Best Season Ever? NASCAR Closes Book On Extraordinary Season

The 2022 Daytona 500 (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After a season that saw the successful debut of a new race car, a record-tying number of winners, fresh faces in victory lane, two first-timers reaching the Championship Four and a wall-ride for the ages, it’s easy to become hyperbolic when discussing the recently completed 2022 season. 

Inside The Numbers

19 Different Winners: The 2022 season tied the NASCAR Cup Series record of the most different winners in a single season (19) all-time; joining 1956, 1958, 1961 and 2001.

All-Time Record for Green Flag Passes For The Lead: There were 1,544 green flag passes for the lead, the most ever. A green flag pass for the lead, by the way, is defined as a lead change all around the racetrack, and not just at the start/finish line.

Nine Races Have Set Records In GFPL: A total of nine different NASCAR Cup Series races have set records in green flag passes for the lead this season, including Circuit of The Americas (Texas) (30 green flag passes for the lead), Atlanta-1 (141), Las Vegas-1 (57), Bristol (Tenn.) Dirt (20) Darlington (S.C.) -1 (28), Kansas-1 (41), Charlotte (N.C.) (64), Nashville (47) and Las Vegas-2 (46).

Overall Green Flag Passing Increased Year-Over-Year: In a year-over-year comparison (2021 to 2022), the 2022 season has seen an increase in total green flag passes throughout the field of +6.36%.

Second Closest Average Margin of Victory: The average MOV for this season was 1.011 seconds, which is the second closest since the advent of electronic timing and scoring in 1993 (.909 seconds in 2014).

Highest Percentage Of Lead Lap Finishers In Modern Era: The 36 races of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season have produced an average percentage of 59.46% of the competitors finishing on the lead lap per race – the highest percentage of lead lap finishers through 36 races in the Modern Era (1972-2022).

The firsts were many…

First year with the Next Gen car, a machine that ushered in a new era of competition in NASCAR.

First purpose-built racetrack inside a football stadium (L.A. Memorial Coliseum), a bold schedule vision in which more than 70% of ticket buyers were attending their first NASCAR race and one that kicked open the door for further innovation (see: Chicago Street Race in 2023).

Five first-time winners, a Modern Era record (Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez, and Tyler Reddick).

First season with three graduates of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program winning a NASCAR Cup Series race (Kyle Larson, 3 wins; Bubba Wallace, 1 win; Daniel Suarez, 1 win)

The fans took notice… 

Overall television ratings by the FOX and NBC family of networks increased by 4%.

The overall share – the percentage of televisions…