Larson has never won the Daytona 500 either. This is not surprising considering his difficulty in finding a groove on superspeedways.
Brad Keselowski, too, has three crown jewel wins. He won both the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400 in 2018 and the Coca-Cola 600 in 2020. The Daytona 500 has eluded him thus far as well. He came closest to winning the race when he finished in third place back in 2014. William Byron, Austin Dillon, and Erik Jones have each won two crown jewel races.
Apart from these seven, eight drivers, including Chastain, have each won one crown jewel race so far. This list will next change on July 27 when the Cup Series field travels to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400. This brings us to the question of which driver has the most crown jewel wins in history.
The four-time Cup Series champion, Jeff Gordon, won 17 crown jewel events. This included three Daytona 500s, three Coca-Cola 600s, six Southern 500s, and five Brickyard 400s. Safe to say, no active driver will take this accolade anytime soon.
Second to him is the seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson. He won a crown jewel race 12 times throughout his career. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison have each won 10 and Cale Yarborough has won nine.
