Nashville begins run of 20 consecutive weekends of racing for Cup

After a weekend off, it’s time to get back to racing for the Cup Series. This weekend at Nashville Superspeedway marks the first of 20 consecutive weekends the series races, going all the way to the season finale in November at Phoenix Raceway.

NBC and USA Network take over broadcasting of Cup and Xfinity races the rest of the season, beginning this coming weekend. NBC Sports will present a total of 39 races (20 Cup, 19 Xfinity) across NBC and USA Network in 2022. The Nashville Cup race airs at 5 p.m. ET on NBC.

The first season with the Next Gen has seen 12 different winners in the first 16 Cup races. That leaves four spots open with 10 races left in the regular season. There has never been more than 16 different winners at the end of the regular season. Will this year change that?

That’s just among the storylines to watch as the season resumes.

Eight drivers who won a Cup race last year have yet to win this season. They are:

Martin Truex Jr.

Ryan Blaney 

AJ Allmendinger

Aric Almirola

Brad Keselowski

Bubba Wallace

Christopher Bell

Michael McDowell

Four different drivers have won their first Cup race this season. They are:

Austin Cindric (Daytona 500)

Chase Briscoe (Phoenix)

Ross Chastain (Circuit of the Americas)

Daniel Suarez (Sonoma)

This is the most since the series had five first-time winners in 2011 (Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne, Paul Menard, David Ragan and Regan Smith).

Three races have been determined by a last-lap pass.

Six races have gone to overtime.

Eight races have seen the final lead change take place with five or fewer laps left.

Twelve of 16 races have had the final lead change take place with 10 or fewer laps left. 

After nine of the first 11 races were won by drivers age 29 and under, the older guard