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The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series is going full-on in swing with drivers giving each other tough competition to win the elusive Cup Series title. The championship has run on different types of tracks in the first twelve races so far.
In twelve races, NASCAR has seen a high number of cautions in the 2022 season as compared to previous ones.
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The 2022 season has seen a total of 110 cautions in the first twelve races. Twenty-five of those cautions are competitive or stage-ending cautions, while 85 are unplanned or natural cautions. This is remarkably higher than last year’s 59 natural cautions in 12 races.
NASCAR has run one more superspeedway so far compared to last year. Atlanta Motor Speedway has contributed an average of five cautions in the last five races, while 11 cautions have already occurred this year. Meanwhile, Martinsville Speedway had eight cautions below its five-year average in the 2022 season.
The biggest changes in the 2022 season are, of course, the Next Gen cars. Higher cautions may indicate a learning curve or the Next Gen car might be more difficult to drive those the previous models’ cars.
Initially, the caution rate should decrease as the season moves ahead. If the trends in the first quarter of the season continue, we will see about 255 overall natural cautions for the 2022 season - compared to 172 last year.
Which NASCAR drivers have been more involved in cautions?
There is no obvious pattern where drivers are struggling the most in the 2022 Cup Series.
The three drivers who have contributed to more cautions are Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric (eight accidents), former champion Brad Keselowski (seven accidents and one spin), and Erik Jones (seven accidents and one stall). Overall, Keselowski only had 12 accidents last year.
The next four drivers on the list include two former champions Chase Elliott and Kurt Busch, one veteran driver Denny Hamlin and rookie Todd Gilliland.
While most of the races this year have been won by drivers under 30, this shows that these drivers are adapting to the conditions better than others.
The Cup Series arrived at Kansas Speedway this week, its first visit to a 1.5-mile-long tri-oval track since Las Vegas in March. The track has averaged 7.6 cautions in the last five races. It will be interesting to see the number of cautions increase or decrease in this week’s race.
