Today in History (cont'd)

• Aug. 31 -- 2003: Terry Labonte wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 in the final Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend at historic Darlington Raceway. It is also Labonte's last win to date. Labonte races full time for the final time in 2004. Labonte has 22 Cup wins in 864 starts.

• Aug. 30 -- 1987: Larry Pearson wins the World Crown 200 in the final Nationwide Series race at Peach State Speedway in Jefferson, Ga. The half-mile speedway is host to three Nationwide races, and Pearson wins the two held in 1987. Darrell Waltrip wins the first in 1986.

• Aug. 29 -- 1998: Tony Raines wins his fourth and final Truck Series race, beating Mike Bliss by 1.285 seconds in the Kroger 225 at Louisville (Ky.) Motor Speedway. Raines is winless in 138 Cup and 217 Nationwide races. He has started 53 Truck races, the last in 2004.

• Aug. 28 -- 1965: Junior Johnson passes pole-sitter Richard Petty on the second lap and leads the rest of the way to win the Myers Brothers 250 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., to sweep both Cup races at the half-mile track in 1965. In May, Johnson started from the pole and led all 200 laps.

• Aug. 27 -- 1972: A 25-year-old named Darrell Waltrip records his first top-five in a Cup race, finishing third in the Nashville 420 at Nashville Speedway. Bobby Allison wins, leading 283 laps, and Richard Petty, who leads 136 laps, is the only other car on the lead lap. This is no mistake: Despite finishing third, Waltrip finishes 16 laps back.

• Aug. 26 -- 1934: Happy 75th birthday, James Hylton. Hylton competed in 27 seasons in the Cup Series from 1964 to '93, picking up two wins in 601 races. Three times Hylton finished second in the Cup standings, including his first two full-time seasons (1966-67). He finished third four times. He also has competed in three Nationwide races, two after turning 70, including one last year at Daytona.

• Aug. 25 -- 1956: Fireball Roberts wins the first Cup Series race at Coastal Speedway, a half-mile dirt track in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Roberts averages 50.576 mph in taking the checkered flag in the 200-lap race ahead of Billy Myers, the only other car on the lead lap. Jim Paschal is third, a lap back.

• Aug. 24 -- 1997: Ron Fellows wins his first NASCAR race, taking the checkered flag in the Parts America 150 Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. Fellows has six wins in NASCAR's top three series -- four in the Nationwide Series and two in the Truck Series, all on road courses. Five of those wins are at Watkins Glen. The sixth was last year in the Nationwide race at Montreal.

• Aug. 23 -- 1964: Glen Wood finishes third in his final Cup start, a 200-lap race at quarter-mile Starkey Speedway in Roanoke, Va. Junior Johnson wins, and Ned Jarrett is second. Wood, who will make his mark in the sport as an owner and innovator, finishes his driving career with four wins and 14 poles in 62 Cup starts.

• Aug. 22 -- 1969: Bobby Isaac leads the first 241 laps at quarter-mile Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., but it's Richard Petty who leads the final nine to get his 100th NASCAR win in his 466th start.

• Aug. 21 -- 1969: Bobby Isaac wins his 10th Cup race of the season, a 100-mile event at three-eighths-mile South Boston (Va.) Speedway. Isaac leads 263 of 267 laps. David Pearson finishes second, the only other driver on the lead lap. Richard Petty is third, a lap back. Isaac goes on to win seven more races and finishes sixth in the point standings. He wins 11 races in 1970 along with his only Cup championship.

• Aug. 20 -- 1950: Dick Linder wins his first of three Cup races in 1950, winning a scheduled 200-lap race at half-mile Daytona (Ohio) Speedway. The race is shortened to 195 laps because of a crash. Linder dominates, leading 146 laps. Red Harvey is second and Herb Thomas is third. The three wins account for all of Linder's wins in 28 career Cup starts.

• Aug. 19 -- 1951: Tim Flock wins the first Cup Series race at Fort Miami Speedway in Toledo, Ohio. Flock leads the final 67 laps of the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track. Dell Pearson finishes second and Oda Greene third. Fort Miami will host one more Cup race, in 1952, and Flock wins that one, too.

• Aug. 18 -- 2001: Joe Ruttman wins the pole of the Sears Craftsman 175 Truck Series race at Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, Ill., to become the oldest driver (56 years, 9 months, 21 days) to win a pole. Ruttman finishes eighth, one of his career-high 20 top-10s in 24 starts in 2001. He also wins twice, and he finishes third in the standings for the third time in his career.

• Aug. 17 -- 1956: Ralph Moody wins the first of six Cup races at Old Bridge (N.J.) Stadium. Jim Reed starts from the pole on the half-mile track and leads the first 176 laps, but Moody leads the final 24. Reed finishes second, and Billy Myers is third, a lap back.

