2024 Top Finishes by Driver – By the Numbers

The 2024 top finishes by driver report emphasizes drivers who came close to winning, but didn’t. Let’s look at how many times drivers finished in the top 3, top 5 or top 10.

2024 Top Finishes by Driver: The Top Three

NASCAR doesn’t have podiums, but it’s worth look at the drivers who consistently finishes in the top three. The chart below summarizes the number of top-three finishes and the percentage of finishes. I only include drivers who ran at least 12 races in 2024.

2024: Top 3 Finishes by Driver

Driver	Races Run	Top 3 Finishes	Top 3 Rate
Byron	36	11	30.56
Larson	35	10	28.57
Blaney	36	9	25.00
Bell	36	9	25.00
Reddick	36	8	22.22
Hamlin	36	7	19.44
Keselowski	36	7	19.44
Elliott	36	6	16.67
Logano	36	5	13.89
Gibbs	36	5	13.89
Buescher	36	4	11.11
Truex Jr	36	3	8.33
Busch	36	3	8.33
Van Gisbergen	12	1	8.33
Suarez	36	3	8.33
Bowman	36	3	8.33
Briscoe	36	2	5.56
Berry	36	2	5.56
Cindric	36	1	2.78
A Dillon	36	1	2.78
Chastain	36	1	2.78
Smith	36	1	2.78
Hocevar	36	1	2.78
Gragson	36	1	2.78
Stenhouse Jr	36	1	2.78
McDowell	36	1	2.78
H Burton	36	1	2.78
Wallace	36	1	2.78

• William Byron was quietly quite good this year. He placed in the top three in almost a third of his starts.
• Byron edges out Kyle Larson, who is two percentage points lower than Byron in top-three finishes. However, Larson has the most top-two finishes of any driver in the series with eight or 22.8% of all starts.
• Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell tie for third place. Each managed nine top-3 finishes in 2024.
• Series champion Joey Logano had only five top-three finishes.

Top-Five Finishes

The chart below is similar to the first chart, but now we’re looking at top-5 placements.

2024: Top 5 Finishes by Driver

Driver	Races Run	Top 5 Finishes	Top 5 Rate
Larson	35	15	42.86
Bell	36	15	41.67
Byron	36	13	36.11
Hamlin	36	12	33.33
Reddick	36	12	33.33
Blaney	36	12	33.33
Elliott	36	11	30.56
Keselowski	36	9	25.00
Bowman	36	8	22.22
Gibbs	36	8	22.22
Logano	36	7	19.44
Buescher	36	6	16.67
Wallace	36	6	16.67
Chastain	36	6	16.67
Busch	36	5	13.89
Truex Jr	36	5	13.89
Cindric	36	4	11.11
Suarez	36	4	11.11
Briscoe	36	3	8.33
Stenhouse Jr	36	3	8.33
Van Gisbergen	12	1	8.33
Berry	36	2	5.56
Smith	36	2	5.56
McDowell	36	2	5.56
Jones	34	1	2.94
A Dillon	36	1	2.78
LaJoie	36	1	2.78
Preece	36	1	2.78
H Burton	36	1	2.78
Hocevar	36	1	2.78
Gragson	36	1	2.78

• Larson is on top here with 42.9% of his finishes being in the top-five. That’s really quite impressive.
• Bell is right behind Larson with 41.7% of his finishes qualifying in the top five. Both Bell and Larson had 15 top-five finishes; however, Larson missed one race, so his percentage is slightly higher.

Bell got a lot of publicity after the farce that was the second Martinsville race this year. He missed out on the playoffs despite having had a very good year that was often overshadowed by near misses.

2024 Top Finishes by Driver: Top 10s

• Bell dominated in terms of top-10 finishes with 23, or 63.9% of all finishes. Given that 16.7% of the races are superspeedways, that’s a quite impressive feat.
• Byron and Tyler Reddick are the next-closest drivers in top-10 finishes with 21 or 58.3%.
• Chase Elliott, Larson, Blaney and Denny Hamlin are the only other drivers who achieved a top-10 rate of 50.0% or over.

And that’s your 2024 top finishes by driver report. You can find the other reports in this series on my 2024 By The Numbers page.