Josh Bilicki Beats Ryan Blaney, Busch Brothers & Alex Bowman COMBINED in Key NASCAR Category

Published 11/09/2021, 5:11 AM EST

Josh Bilicki, the No. 52 driver for Rick Ware Racing, isn’t really known for competing against top drivers. In his 152 NASCAR career starts, Bilicki has only finished inside the Top 10 once, across all three tiers of NASCAR.

Yet there’s one statistic in which he sits above names like Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch. The statistic, in this case, is of the number of laps completed.

Bilicki! Takes care of his stuff, I’m telling you. He only had two DNFs in 36 races this season. https://t.co/uekiIxkYv9
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) November 9, 2021

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According to NASCAR, Josh Bilicki completed a total of 8780 laps in the 2021 season. This meant he only sits seven places behind the champion Kyle Larson, who completed 9,000 laps.

But Larson also led 2580 of the 9,000 laps while Bilicki led none of his 8780.

Still, there’s something to celebrate for Josh Bilicki with that number.

Josh Bilicki only second to Denny Hamlin

In the 2021 season, Bilicki holds the second-longest active streak of races finished of all drivers. He has currently finished 31 races successfully without a DNF.

The only driver who sits above Josh Bilicki in this list is Denny Hamlin, with 56 race finishes without fail.

Bilicki hasn’t taken off, yet

The driver from Wisconsin has been racing since the age of four and made his NASCAR debut in 2017 in the Xfinity series.

Since then, Bilicki has made appearances in all three tiers of NASCAR, showing an upward climb but with no notable success yet.

In January 2021, he announced he’d be driving for RWR in the 2021 Cup Series. Bilicki, who had made his Cup Series debut in 2017, was competing full time for the first time in the top division of NASCAR.

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In his first full-time season, Bilicki had little success. His best result was an 11th place finish at Daytona in August, which was later converted into a 10th place finish after Chris Buescher was disqualified.

Are you kidding me?! P11 at @DAYTONA in the @NASCAR Cup Series!! What an incredible job by my entire @RickWareRacing team! New personal and team best finish 💪 pic.twitter.com/PYQgwwmhqW
— Josh Bilicki (@joshbilicki) August 29, 2021

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Now with some Cup Series experience under his belt, Josh Bilicki will hope to return to the 2022 season and aim to create better results for himself and his team.

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Written by:

Shaharyar is a Formula 1 & NASCAR writer at EssentiallySports. A Graduate in Journalism from Amity University, he has been a passionate follower of motorsports for the better part of the decade. A Max Verstappen and Ferrari supporter, he dreams of a pairing of the two in the future.

Josh Bilicki Beats Ryan Blaney, Busch Brothers & Alex Bowman COMBINED in Key NASCAR Category

Josh Bilicki only second to Denny Hamlin

Bilicki hasn’t taken off, yet

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