• Aug. 16 -- 1992: Harry Gant, at the age of 52 years, 7 months, 6 days, wins his final Cup race, the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan, to become the oldest driver to win a Cup Series race. Gant wins on fuel mileage by nearly 5 seconds over Darrell Waltrip. Bill Elliott is third. Gant finishes his Cup career with 18 victories.

• Aug. 15 -- 1979: Happy 30th birthday, Carl Edwards. In his fifth full season of Cup racing, Edwards has 16 wins. He is the 2007 Nationwide Series champion and has 22 wins in that series. He also has six wins in the Camping World Truck Series.

• Aug. 14 -- 1993: Mark Martin wins his 10th Nationwide race in his 94th start. He takes the Detroit Gasket 200 at Michigan by .73 seconds over Robert Pressley to touch off a string of five consecutive wins in a 10-race stretch. Martin finishes the 1993 season with seven wins -- and seven DNFs -- in 14 races.

• Aug. 13 -- 1995: Terry Labonte makes his 500th Cup start, finishing fifth at Watkins Glen. Mark Martin wins the race for the third year in a row.

• Aug. 12 -- 1951: Tommy Thompson outlasts a field of 59 cars to win the first Cup race in Detroit, the Motor City 250, at the 1-mile dirt track of Michigan State Fairgrounds. Joe Eubanks finishes second, the only other car on the lead lap. Johnny Mantz is third, six laps back.

• Aug. 11 -- 2007: J.C. Stout's mother, Patricia "Tree" Stout, is the team's rear-tire carrier in the Toyota Tundra 200 Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway because of the illness of the team's regular crew member Joe Szwaczkowski. It is believed this is the first time a driver's mother has served on his over-the-wall crew in a NASCAR national series race. Stout finishes 31st, exiting after 84 of 150 laps because of an oil leak.

• Aug. 10 -- 1956: Joe Weatherly gets his first NASCAR Cup win in the first Cup race at half-mile Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway. Weatherly wins the Nashville 200 under caution. Bob Welborn and Larry Frank finish second and third, the only other cars on the lead lap. The final Cup race at Nashville is won by Geoffrey Bodine in July 1984.

• Aug. 9 -- 1964: Future champion Benny Parsons, 23, makes his first Cup start in the Western North Carolina 500 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Parsons, driving the No. 06 Holman-Moody Ford, starts ninth and finishes 21st, one spot behind teammate Cale Yarborough. It isn't a good day for the team. Parsons completes 258 of 500 laps before his car overheats, and nine laps later Yarborough's day ends because of radiator issues. Ned Jarrett wins the race by 9 seconds over David Pearson.

• Aug. 8 -- 1962: Richard Petty wins the only Cup race run at Huntsville (Ala.) Speedway, lapping the 16-car field on the quarter-mile track. Petty starts from the pole and leads all 200 laps. Bob Welborn finishes second. Jim Paschal is third, another lap back.

• Aug. 7 -- 1982: Second-fewest cars to start a Nationwide race: 18 at .395-mile Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. It comes three months after 17 cars start a race, also at Langley.

• Aug. 6 -- 2004: Brothers Michael and Darrell Waltrip compete against each other in a NASCAR race for the last time. Darrell "wins" the duel, finishing 28th in the Truck Series Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Michael crashes and completes 14 of the 200 laps in finishing last (36th).

• Aug. 5 -- 1979: Darrell Waltrip, winner of 84 Cup races, picks up his only Cup win in an Oldsmobile, winning the Talladega 500. David Pearson is second and Ricky Rudd third.

• Aug. 4 -- 1957: Buck Baker wins the first Cup race at Watkins Glen, The Glen 101.2, by nearly a half-mile over Fireball Roberts. Baker starts from the pole and leads all 44 laps on the 2.3-mile road course. Tiny Lund is the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.

• Aug. 3 -- 1956: Jim Paschal wins the only Cup race run in the state of Oklahoma, beating Ralph Moody by a quarter of a lap in a 200-lap race at the half-mile dirt track at Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. They are the only two drivers in the field of 12 to finish on the lead lap.

• Aug. 2 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race run in Iowa, a 200-lap event on the half-mile dirt track of Davenport Speedway. Buck Baker finishes second in the 14-car field, and Lee Petty is third.

• Aug. 1 -- 1992: Joe Nemechek wins at Indianapolis Raceway Park by 4.06 seconds over Robert Pressley for his first Nationwide Series victory. Nemechek wins again three weeks later and goes on to win the series title by three points over Bobby Labonte. (Continued)