NASCAR all-time road course race winners: The Kings of the Road in the NASCAR Cup Series

The greatest misconception that there is about NASCAR racing is that it's a sport of only left turns and oval racing. While it's true that the identity of NASCAR has been formed through bullrings and major speedways, there's more than one direction that the sport's best can go in.

Road course racing has always been a part of NASCAR, and its popularity and presence on the calendar has proliferated over the past decade. After many years of there only being two road course races on the schedule, there are now five road races on the 2024 calendar, with the first of them coming this weekend at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Two of those road races, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval, are set to take place in this year's playoffs, putting more of an emphasis on road racing skill than ever before and making it a vital determining factor in the Cup Series championship.

Even before road racing became a popular and important part of the season calendar, NASCAR's best drivers historically and many Hall of Famers had put their best foot forward on road courses, proving that they could be considered among the finest drivers in the world. Ahead of the start of the road racing season in 2014, here is a look at the NASCAR Cup Series' all-time winningest drivers on road courses:

Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, & Mark Martin -- 4 wins

Two active Cup champions are tied for four road course wins apiece, as Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson have each won that number of road races in their careers to date. Their mark of four wins is tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, whose total includes three wins in a row at Watkins Glen from 1993 to 1995.

Martin Truex Jr. -- 5 wins

Martin Truex Jr.'s four career road course wins are in large part thanks to his record at Sonoma, where he's won a total of four times including three out of the last five. For good measure, Truex also has one victory at Watkins Glen in 2017.

Darrell Waltrip -- 5 wins

Five of Darrell Waltrip's 84 career wins came on a road course at Riverside, four of which came in a period between 1979 and 1981. Waltrip then added another Riverside win in 1986.

Tim Richmond -- 5 wins

Tim Richmond's natural talent as a race car driver showed on road courses, particularly at Riverside which was among his winningest tracks. Richmond earned the first two wins of his Cup career by sweeping the season at Riverside in 1982, then added two more including the final win of his career in 1987. Richmond also won once at Watkins Glen during his breakout season of 1986.

Bobby Allison -- 6 wins

Bobby Allison's six road course wins all came at Riverside, spanning between the years 1971 and 1981. Allison's Riverside wins came for five different car owners including himself, Holman-Moody, Roger Penske, Bud Moore and Harry Ranier.

Rusty Wallace -- 6 wins

Compared to other drivers of his era, Rusty Wallace's road course wins were exceptionally balanced between the tracks he raced on. Wallace picked up the final two wins in Riverside history before the track was demolished after the 1988 season, then added a pair of wins on NASCAR's new road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen respectively.

Ricky Rudd -- 6 wins

Ricky Rudd was an exceptional road racer, and just like Wallace, he had an even two wins apiece between Riverside, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen. But depending on who you ask, Rudd's number should have been seven road course victories. He was first to cross the finish line at Sonoma in 1992, but controversially received the black flag instead of the checkered flag when NASCAR elected to penalize him for rough driving after he spun Davey Allison while the two were racing for the win.

Chase Elliott -- 7 wins

Chase Elliott has emerged as arguably the best road racer among active drivers in NASCAR, and he is already well on pace to become the winningest road racer in NASCAR history. Elliott picked up his very first Cup win on a road course at Watkins Glen in 2018, and he has since earned seven in total including four in a row from The Glen in 2019 to the Charlotte Roval in 2020.

Tony Stewart -- 8 wins

Tony Stewart was as good as they came on road courses in his career, which included his mastery of Watkins Glen. Stewart remains the winningest Cup driver in Watkins Glen's history with five victories, and he also had three career wins at Sonoma, including his final Cup victory in 2016.

Jeff Gordon -- 9 wins

There was a time in the late 1990s where no driver in NASCAR was better on road courses than Jeff Gordon, who won a record six road races in a row from Watkins Glen in 1997 to Sonoma in 2000. Gordon had a total of five wins at Sonoma and four at Watkins Glen, making him NASCAR's undisputed King of the Road by the time he got his ninth road course win in the middle of his career in 2006.

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