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Driver by Number: Connections and success with every car number
By Zack Albert, NASCAR.com | Published: 10 Apr, 2021 111
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NASCAR Creative Design
Who wore it best? As it applies to NASCAR, that age-old question might refer to fire suits, driving gloves or helmets. In the summer of 2019, NASCAR.com took a different tack -- with car numbers. Our Driver by Number project asked: Which driver either had the most success or was most emblematic with the closest association with every car number ever run in NASCAR's top division? The following is our full list of selections, from 1-09 -- with two new updates/selections from when this initially published.
Editor's note: Statistics last updated before the 2021 season.
Editor's note: Statistics last updated before the 2021 season.
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1: JAMIE McMURRAY
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,555
Premier-series wins for the number: 21
Analysis: McMurray made 324 starts with the No. 1, by far the most of any driver on the list. His first start with the number was a grand debut -- a victory in the 2010 Daytona 500. McMurray's four wins with the number force a tie with Donnie Allison and Billy Wade, but the significance of those triumphs -- including a Brickyard 400 victory -- wins out here.
Honorable mentions: Donnie Allison, Rick Mast, Steve Park, Martin Truex Jr., Billy Wade.
Notable: McMurray also scored eight of the 34 pole positions won by the No. 1. ... The 21 all-time wins for the No. 1 is the fewest among single-digit entries, not counting No. 0. ... Win No. 1 for car No. 1 came courtesy of Lloyd Dane, who prevailed on Sept. 23, 1956 at Portland (Ore.) Speedway.
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2: RUSTY WALLACE
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,960
Premier-series wins for the number: 99
Analysis: NASCAR Hall of Famer Wallace scored 37 of his 55 career wins driving the No. 2 car for team owner Roger Penske. Brad Keselowski's 33 in the Deuce are an impressive second-best.
Honorable mentions: Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Bobby Allison.
Notable: The No. 2 has the third-most usages in premier-series history, and the fourth-most wins. ... Bill Blair netted the first win in NASCAR's top division for the No. 2, leading 176 of 200 laps at the Vernon (N.Y.) Fairgrounds on June 18, 1950.
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3: DALE EARNHARDT
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,390
Premier-series wins for the number: 100
Analysis: One of the easiest choices on the list. Dale Earnhardt made the No. 3 iconic, both with his bigger-than-life persona and by scoring 67 of his 76 wins with the number. He became "The Intimidator" and "The Man in Black" carrying the No. 3 with him for nearly two decades.
Honorable mentions: Junior Johnson, Richard Childress, Paul Goldsmith.
Notable: Dick Rathman handed the number its first major-league win on March 28, 1954 at Oakland (Calif.) Stadium. ... Earnhardt made 529 of his 676 career starts driving the No. 3.
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4: KEVIN HARVICK
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,685
Premier-series wins for the number: 80
Analysis: Hall of Famer Rex White may have a strong association with the number, driving No. 4 for the bulk of his brief career and netting 26 of his 28 wins with that numeral. But Harvick has surpassed him in the win column (35 wins) and as our pick.
Honorable mentions: Rex White, Sterling Marlin, Ernie Irvan, John Sears.
Notable: The Jaguar that Al Keller drove to victory in 1954 at the Linden (N.J.) Airport road course wore No. 4. ... The No. 4 has prevailed in the Daytona 500 three times: Twice with Sterling Marlin and once with Ernie Irvan -- with all three rides fielded by Morgan-McClure Motorsports.
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5: TERRY LABONTE
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,569
Premier-series wins for the number: 45
Analysis: Texas Terry's 12 wins in the No. 5 are the most of any driver, and his tenure with the number also brought the second of his two Cup Series championships in 1996. A long-running partnership with sponsor Kellogg's (1994-2004) also forged some of the sport's most memorable paint schemes.
Honorable mentions: Geoffrey Bodine, Kasey Kahne.
Notable: Of the 45 all-time wins for the No. 5, 38 of those have come under the Hendrick Motorsports banner. ... The number has been out of rotation in the Cup Series since the end of the 2017 season, but was brought back by HMS for 2021.
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6: MARK MARTIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,723
Premier-series wins for the number: 83
Analysis: Mark Martin recorded 35 of 40 wins in his Hall of Fame career using Roush Fenway Racing's flagship No. 6. That stretch of success came in 617 starts over a nearly two-decade connection (1988-2006) with the car number, the longest of any driver.
Honorable mentions: David Pearson, Cotton Owens, Marshall Teague.
Notable: NASCAR Hall of Famer Cotton Owens gathered 38 wins as a team owner -- 34 using No. 6 and four using No. 5. David Pearson was credited with 27 of those wins with the No. 6. ... Marshall Teague's Hudson Hornet wore No. 6 as it flew to back-to-back wins on the Daytona Beach-Road Course in 1951-52.
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7: ALAN KULWICKI
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,530
Premier-series wins for the number: 23
Analysis: Jim Reed heads the all-time win list for the No. 7 with seven triumphs, but Alan Kulwicki's independent march to the 1992 championship as an owner-driver seals his legend with the car number.
Honorable mentions: Jim Reed, Bob Flock, Geoffrey Bodine.
Notable: The first victory from the pole position in series history came with Bob Flock driving the No. 7. He led all 200 laps at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsborough, North Carolina on Aug. 7, 1949. ... The most recent win for the No. 7 was also Geoffrey Bodine's final Cup Series victory -- Aug. 11, 1996 at Watkins Glen International.
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8: DALE EARNHARDT JR.
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,398
Premier-series wins for the number: 38
Analysis: Interestingly, only three drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history have won with the No. 8 -- Earnhardt (17 wins), Joe Weatherly (20 wins) and Bobby Hillin Jr. (one win). Weatherly's link to the number lasted just three seasons, but brought home two premier-series titles. Earnhardt's connection yielded a Daytona 500 win, an era of dominance at Talladega and a bounty of fans in an eight-year tenure. That length of service, plus the number's close ties to the Earnhardt family, give the slight edge to Dale Jr.
Honorable mentions: Joe Weatherly, Ed Negre.
Notable: The No. 8 was out of service from early in the 2009 season until Daniel Hemric's rise to the Cup Series for two races in 2018 and full time in 2019. ... Ed Negre made 284 starts using the No. 8, second only to Earnhardt Jr.'s 291. Negre gave Dale Earnhardt Sr. his first Cup Series start in 1975 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in his No. 8.
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9: BILL ELLIOTT
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,659
Premier-series wins for the number: 64
Analysis: Another of the easier choices on the numeric list, Bill Elliott notched 38 of his 44 career wins driving the No. 9 in a Hall of Fame career. His ties to the number spanned 446 starts, from his Cup Series debut in 1976 to the end of his full-time driving days in 2003 -- with multiyear stints driving the Nos. 11 and 94 in between.
Honorable mentions: Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne, Roy Tyner.
Notable: Hall of Famer Herb Thomas posted the first Cup Series triumph for the No. 9, prevailing from the pole at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Oct. 26, 1952. In the series' next race, he handed the No. 9 Hudson to his brother, Donald, who drove to victory from the pole at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta. The number didn't win again until Bill Elliott's breakthrough win in the 1983 season finale. ... Kasey Kahne's 11 wins in the No. 9 is second-best all-time. ... Most recent winner in this number is Chase Elliott, Bill's son, who won the 2020 Cup Series championship.
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10: RICKY RUDD
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,426
Premier-series wins for the number: 11
Analysis: Rudd made his Cup Series debut in Bill Champion's No. 10, then used the number again when he left Hendrick Motorsports to compete as an owner-driver in 1994. Rudd won at least one race in the next five seasons, part of a remarkable 16-year run with at least one win per season. Rudd accounts for six of the 11 all-time wins for the No. 10.
Honorable mentions: Derrike Cope, Bill Champion, Danica Patrick.
Notable: The car number went nearly 14 years without a top-five finish until Greg Sacks drove an unheralded No. 10 to an upset victory at Daytona in July 1985. The next top-five effort for the No. 10 came nearly 4 1/2 years later with Derrike Cope's underdog win in the 1990 Daytona 500. ... Bill Champion's 244 starts with the No. 10 are the most of any driver.
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11: CALE YARBOROUGH
Premier-series starts for the number: 2,060
Premier-series wins for the number: 224
Analysis: Plenty of heavy hitters to consider here, and rightly so for the winningest number in Cup Series history. Give the narrow edge to Cale Yarborough, who is in the books for 55 wins and three championships over eight seasons with No. 11, a shade more than Ned Jarrett (49 wins, two titles), Denny Hamlin (44 wins) and Darrell Waltrip (43 wins, three titles).
Honorable mentions: Ned Jarrett, Darrell Waltrip, Junior Johnson, Denny Hamlin.
Notable: The No. 11 also tops the series' all-time stats in laps led, top fives and top 10s. Amazingly, the No. 11 has recorded top-10 finishes in more than half of its starts. ... All but one of Ned Jarrett's 50 Cup Series wins came in the No. 11; his other winning number -- 38.
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12: BOBBY ALLISON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,416
Premier-series wins for the number: 60
Analysis: Bobby Allison registered 25 of his Cup Series victories with the No. 12, the first wave coming in the early 1970s with the iconic "Coke Machine" colors and later in his final triumph in the 1988 Daytona 500. Only Ryan Newman's baker's dozen of wins (from 2002-08) come close to Allison's mark.
Honorable mentions: Ryan Newman, Neil Bonnett, Ralph Moody.
Notable: Allison continued with No. 12 as a car owner from 1990-96. ... Ryan Blaney's triumph in the 2018 debut for the Charlotte Motor Speedway road-course layout was the first win by the No. 12 in more than 10 years, dating back to Newman's 2008 Daytona 500 victory.
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13: SMOKEY YUNICK
Premier-series starts for the number: 650
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Through history, there's a bout of triskaidekaphobia on NASCAR entry lists. Master mechanic Smokey Yunick scoffed at the bad-luck number with a series of sinister, black-and-gold No. 13s through the 1960s, including one that propelled Johnny Rutherford to the number's lone Cup Series win in a 1963 Daytona 500 qualifier. Until recently, team owners shied away from No. 13 until Germain Racing rejuvenated it in 2009. Without a clear front-runner for a lightly used number, the edge goes to Yunick -- we get he's not a driver -- over Casey Mears' longevity (seven seasons and more than a third of the No. 13's starts in NASCAR history).
Honorable mentions: Curtis Turner, Johnny Rutherford, Casey Mears, Ty Dillon, Jerry Nadeau.
Notable: The No. 13 has two pole positions -- both with Turner driving a Smokey Yunick-prepared entry. One came at Atlanta in 1966; the other fell in the Daytona 500 the following year. ... Richard Childress' Cup Series debut came in a Chevrolet with No. 13 in the first-ever race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969. ... NFL legend Dan Marino's brief stint as a team co-owner in NASCAR yielded a brief return for the No. 13, the quarterback's jersey number during his time with the Miami Dolphins.
