3 NASCAR Cup drivers eclipse 1,000 or more laps led in 2026
3 NASCAR Cup Series drivers led at least 1,000 laps across the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
2026 champion Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Ryan Blaney each passed the mark during the season.
Larson’s 1,238 laps led was the most among the competition. 2026 was the sixth time in his career he has led at least 1,000 laps in a single season and the fourth consecutive year of doing so.
Hamlin’s 1,120 laps led marked his second straight season and seventh of his career. He leads active competition in that category.
Blaney hit the millennium-mark in laps led for the first time in his career with 1,107 total laps.
History
Across the 78-year history of the NASCAR Cup Series, a driver has crossed the 1,000 lap led mark 209 times.
Curtis Turner was the first driver to eclipse four-digit laps led, accomplishing it 1950.
The 1999 season holds the record for the most drivers to do so at six.
Richard Petty holds the record with 16 total seasons leading 1,000 or more laps.
Collectively, 57 drivers have accomplished the feat with 37 doing so on more than one occaision.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.