When a NASCAR Cup driver suddenly goes from great success to virtually none over an extended period of time, many fans, media, and even fellow drivers like to say that a driver has gone from hero to zero.

It happens to almost everyone, no matter who they are and how successful they’ve been in their careers.

For example, Richard Petty dominated NASCAR for the first 25 years of his career, earning a record number of Cup wins—200—that will likely never be broken. But even the King went from hero to zero, failing to win even one race in the final 241 starts of his 1,184-start Cup career.

Likewise for the second- and third-winningest drivers in Cup annals. David Pearson won 105 races in 574 total starts, but he failed to return to victory lane in the final 55 starts of his Cup career.

Jeff Gordon, No. 3 on the all-time wins list with 93 visits to victory lane, was somewhat the exception to the hero-to-zero rule. He made 805 career starts in a Cup car but reached victory lane just 12 times in his final 296 starts.

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And let’s not forget seven-time champion (tied with Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt) Jimmie Johnson. While he is tied with Cale Yarborough for sixth on the all-time wins list, it’s hard to believe that Johnson—who will make his 23 start in Sunday’s Daytona 500 (he has two wins in the Great American Race) in a one-off start—has failed to reach victory lane even once in the last 144 starts of his 700-start Cup career.

As we prepare for the start of the 2026 Cup season—NASCAR’s 78 year of operation—several drivers, especially those who may be in the waning years of their careers, are in dire need of returning to victory lane.

Here’s how things break down:

1. Kyle Busch

At the top of the list, the 40-year-old Las Vegas native holds the overall record for most combined wins in NASCAR history at 232 victories: 63 in Cup (as compared to 200 for Petty), 102 in O’Reilly Auto Parts (formerly Xfinity), and 67 in Trucks.

While Busch won as recently as last season, it was only one win, and it was in a truck. But in his primary day job, the Cup Series, Busch is riding an incredulous winless streak—by far the worst of his career—not having reached victory lane in his last 93 starts.

It’s gotten so bad that many observers are convinced the two-time champion will never earn another win in his Cup career, however long or short that will be.

There’s no question that not winning eats at Busch, arguably one of the most competitive drivers in the Cup Series. Yet, as hard as he tries, he just continues to spin his wheels when it comes to taking the checkered flag first. If he’s to win again, the most likely places will either be Bristol (where he has a career-high eight wins) or Richmond (six wins).

2. Brad Keselowski

The co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing, who turns 42 on Thursday this week, used to be one of the most consistent drivers to bet on when it came to winning a race, with 36 career victories in NASCAR’s premier series, including the 2012 Cup championship when he previously raced for Team Penske.

However, since his final season driving for Roger Penske in 2021, the Michigan native has endured the roughest winning patch of his Cup logbook, earning just one win (2024 at Darlington) in his last 170 starts.

He came close five other times in the last two seasons with runner-up finishes each time. But with rumors abounding that 2026 could be his final season as an active full-time driver (plus the fact he’s heading into the 2026 season coming off a broken leg suffered during an off-season mishap), one has to wonder if perhaps Keselowski may have already earned the final win of his lengthy Cup career.

3. Joey Logano

This one is a tough one to include, especially this high in the rankings, considering Logano has 37 career Cup wins and also won two of the last four Cup championships (2022 and 2024).

But after claiming his third Cup crown the year before, Logano endured one of the worst seasons of his career in 2025, managing to reach victory lane just once and finishing a disappointing seventh.

However, there may be some silver lining to last year’s less-than-stellar season if you look back at Logano’s past history. Actually, there are three silver linings. Here’s why:

After finishing 17 and failing to make the playoffs in 2017, the Connecticut native roared back the following season to earn the first Cup championship of his career.

History repeated itself in 2021 and 2022. After finishing a dismal eighth place in ‘21, Logano won four races and captured his second career Cup championship in 2022.

The following season, Logano fell backwards once again, winning just once and ending up a disappointing 12. But the next year, 2024, he once again roared back with four wins and earned his third Cup crown.

So, given he won just once in 2025 and finished six spots off the pace, could history once again repeat itself for the fourth time, and Logano—with his new-look shaved head for this season—bounce back for a fourth Cup title in 2026?

4. Tyler Reddick

After three consecutive stellar seasons that included all eight of his career wins in the Cup Series, the Corning, California, native was like an out-of-control locomotive in 2025: he fell off the track.

Reddick suffered his worst season in the last four, going winless for the first time since 2021, with the fewest top-five finishes (seven) since 2022 (10) and the fewest top-10 finishes (14) since 2021 (15).

Admittedly, he did come close to victory lane twice in 2025, finishing runner-up in the season-opening Daytona 500 and also second in the Darlington playoff race.

Given how much faith and belief team owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin have in Reddick and his long-term future with 23XI Racing, he has to get that locomotive back on the winning track and keep it there in ‘26.

5. Alex Bowman

The Tucson, Arizona, native faces the most pivotal year of his Cup career in 2026. He comes into the season in the final year of his current contract with Hendrick Motorsports, and unless he shows marked improvement over the last four years, it’s questionable whether team owner Rick Hendrick will bring Bowman back in 2027—even though Bowman has been one of Mr. H’s favorite drivers.

Bowman comes into 2026 having earned just two wins (of his eight Cup career victories) in 136 starts in the last four seasons, with one win each in 2022 and 2024, and being shut out of victory lane totally in 2023 and 2025 (although he did finish runner-up at Homestead and Richmond).

If past NASCAR history is any indication—and it usually is—given how few drivers changed teams from 2025 to 2026, it’s almost a certainty that several Cup pilots will be looking for new homes after the upcoming season.

Will Bowman be one of those? Time will tell.