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14: TONY STEWART
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,273
Premier-series wins for the number: 44
Analysis: Tony Stewart holds the all-time mark with 16 wins for the No. 14, including his storybook march to the 2011 series championship. When he formed his own team in 2009, Stewart opted to honor his hero, A.J. Foyt, with his choice of No. 14, a number he continues to field for Chase Briscoe as a co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing.
Honorable mentions: Fonty Flock, Jim Paschal, Hershel McGriff, Coo Coo Marlin.
Notable: Amazingly, the No. 14 went 40 years between wins -- from Bobby Allison's 1969 triumph at Montgomery (Ala.) Speedway to Tony Stewart's first as an owner-driver in 2009 at Pocono. ... None of A.J. Foyt's seven Cup Series victories came with the No. 14.
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15: BUD MOORE
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,463
Premier-series wins for the number: 43
Analysis: We break form again with the focus on drivers here, only because of how intertwined the No. 15 is with legendary car owner and crew chief Bud Moore. The NASCAR Hall of Famer posted 35 of his 63 wins with the car number over a span of 1975-93. Few drivers spent more than three seasons with the No. 15; fewer still achieved a level anywhere near Moore's success.
Honorable mentions: Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Ricky Rudd, Michael Waltrip.
Notable: Bobby Allison scored 14 wins with No. 15 in a three-year run with Moore. No other driver of the No. 15 has more than five. ... Buddy Baker has the most pole positions with the No. 15, a total of seven from 1974-76.
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16: GREG BIFFLE
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,152
Premier-series wins for the number: 32
Analysis: Greg Biffle raked in more than half of the wins recorded by the No. 16, scoring all 19 of his Cup Series victories with that number. Included with that list were two dominant triumphs at Darlington Raceway.
Honorable mentions: Darel Dieringer, Glen Wood, Ted Musgrave.
Notable: The No. 16 went nearly 28 years without a win, spanning Bobby Allison's Darlington win in an AMC Matador in the 1975 Southern 500 to Biffle's breakthrough victory at Daytona in 2003. ... All four of Glen Wood's premier-series wins came at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina -- three of them with the No. 16.
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17: MATT KENSETH
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,771
Premier-series wins for the number: 71
Analysis: David Pearson actually has more wins than Matt Kenseth with the No. 17 -- Pearson's 30 to Kenseth's 24 -- but Pearson's link to another famed numeral in No. 21 is far richer. Kenseth's stats are no slouch either, including the 2003 Cup championship and a pair of Daytona 500 wins (2009, 2012) with Roush Fenway Racing. He also has the most starts in the No. 17 with 471.
Honorable mentions: David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip.
Notable: Only four drivers have won in the Cup Series with the No. 17 -- Kenseth, Pearson, Waltrip and a pair of victories contributed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2017.
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18: KYLE BUSCH
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,500
Premier-series wins for the number: 77
Analysis: Kyle Busch accounts for roughly two-thirds of the premier-series victories posted by the No. 18, with 53 -- and two championships -- carrying Joe Gibbs Racing's flagship number. Bobby Labonte is second-best, with all 21 of his Cup Series wins coming in the No. 18, including the 2000 title.
Honorable mentions: Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Joe Frasson.
Notable: The No. 18 had only won once in NASCAR's top division before Joe Gibbs Racing adopted it full time. That victory came courtesy of California driver Marvin Burke on Oct. 14, 1951, at Oakland Stadium's .625-mile dirt track. ... It would be just over 41 years until the No. 18 would win again, when Dale Jarrett triumphed in the 1993 Daytona 500.
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19: MARTIN TRUEX JR.
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,538
Premier-series wins for the number: 16
Analysis: Among the 25 most-used numbers in Cup Series history, the No. 19 has one of the lowest win totals. Carl Edwards' five victories made him our initial pick, but Martin Truex Jr.'s stellar seven-win season in 2019 quickly gave him the all-time lead for the No. 19.
Honorable mentions: Carl Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield, Elliott Sadler, Henley Gray.
Notable: Henley Gray's association with the No. 19 -- both as a driver and car owner -- for nearly 15 years earns him a spot in the mentions. His time as an owner included one spot start for Dale Earnhardt at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1977.
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20: TONY STEWART
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,237
Premier-series wins for the number: 53
Analysis: The second chart-topping mention for Tony Stewart comes with the No. 20, the number that launched his Cup Series career. Smoke captured two championships and 33 wins with the number. Matt Kenseth is a not-so-close second with 15 wins in a five-year span with No. 20.
Honorable mentions: Matt Kenseth, Clyde Lynn.
Notable: Before Stewart's first Cup victory in the fall of 1999, the No. 20 had only won once in NASCAR's top division. But that lone win was a big one, with Marvin Panch stunning the 1961 Daytona 500 field in a year-old Pontiac prepared by Smokey Yunick.
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21: DAVID PEARSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,616
Premier-series wins for the number: 92
Analysis: David Pearson's excellence was perhaps at its finest in the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Mercury. He recorded 43 of his 105 wins in a seven-plus-year stretch, an even more impressive feat considering that the team ran only partial schedules during the 1970s.
Honorable mentions: Cale Yarborough, Marvin Panch, Neil Bonnett.
Notable: Trevor Bayne's surprise win in the 2011 Daytona 500 ended a nearly 10-year drought for the No. 21. ... The first Cup Series winner to carry No. 21 was Harold Kite, who made just nine starts in his racing career, but debuted with a triumph on the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1950.
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22: FIREBALL ROBERTS
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,564
Premier-series wins for the number: 82
Analysis: Fireball Roberts rose to become one of NASCAR's brightest early stars flying the No. 22. Of his 33 career wins, 30 came with that car number, including the 1962 Daytona 500.
Honorable mentions: Joey Logano, Bobby Allison, Red Byron, Ward Burton.
Notable: Byron, NASCAR's first Strictly Stock champion, drove Raymond Parks' No. 22 to two wins in the series' first season. ... Allison (1983) and Logano (2018) each secured championships with the number. Logano has scored 24 of his 26 career wins with the No. 22; Allison has 17.
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23: FRANK MUNDY
Premier-series starts for the number: 856
Premier-series wins for the number: 3
Analysis: The number most closely associated with Michael Jordan in the sports world hasn't had quite the same legendary impact in NASCAR -- although that could change with Jordan launching a new NASCAR team in 2021 with co-owner Denny Hamlin and driver Bubba Wallace. Frank Mundy enjoyed a brief window of success in stock-car racing's early days, driving Perry Smith's No. 23 Studebaker to a pair of wins and four pole positions in the 1951 season -- stats that outweigh Jimmy Spencer's five journeyman seasons with Travis Carter's No. 23 team (1995-99).
Honorable mentions: Jimmy Spencer.
Notable: The last win for a No. 23 in NASCAR's top division came March 28, 1954, with Al Keller wheeling a Hudson to a two-lap margin of victory at Oglethorpe Speedway in Savannah. ... Among his more noteworthy distinctions in the No. 23, Mundy won the pole for the 1951 Southern 500 then retired after just 12 laps with oil pressure issues, finishing last in an 82-car field. ... Jimmy Spencer scored eight top-five finishes in 158 starts with the No. 23, finishing second twice (Talladega in 1998, Bristol in 1999).
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24: JEFF GORDON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,558
Premier-series wins for the number: 94
Analysis: Another slam-dunk of a decision. Jeff Gordon is only one of two drivers to win with the No. 24 in NASCAR's top series, and his tally of 93 career wins place him third on the sport's all-time list. It also elevated his car number to legendary status in stock-car racing history.
Honorable mentions: Cecil Gordon, William Byron.
Notable: Jeff Gordon's iconic number was actually an 11th-hour switch. According to his longtime crew chief Ray Evernham, Gordon's car was initially supposed to don No. 46, but a licensing agreement with "Days of Thunder" prevented its use after filming. ... Cecil Gordon (no relation) ran the majority of his 449 winless starts as an owner/driver with the No. 24. The closest he came to victory with the number was a second-place finish at Dover in 1975, ending up seven laps down to race winner David Pearson. ... William Byron won in the regular-season finale at Daytona in 2020, becoming just the second driver to carry the number to victory.
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25: TIM RICHMOND
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,320
Premier-series wins for the number: 21
Analysis: Richmond captured nine of his 13 career wins driving the No. 25 for team owner Rick Hendrick, making him the winningest driver with that car number. Hendrick enjoyed eight more wins with No. 25, divided among five drivers and led by Ken Schrader's four triumphs.
Honorable mentions: Ken Schrader, Jabe Thomas.
Notable: All nine of Richmond's wins in car No. 25 came in a productive 54-week span from June 1986 to 1987. ... Virginia native Jabe Thomas, a noted prankster in the NASCAR garage, made a series-topping 307 starts in the No. 25 from 1965-76. The number stayed in the family upon his retirement from driving with his son, Ronnie, wheeling No. 25 for most of the next six seasons. ... The No. 25 went without a victory for 36 years after Dick Linder's three-win season in 1950 until Richmond went on his winning tear.
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26: JUNIOR JOHNSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,106
Premier-series wins for the number: 22
Analysis: Johnson, a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame's inaugural class, scored his 50 premier-series wins in five different car numbers, but saved his final dozen victories for the No. 26 in 1965, his next-to-last season behind the wheel. No other driver has more than two wins with the number.
Honorable mentions: Curtis Turner, Ricky Rudd, Earl Brooks.
Notable: NASCAR Hall of Famer Curtis Turner was the first to win with No. 26, prevailing in 1958 at Atlanta's famed Lakewood Speedway. ... Champion drag racer Kenny Bernstein fielded the No. 26 in a 10-year stint as a NASCAR team owner. That tenure included three wins -- two from Ricky Rudd and one from Brett Bodine -- and also featured sprint-car champ Steve Kinser's five-race foray into big-league NASCAR racing. ... The last driver to win with No. 26: Jamie McMurray, piloting a Roush Fenway Racing Ford in November of 2009 at Talladega Superspeedway.
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27: RUSTY WALLACE
Premier-series starts for the number:1,163
Premier-series wins for the number:52
Analysis: Wallace may have a closer connection with the No. 2, but his time (1986-1990) with Raymond Beadle's Blue Max No. 27 team deserves an appreciation. Wallace posted 18 of his 55 career wins and marched to the 1989 championship in the No. 27. Junior Johnson is the only other driver to reach double digits in the No. 27 win column, with 13 victories from 1960-65, including the 1960 Daytona 500.
Honorable mentions: Junior Johnson, Donnie Allison, Benny Parsons.
Notable: Five of Wallace's 18 wins with the No. 27 came in road-course events, including the final race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway in 1988. ... Legendary car builder Banjo Matthews' No. 27 was the home for many legends in the 1960s and '70s. Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, Donnie Allison and Bobby Isaac were among those to carry the number in NASCAR's top series.
