NASCAR Drivers And Their NFL QB Counterparts

With NFL football season set to officially kick off this weekend and the NASCAR playoffs beginning this weekend, it seems like a good time for a crossover episode of sorts. There's plenty of drivers on the Cup Series circuit who draw comparisons to various gridiron field generals, and with that in mind, here are a few of them.

Kyle Larson: Patrick Mahomes

This is an easy one. Larson and Mahomes both do things that simply nobody else has the talent to do. While Mahomes throws no-look passes behind his back and works his late-game heroics with minimal time on the clock, Larson carves his way through the field by making moves stick in places that shouldn't be possible. Just take a look at his charge to the lead at Indianapolis this year, when he went from the middle of the pack to the lead in a race where passing was exceptionally hard.

Larson is one of the greatest raw talents to ever set foot in a race car, and he'll drive anything that has wheels. Similarly, Mahomes might be the most skilled quarterback in the history of the NFL, even if he isn't quite the "greatest" just yet.

Chase Elliott: Joe Burrow

Another no-brainer here. Burrow is Mahomes' closest thing to a generational rival on the field, and the only quarterback not named Tom Brady to ever send his Chiefs home in the playoffs. His game isn't one defined by raw talent, but rather by his poise in the pocket and coolness under pressure. That can also apply to Elliott, who may not quite make the highlight reels as often as Larson does, but he's also much less prone to costing himself with unforced mistakes.

Both Elliott and Burrow have also been plagued by injuries in recent times. Elliott missed a handful of races in a disappointing 2023 campaign, while Burrow was out for about half of last season. They both missed their respective playoffs, but Elliott has bounced back in 2024 and Burrow and his Bengals should do the same.

Kyle Busch: Aaron Rodgers

The grizzled veteran. No active NFL passer has racked up as many career-long accolades as Rodgers in virtually every individual statistic: yards, touchdowns, and even MVPs. In NASCAR, that's Busch, who leads all active full-time drivers in wins, top-5s, top-10s and laps led.

Like Rodgers, Busch is also now with a different team than the one he found most of his success with after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing for Richard Childress Racing in 2023. He may be past his peak, but he's not quite done yet, and you just get the feeling he's still got some memorable moments left in him.

Tyler Reddick: Josh Allen

Always on the cusp, but yet to truly make that statement. That's the case for both Reddick and Allen, the latter of whom has been overshadowed by Mahomes throughout his career and is yet to win an MVP or lead his team to the Super Bowl. Reddick is the 2024 regular-season NASCAR champion, but that won't mean much if he can't back it up with at least a Championship Four appearance.

Another similarity between Allen and Reddick is their occasionally erratic style. Despite his ability to hit the home-run play as well as anyone, Allen is consistently one of the NFL leaders in turnovers. Reddick's occasional recklessness has been a criticism throughout his career, although he seems to have cleaned that up ever since costing himself a possible win at Darlington earlier this year.

Ryan Blaney: Justin Herbert

There's not really a great comparison for the defending Cup Series champion, who has carried his team in the past two years more than arguably any other driver in NASCAR. In that case, his closest counterpart might be Herbert, who is one of the best raw talents in the NFL but has lacked the support around him to have much playoff success.

Up until 2023, this could also be applied to Blaney, who had never made a Championship Four appearance until he broke through with his first title. With a proven winner in new coach Jim Harbaugh, perhaps it could be Herbert's turn to earn himself some playoff success to match his gaudy numbers.

Christopher Bell: Lamar Jackson

Bell is on one of the best teams, year in and year out. He puts up impressive numbers and can visibly be among the most exciting drivers on the track. After two straight seasons of making the Championship Four and being relatively uncompetitive in that race, though, the question now becomes: when will he win one?

That sounds similar to the dilemma plaguing Jackson. He's won two MVPs and always has the help around him to win it all, and he's one of the most dynamic players in all of football. He just can't seem to get past the juggernaut that is Mahomes.

Martin Truex, Jr.: Drew Brees

This one is cheating a little bit, since Brees is no longer active -- but since Truex won't be either after 2024, it feels fair. Truex is one of the unlikeliest success stories in NASCAR history, emerging into superstardom later on in his career after struggling to find his footing with some fledgling race teams. Even more surprising was the place where Truex eventually found his success: small-time Furniture Row Racing, a team that had precisely one career win before his arrival.

That's almost a carbon copy of Brees' career. Originally drafted by the San Diego Chargers, Brees needed a change of scenery to become the Hall of Famer he will go down as, and he found it with the historically downtrodden New Orleans Saints. The Saints only had five playoff appearances in franchise history before Brees arrived and had just had their city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Brees gave them their golden years, capped off with a Super Bowl title in the 2009 season.

Brad Keselowski: Russell Wilson

He's towards the tail end of his career now, and not quite as productive as he used to be, but there was once a time when Keselowski was supposed to be NASCAR's next dynasty. In 2012, he won the Cup Series championship in only his third full-time season. More notably, he beat Jimmie Johnson to do it after Johnson's team imploded with a flat tire and blown engine in the final two races.

Around the same time in the NFL, Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks were going to wreck the league as far as the eye could see after winning the Super Bowl in his second season. That's not quite how it turned out, though, as Tom Brady and the Patriots reminded everyone who the real dynasty was the following year by beating the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Similarly, Johnson bounced back with another championship in 2013 while Keselowski is likely to retire a one-ring wonder.

Denny Hamlin: Jalen Hurts

One word: O-VER-RA-TED! (Clap, clap, clap clap clap). It's nearly impossible for a driver in Hamlin's situation to not be in title contention every year, with the fastest cars, best crew chief, and one of the best pit crews in NASCAR. Just like Hurts, he gets to be metaphorically "tush pushed" every week and is hardly ever put in adverse situations on the track.

If anything, this feels unfair to Hurts, who could still have some room for growth in his game at only 26 years old. Hamlin is 43, and while one would think his best years are behind him, there's no telling how many more chances he'll get as long as he has the easiest job of any driver in NASCAR.

Jimmie Johnson: Tom Brady

For the final comparison, let's bring in a historic pairing that's just too uncanny to leave off. The legend of Brady is truly one-of-a-kind, an unheralded sixth-round pick who suddenly became an overnight sensation when he got his big chance. Then, instead of having his fifteen minutes of fame and disappearing back into irrelevance, he decided to stay on top of the world for the next 20 years and become the greatest of all-time.

Surely there's no one else in sports who can lay claim to such a trajectory, right? There is, though. Johnson was an unknown when he got his shot with Hendrick Motorsports in 2002, as his claim to fame was a lone underdog Busch Series win with a midpack team. He went on have one of the best rookie seasons ever, leading the Cup Series standings at one point late in the year, and then racked up seven championships throughout his storied career -- the same as Brady.

Despite being retired, there remains the occasional rumor that Brady could consider a return to the gridiron. Johnson has done exactly that in NASCAR, running part-time in the past two seasons after calling it quits from full-time competition in 2020. He's only a shell of what he once was, but every time he's on the track, he must be appreciated while it's still possible.

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