# Top 24 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers of the 2000s

> Four-time champions share this list with Daytona 500 winners who never took a title and drivers who peaked in one big season. Ten years of stock-car racing, ranked by you.

*By YPB Team · Published November 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-24-nascar-cup-series-drivers-of-the-2000s*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Jeff Gordon** — score 1000/1000
   Won his fourth Cup title in 2001 and the Daytona 500 in 2005, with 33 race wins between 2000 and 2009.
2. **Jimmie Johnson** — score 959/1000
   Won four straight Cup titles from 2006 to 2009 with Hendrick Motorsports and 47 races in the decade, including 10 in 2007.
3. **Ryan Newman** — score 708/1000
   2002 Rookie of the Year who won eight races and 11 poles for Penske in 2003, and later won the 2008 Daytona 500.
4. **Michael Waltrip** — score 686/1000
   Won the Daytona 500 in 2001 and 2003 for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and moved into Cup team ownership with Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007.
5. **Greg Biffle** — score 645/1000
   Won six races in 2005 for Roush Racing and finished second in that year's championship.
6. **Matt Kenseth** — score 548/1000
   Won the 2003 championship for Roush Racing with a single race win, led the series with five wins in 2002 and won the 2009 Daytona 500.
7. **Dale Earnhardt** — score 547/1000
   Seven-time champion who finished second in the 2000 standings and won at Talladega that October, his final Cup win before his death at the 2001 Daytona 500.
8. **Bill Elliott** — score 547/1000
   Won the 2002 Brickyard 400 for Evernham Motorsports, one of four Cup wins he took between 2001 and 2003.
9. **Kevin Harvick** — score 490/1000
   Took over Richard Childress Racing's car after Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001, won at Atlanta in his third start and won the 2007 Daytona 500.
10. **Jamie McMurray** — score 490/1000
   Won at Charlotte in 2002 in his second Cup start as a substitute for the injured Sterling Marlin, then took 2003 Rookie of the Year.
11. **Sterling Marlin** — score 425/1000
   Gave Dodge its first Cup win since its return to the series at Michigan in 2001 and finished third in that year's standings.
12. **Kurt Busch** — score 425/1000
   Won the 2004 championship for Roush Racing, the first decided under the Chase for the Cup format.
13. **Ward Burton** — score 425/1000
   Won the 2001 Southern 500 at Darlington and the 2002 Daytona 500 in Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 Dodge.
14. **Denny Hamlin** — score 425/1000
   Joe Gibbs Racing driver who finished third in the standings as a rookie in 2006 and won four races in 2009.
15. **Bobby Labonte** — score 425/1000
   Won the 2000 Winston Cup championship and that year's Brickyard 400 driving the No. 18 Pontiac for Joe Gibbs Racing.
16. **Kasey Kahne** — score 350/1000
   2004 Rookie of the Year who led the series with six wins in 2006 driving the No. 9 Dodge for Evernham Motorsports.
17. **Dale Earnhardt Jr.** — score 350/1000
   Won the 2004 Daytona 500 driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., took 18 wins in the decade and was voted Most Popular Driver every year from 2003 to 2009.
18. **Rusty Wallace** — score 264/1000
   Penske driver who won four races in 2000 and made the Chase in 2005, his final full-time season.
19. **Mark Martin** — score 163/1000
   Runner-up in the standings in 2002 and again in 2009, when he won five races for Hendrick Motorsports at age 50.
20. **Kyle Busch** — score 163/1000
   2005 Rookie of the Year who moved to Joe Gibbs Racing and won eight Cup races in 2008.
21. **Jeff Burton** — score 163/1000
   Roush and later Richard Childress Racing driver who won four races in 2000 and ten in the decade.
22. **Tony Stewart** — score 163/1000
   Cup champion in 2002 and 2005 with Joe Gibbs Racing, who won 34 races in the decade and in 2009 became co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.
23. **Carl Edwards** — score 0/1000
   Roush Fenway driver who won nine races in 2008, the most of anyone that season, and finished runner-up in the standings.
24. **Dale Jarrett** — score 0/1000
   Robert Yates Racing driver who won the 2000 Daytona 500, his third win in that race, and ten Cup races in the decade.

Tags: 2000s, sports, drivers, nascar, motorsport