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28: DAVEY ALLISON
Premier-series starts for the number:1,036
Premier-series wins for the number:76
Analysis: One of the most difficult decisions on this list. Fred Lorenzen's win tally in the No. 28 actually exceeds Davey Allison's by a 25-to-19 margin, and both won the Daytona 500 and achieved Hall of Fame status in their careers. But Allison's legacy with the number and engine builder/team owner Robert Yates continued for years after his death in an aviation accident in 1993, a memory still carried by legions of fans.
Honorable mentions: Fred Lorenzen, Cale Yarborough, Ernie Irvan, Buddy Baker.
Notable: After Allison and Lorenzen, Yarborough is third on the No. 28's win list with nine wins in the 1980s. That stretch included back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 1983-84. ... The Harry Ranier "Gray Ghost" ride ranks among the legendary paint schemes donned by the No. 28. Buddy Baker and Bobby Allison -- both Hall of Famers -- piloted its silver-and-black colors. ... Sports-car ace Dan Gurney dabbled in NASCAR, most notably at Riverside International Raceway's winding road course in California. The first of his five premier-series wins was in a Holman-Moody-prepared No. 28 Ford.
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29: KEVIN HARVICK
Premier-series starts for the number:924
Premier-series wins for the number:40
Analysis: Kevin Harvick's association with the No. 29 represents an important chapter in Richard Childress Racing's history. With the sports world still staggered by the loss of Dale Earnhardt in 2001, the No. 3 team was hastily rebranded as No. 29 with Harvick named as the driver. His victory at Atlanta just three races after Earnhardt's passing provided a comforting moment that all of the garage needed. Harvick's 23 wins with the number are the most all-time. The splendid Dick Hutcherson is next-closest with 13.
Honorable mentions: Dick Hutcherson, Nelson Stacy.
Notable: The No. 29 was last used when Harvick left the Childress team after the 2013 season. Harvick won with it in his next-to-last race with RCR, at Phoenix that November. ... The No. 29 went nearly 34 years without a win, between Hutcherson's last in 1967 and Harvick's first in 2001 -- which both came at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ... Nelson Stacy won just four times with No. 29, but two of those victories carried high ratings on the prestige scale -- the 1961 Southern 500 and the 1962 World 600. ... Harvick has the most all-time starts with the No. 29 -- 466, more than half of its appearances in the series' history.
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30: MICHAEL WALTRIP
Premier-series starts for the number:1,063
Premier-series wins for the number:1
Analysis: The lone victory for No. 30 in NASCAR's premier series came in Speedy Thompson's only start with the number. The closer link and most extensive history with the car number, though, are Michael Waltrip's ties over a nine-season span (1987-95). Waltrip holds the most top fives and top 10s with the No. 30 and accounts for nearly a quarter of its all-time starts.
Honorable mentions: Walter Ballard, Dave Marcis, Tighe Scott, Speedy Thompson.
Notable: Cale Yarborough made three starts with No. 30, including his Cup Series debut in the 1957 Southern 500 at Darlington. Yarborough's first start ended after just 31 laps because of a broken hub; he finished 42nd in the 50-car field and won $100. ... Waltrip's closest brush with victory in the No. 30 also marked his first top-five finish. Waltrip took second behind winner Geoff Bodine in June 1988 at Pocono Raceway.
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31: JEFF BURTON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,180
Premier-series wins for the number: 8
Analysis: Richard Childress Racing holds a monopoly on all eight of the No. 31's wins in NASCAR's top series, and Jeff Burton tops the chart with four of those -- just ahead of Robby Gordon's three and Ryan Newman's one. Plus, Burton has the most all-time starts with the number: 324 from 2005-2013.
Honorable mentions: Mike Skinner, Robby Gordon, Ryan Newman, Jim Vandiver
Notable: The number was used in the first premier-series race in 1949 (Sterling Long finished seventh in a Hudson), but made 565 winless starts before Robby Gordon's breakthrough in the 2001 season finale at New Hampshire. ... Mike Skinner holds the mark for most poles with the No. 31, netting five (to Burton's four) during his 157-start run with the number from 1996-2001. ... Jeff Burton isn't the only keeper of the No. 31 in the family. His brother, Ward, made 46 starts with No. 31 from 1994-95.
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32: RICKY CRAVEN
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,000
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: The lone pair of victories for the car number belongs to Ricky Craven, who prevailed at two of NASCAR's most historic tracks -- Martinsville and Darlington -- during his 2001-04 tenure with team owner Cal Wells' No. 32. The last of those wins was etched in dramatic, fender-scraping fashion by .002 seconds over Kurt Busch in a 2003 Darlington classic. Craven also is the only driver to win a pole position with the number, snagging three in a 19-race span from 2001-02.
Honorable mentions: Dick Brooks, Brownie King.
Notable: Dick Brooks held the No. 32 as a driver-owner on a part-time basis from 1969-1974. In between, he claimed his lone Cup Series win in a Talladega 500 upset in 1973, driving the Crawford Brothers’ No. 22 Plymouth. ... Brooks holds the mark for most top-10 finishes in the No. 32, with 34 to Craven's 24. ... Hall of Famer Alan Kulwicki made his premier-series debut with No. 32.
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33: HARRY GANT
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,156
Premier-series wins for the number: 23
Analysis: Another of the easier choices on the list, Harry Gant is deeply linked to the No. 33, which he campaigned from 1981-94 with classic green-and-white Skoal Bandit colors. Gant accounts for 18 of the 23 victories for the No. 33, including a historic four-race win streak in 1991 at age 51. He also tops the No. 33 charts in most major categories, including starts, top fives, top 10s and pole positions.
Honorable mentions: Clint Bowyer, Ken Schrader.
Notable: Gant's first win (in April 1982 at Martinsville) broke a nearly 31-year drought for the car number, dating back 248 races to Lou Figaro's only Cup Series triumph. Figaro led all 200 laps on June 30, 1951 at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California, for the No. 33's first win. ... Gant finished second six times in the No. 33 before finally netting his first win. ... Besides Gant, Clint Bowyer is the only other driver with multiple wins with the No. 33. Bowyer won three times -- including twice at Talladega -- during his three-season run with Richard Childress Racing (2009-11).
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34: WENDELL SCOTT
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,075
Premier-series wins for the number: 4
Analysis: The four victories among four drivers with the No. 34 each merit significant distinctions, but no connection to the No. 34 is stronger than Wendell Scott's. The lone African-American driver to win a premier-series race faithfully flew the number for 469 of his 495 Cup Series starts from 1961-73. That included his only triumph, posted in December 1963 at Jacksonville, Florida.
Honorable mentions: Jim Roper, David Ragan.
Notable:The first-ever Strictly Stock (now Cup Series) race was won by Jim Roper with a Lincoln that wore No. 34. Roper was declared the winner after Glenn Dunaway's first-finishing Ford was disqualified. ... After Scott's historic win, it was 49-plus years until the No. 34 won again, this time with David Ragan prevailing in May 2013 at Talladega. The most recent No. 34 to win was Chris Buescher's Ford in the fog in August 2016 at Pocono. ... Scott holds the most top-five and top-10 finishes with the car number.
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35: BENNY PARSONS
Premier-series starts for the number: 322
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: A lightly used number in the middle of the 30s belongs to NASCAR Hall of Famer Benny Parsons, though his connection to No. 35 lasted just one season (1987). That brief stint with Hendrick Motorsports, however, produced six top-five finishes, more than the No. 35 had achieved in total to that point. Parsons also placed the No. 35 in Victory Lane for a Daytona 500 qualifying race before the '87 season.
Honorable mentions: Alan Kulwicki.
Notable: The only premier-series pole position by the No. 35 emerged from West Coast driver Mel Larson, who started first and finished second at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in April 1960. ... Parsons finished second three times in an effort to help the No. 35 scratch the win column. His most prominent runner-up result came in the 1987 Daytona 500.
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David Taylor | Allsport
36: ERNIE IRVAN
Premier-series starts for the number: 748
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Without any wins as a measuring stick, pole positions may be the next best thing. That's where Ernie Irvan's mark of three pole positions in nearly two seasons with the No. 36 shine through. The eye-catching Skittles paint scheme on those MB2 Motorsports entries also helped to cement part of that legacy at the end of Irvan's career.
Honorable mentions: Larry Thomas, Tommy Irwin, H.B. Bailey, Ken Schrader.
Notable: Tommy Irwin came closest to notching a victory with the No. 36, registering the car number's only runner-up finish in June 1959 at Columbia (S.C.) Speedway. Irwin also claimed two poles with the number. ... Larry Thomas holds the most top-10 finishes with the No. 36, using the number for the majority of his four-season career (1961-64). Thomas, 29, lost his life in a highway crash in January 1965 on his way to a Goodyear tire test in Atlanta. ... The No. 36 went 26 years between top-five finishes, from Frank Warren's fifth in Houston in 1971 to Derrike Cope's fifth at Atlanta in 1997.
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David Taylor | Allsport
37: JOHN ANDRETTI
Premier-series starts for the number: 631
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: John Andretti's first steady ride in NASCAR came with Michael Kranefuss' No. 37, starting a nearly two-season run together in 1995. The number does not have a rich history, but Andretti contributed one of its two poles, starting first in the 1995 Southern 500 at Darlington.
Honorable mentions: Tiny Lund, Chris Buescher.
Notable: Bobby Isaac gathered the lone victory on the No. 37's record in one of just six starts with the car number. That triumph -- posted at Columbia (S.C.) Speedway in 1968 -- was the second of his 37 Cup Series victories. ... No driver has posted more than three top-five finishes with the No. 37.
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38: ELLIOTT SADLER
Premier-series starts for the number: 871
Premier-series wins for the number: 7
Analysis: Only four drivers have won with the No. 38, led by Gwyn Staley's three in a three-week span in 1957. But Elliott Sadler's two wins combine with longevity to form a stronger bond. Sadler drove Robert Yates Racing's No. 38 for nearly four seasons, leading the car number's stats in top fives, top 10s and all-time poles (seven).
Honorable mentions: Gwyn Staley, David Gilliland, Wayne Smith.
Notable: The most recent win for the No. 38 also represented Sadler's final trip to Victory Lane in the premier series. He edged Kasey Kahne to prevail in September 2004 at Auto Club Speedway. ... David Gilliland holds the all-time mark for most starts with the No. 38 -- 243 appearances split between two teams, Yates Racing and Front Row Motorsports. His father, Butch, also used the No. 38 in his three premier-series starts, all of which came at Sonoma Raceway.
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39: RYAN NEWMAN
Premier-series starts for the number: 426
Premier-series wins for the number: 4
Analysis: All four of the No. 39's major-league wins belong to Ryan Newman, who campaigned the number from 2009-13 in Stewart-Haas Racing's formative years. Among those victories was a signature triumph from the pole in 2013 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Newman also sits atop several key categories for No. 39, leading in pole positions, top fives, top 10s and all-time starts.
Honorable mentions: Friday Hassler.
