NASCAR History Is on the Side of Winless Cup Drivers at COTA

• This weekend, the Cup series race features some very talented racers looking for their first NASCAR win.

• Ross Chastain got the first of his two career victories last spring at COTA, several weeks before backing it at Talladega.

• Hardly anyone remembers that Ricky Rudd gave himself and owner Richard Childress their first victory, at Riverside in 1983.

With the first of this season’s six road races looming on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas near Austin, this recent trend bears watching: three of last season’s five first-time NASCAR Cup Series winners got their breakthrough victory in a road race.

And this weekend, the Cup series race features some very talented racers looking for their first NASCAR win, including IMSA star Jordan Taylor, full-time IndyCar driver Conor Daly and a pair of Formula 1 champions in Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button. Each is more than comfortable driving on a road course.

History say the newbies might be in the right place.

Consider:

Ross Chastain got the first of his two career victories last spring at COTA, several weeks before backing it at Talladega. Later in the season, Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez broke through on the road course at Sonoma. And even later in the year, Tyler Reddick got his first career victory at Road America, then backed it on Indy’s infield road circuit and much later at Fort Worth for Richard Childress Racing.