The 1992 Hooters 500 at EchoPark Speedway is well known as one of the greatest races in NASCAR history. Many fans know how it brought the ’92 championship hunt between Alan Kulwicki, Bill Elliott and Davey Allison to a close, but did you know that it was set up by a season that began very similarly to the one we are witnessing now?
Tyler Reddick is the only driver to win the first three races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, but there is another driver who has won four of the first five in Elliott. His 1992 season kicked off with a 27th-place finish in the Daytona 500 after getting involved in a crash just before the halfway point, and what followed was a month of absolute dominance.
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Elliott would have his revenge the following week at Rockingham Speedway, dominating the field and leaving everyone outside of the top three at least one lap down. Allison, who finished second the week after his Daytona 500 win, combined with Elliott to lead all but 42 of the 492 laps.
But Awesome Bill from Dawsonville wasn’t content with that. After all, he needed to dig himself out of a considerable points hole that the Daytona accident had created.
The next outing at Richmond Raceway saw Elliott start on the Busch Pole and put an even bigger whooping on his fellow competitors. The race may have been called the Pontiac Excitement 400, but it wasn’t very exciting for anyone outside of the No. 11 Ford. No Pontiac even led the race, and Elliott came within 52 laps of making sure no one else did either, as he paced the field for 348 of the 400 trips around the .75-mile oval.
The next two weeks weren’t quite as dominant for Elliott but they still ended with the same result: the Budweiser Ford in the winner’s circle. The fourth race of the year at Atlanta ended up being Bill’s fourth career win at his home track. Lastly, a spirited duel with Harry Gant at Darlington Raceway finished when Elliott took that triumph as well.
Elliott would fall well short of a record fifth consecutive win, staggering home in 20th each of the next two races. In fact, Elliott would not only fail to win the championship despite the hot start, but he didn’t even return to victory lane until the aforementioned Hooters 500 at the end of the season.
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But neither what Elliott accomplished nor what Reddick has done so far in 2026 matches what is arguably the most impressive start to a season in NASCAR Cup history. In 1987, Dale Earnhardt had six wins and seven top-five finishes in the first eight races. Yes, you read that correctly. After eight races, the Intimidator had six victories, including four in a row.
Unlike Elliott, Earnhardt continued to add to his impressive start throughout the year. He would go on to add another five wins and collect his third Cup title.
Obviously, it’s a bit too early to know which direction Reddick’s season will take. Maybe he will continue to collect wins en route to becoming a Cup champion. Perhaps his luck will run out and the stat sheet will balance out by the end of the year.
The Cup Series season is a marathon, not a sprint, but it doesn’t hurt to get off to a good start. For Reddick, they don’t get any better than that.
As currently structured, a hot start means next to nothing from the perspective of the championship. Reddick could win the first 26 races of the season, have a DNF the first round of the “Chase”, and be looking up at one or more competitors in the points standings, with nine races to go.
And he would join the list of drivers who “deserved” to win the title, but not a real championship.