Notable: The No. 39 was used sparingly after part-timer Blackie Wangerin's final start in 1984, making just 15 starts before Newman adopted it full-time 25 years later. ... Raymond "Friday" Hassler made 119 starts in the No. 39 from 1961 until his death in a Daytona qualifying race in 1972. Hassler earned his nickname from the character Friday in the novel "Robinson Crusoe," because of his diligent work as a garage helper in his childhood. ... Only four drivers have pole-position starts with the No. 39. Besides Newman (eight poles) and Hassler (two), Darel Dieringer and Danny Letner have one pole each with the car number.
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40: STERLING MARLIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 949
Premier-series wins for the number: 9
Analysis: Sterling Marlin tops most major statistical categories for the No. 40, including wins (four), starts (275) and pole positions (four). His connection comes with a gap: Marlin used No. 40 in one of his earliest Cup appearances in 1980, then became reunited with the car number for his productive tenure with team owners Felix Sabates and Chip Ganassi from 1998-2005.
Honorable mentions: Pete Hamilton, D.K. Ulrich.
Notable: Tim Richmond made his NASCAR premier series debut in the No. 40, driving for D.K. Ulrich, a longtime owner-driver. Ulrich used the No. 40 in 178 of his 273 big-league starts as a driver. ... Jamie McMurray's stunning first win in just his second Cup Series start came as a substitute for the injured Marlin in 2002. His first six starts came in the No. 40, and he used the car number for his final Cup Series start in the 2019 Daytona 500.
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41: CURTIS TURNER
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,187
Premier-series wins for the number: 29
Analysis: The go-for-broke Hall of Famer Curtis Turner established a high bar for success with the No. 41 early on, recording 12 of its 29 wins and landing nine pole positions. The first two of those wins came at the treacherous Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway in 1949 and '50; his last win with No. 41 -- and the final victory of his career -- made history as he captured the series' first race at the new 1.017-mile track at Rockingham, North Carolina, in 1965, driving for the Wood Brothers.
Honorable mentions: Kurt Busch, Richard Petty.
Notable: Turner used the No. 41 in 72 of his 184 career starts, including in the first Strictly Stock (now NASCAR Cup Series) race in 1949; he finished ninth. Turner also won with Nos. 21, 26, 44 and 99. ... Richard Petty won six times with the No. 41 from 1963-64. Three Petty family members competed with the car number, including Richard's father, Lee (six career starts) and his brother Maurice (nine starts). ... Kurt Busch's five-season term (2014-18) with Stewart-Haas Racing produced six wins. The first of those ended a drought of a little more than 48 years for the No. 41, spanning from Turner's last win to Busch's first with the car number at Martinsville in March 2014. ... Cole Custer added to the number's history, winning at Kentucky Speedway in his rookie season of 2020.
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42: LEE PETTY
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,613
Premier-series wins for the number: 75
Analysis: A straightforward choice here, Lee Petty notched all but one of his 54 premier-series wins (11th all-time) driving the No. 42 -- the other victory came with the No. 43 later made famous by his son Richard. Lee Petty's association with the car number lasted for the majority of his career in NASCAR's early days, when he became the first three-time champion of its top division.
Honorable mentions: Kyle Petty, Kyle Larson, Jim Paschal, Juan Pablo Montoya.
Notable: Three generations of Pettys have won with the No. 42 -- Lee, Richard (two wins) and Kyle (six wins). Lee Petty won at least once in each of NASCAR's first 13 seasons. ... The No. 42 went nearly 24 years between wins, from Marvin Panch's lone win with it in the 1966 Coca-Cola 600 to Kyle Petty's first victory for car owner Felix Sabates at Rockingham in 1990. ... Kyle Larson is the most recent premier-series winner with the No. 42. Before him, it was Juan Pablo Montoya, who made the list with two victories using the car number (Sonoma 2007 and Watkins Glen 2010).
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43: RICHARD PETTY
Premier-series starts for the number: 2,133
Premier-series wins for the number: 199
Analysis: Another selection that's not up for debate, Richard Petty established his stock-car kingdom on the shoulders of the No. 43, making the number one of the most iconic in all forms of motorsport. The No. 43 is second only to the No. 11 (213 victories) in all-time wins, and Petty accounts for all but seven of those triumphs -- part of his historic 200-win record.
Honorable mentions: Bobby Hamilton, John Andretti, Aric Almirola.
Notable: The number is the most-used in NASCAR premier-series history, with Richard Petty -- the sport's all-time leader in starts -- making more than half of those appearances. ... The first-ever win for the No. 43 stayed in the family, with Lee Petty prevailing at North Wilkesboro Speedway in April 1959. The only other drivers to win with No. 43: Jim Paschal (two wins), Bobby Hamilton (two), and John Andretti and Aric Almirola (one each. ... Petty Enterprises shelved the No. 43 for one season after Richard Petty's retirement at the end of 1992. Rick Wilson replaced Petty, but the car was changed to No. 44 for the '93 season. Petty Enterprises brought the No. 43 back when Wally Dallenbach Jr. joined the team to start 1994, with Petty reasoning, "It's been good for us. Maybe 44 was just 'too heavy' for us."
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44: TERRY LABONTE
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,009
Premier-series wins for the number: 13
Analysis: Before Terry Labonte became a more familiar presence with the No. 5, he laid the groundwork for his Hall of Fame legacy with the No. 44. Labonte won six times with the No. 44, including his stunning breakthrough in the 1980 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, then secured his first series championship in 1984 for team owner Billy Hagan with the car number.
Honorable mentions: Bob Welborn, Rex White.
Notable: Aside from Labonte, only Rex White has multiple wins (two in the 1958 season) with the No. 44. The car number's other winners (one each): Curtis Turner, Lloyd Dane, Bob Welborn and Jim Paschal. ... Labonte also claimed 16 pole positions from 1981-86 with No. 44, tops for the car number. It would be 21-plus years until the most recent pole position for the No. 44, which was delivered by David Reutimann in the 2008 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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45: EDDIE PAGAN
Premier-series starts for the number: 829
Premier-series wins for the number: 6
Analysis: Californian Eddie Pagan made the most of the series' early ventures to the West Coast, claiming four of the car number's six wins -- two in his home state and two in Oregon. Pagan made just 62 premier-series starts, and all but a dozen came with No. 45. Despite the brief tenure, he also leads the car number's stats in pole positions (six) and top-five finishes.
Honorable mentions: Bill Seifert, Adam Petty, Kyle Petty, LeeRoy Yarbrough.
Notable: LeeRoy Yarbrough is the only other driver to carry No. 45 to victory, scoring the first two big-league wins of his career in the 1964 campaign. ... Adam Petty, the fourth generation of the racing family, made just one Cup Series start in the No. 45 on April 2, 2000, at Texas Motor Speedway. He died nearly six weeks later in a crash at New Hampshire. His father, Kyle, eventually took over the No. 45 car in tribute to his son, closing out his driving career with the number in 2008.
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46: SPEEDY THOMPSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 470
Premier-series wins for the number: 10
Analysis: Of the 10 victories scored by the car number, seven of those belong to Alfred Bruce Thompson, best known as "Speedy." Among his triumphs with the No. 46: the 1957 Southern 500 at Darlington as an owner/driver by a margin of three laps over Cotton Owens.
Honorable mentions: Jack Smith, Roy Mayne.
Notable: Jack Smith (two wins) and Bob Welborn (one) are the only other winners in NASCAR's top division with the No. 46. The car number has gone winless since Smith prevailed at Concord (N.C.) Speedway in November 1961, and hasn't recorded a top-five finish since Roy Mayne placed fifth at Augusta (Ga.) Speedway in November 1965. ... Eerily, Thompson died one day before turning 46 years old. During a Late Model race at Metrolina Speedway near Charlotte, Thompson stopped against a retaining wall and was found unresponsive by medical personnel. At the time he was stricken, Thompson's 20 premier-series wins ranked among the top 10 on NASCAR's all-time list.
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47: JACK SMITH
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,156
Premier-series wins for the number: 25
Analysis: Early standout Jack Smith gathered all but three of his 21 career wins driving the No. 47, the car number he favored for most of his career (1951-64). Smith also posted 22 of his 23 career pole positions with the No. 47.
Honorable mentions: Ron Bouchard, AJ Allmendinger.
Notable: Smith was named NASCAR's Most Popular Driver in 1959, a season that produced four wins. ... Fonty Flock was the first to win with the No. 47, leading 132 of 200 laps at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway in his only triumph with the car number in 1950. ... Since 1965, only three drivers have won with the No. 47: Ron Bouchard (Talladega, 1981), Morgan Shepherd (Atlanta, 1986) and AJ Allmendinger (Watkins Glen, 2014).
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48: JIMMIE JOHNSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,597
Premier-series wins for the number: 86
Analysis: Another in a series of uncomplicated selections in the 40s, Jimmie Johnson elevated the No. 48 to the stratosphere with 83 wins and seven championships, using the number for all 632 of his Cup Series starts to date. Alex Bowman now continues to build on that legacy, taking over the No. 48 for 2021.
Honorable mentions: James Hylton.
Notable: Jimmie Johnson has switched numbers just once in his big-league career, adopting the No. 5 as part of a sponsorship promotion for the non-points 2011 NASCAR All-Star Race. ... Johnson also holds the record for most pole positions with the car number: 36. ... James Hylton, a series regular from 1966-81, scored two victories with the No. 48, including a popular triumph in the 1972 Talladega 500. His longevity with the car number rivals Johnson's: Hylton made 583 of his 602 career starts using No. 48.
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49: BOB WELBORN
Premier-series starts for the number: 669
Premier-series wins for the number: 7
Analysis: Bob Welborn reigned as champion for the first three years of the NASCAR Convertible Division, but enjoyed a measure of success on the hardtop circuit, too. That performance came in his trusty No. 49, which he piloted to five Cup Series wins in the late 1950s.
Honorable mentions: G.C. Spencer.
Notable: Welborn drove partial seasons in NASCAR's top series from 1952-64, landing nine total wins and seven poles. Among those wins was a qualifying race for the first Daytona 500 in 1959, with Welborn's No. 49 running the fastest 100 miles in auto racing history at the time, averaging 143.198 mph. ... The Convertible Division was a NASCAR series from 1956-59. The consistent Welborn won 19 times on the ragtop tour, second only to Curtis Turner's 38 convertible wins. ... Grover Clifton "G.C." Spencer was a longtime independent who made a record 237 starts in the No. 49. He netted 55 top-five finishes in his career without a win. "I thought he was the coolest guy ever to sit behind the wheel of a race car," said Darrell Waltrip, who shared roots with Spencer in Owensboro, Kentucky.
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50: GEOFFREY BODINE
Premier-series starts for the number: 320
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Among the most sparingly used round numbers, the No. 50 has no wins and just five poles in NASCAR's history books. Geoffrey Bodine carried the number best for car owner Cliff Stewart during the 1982 campaign, winning the Rookie of the Year Award with four top-five results and two pole positions.
Honorable mentions: Gober Sosebee, Ricky Craven.
