Today in History (cont'd)

• July 31 -- 1955: Crash Carson, one of two drivers named Crash to race in the Cup Series, makes his only NASCAR start, at Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo, Calif. He finishes last, 34th, bowing out after eight laps of the scheduled 250-lap race on the 1-mile dirt track (oil pressure). The actual distance is 252 laps because of a scoring error. NASCAR's other Crash, Crash Bond, makes his only start in the Nashville 500 on Aug. 6, 1961, and finishes 13th.

• July 30 -- 1989: Patty Moise starts her fifth and final Cup race, the Talladega DieHard 500. Moise, wife of former driver Elton Sawyer, finishes 33rd, dropping out after 33 laps with engine problems. Moise's NASCAR career continues in the Nationwide Series to 1998. She starts 133 Nationwide races during 12 seasons.

• July 29 -- 2000: Kevin Harvick wins the Carquest Auto Parts 250 at Gateway International Raceway for his first Nationwide Series victory. It's the first of many. Harvick has 33, second only to Mark Martin's 48. Harvick also has two Nationwide championships (2001 and 2006).

• July 28 -- 1966: Paul Lewis wins the Smoky Mountain 200 at Smoky Mountain Raceway in Maryville, Tenn., for his only Cup victory in 114 career starts from 1960 to 1968. Lewis starts 27th in the 29-car field on the half-mile dirt track and finishes two seconds ahead of David Pearson, the only other driver on the lead lap. Lewis leads the final 64 laps.

• July 27 -- 1980: Janet Guthrie finishes 28th in the Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono in her final Cup Series race. She completes 134 of 200 laps before her engine fails. She finishes her Cup career with five top-10s in 33 starts over four seasons.

• July 26 -- 1992: Dale Earnhardt finishes last, 40th, in the DieHard 500 at Talladega for his lowest Cup finish in 44 races at the superspeedway. Earnhardt is the career leader at Talladega in Cup victories (10), top-fives (23) and top-10s (27).

• July 25 -- 1958: Cotton Owens wins the final NASCAR race at Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester, N.Y. Owens is the only driver to complete all 200 laps on the half-mile dirt track and finishes two laps ahead of Buck Baker and Speedy Thompson in the 21-car field.

• July 24 -- 1994: Three weeks after winning his first Cup race (at Daytona), Jimmy Spencer wins his last Cup race, beating teammate Bill Elliott by 0.25 seconds at Talladega. In 18 seasons, those are Spencer's only Cup wins in 478 races.

• July 23 -- 1950: Curtis Turner wins a 200-lap race at Charlotte Speedway, a three-quarter-mile dirt track, to win back-to-back races for the second time that season. Turner won the previous race in Rochester, N.Y., and he also won the third and fourth races, in Langhorne, Pa., and Martinsville, Va., respectively.

• July 22 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race run in South Dakota, taking the checkered flag ahead of Dick Rathmann and Fonty Flock in a 200-lap event at the half-mile dirt track of Rapid Valley Speedway in Rapid City. Fifteen cars are in the field. Lee Petty finishes fourth and Buck Baker fifth.

• July 21 -- 1956: Fireball Roberts wins the only Cup race run at Chicago's Soldier Field. Jim Paschal finishes second and Ralph Moody third in the 200-lap race on the half-mile oval. NASCAR runs three Convertible Division races at Soldier Field, two in 1956 and one in '57.

• July 20 -- 1962: Wendell Scott starts from the pole for the only time in his 495-race Cup career. He finishes eighth in a 200-lap race on Savannah (Ga.) Speedway's half-mile dirt track. Scott finishes 12 laps behind winner Joe Weatherly.

• July 19 --1987: Dale Earnhardt wins the Summer 500 at Pocono from the 16th starting position, the deepest in the field for a winner in the 29-race Cup season. Only five races are won by drivers starting outside the top 10, and Earnhardt wins two of those races (he wins the March race at Rockingham from 14th on the grid).

• July 18 -- 1971: Friday Hassler starts from the pole of a Cup race for the first time in his career. Hassler goes on to finish sixth in the Northern 300 at 1.5-mile Trenton (N.J.) Speedway. In his 135-race career, he starts from the pole twice, both times while driving the No. 39. No driver in the No. 39 won another Cup pole until Ryan Newman in this year's Coca-Cola 600. The No. 39 has never been to Victory Lane in a Cup race.

