Car No. Histories: No. 10

ATLANTA -- The No. 10 has never won a NASCAR championship, but a Champion has the most career starts in cars bearing that numeral.

Starting in 1967, Bill Champion made 250 starts over 10 seasons, more than Derrike Cope, Ricky Rudd or Johnny Benson, the only other drivers to have more than 30 starts in the No. 10. However, unlike the other three, Champion never found his way to Victory Lane.

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John Riggi made his only NASCAR start in 1949, finishing 22nd at Pittsburgh. That same season, Fred Johnson's Ford finished 25th at Charlotte.

Johnson returned in 1950 to run two more events, including an eighth at Charlotte. Ray Duhigg's Plymouth was fifth at Winchester in four starts, while Jim Rathmann drove a No. 10 Lincoln to a 12th-place finish on the Daytona beach course.

Ted Swaim finished 35th in the 1951 Southern 500 while Jim Fiebelkorn's Mercury was second at Pittsburgh in 13 starts.

Chet Williams took over the numeral in 1953 and ran two events, including a 27th-place finish in the Southern 500. Blackie Pitt, who normally drove No. 100, was 43rd in the 1954 Southern 500.

Van Van Wey's Ford was 12th at LeHi in three starts that season. He was 44th in the 1955 Southern 500.

Rex White switched from his trademark No. X to the No. 10 three times in 1956, including an 11th at Darlington.

In 1957, Whitey Norman ran six races in a Ford, finishing ninth at Newberry. He returned in 1958 to finish 23rd in the final Daytona beach race.

That same season, Reds Kagle was 41st in the Southern 500, and Elmo Langley wound up 23rd at Atlanta. Lucky Long drove in four West Coast events between 1958 and 1959, with a best of fifth at Sacramento.

Langley drove 12 more races in 1959, including 25th in the inaugural Daytona 500 and 45th in the Labor Day classic at Darlington. He was 52nd at Daytona in 1960.

T.C. Hunt drove the No. 10 11 times over a three-year span, starting in 1960. He was 25th in the 1960 Southern 500, 14th at Charlotte in 1961 and 44th at Atlanta in 1962.

Jim Blomgren drove four races out west in 1961, with a best of fourth at Los Angeles.

In 1964, Buddy Baker ran six races in a No. 10 Ford, including a ninth at Augusta.

The next season, four drivers, all winners of either the Daytona 500 or Southern 500, shared the ride: Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Darel Dieringer and Tiny Lund. Cale was ninth in the 1965 Daytona 500, LeeRoy was fourth at Augusta, Darel fourth at Columbia and Tiny fourth at Martinsville.

Lund and Jim Paschal split the driving duties in 1966. Lund was 22nd at Rockingham in two starts, while Paschal finished fourth at Augusta in his only attempt.

Jim Hurtubise drove a Plymouth to ninth in the 1967 Daytona 500 before Champion took over for the rest of the season, running 11 races, including 11th at Darlington.

Champion carried No. 10 for 18 races in 1968, with a best of eighth at Bristol. He ran 49 races in 1969, finishing 12th in the final standings, thanks to a fifth at Macon.

Champion had six top-10s in 38 starts in 1970 and was 16th in the Daytona 500, good enough for 15th overall. The next season, he posted three top-fives and 14 top-10s, earning him seventh in the final standings.

In 1973, Champion ran 29 races, including finishing sixth at Martinsville and Richmond, which left him 13th in the points. The next season, he cut back to 18 races, while owning the car Randy Hutchison drove at Martinsville.

Over the next two seasons, Champion did less driving and more owning. Two of the young drivers he put behind the wheel during that time turned out to have long careers in NASCAR.

Ricky Rudd drove four races for Champion in 1975, finishing 10th at Nashville. Bill Elliott got four starts in 1976, with a best of 14th at Nashville.

Other drivers who shared the ride during that era included Walter Ballard, Tommy Gale, Earle Canavan, Ed Negre, Don Puskarich, Johnny Ray, Earl Brooks, Terry Bivins, Clyde Lynn, Bruce Jacobi, Tommy Ellis, Ray Williams, Dick May, Dean Dalton, Jimmy Means, Jimmy Hindman, Billy Smith, Tim Williamson, Steve Gray and Clark Dwyer.

In 1984, Sterling Marlin made one start in the No. 10, finishing 15th in the Daytona 500.

Doug Heveron, Greg Sacks, Dick Trickle and Ken Regan shared the numeral in 1985, with Sacks scoring a stunning victory at Daytona that July.

Trevor Boys and Jeff Swindell were added to the roster in 1986. In 1987, Rodney Combs made three starts.

Then in 1988, Ken Bouchard started the first of two seasons in the No. 10, making a total of 28 starts. He was eighth at Rockingham that first year.

Derrike Cope acquired the numeral in 1989 and posted four top-10s, including sixth-place finishes at Michigan and Charlotte.

But it was the 1990 Daytona 500 that proved to be the pinnacle of Cope's success. When Dale Earnhardt's tire went flat on the final lap, Cope was there to capture a surprising win.

Cope followed that with a win at Dover later in the season and finished 18th in the final standings. He drove for two more seasons, with five more top-10 finishes, before moving to the No. 98 in 1993.

Ricky Rudd then returned to the No. 10 from the No. 5 in 1994 and held the numeral for the next six seasons.

Rudd was fifth in the final standings in 1994, including a win at Loudon. He won at Phoenix and added two poles in 1995, finishing ninth overall.

In 1996, he won at Rockingham, one of 16 top-10s that season, which left him sixth in the points. The next season, he won twice -- at Dover and the Brickyard 400 -- but slipped to 17th in the final standings.

Rudd visited Victory Lane at Martinsville in 1998 but only had five top-10s on his way to a 22nd-place finish in the points. By 1999, Rudd had dropped to 31st overall and was held without a win for the first time in 16 seasons.

With Rudd moving to the No. 28 in 2000, Johnny Benson Jr. took over the No. 10. He finished 12th in the Daytona 500 and posted three top-fives in 33 starts, finishing 13th overall.

In 2001, Benson had 14 top-10s and six top-fives, improving to 11th in the final standings.

Benson won a Rockingham in 2002 but missed five races. Jerry Nadeau, Mike Wallace and Joe Nemechek subbed for him during two separate stretches.

Benson's best finish in 2003 was fourth in the season-finale at Homestead, one of two top-fives. He finished 24th in the final standings.