Notable: The closest the No. 50 came to winning was second place twice, achieved first by Georgia legend Gober Sosebee in NASCAR's first Cup season in 1949, then Johnny Beauchamp at Daytona's Beach-Road Course in 1957. ... Bodine's two pole positions with the No. 50 came at Daytona and Talladega in the span of a month. ... Hendrick Motorsports changed car numbers from 25 to 50 for 1998 in celebration of NASCAR's 50th anniversary season. ... The No. 50 was last used by Hall of Famer Bill Elliott on July 7, 2012 at Daytona International Speedway in his final Cup Series start.
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51: GOBER SOSEBEE
Premier-series starts for the number: 642
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Gober Sosebee, a Georgia racing pioneer, favored Nos. 50 and 51 through his career in NASCAR's earliest days. But the No. 51 was the marker of record for the majority of his big-league starts, including the only two wins for the car number (Augusta, 1952; Macon, 1954). Sosebee also leads the way all time for top fives, top 10s and pole positions with the number.
Honorable mentions: A.J. Foyt, Greg Sacks.
Notable: The No. 51 was campaigned by racing legend A.J. Foyt in his occasional visits to NASCAR through the late 1970s and early '80s. He won the pole for the 1977 Winston 500 at Talladega with the car number. ... The car number has scored just two top-five finishes in the last 40 years, but both were noteworthy. Foyt drove his No. 51 Oldsmobile to third place in the historic 1979 Daytona 500, crossing the checkers just behind winner Richard Petty and runner-up Darrell Waltrip. Some 33 years later, Kurt Busch posted a third-place run at Sonoma Raceway in one of his career-best drives for car owner James Finch.
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52: JIMMY MEANS
Premier-series starts for the number: 711
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Though he never won with the No. 52, Jimmy Means earns the nod here based on his longevity, making 447 starts with the car number from 1976 to 1993. Means continues to carry the No. 52 as a current team owner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Honorable mentions: Earl Ross, E.J. Trivette.
Notable: The two premier-series victories for the No. 52 were produced by drivers who had brief NASCAR careers. Neil Cole (19 career starts) won the first at Thompson Speedway in 1951; Earl Ross (26 career starts) became the only Canadian to win a Cup Series race with his surprise Martinsville triumph as a rookie in 1974. ... Means' career-best finish was a seventh-place run at Talladega in 1983.
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53: BOB BURDICK
Premier-series starts for the number: 262
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Nebraskan Bob Burdick made just 15 career starts, but his biggest splash came with a near $16,000 payday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1961, netting the No. 53's only win. He also placed fourth with the car number in the Southern 500 at Darlington later that year.
Honorable mentions: Jimmy Helms, Slick Johnson.
Notable: Charlotte native Jimmy Helms has the most career starts with the car number (59). ... IndyCar standout Tom Sneva made two starts in the No. 53 in NASCAR's top series, finishing seventh in the Daytona 500 and 32nd at Michigan in 1983. In between those two starts, Sneva secured his only Indianapolis 500 victory. ... The No. 53 had been dormant in NASCAR's premier series for 25 years until Rick Ware Racing brought it back as a part-time third entry in 2020.
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54: LENNIE POND
Premier-series starts for the number: 468
Premier-series wins for the number: 3
Analysis: Virginian Lennie Pond piloted the No. 54 to the 1973 Rookie of the Year crown, then made his only premier-series win a sizable one, in the 1978 Talladega 500. His link with the No. 54 lasted nearly seven seasons, a longevity streak that slightly edges Jimmy Pardue -- a two-time winner in five years with the number -- for the pick here. Pond also won five poles with the No. 54 to Pardue's three.
Honorable mentions: Jimmy Pardue.
Notable: Lennie Pond's long-awaited first victory came in his 130th premier-series start in what was then the fastest 500-mile race in history at 174.700 mph. "I'd heard it all," Pond said afterward. "I'd heard I couldn't drive superspeedways. I'd heard I couldn't do a lot of things. When I went into this race, I felt to win it, I'd have to beat the whole world." ... Pardue's career overlapped with the popular police sitcom, "Car 54, Where Are You?" Playing off the show's title, Pardue's entries often had "CAR" painted above the number, with "Here I Am" neatly lettered below it. According to Pardue, the car number came before the show title: "It is a coincidence -- a rather nice coincidence, for the number has stirred a bit of comment."
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55: TINY LUND
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,110
Premier-series wins for the number: 13
Analysis: DeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund scored his biggest win in the 1963 Daytona 500 as part of a short relief stint in the No. 21, but his long tenure with the No. 55 also produced steady success. Lund used the number on a semi-regular basis from 1956-1973, logging four wins and four poles in 119 career starts with the No. 55.
Honorable mentions: Junior Johnson, Benny Parsons, Bobby Hamilton, Phil Parsons.
Notable: Junior Johnson posted the first five victories of his Hall of Fame career with the No. 55, fittingly in the 1955 season. ... Benny Parsons drove the No. 55 on a part-time basis from 1982-86 before handing the car number over to younger brother Phil Parsons for the 1987-89 campaigns. Each brother won once with the No. 55: Benny scored his final Cup Series victory with it at Atlanta in 1984; Phil bagged his only premier-series triumph at Talladega in 1988. ... Brian Vickers was the most recent winner with the No. 55, prevailing at New Hampshire in 2013.
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56: MARTIN TRUEX JR.
Premier-series starts for the number: 290
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Despite registering just one win with the No. 56, Martin Truex Jr. tops all major statistical categories with the car number -- including 144 starts, nearly half the all-time total. Those numbers also include the only three pole positions by the No. 56 -- two at Dover and one at Texas. It's the second selection for Truex Jr. on this list.
Honorable mentions: Jim Hurtubise.
Notable: Truex used the number from 2010-13 with Michael Waltrip Racing. At his introduction as the team's newest driver, Truex thanked Waltrip for allowing him to use a number that he'd held at many stages of his career. ... Jim Hurtubise was a four-time winner in USAC Champ Car competition who made 36 spot starts in NASCAR from 1957-77. His lone premier-series win was behind the wheel of a No. 56 Plymouth, taking the 1966 Atlanta 500 by one lap over Fred Lorenzen. ... The No. 56 went 40-plus years between top-five finishes: Eldon Yarbrough's fifth place at Columbia (S.C.) Speedway in September 1969, then Truex's fifth-place run at Martinsville in March 2010.
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57: HUT STRICKLIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 298
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: With no wins to speak of for the car number, the votes go to Hut Stricklin for his lone season with the fittingly sponsored Heinz No. 57 owned by Rod Osterlund. Stricklin landed his best finish with the No. 57, taking fourth at Michigan in the summer of 1989.
Honorable mentions: Johnny Halford, Jimmy Pardue, Tommy Moon, Bob Burcham, Billy Rafter.
Notable: The closest the No. 57 came to winning was a pair of runner-up finishes in the 1950s from Tommy Moon and Speedy Thompson, the only two drivers to win pole positions with the number. ... Stricklin's season coincided with his sponsor presenting the Heinz Ketchup Award as a contingency prize, given to the driver best able to "catch up" by improving his or her starting position the most.
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58: JOHNNY PATTERSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 134
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Johnny Patterson only made 20 starts with the No. 58, but that's more than enough for the all-time lead in appearances with one of the five least-used numbers in NASCAR history. Patterson also leads the car number's stats with four top fives, including a runner-up result in the 1952 Southern 500.
Honorable mentions: Johnny Allen.
Notable: Johnny Allen posted the No. 58's only premier-series win in a thriller, edging Rex White by six inches at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1962. ... The No. 58 has been out of circulation in NASCAR's top division for nearly 20 years. Its last start came with Hut Stricklin driving a Scott Barbour-owned entry to 14th place at Martinsville on Oct. 3, 1999.
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59: TOM PISTONE
Premier-series starts for the number: 239
Premier-series wins for the number: 3
Analysis: "Tiger" Tom Pistone was a semi-regular competitor at NASCAR's top level from 1955-68, making the majority of his 130 starts with No. 59. Among those drives were a pair of victories in 1959 and four pole positions in 1966.
Honorable mentions: Lloyd Moore.
Notable: Tom Pistone's first event with the No. 59 was a memorable one: a third-place finish in a qualifying race for the first Daytona 500 in 1959. Pistone eventually finished eighth in the inaugural Great American Race that season. ... Lloyd Moore scored the No. 59's only other victory, prevailing in 1950 at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway. Moore was recognized by NASCAR as its oldest living driver before his death in 2008 at age 95.
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60: DOUG COOPER
Premier-series starts for the number: 354
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Doug Cooper made 50 starts with the No. 60 over his brief career, including his march to Rookie of the Year honors in 1964. He won multiple track championships in South Carolina before rising to NASCAR's top division, where he posted the most top-five finishes (five) for the car number all-time.
Honorable mentions: Bill Rexford, Tom Cox.
Notable: Bill Rexford used the No. 60 just 14 times in his 36-race career, but one of those starts placed him among the series' list of winners with a victory at Canfield (Ohio) Speedway in 1950. ... The No. 60 appeared in NASCAR's first premier-series race in 1949, with Hall of Fame nominee Jim Paschal driving a No. 60 Ford to a 23rd-place finish.
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61: RICHIE EVANS
Premier-series starts for the number: 230
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: With so few uses of the number in NASCAR's top series, and even fewer memorable ones, going off the grid to the modified ranks and Hall of Famer Richie Evans was an easy choice. Evans was synonymous with his orange No. 61 racers, which he guided to nine national Modified Tour championships. His number was unofficially retired from Modified competition after his death in 1985.
Honorable mentions: Hoss Ellington, Joe Mihalic, Sherman Utsman.
Notable: The closest the No. 61 has come to winning in NASCAR's premier division was a third-place effort by Bill Rexford during his championship march in 1950, the series' second season. Rexford used the number just twice in his brief career. ... The most recent top-five finish for the No. 61 in Cup Series history was a fourth-place run by Clarence Lovell at Talladega Superspeedway. Five days after that career-best finish, the 26-year-old Lovell died in a highway crash in his home state of Texas. ... The last campaign for the No. 61 in the NASCAR Cup Series was 2006, when Kevin Lepage, Chad Chaffin and Stanton Barrett split time in a partial season for the Peak Fitness Racing team. The organization switched from No. 66 to 61 ahead of its final season.
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62: CURTIS CRIDER
Premier-series starts for the number: 323
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Curtis "Crawfish" Crider made 232 premier-series starts from 1959-65, using the No. 62 for the majority of those races. In addition to his long tenure with the car number, he heads the stats sheet with the most top fives and top 10s in the car number.
Honorable mentions: Frankie Schneider, Brendan Gaughan.
Notable: The lone Cup Series victory for the No. 62 came courtesy of New Jersey native Frankie Schneider, who outlasted Jack Smith in a 150-lap race at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia, on April 25, 1958. Schneider made just 27 big-league starts, spread over 1949-58. ... Crider earned his "Crawfish" nickname after emerging from the water and mud of an off-course excursion during an event in Danville, Virginia. Richard Petty and others told Crider he looked like a crawfish crawling from the muck. The name stuck.
