Car Number Histories: No. 18

ATLANTA -- Cars bearing the No. 18 have made trips to Victory Lane in 11 consecutive seasons, thanks to Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett.

But it wasn't always the case, as the numeral went through a dry spell after Marvin Burke drove a Mercury to victory in Oakland back in 1951.

	Bobby Labonte won the 2000 NASCAR Championship driving the No. 18.

John Wright was seventh at Pittsburgh in 1949. Then four drivers shared the numeral in 1950: John Mahoney, Dick Burns, Jack White and Charles Tidwell.

Mahoney finished seventh in the final standings that season, while Burns was fourth at Vernon in six starts.

While George Seeger drove a No. 18 Studebaker four times in 1951, including a 20th-place finish in the Southern 500, Burke's win was his only NASCAR start.

The next season, Bucky Sager, who normally drove No. 118, finished 53rd in the Southern 500, while Lloyd Dane was fifth at Oakland.

Bobby Myers ran two races in a No. 18 in 1953, finishing 20th in the Southern 500. Arden Mounts then took over the numeral beginning at Weaverville that season and ran three more seasons.

Mounts finished 11th in the 1954 Southern 500, won a pole at Richmond in 1955 -- one of 12 starts that season -- and wound up 70th in the 1956 Labor Day classic at Darlington.

In 1957, Fonty Flock piloted a No. 18 Mercury to a third-place finish on the beach course at Daytona.

Third and Daytona went hand-in-hand again in 1959, when Charley Griffith followed Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp across the finish line in the inaugural Daytona 500, one of Griffith's three top-10 finishes in six starts that season.

Darrell Dake was 46th in the 1960 Daytona 500, while Dick Smith was sixth at Hanford and seventh at Sacramento in two efforts.

Smith returned in 1961, running third at Riverside in three West Coast starts while Bob Welborn was third at Charlotte in his two races.

Stick Elliott then acquired the numeral starting in 1962 and was seventh at Atlanta in 20 starts. The next season, Elliott ran 28 races, with a best of sixth at Nashville.

Elliott made seven starts in 1964, then posted his career-best, a second at Greenville, in 1965. He was also seventh in the Southern 500 that season. Ned Setzer made four starts, including a sixth at Spartanburg.

In 1966, Darel Dieringer opened the season with an eighth-place run at Augusta, then turned the numeral back over to Elliott, who was fourth at Greenville in 19 starts.

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J.T. Putney was tenth at Hickory in one start in 1967 before Dick Johnson moved behind the wheel. Johnson ran 19 races that season, including a 12th at Birmingham.

Johnson would make 33 more starts over the next two seasons, including a sixth at Weaverville in 1969. In addition, Benny Parsons drove a No. 18 at College Station that year, finishing third.

In 1970, Joe Frasson began nine-year stint. He had a pair of ninth-place finishes in 1970, was fifth at Michigan and 12th in the Daytona 500 in 1971 and third at Darlington in 1972.

He matched that effort at College Station in 1973 and was seventh at Atlanta the following season. Frasson posted two more top-10 finishes at Darlington by the time he quit running NASCAR in 1978.

Harry Gant made one start in the No. 18 in 1976, finishing ninth at Charlotte. Other drivers who ran the numeral that season included Buck Baker and John Dineen.

For the next eight seasons, the numeral was used sparingly by James Hylton, Ed Negre, Randy Ogden, Donnie Allison, Slick Johnson, Don Satterfield and Joe Booher.

Then in 1985, Tommy Ellis ran a 14-race schedule, including a 10th-place finish at Richmond. He returned in 1986 to finish eighth at Dover and 23rd in the final standings. During that same time frame, Glen Steurer made four West Coast starts in the No. 18, with a tenth at Riverside in 1986.

Ellis ran four races to begin in the 1987 season and was replaced by Dale Jarrett, was tenth at Bristol and Martinsville in his first full season.

When Jarrett moved to the No. 29 in 1988, the No. 18 went back to being a part-time player, with drivers like Rick Hendrick, Ron Esau, Tommy Kendall, Rick Jeffrey, Brad Teague, Hut Stricklin and Stan Barrett seeing one-race efforts.

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In 1990, Greg Sacks ran 10 races, including three top-10 finishes. He ran the No. 18 at Daytona the following year, finishing 42nd before jumping to the No. 47.

Jarrett returned for his second tour of duty with the numeral in 1992. Over the next three seasons, he won twice, including the 1993 Daytona 500, and posted 35 top-10 finishes. He was fourth in the points in 1993.

When Jarrett went to the No. 28, Bobby Labonte moved over from the No. 22 and won three times in his first season in the No. 18, including the Coca-Cola 600 and a season sweep at Michigan.

Then starting in 1996, Labonte began a string of victories at Atlanta, winning races in four consecutive seasons. He parlayed 14 top-10 finishes into 11th in the points that season, then improved to seventh overall in 1997.

In 1998, Labonte added a win at Talladega to his Atlanta victory and wound up sixth in the final standings. He was even better in 1999, sweeping both Pocono races as part of five wins that season and runner-up status to champion Jarrett.

Labonte earned a championship of his own the next season, winning the Brickyard 400 and Southern 500, in addition to races at Charlotte and Rockingham.

He returned to Victory Lane five more times over the next three seasons, including at Atlanta again in 2001 and 2003. Labonte was sixth in the points in 2001, slipped to 16th the next season but rebounded to eighth in 2003.