Alexis Zarycki
May 18th
Crashing ruins the promise of a race day for NASCAR betting fans as well as drivers. It is possible for multiple cars to slide sideways at some tracks, sending the unluckiest among them taking heavy damage and ending their events early. Bookies.com crunched the data and found out which NASCAR drivers wreck the most and which wreck the least.
See the rest of the current NASCAR Cup Series drivers ranked by the percentage of races they have finished in their careers here.
| Driver | Career Starts | Running At Finish (RAF) | Crash Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cody Ware | 66 | 44 | 33% |
| Todd Gilliland | 11 | 8 | 27% |
| Harrison Burton | 12 | 9 | 25% |
| Michael McDowell | 404 | 263 | 23% |
| Austin Cindric | 18 | 14 | 22% |
| Justin Haley | 47 | 38 | 20% |
| B.J. McLeod | 94 | 77 | 18% |
| Corey Lajoie | 175 | 145 | 17% |
| William Byron | 155 | 132 | 15% |
| Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 339 | 292 | 14% |
| Kyle Larson | 270 | 233 | 14% |
| Cole Custer | 86 | 74 | 14% |
| Bubba Wallace | 159 | 139 | 13% |
| Tyler Reddick | 85 | 74 | 13% |
| Erik Jones | 194 | 169 | 13% |
| Chase Briscoe | 47 | 41 | 13% |
| Ross Chastain | 126 | 111 | 12% |
| Ryan Blaney | 245 | 215 | 12% |
| Josh Bilicki | 77 | 68 | 12% |
| Christopher Bell | 83 | 73 | 12% |
| Aric Almirola | 399 | 352 | 12% |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 596 | 531 | 11% |
| Daniel Suarez | 190 | 169 | 11% |
| Kurt Busch | 767 | 684 | 11% |
| Kyle Busch | 617 | 551 | 11% |
| Alex Bowman | 236 | 209 | 10% |
| Chase Elliott | 232 | 209 | 10% |
| Chris Buescher | 233 | 209 | 10% |
| Austin Dillon | 311 | 284 | 9% |
| Joey Logano | 482 | 442 | 8% |
| Brad Keselowski | 460 | 425 | 8% |
| Denny Hamlin | 589 | 542 | 8% |
| Ty Dillon | 177 | 163 | 8% |
| Kevin Harvick | 765 | 723 | 5% |
You may be surprised by some of these numbers. First, it’s obvious that the Dillon boys are grandchildren of a race team owner because they know how to take care of equipment. Harvick, for example, has averaged fewer than two DNFs per season over a period of two decades. Good drivers don’t just compete but also avoid other drivers’ messes, and the prospect of a crash shouldn’t deter any bettor from backing them.
McDowell is on the other end of this list. Firstly, he won the 2021 Daytona 500, so we know he can race at a high level in extremely tight traffic. The reason why McDowell’s crash rates are so high is that he raced for lower-end teams during the “start-and-park” era following the 2008 financial crash-when sponsors dried up, NASCAR race fields got sparse, and shoestring teams were able to collect a few grand by taking the checkered flag, coasting at the back for a few laps, and then reporting a breakdown.