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63: JIMMY HENSLEY
Premier-series starts for the number: 146
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Accomplishments with the No. 63 in NASCAR's history are few, but Jimmy Hensley (left in photo) had three top-10 finishes in six starts with the number at Martinsville in the mid-1970s to stand out.
Honorable mentions: R.L. Combs, Terry Bivins, Larry Manning.
Notable: The No. 63 has led just six laps in its premier-series history, and all of those belong to Terry Bivins, who inconsecutively led six laps in the 1976 Daytona 500. ... The No. 63 has no lead-lap finishes in 146 starts. ... R.L. Combs posted the No. 63's only pole position at Hickory Speedway in 1959. His 1957 Ford faded to an 11th-place finish. ... Chauncey T. "Jocko" Maggiacomo has the most starts with the car number -- just 22.
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64: ELMO LANGLEY
Premier-series starts for the number: 951
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Elmo Langley ranks atop most major categories for the No. 64 by a wide margin, all in a long tenure with the number that spanned 432 starts from 1962-1979 as an independent owner-driver. Langley notched both of the No. 64's premier-series wins, all in a 33-day span during the 1966 season.
Honorable mentions: Johnny Allen, Tommy Gale.
Notable: Langley remained connected to the No. 64 through the 1989 season as a team owner. He also stayed in the sport after his ownership days were done, spending the last eight years of his career as the official NASCAR pace-car driver. ... Langley scored 53 top-five finishes with No. 64; the next closest driver in that category was Johnny Allen with six. ... The last driver to wheel the No. 64 in NASCAR's top division is Landon Cassill, who drove a Larry Gunselman-owned Toyota in the 2010 season finale.
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65: CARL ADAMS
Premier-series starts for the number: 96
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: No driver in NASCAR history carried the No. 65 for a full season, but Californian Carl Adams gave it as good a ride as any in the 1975 campaign, logging four top 10s in 19 starts that year.
Honorable mentions: Buddy Arrington, Charlie Glotzbach, Chuck Meekins.
Notable: The No. 65 ranks last in most statistical categories in NASCAR's record books, with the fewest top-five finishes, top-10 results and starts. It is the only car number in series history that has never led a lap. ... Chuck Meekins gave the No. 65 its only top-five effort, placing fourth on May 15, 1955, at the Tucson (Arizona) Rodeo Grounds.
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66: LARRY FRANK
Premier-series starts for the number: 788
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Larry Frank made just 15 starts with the No. 66, but powered the number to its greatest success with a surprise victory in the 1962 Southern 500 at Darlington. He added six other top 10s that season to round out the best year of his NASCAR career.
Honorable mentions: Phil Parsons, Lake Speed, Todd Bodine.
Notable: The No. 66 has just five pole positions in its all-time portfolio, with four of those arriving in a nine-month span from Todd Bodine over the 2001-02 campaigns. The other pole for the No. 66 was Dick Trickle's only premier-series pole position, coming at Dover International Speedway in 1990. ... Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip closed out the final two seasons of his driving career in a No. 66 entry fielded by car owner Travis Carter.
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67: BUDDY ARRINGTON
Premier-series starts for the number: 638
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Buddy Arrington's car number of choice was No. 67, an identifying mark in 484 of his 560 career starts. That represents roughly three-quarters of the car number's appearances all-time in NASCAR's top division.
Honorable mentions: David Pearson, Dick May.
Notable: David Pearson made his first premier-series start with the No. 67, a number he flew through his rookie season in 1960. Pearson scored the No. 67's only pole position that year, qualifying first but finishing second to Ned Jarrett at Gamecock Speedway in Sumter, South Carolina. ... For years, Arrington campaigned as the lone driver of Chrysler products, buying up equipment when other teams severed their ties to the manufacturer. ... The most recent premier-series appearance for the car number came in August 2002, when Boris Said steered a No. 67 Ford to a 13th-place day at Watkins Glen.
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68: JANET GUTHRIE
Premier-series starts for the number: 404
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: A trailblazer for women in motorsports, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. On the NASCAR side, Guthrie did it all with the No. 68, which adorned her cars in all but two of her 33 premier-series starts.
Honorable mentions: Lennie Pond, Bobby Hamilton, Bob Derrington.
Notable: Janet Guthrie's career-best finish was sixth place at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1977, the best for a woman in NASCAR's top series -- a mark since tied by Danica Patrick in 2014. She also became the first woman to lead a lap in the premier series, setting the pace for five circuits in the '77 finale at Ontario, California. ... The most recent top-five finish for the No. 68 came courtesy of Lennie Pond, finishing third at Richmond Raceway's old fairgrounds track in Sept. 1980.
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69: JOHNNY ALLEN
Premier-series starts for the number: 105
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: With another sparingly used number, Johnny Allen holds the top distinction in several lists with the No. 69, including most career starts (26). Allen posted four of the number's five top-five finishes all time, holding the No. 69 from 1960-63. He also landed the number's only pole position in 1961.
Honorable mentions: Volney Schulze.
Notable: The last top-10 finish for the No. 69 came from NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Hershel McGriff, who ran seventh in the 1977 season opener at Riverside, California. ... Also at Riverside, the last of four Cup Series starts for Californian Bob Bondurant came with the No. 69 -- an 18th-place outcome in the 1981 season finale. Bondurant, now 86, founded a successful racing school in 1968 that is still in operation.
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70: J.D. McDUFFIE
Premier-series starts for the number: 761
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: One of the last of the independents, J.D. McDuffie loyally fielded the No. 70 almost exclusively from 1966-91 for 625 of his 653 career starts. Though he never won a premier-series race, he leads the No. 70's statistics for top fives and top 10s by a wide margin.
Honorable mentions: Jim Parsley.
Notable: McDuffie netted the only pole position for both himself and the car number in September 1978 at Dover International Speedway. McDuffie used a softer tire made by McCreary in qualifying, but also credited a rebuilt car and engine for the surprise pole. "It's a nice feeling to be running faster than the best in the world," McDuffie told reporters. He wound up 33rd in the 500-mile race two days later. ... The last team owner to run the No. 70 on a regular basis was Gene Haas in the 2007-08 seasons. Haas abandoned the car number the following year with the formation of Stewart-Haas Racing with co-owner Tony Stewart.
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71: BOBBY ISAAC
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,147
Premier-series wins for the number: 44
Analysis: NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Isaac claimed all but two of his 37 premier-series victories and all but two of his 48 poles in car owner Nord Krauskopf's bright No. 71 entries from 1968-72. That time period included his only Cup Series championship in 1970.
Honorable mentions: Dave Marcis, Buddy Baker.
Notable: The first driver to carry the No. 71 was Sara Christian, who finished 14th in the first race for what is now called the NASCAR Cup Series. Christian made seven starts in the series, five of those with the No. 71. ... Dave Marcis holds the car number's longevity streak, making 589 of his 883 Cup Series starts with No. 71. ... Isaac's other two wins came using Nos. 26 and 37. ... The first driver to win with No. 71 was Fireball Roberts, who edged Curtis Turner at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsborough, North Carolina, for his first career win.
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72: BENNY PARSONS
Premier-series starts for the number: 574
Premier-series wins for the number: 14
Analysis: A tip of the cap here to NASCAR Hall of Famer Benny Parsons, who secured 12 of the No. 72's 14 premier-series wins and used the car number in his championship campaign with team owner L.G. DeWitt in 1973 and his lone Daytona 500 win in 1975. Parsons was synonymous with No. 72 from 1970-78, a span of 287 starts.
Honorable mentions: Joe Millikan, Bobby Johns.
Notable: The only two other drivers to win with the No. 72: Joe Weatherly in 1958 at Nashville, and Bobby Johns four years later at Bristol Motor Speedway. Johns' victory came by a margin of six laps over runner-up Fireball Roberts. ... Parsons finished in the top five of the series standings every year from 1972-80, the majority of those with No. 72. ... Joe Millikan inherited the No. 72 from Parsons in 1979, finishing in the top 10 in 20 of the 31 races that season. Millikan finished second in the 1979 Rookie of the Year race to Dale Earnhardt.
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73: JOHNNY BEAUCHAMP
Premier-series starts for the number: 199
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Both wins recorded by the No. 73 belong to Johnny Beauchamp, who prevailed at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway in 1959 and at the Nashville Fairgounds the following year. Besides the victories, Beauchamp's No. 73 was etched in two Daytona memories: his runner-up finish to Lee Petty in the first Daytona 500 in 1959, in which he was initially awarded the trophy before photo evidence overturned the results; two years later, Beauchamp and Petty sailed out of the track in a Daytona 500 qualifier, a crash that ended the careers of both drivers.
Honorable mentions: Bill Schmitt, Phil Barkdoll, Bob Burdick.
Notable: Bob Burdick claimed the only two pole positions for the No. 73, logging both within a one-month span in the 1959 season. ... Bill Schmidt was a four-time champion of the former Winston West Series who used the No. 73 in all but two of his 236 starts in the West tour. He carried that number in the majority of his 44 premier-series starts, which included two top-five finishes at the old Riverside International Raceway in California. ... The No. 73 has been used just four times in the last 21 years.
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74: L.D. AUSTIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 469
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: North Carolinian L.D. Austin accounts for 51 of the 73 top-10 finishes netted by the No. 74. He also faithfully campaigned with the number in all but eight of his 169 career starts from 1957-62.
Honorable mentions: Bobby Wawak.
Notable: NASCAR Hall of Famers Buck and Buddy Baker made just one start each with the No. 74. Buck Baker's finish was the better of the two, an eighth-place result at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1960. ... Bobby Wawak made 71 starts with the No. 74 at a part-time competitor from 1977-87. He stayed in the sport as a car owner, a crew chief and later the manager of the show-car program for Hendrick Motorsports.
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75: NEIL BONNETT
Premier-series starts for the number: 828
Premier-series wins for the number: 6
Analysis: Neil Bonnett grabbed the final two victories of his career in his second stint with the RahMoc Enterprises No. 75 team in the 1980s to give him four overall with them. Two of those wins carried extra significance -- his second straight Coca-Cola 600 triumph in 1983 and claiming the last victory on the old Richmond Raceway half-mile fairgrounds layout in 1988. Bonnett also snared four pole positions in 83 career starts with No. 75.
Honorable mentions: Jim Paschal, Morgan Shepherd.
Notable: Jim Paschal and Fireball Roberts each posted one win apiece with No. 75. Paschal's came on the premier series' only visit to the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds in 1956. Roberts' win with No. 75 came in 1961 at the final event for the series at California's Marchbanks Speedway, a 1.4-mile paved track that resembled a smaller Pocono Raceway. ... RahMoc fielded the No. 75 almost exclusively from 1978-92, with drivers such as Bonnett, Harry Gant, Tim Richmond, Morgan Shepherd and Joe Ruttman wheeling its cars. The company -- christened as a mash-up of the names of team co-owners Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock -- still builds racing engines for weekly and touring racing divisions.