• July 17 --1994: Geoff Bodine wins the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono to put the No. 7 in Victory Lane in a Cup race for the first time since Alan Kulwicki's last victory two years earlier. Bodine wins two more times in 1994 and once more in 1996 for the last victories for the No. 7.

• July 16 -- 2000: Forty-four cars start the Econo Lodge 200 at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway, the last time more than 43 cars start a Nationwide Series race. Ron Hornaday wins, picking up his first Nationwide victory. And finishing last is Chad Chaffin, which makes him the last driver to finish worse than 43rd in a Nationwide Series race.

• July 15 -- 1990: Tommy Ellis, the 1988 Busch Series champion, wins his 22nd and final race in the series. Ellis wins the Budweiser 300, the first Busch race at New Hampshire, by .29 seconds over Harry Gant. Chuck Brown is third.

• July 14 -- 1957: Eddie Pagan wins a 200-lap race at half-mile Portland Speedway in the last Cup race run in Oregon. Portland Speedway was the site of seven Cup races, four in 1956 and three in 1957. Pagan won two of them.

• July 13 -- 2002: Johnny Sauter wins the Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway for his first Nationwide Series victory. Todd Bodine is second .425 seconds back, and Jeff Burton finishes third.

• July 12 -- 1949: Happy 60th birthday to Joseph Riddick Hendrick III, better known as Rick Hendrick. Hendrick started Hendrick Motorsports in 1984 and has 181 Cup wins and eight Cup championships, including the past three with Jimmie Johnson.

• July 11 -- 1981: In his third Cup race, 22-year-old Mark Martin starts from the pole for the first time. Martin leads the first 36 laps of the Busch Nashville 420 at Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway and finishes 11th. Darrell Waltrip leads 303 laps and picks up one of his eight wins on the.596-mile track. Martin, now 50, has 44 poles, tied with Ryan Newman for 11th all time.

• July 10 -- 1988: A Nationwide Series-record 47 cars start the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. What makes the largest field all the more remarkable is Oxford's size: It's a one-third-mile track. Four drivers, led by Dick McCabe, complete all 282 laps. Twenty-six cars are running at the end.

• July 9 -- 1965: Junior Johnson wins the Old Bridge 200, the last Cup race run at half-mile Old Bridge (N.J.) Stadium. Johnson leads 88 laps and is the only driver on the lead lap. Dick Hutcherson finishes second and Marvin Panch third, the only drivers a lap down.

• July 8 -- 2006: Casey Mears wins the USG Durock 300 Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland for his first victory in NASCAR's top three national series. Mears beats Carl Edwards to the line by .525 seconds, and Jeff Burton is third. The top 16 finishers are full-time Cup drivers.

• July 7 -- 1991: Rickey Craven picks up his first NASCAR victory, winning the True Value 250 Nationwide Series race at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. Craven, of Newburgh, Maine, beats Tommy Houston by three-tenths of a second in the 303-lap race on the one-third-mile track. Todd Bodine is third.

• July 6 -- 1983: Butch Lindley wins the Goody's 200 in the final Nationwide Series race at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C. Lindley beats Jack Ingram to the line on the half-mile track. Jimmy Hensley is third and Tommy Houston fourth, the only other cars on the lead lap.

• July 5 -- 2002: Joe Nemechek becomes the first winner from the pole in a Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Nemechek leads 78 of 100 laps and wins the Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 by .190 seconds on Greg Biffle. Nemechek's win comes in the 22nd Nationwide race at Daytona. In 35 races, the only other drivers to win from the pole are Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003) and Tony Stewart (2008).

• July 4 -- 1971: Bobby Isaac starts 21st and wins the Firecracker 400 for his only Cup victory when he started outside the top 10. Of Isaac's 37 Cup wins, he started in the top four in 33 and sixth, seventh and seventh in the other three.

• July 3 -- 2004: Carl Edwards wins the Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway for his fifth NASCAR victory. He wins one more Truck race in 2004.

• July 2 -- 1937: Happy birthday, Richard Petty. The NASCAR legend, with 200 Cup Series wins and seven championships, is born on this day.

• July 1 -- 2000: Kurt Busch wins his first NASCAR race, the Sears DieHard 200 Truck race at The Milwaukee Mile. He leads 156 laps and beats Randy Tolsma to the finish line by .564 seconds. Greg Biffle finishes third. (Continued)