Earnhardt adds to long line of history behind No. 88

There's a joke going around that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s new number is twice as good as his old one, but there's a bit of truth to that. In fact, Junior won't even be the first Earnhardt to sit behind the wheel of a No. 88, since his grandfather did that back in 1957.

While the No. 8 has been involved in five more races than the No. 88 since 1949 -- 1,269 to 1,264 -- the No. 88 has appeared on a winning car 65 times to the No. 8's 38, has won more than twice as many poles and nearly double the amount of top-fives and top-10s.

And even though the numeral's success can most recently be traced to Dale Jarrett, Robert Yates and Ford, much of its previous trips to Victory Lane were by drivers under the General Motors banner, including another famous father and son combo.

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The No. 88 got off to inauspicious start at Langhorne in the first season of what was to become Nextel Cup in 1949, when Pepper Cunningham crashed and wound up 33rd. But it didn't take long for the numeral to gain fame.

Buck Baker began running the No. 88 in 1954 and promptly put it in Victory Lane at the Wilson County fairgrounds dirt track, leading 117 laps and earning the $1,000 first-place check. Baker would go on to win once more that season -- at Morristown Speedway in New Jersey -- and a third time five years later in a Chevrolet, making a last-lap pass of Cotton Owens at South Carolina's Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

Ralph Earnhardt drove a team car with Lee Petty for Petty Enterprises eight times in 1957, mainly in the No. 188. However, he started ninth and finished 13th at Martinsville while driving the No. 88 Oldsmobile.

The numeral was most associated with Chrysler products for most of the early 1960s, as Major Melton, Neil "Soapy" Castles and a young Buddy Baker campaigned the No. 88 without much success. In 1966, the Baker team switched back to the General Motors banner.

Benny Parsons used the No. 88 twice at Daytona, finishing seventh behind winner LeeRoy Yarbrough in the 1969 Daytona 500 and 14th, 13 laps down to Pete Hamilton a year later.

Michigan racer Ron Keselowski then campaigned a No. 88 Dodge for three years, starting in 1971. In an interesting twist, Keselowski's nephew, Brad, has driven the No. 88 for Earnhardt Jr. in the Busch Series this season.

Then in 1973, Mike DiProspero and Bill Gardner formed a new Chevrolet team -- DiGard Racing -- with Donnie Allison behind the wheel. After DiProspero was involved in a serious automobile accident, Gardner's brother Jim joined the operation.

The list of former DiGard employees reads like a NASCAR Hall of Fame roll call: Team owner Robert Yates, former NASCAR research and development director Gary Nelson, competition director Robin Pemberton and crew chief Jimmy Fennig all were part of DiGard's early success, particularly when Darrell Waltrip came on board as driver midway through the 1975 season.

With Waltrip behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet, the team dominated at Richmond in 1975 and Martinsville in 1976.

With new sponsor Gatorade pouring money into the operation, DiGard was nearly unstoppable, winning six races in both 1977 and 1978 -- including the World 400 -- and seven more in 1979. Waltrip won five more races in 1980 before leaving the team to join Junior Johnson's outfit.

A young Ricky Rudd was given the seat for the 1981 season, followed by Bobby Allison in 1982. Allison wasted no time, winning the Busch Clash and then the Daytona 500 -- one of his eight victories that season -- as Allison wound up runner-up to Waltrip for the championship by 72 points.

When Miller Brewing came on board with DiGard in 1983, Allison switched to the No. 22, freeing the No. 88 for Geoffrey Bodine, now under the ownership of Cliff Stewart. When Bodine left for Rick Hendrick's team at the end of the season, Rusty Wallace took over driving duties in 1984.

Buddy Baker started his own team in 1985 and returned to the family number for four years, then put Greg Sacks and Jimmy Spencer behind the wheel with limited success.

The numeral was then used sparingly for the better part of five seasons before Yates decided to expand his operation to a two-car team. Dale Jarrett then switched over from the No. 28 -- and with backing from Ford's Quality Care and Ford Credit divisions, went on to win 28 races and the 1999 championship in the No. 88. Jarrett's last win -- and the last win for the No. 88 to this point -- came at Talladega in 2005.

When Jarrett left to join Michael Waltrip's Toyota team at the end of last season, Rudd returned to Yates and drove the first 25 races before suffering a shoulder injury at Fontana. Kenny Wallace has subbed for Rudd since. With Rudd planning to retire at the end of the year, Travis Kvapil has been named as a full-time driver in 2008 -- with the car number to be determined.