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76: LARRY FRANK
Premier-series starts for the number: 321
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: The spirit of No. 76 belonged to Larry Frank, who also made this list with No. 66. Frank's 51 starts with the number produced six top-five finishes, including its closest brush with victory -- a runner-up effort at Nashville in 1959.
Honorable mentions: Ben Arnold.
Notable: Alabama native Ben Arnold holds the mark for the most starts (126) with the No. 76, fielding the number from 1968-73 with a best finish in the standings of 10th. ... The No. 76 has been out of circulation in NASCAR's top series since 1994, when Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday Jr. made two West Coast starts for team owner Wayne Spears. ... The No. 76 has accounted for only two pole position starts in the series -- one by Danny Weinberg (at Ascot Park in his native California in 1961) and the other from Earl Brooks (who drew the pole at Richmond in 1967 after a qualifying rainout).
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77: JOE LEE JOHNSON
Premier-series starts for the number: 947
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Joe Lee Johnson stood as the only winner in NASCAR's top division with No. 77 until Justin Haley's surprise victory in the 2019 season. Johnson's overall numbers -- eight top 10s in 19 career starts -- hold up with more weight.
Honorable mentions: Robert Pressley, Sam Hornish Jr., Charlie Roberts, Dave Blaney.
Notable: The No. 77 went nearly 60 years between premier-series wins, from Johnson's August 1959 win at Nashville to Haley's July 2019 triumph at Daytona. ... Johnson's claim to fame is his only other victory, a win in the inaugural Coca-Cola 600 in 1960. That triumph came with No. 89. ... Robert Pressley has the mark for the most all-time starts with No. 77 -- 133 appearances from 1997-2001.
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78: MARTIN TRUEX JR.
Premier-series starts for the number: 675
Premier-series wins for the number: 22
Analysis: Martin Truex Jr. carries a strong association with No. 19 and No. 56, and also makes our list with No. 78, a number tied to his greatest successes to date. Truex's name is on 17 of the car number's 22 wins in a prolific four-season span that included the 2017 series championship. He is the only driver we selected for three different numbers.
Honorable mentions: Jim Paschal, Regan Smith.
Notable: Jim Paschal recorded three wins with No. 78 in the 1955 season, driving an Ernest Woods-owned Oldsmobile. It would be 56 years before the No. 78 would win again, with Regan Smith's stunning Southern 500 triumph for Furniture Row Racing in 2011. ... The first victory for No. 78 in NASCAR's top series was achieved by Indianapolis-born Dick Passwater, who landed his only Cup Series win at the old Charlotte Speedway in April 1953.
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79: FRANK WARREN
Premier-series starts for the number: 478
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Nearly three-quarters of the No. 79's all-time appearances came courtesy of Augusta, Georgia, native Frank Warren, who made 350 of his 396 career starts with the car number. That included 24 top-10 finishes with No. 79, his best a fifth place at Riverside International Raceway in 1974.
Honorable mentions: Junior Miller.
Notable: The closest flirtation with victory for the No. 79 was a second-place result from Jim Paschal in 1950, finishing two laps behind winner Curtis Turner at Martinsville Speedway. ... The last top-10 finish for No. 79 came in 1986, also at Martinsville. Derrike Cope drove a No. 79 Ford to ninth place for car owner Warren Razore.
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80: JIM PASCHAL
Premier-series starts for the number: 239
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Jim Paschal took one of the least-used round numbers in NASCAR history to its lone trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway in 1953, leading 73 of 200 laps and edging Lee Petty at the finish. Paschal also tops the No. 80 in other major categories -- top fives, top 10s, poles and career starts.
Honorable mentions: Neil Castles.
Notable: Aric Almirola made his premier-series debut using No. 80 in his lone Cup start for Joe Gibbs Racing. He wound up 41st at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 11, 2007, the last time the No. 80 was used in the Cup Series. ... Gibbs fielded the No. 80 just three other times, all for Mike Bliss in the 2003-04 seasons. That brief stint included Bliss' career-best finish, a fourth place at Richmond Raceway in September 2004. ... Neil "Soapy" Castles scored five top-10 finishes with the No. 80 during the 1960 campaign.
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81: KENNY WALLACE
Premier-series starts for the number: 300
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: The nod here goes to Kenny Wallace, who carried car owner Filbert Martocci's No. 81 for 104 of its Cup Series appearances from 1994-98. In addition to the all-time starts mark, Wallace also boasts the most top-10 finishes (11) and pole positions (two) with the car number.
Honorable mentions: Danny Graves.
Notable: The only win and the only other pole position for the No. 81 came in the same race, with home-state favorite Danny Graves leading all 100 laps at the California State Fairgrounds' 1-mile dirt track in September 1957. Graves made just nine premier-series starts, all on the West Coast. ... NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Ingram made his mark in what is now the Xfinity Series, but he also made 19 premier-series starts, with four of those coming in a No. 81 Chevrolet in 1967. That stint included his closest brush with victory in NASCAR's top division, a second-place result behind Richard Petty in the Buddy Shuman 250 at Hickory (N.C.) Speedway.
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82: JOE EUBANKS
Premier-series starts for the number: 349
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Most statistical columns for the No. 82 are dominated by South Carolinian Joe Eubanks, who flew the car number for all but 21 of his 159 Cup Series starts. Eubanks leads the all-time list for poles, top fives and top 10s with the car number by a heaping majority.
Honorable mentions: Bunkie Blackburn.
Notable: Fireball Roberts had the first start with the No. 82, and it was a memorable one. Roberts started 67th in the first Southern 500 in 1950, then rallied to finish second. Despite the charge, he still finished nine laps behind inaugural winner Johnny Mantz. ... Roberts has one pole position with the No. 82; Eubanks has the other four.
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83: BRIAN VICKERS
Premier-series starts for the number: 644
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Brian Vickers' three career wins came for three different car owners, but the middle one from the pole position at Michigan in 2009 highlighted his best season, with Red Bull's No. 83. Vickers also accounts for seven of the nine poles recorded by the car number and the most all-time starts (141 from 2007-11).
Honorable mentions: Lake Speed, Worth McMillion, Ramo Stott
Notable: The only other victory recorded by the No. 83 was the lone triumph for owner/driver Lake Speed, who led a dominating 178 of 367 laps to win the springtime 500-miler at Darlington Raceway in 1988. ... The first pole position for the No. 83 stands out in the history books. Ramo Stott won the pole for the historic 1976 Daytona 500 after three faster qualifiers -- A.J. Foyt, Dave Marcis and Darrell Waltrip -- were disqualified for illegal parts. Stott was informed hours later, reached at a nearby restaurant once inspection was complete. "You're joking," Stott told track officials. "I guess everyone's been looking for me."
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84: DICK TRICKLE
Premier-series starts for the number: 222
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Veteran Dick Trickle had just one season in the No. 84, but it was a productive one. Wheeling the gold Stavola Brothers Buick in 1989, Trickle topped the number's all-time list for top fives and top 10s, becoming the oldest NASCAR Rookie of the Year.
Honorable mentions: Jody Ridley.
Notable: The 48-year-old Trickle topped a rookie crop that included Hut Stricklin, Larry Pearson, Jimmy Spencer, Rick Mast and Chad Little for the 1989 honors. "I guess I'd just like to thank everyone who gave a young guy like me a chance," Trickle joked at that year's awards banquet. ... Kyle Busch made his Cup Series debut using No. 84, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2004. He ran six races that year for Hendrick Motorsports before switching to No. 5 the following season. ... California native Robert Caswell finished second at Oakland Stadium in the first-ever appearance for the No. 84 in 1951. It stands as the car number's best-ever finish.
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85: EMANUEL ZERVAKIS
Premier-series starts for the number: 141
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Virginia native Emanuel Zervakis holds down both victories ever recorded by the No. 85, both coming in the 1961 season. He dominates all major categories for the car number, including 21 of its 22 top-five finishes and two of its three pole positions all-time.
Honorable mentions: Tommy Irwin.
Notable: Jim Hunter made just five Cup Series starts, but those included the last pole and the last top-five finish for the No. 85 -- both at Smoky Mountain Raceway in Maryville, Tennessee in 1967. ... Darrell Waltrip won the Coca-Cola 600 five times, but made his final start in NASCAR's longest event with the No. 85 in 2000. Waltrip failed to qualify his Carter-Haas No. 66, but compensated car owner Thee Dixon and driver Carl Long, who had just qualified for his Cup debut, to take over his ride for the 600-miler. "I'm doing this for my future," Long said. "Who can help me get noticed? Darrell. Nobody knows Carl Long. Darrell's floor sweepers make more than I do." ... Zervakis was a part-time team owner after his driving days were complete. Among those to wheel his cars: Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Geoffrey Bodine and Butch Lindley.
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86: NEIL CASTLES
Premier-series starts for the number: 320
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: A near toss-up between Neil "Soapy" Castles and Buck Baker goes to Castles' longevity and his 96 starts to lead the No. 86's all-time list. Castles used the car number from 1958-66 and leads the way in top 10s.
Honorable mentions: Buck Baker, Buddy Baker.
Notable: The only victory posted by the No. 86 was a June 23, 1961, triumph by Buck Baker at Hartsville (S.C.) Speedway. ... Hall of Famer Tim Flock made just four starts with No. 86, but two of those netted the final two pole positions of his career in 1956. ... The No. 86 has been out of rotation in NASCAR's top division since 1993, when West Coast competitor Rich Woodland Jr. made the first of his two Cup Series starts in a family-owned Oldsmobile at Phoenix.
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87: BUCK BAKER
Premier-series starts for the number: 782
Premier-series wins for the number: 27
Analysis: Hall of Famer Buck Baker carried the No. 87 to 26 of his 46 career wins, using the number exclusively during his second championship season in 1957. Baker's history with No. 87 ran deep, from the series' first-ever race in 1949 to his final campaign in 1971 -- a span of 420 starts.
Honorable mentions: Joe Nemechek.
Notable: The only non-Baker win for the car number came from Jim Paschal, who prevailed May 16, 1954, at Martinsville Speedway. ... Joe Nemechek made 222 career starts with No. 87, from 1993-96 and in a later stint from 2009-13. No. 87 was also Nemechek's number of choice in his 1992 championship season in what's now called the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He registered 16 wins in that tour, all with No. 87. ... Buddy Baker kept the No. 87 in the family with 38 spot starts with the car number from 1960-67.
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88: DALE JARRETT
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,746
Premier-series wins for the number: 76
Analysis: A star-studded field of winners crowd the selection process for the No. 88, the fifth most-used number in NASCAR history. Dale Jarrett gets the nod based on statistics and longevity. His 28 wins with No. 88 edge Darrell Waltrip's 26 for the top of that column, plus Jarrett scored a series championship (2000) and two Daytona 500 wins (1996, 2000) with the No. 88 on his roof and doors.
