The longest waits in NASCAR history before first Cup Series win

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The longest waits in NASCAR history before first Cup Series win

Nick DeGroot

Tue, September 1, 2026 at 5:02 PM UTC ·

5 min read

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The 210th different winner in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series is Ryan Preece , breaking through in his 249th career start at Daytona International Speedway.

The victory came on the same weekend where another Ryan -- Ryan Sieg, earned his first NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win in his 424th career start. That's a record for the secondary level of NASCAR, but what about Cup?

Well, only three drivers have ever run more races than Preece before their first career Cup win.

Looking only at active drivers, Ty Dillon holds the unfortunate distinction of most starts in the Cup Series without a Cup win, currently at 307 starts and he will be at 0-317 by the end of the 2026 season, unless he pulls off an upset in the final weeks of the racing year. Behind him was Preece until his Daytona triumph. J.J. Yeley, who still competes part-time in various Cup races, has started 399 Cup races without a win.

But who else had to wait as long as Preece -- or longer -- before finally reaching Victory Lane at the top level of stock car racing? Take a look at the list below:

5. Dave Marcis -- 227 races (~7 years after Cup debut)

Driver Dave Marcis (R) celebrates in victory lane at Martinsville Speedway with his crew chief Harry Hyde

After arriving in the Cup Series in 1968 , Marcis had to run over 200 races before earning his first win in 1975 . He is the only driver on this list who didn't get that breakthrough victory at Daytona, but instead, the iconic Martinsville short track. He took the lead from Benny Parsons with 40 laps to go and never relinquished it, winning the race by about three seconds while driving for Nord Krauskopf's &K&K Insurance Racing Team. Marcis went on to win five Cup races in his career, and ranks fourth on the all-time starts list at 883.

4. Ryan Preece -- 249 races (~11 years after Cup debut)

Watch: Preece on Daytona win, Chase berth: 'This is redemption'

Preece made his Cup debut in 2015 , and it was over eleven years he had to wait for that first points-paying Cup win in 2026 . When he lost his full-time Cup ride after the 2021 season, Preece wasn't sure if his NASCAR career would even continue, but he persevered and clawed his way back to the top level. And despite horrifying airborne crashes at Daytona in both 2023 and 2025, Preece has always loved racing at the historic superspeedway, and it finally gave him something to smile about this past weekend. Fighting back from a spin at the end of Stage 1 where he impressively recovered the car from the infield grass, the RFK Racing driver took the lead in overtime and held back Daniel Suarez as the race-ending caution flew for multiple crashes on the backstretch. The victory helped Preece to make it into the postseason for the first time in his Cup career.

3. Sterling Marlin -- 279 races (~18 years after Cup debut)

Sterling Marlin in Victory Lane

Most people don't realize how long Marlin had to wait for his first win, as he had plenty of success later in his career. Marlin made his Cup Series debut in 1976 , racing part-time for several years before finally securing a stable ride. And it wasn't until 1994 when he finally won a Cup race. In that year's Daytona 500, Marlin didn't lead a single lap until Lap 149/200, but he proceeded to lead 30 in the final quarter of the race, narrowly holding off Ernie Irvan for the win in his No. 4 Morgan-McClure Motorsports machine. He defended the victory in 1995, and ended his career with a total ten Cup wins -- more than anyone else in this top five.

(2.) Michael McDowell -- 358 races (~13 years after Cup debut)

Watch: Cinderella: McDowell wins the Daytona 500 in wreck-filled last lap

McDowell made his Cup debut in 2008 , but didn't reach Victory Lane until 2021 . For most of his career, he was famous only for the horrific rollover crash he suffered at Texas in his rookie season, miraculously walking away without a scratch thanks to the safety upgrades included as part of the Car of Tomorrow. He even had to start-and-park early in his career, but in the 2021 Daytona 500, McDowell finally got to erase the goose egg in the win column. On the final lap of NASCAR's crown jewel, the Penske duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano collided in front of him. As Keselowski spun to the right and Logano to the left, McDowell drove up the middle and was leading when the race-ending caution came out, taking the win for Front Row Motorsports. He still competes full-time and now has two career wins with the other one coming at the hallowed grounds of Indianapolis.

(1.) Michael Waltrip -- 463 races (~16 years after Cup debut)

Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt side-by-side

A record that is not likely to be broken anytime soon, and a race that will never be forgotten. Michael Waltrip, the younger brother of NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, made his Cup debut in 1985 . However, it wasn't until 2001 on one of the most tragic days in NASCAR history when he finally got that first win, and what a Pyrrhic victory it was. Waltrip joined Dale Earnhardt Inc. ahead of the 2001 season, and working together with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his boss, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Waltrip ended his 463-race winless streak in the biggest race of them all -- the Daytona 500. Waltrip's older brother called him to the checkered flag via the broadcast booth, while Dale Earnhardt crashed from third while defending the leading duo of Waltrip and Dale Jr.. As even the most casual of NASCAR fans know, the best day of Waltrip's racing career quickly turned into the worst, as Earnhardt was killed upon impact in that last-lap crash. It was a race that completely changed NASCAR, and a day where Waltrip -- who went on to win a total of four races in his lengthy Cup career -- experienced both the highest of highs and lowest of lows in the blink of an eye.