In NASCAR, numbers often lot more than car's identity

CONCORD, N.C. -- Numbers in NASCAR are paramount -- the number of points a driver can win on the track, number of pit-crew members allowed over the wall, number of seconds a car is on pit road.

Numbers make the sport go round, but the number everyone knows -- the number that bonds a fan to a driver -- is the number on the car.

DEI's No. 8 will have a distinctively different look in '08.

Since the sport was founded in 1948, numbers assigned to drivers and car owners have always had unique, individual stories behind them. Like a fingerprint of sorts, the numbers maintain their own history.

And the story behind the No. 8 will be told for years. The biggest story likely in the sport's history came last season when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was told he would not be taking the No. 8 from Dale Earnhardt Inc. with him to his new job at Hendrick Motorsports.

For Earnhardt, the No. 8 had sentimental value. It was number both his father and grandfather used early in their racing careers.

Fans were on the edge of their seats waiting to see what would become of the popular number and whether or not Earnhardt would hold onto his NASCAR fingerprint.

No such luck, but he found another, still steeped in tradition, when Roberts Yates Racing arranged a deal with Rick Hendrick for the No. 88.

NASCAR typically doesn't get involved in deals arising when one team wants another number, but it does allow teams to have their numbers from the previous year. And on occasion, a team will request another team's number, and NASCAR will allow the teams to work it out.

But at the end of the day, NASCAR owns the team numbers.

"People have a lot of equity in a number, and it all depends on what their situation is. It always seems to work out," said Jim Hunter, vice president of communications for NASCAR.

That was the fate of the No. 8, but what about the foundation for dozens of other numbers flying around the track.

Well, some numbers naturally progressed from 01 to 99 handed out by NASCAR. Others requested particular numbers for sentimental value and some simply refused to give up the number with which they came.

According to NASCAR historian Buzz McKim, many of the first numbers in NASCAR were typically carried over from racecar drivers competing in different series pre-dating NASCAR, before the sport was sanctioned in 1948.

Red Bryon, who won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race on Feb. 15, 1948, at the Daytona Beach Road Course, brought with him the No. 22.

Examples such as these abound in the sport, but how the most victorious number in the sport came about is especially interesting. But first, you must know the story behind the number which preceded that famed number, 43, which amassed nearly 200 victories.

Number 42, driven by Lee Petty from 1949 into the early 1960s, started a chain of numbers 42 through 45 that will forever mark the legacy of Petty Enterprises.

When Lee Petty ran his first race, the drivers raced the cars they drove to the racetrack, a Plymouth at the time. They were stock, right down to the license plate; the catalyst for Petty's number.

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His license plate number began with a No. 4 and ended with a No. 2. That's how the No. 42 was born, a number that would win 54 races.

And the No. 43 more than doubled that number by his son, Richard Petty.

In 1959, Petty piloted the No. 43 for the first time in Daytona and went on to win 192 races in the No. 43, six races in the No. 41 and two races in the No. 42, according to team representative David Hovis.

The No. 43, now piloted by Bobby Labonte at Petty Enterprises, will always be a part of Richard Petty, just like the cowboy hat and sunglasses.

"It's the winningest number in the history of the sport and it will always be a Petty Enterprises number," Richard Petty said. "We've had the numbers 42 through 45, but more than anything, that represents the fact that racing is a family business for the Pettys. We've had four generations of NASCAR drivers in our family. From father to son we continued that progression of numbers."

So why didn't son Kyle Petty take his father's famous No. 43?

When Richard Petty got out of the car in 1992, Kyle Petty was racing for another team. Petty Enterprises didn't even race the No. 43 in 1993. Then the team picked the number back up in 1994 with John Andretti and Wally Dallenbach. Then Bobby Hamilton drove it to a couple of wins in '96 and '97. When Kyle came back to Petty Enterprises he jumped in the No. 44 and continued the progression, a progression that has continued to include the current No. 45, Hovis said.

Fellow competitors alongside Richard Petty acquired their numbers in a more colorful manner. In 1966, Buddy Baker drove a No. 00 Dodge, sponsored by a politician named Hooker who was running for governor of Tennessee. The "00" was part of the name "Hooker" emblazoned down the side of the car.

The fuel companies made their mark in numbers, as well.

Sunoco sponsored Billy Hagan's No. 94, an octane of Sunoco gasoline, Cup team from 1989-92 with Sterling Marlin and Terry Labonte behind the wheel and Phillips 66 Petroleum Co. sponsored Cale Yarborough's team from 1990-92 using the No. 66.

The manufacturers of the popular card game "UNO" sponsored Hoss Ellington's team in the early 1980s for several seasons, using the No. 1.

The No. 3 will forever be linked to Dale Earnhardt.

When 7-11 convenience stores sponsored Kyle Petty and his Wood Brothers ride from 1983-86, they broke tradition and used the No. 7 instead of the No. 21.

Often times, the original car number was tied to the car's primary sponsor.

Not the case for the No. 3, the sport's most famed number.

Some report car owner Richard Childress, who pays NASCAR annually to keep rights to the number, chose the No. 3 because it was easy to paint on the car. In the late 1970s, the cars didn't have sticker-like, wrapped paint schemes.

However, McKim said Childress admired legendary driver Junior Johnson who ran the number in the early 1960s.

"He told NASCAR that if that number ever came available, he wanted it," McKim added.

Childress raced the No. 3 from 1976-81, Earnhardt ran it the last 10 races in 1981, Ricky Rudd raced it for RCR in 1982-83. Earnhardt got back into the car in 1984 until 2001. He was killed in a crash in that year's Daytona 500.

That was the last time the infamous No. 3 raced on the track and it will likely remain that way. Earnhardt won six of his seven titles while driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for RCR, immortalizing his number in the hearts of devoted fans forever.

Still today, fans put three fingers in the air at the Daytona 500 in tribute further demonstrating the importance of numbers in NASCAR.

Some more origins of NASCAR car numbers:

Source: NASCAR PR