Honorable mentions: Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker.
Notable: Dale Jarrett's debut with the No. 88 was a winning one, carrying the flag for team owner Robert Yates in the '96 Daytona 500. Jarrett carried the number for 380 career starts until the end of the 2006 season. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. logged nine of his 26 career victories with the No. 88 over the course of the 2008-17 seasons (a stretch of 340 starts). That span included his second Daytona 500 win in 2014. ... Alex Bowman's breakthrough victory at Chicagoland in 2019 made him just the sixth driver to win with the No. 88.
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89: BUCK BAKER
Premier-series starts for the number: 265
Premier-series wins for the number: 4
Analysis: Buck Baker's affinity for the upper registers of the 80s was evident in his career, which included two of the four all-time wins for the No. 89. Baker also holds the top spot for the No. 89 in top fives, top 10s and pole positions.
Honorable mentions: Buddy Baker, Neil Castles, Buddy Shuman.
Notable: Buddy Shuman scored his only Cup Series victory in 1952 using the No. 89, prevailing in the series' first race outside the United States at Stamford Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Just three of the 17 starters were running at the finish. An award named in his memory has been given annually since 1957 to honor individuals and groups who have played key roles in stock-car racing's growth. ... The biggest victory for the No. 89 was provided by Joe Lee Johnson, who claimed the first Coca-Cola 600 in the debut race for Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960. Johnson took control when Jack Smith retired with fuel issues, then beat Johnny Beauchamp to the checkered flag by a four-lap margin. It was Johnson's second and final win in NASCAR's top series.
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90: JUNIE DONLAVEY
Premier-series starts for the number: 923
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: In one of the few instances where this list breaks away from drivers only, Wesley Christian "Junie" Donlavey's long-running mark as a team owner spanned a remarkable streak from 1950-2002. Of his 863 starts, all but 23 were with his familiar No. 90, which became a staple in the NASCAR garage.
Honorable mentions: Dick Brooks, Jody Ridley.
Notable: Jody Ridley gave Donlavey his only premier-series victory at Dover International Speedway in 1981, one season after his Rookie of the Year campaign. Ridley was multiple laps down with 40 laps remaining at the Monster Mile when front-runners Neil Bonnett and Cale Yarborough suffered engine failure. "I looked up at the scoreboard and it said I was leading," Ridley told reporters. "I thought it was a mistake. A couple of laps later, it was still up there and I said, 'shoot, that must be me.' " ... The two pole positions for the No. 90 both came in Donlavey-owned cars -- Bill Dennis at Richmond in 1971 and Ken Schrader at Darlington in 1987.
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91: TIM FLOCK
Premier-series starts for the number: 325
Premier-series wins for the number: 16
Analysis: The only Cup Series winner with the No. 91 remains Hall of Famer Tim Flock, who landed 16 victories for car owner Ted Chester early in his career. Flock also dominates the car number's list of top fives, top 10s and starts.
Honorable mentions: Neil Castles.
Notable: The last of Flock's wins with the No. 91 came with a monkey on board named Jocko Flocko, a gimmick thought up by his car owner. Flock prevailed at Hickory Speedway on May 16, 1953, with his monkey co-pilot alongside in his No. 91 Hudson. ... Todd Bodine scored the only top-five finish for No. 91 in the last 47 years, placing fifth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in November 1998.
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92: HERB THOMAS
Premier-series starts for the number: 498
Premier-series wins for the number: 43
Analysis: Another shoo-in selection, Hall of Famer Herb Thomas has posted all but one of the 43 wins for the No. 92, and leads its stats in top fives and top 10s by a wide margin. The bulk of those victories came in the Fabulous Hudson Hornet from 1950-55, and his dominance with the No. 92 in NASCAR's early era included two series championships and three Southern 500 wins.
Honorable mentions: Skip Manning.
Notable: The other car numbers that Herb Thomas carried to victory are an odd lot: Nos. 6, 300B and an Oldsmobile listed as No. 41.5 for his second big-league win. ... The only other driver to win with No. 92 also was the last driver to win with the car number: Marvin Panch, who prevailed at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in 1957. ... Skip Manning drove the No. 92 for parts of four seasons and was named Rookie of the Year in 1976. ... Herb Thomas was the first to use No. 92. The second was Ethel Flock Mobley in 1949 at Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Mobley competed alongside two other women in a handful of races in NASCAR's first season, along with her three racing brothers -- Bob, Fonty and Tim Flock.
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93: TED CHAMBERLAIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 413
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: For a not-so-distinguished number in Cup Series history, early racer Ted Chamberlain gets the vote for his record with the most top 10s with No. 93. He also gets bonus recognition for his achievement in a 1952 race at Dayton, Ohio, where he drove his No. 93 Plymouth to a 13th-place finish after his steering wheel detached by manhandling the steering hub for the final 120 of 200 laps.
Honorable mentions: Donald Thomas, Dave Blaney.
Notable: Donald Thomas has the only top-five finishes with the No. 93, all four of which were recorded in the 1951 season. ... Dave Blaney made the most starts with the car number (74) over two-plus seasons with Bill Davis Racing. The team adopted the No. 93 to match the octane grade of sponsor Amoco Fuels' premium gas.
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David Taylor | Allsport
94: BILL ELLIOTT
Premier-series starts for the number: 530
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Bill Elliott left team owner Junior Johnson to start his own team in 1995. He adopted the No. 94 that he'd use for the next six seasons as a compromise. Elliott wanted his famed No. 9 back; co-owner Charles Hardy wanted his familiar No. 44. The two split the difference with No. 94. Though Elliott never took No. 94 to Victory Lane, he leads the number's stats in most major categories, including top fives, top 10s, poles and starts.
Honorable mentions: Sterling Marlin, Terry Labonte, Banjo Matthews.
Notable: Sterling Marlin and Terry Labonte each made 58 starts in the No. 94 for team owner Billy Hagan -- Marlin in 1989-90, and Labonte in 1991-92. The two also finished second one time each, the closest the No. 94 has come to victory in NASCAR's top division. ... Matt Kenseth made his premier-series debut in the No. 94 on Sept. 20, 1998. He finished an impressive sixth at Dover International Speedway as a late-hour substitute when Bill Elliott's father, George, died during the race weekend.
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95: DARRELL WALTRIP
Premier-series starts for the number: 523
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip made his Cup Series debut with the No. 95, carrying the number for most of his first three partial seasons. Paired with a wizard in the making in crew chief Jake Elder, Waltrip piloted the No. 95 to the most top fives and top 10s in the number's history.
Honorable mentions: Bob Duell, Michael McDowell.
Notable: Waltrip and Pennsylvanian Bob Duell have the only pole positions for the No. 95 with one each. ... Michael McDowell amassed the most starts with the No. 95 -- an even 100 -- over four seasons of part- and full-time duty at Leavine Family Racing from 2014-17. ... The car number went nearly 43 years between top-five finishes, from Waltrip's last (Rockingham, 1974) to McDowell's first (Daytona, 2017).
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96: RAY ELDER
Premier-series starts for the number: 626
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Ray Elder -- a cotton and alfalfa farmer from Carruthers, California -- scored the only wins for the No. 96 at Riverside International Raceway's road course. It's two, if you count his 1972 victory in a No. 96W Dodge, using a suffix to designate NASCAR western series drivers in the field.
Honorable mentions: Richard Childress, Bobby Keck.
Notable: Elder relished his underdog role in the family-owned No. 96. "We build the engines in the barn," Elder laughed after his 1972 win at Riverside. "Sometimes the chickens get in the way, but we just have a ball." ... Richard Childress registered his first top-five finish driving for car owner Tom Garn. He placed fourth at Darlington in 1973, 21 laps behind winner David Pearson. ... Dale Earnhardt made four starts in the No. 96 early in his career for car owner Will Cronkrite. Earnhardt's first appearance for Cronkrite came as a last-ditch substitute for Willy T. Ribbs, who was scheduled for his debut in Charlotte's 600-miler in 1978 before legal issues derailed the arrangement.
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97: KURT BUSCH
Premier-series starts for the number: 689
Premier-series wins for the number: 17
Analysis: Kurt Busch rolled to the 2004 championship as part of his five-year association with Jack Roush's No. 97. He rose to the top of most statistical charts for the car number, and secured 14 of its 17 all-time wins.
Honorable mentions: Bill Amick, Parnelli Jones, Red Farmer, Henley Gray, Chad Little.
Notable: Former Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones was an occasional starter in NASCAR, driving in 34 races from 1956-70. Those starts produced four wins, including two for the No. 97 in California. Bill Amick scored the only other win for the No. 97 in 1957. ... The No. 97 has claimed eight pole awards in NASCAR's top series. Those No. 1 starting spots included a 30-year gap between Jones' last and Morgan Shepherd's first for the No. 97, at Richmond in 1988 for car owner Tom Winkle.
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98: LEEROY YARBROUGH
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,057
Premier-series wins for the number: 25
Analysis: LeeRoy Yarbrough's connection with car owner Junior Johnson from 1967-71 made the No. 98 a force on NASCAR's bigger speedways. Among those big-ticket victories was a triple crown in 1969, winning the Daytona 500, World 600 and Southern 500 in the same season.
Honorable mentions: Marvin Panch, Johnny Mantz.
Notable: Among the most historic wins for the No. 98 was Johnny Mantz's charge to win the first Southern 500 when Darlington Raceway opened in 1950. Mantz's Hubert Westmoreland-owned No. 98 Plymouth led 351 of 400 laps, using more durable truck tires to his advantage in the first 500-mile race for stock cars. ... Marvin Panch, who would later become a Daytona 500 winner, notched six of his first seven big-league wins with No. 98.
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99: CARL EDWARDS
Premier-series starts for the number: 1,110
Premier-series wins for the number: 48
Analysis: Carl Edwards carried a long and successful association with Jack Roush's No. 99, scoring the first 23 of his 28 career wins with the number. That period (2004-14) watched Edwards grow into one of the sport's most popular stars and cemented his legacy as the No. 99's most recognizable driver.
Honorable mentions: Jeff Burton, Paul Goldsmith, Charlie Glotzbach.
Notable: The No. 99 is the most-used number in the 90s, dominated by Jeff Burton and his successor at Roush Fenway Racing, Carl Edwards. Edwards leads the all-time list with 373 starts in No. 99; Burton follows with 293, a stretch that yielded 17 victories. ... The first win for No. 99 was historic, with Hall of Famer Curtis Turner guiding a Charlie Schwam-owned Ford to a two-lap victory in the 1956 Southern 500 at Darlington. ... Shorty Rollins scored his only Cup Series triumph on July 16, 1958 at Stateline Speedway in Busti, New York, with a No. 99 Ford. He was NASCAR's first Rookie of the Year that season, the first that the honor became an official award. ... Trackhouse Racing Team has brought back the No. 99 for its first Cup Series season, marking the first time since 2018 that it's been in the field.
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Jamie Squire | Allsport
0: DELMA COWART
Premier-series starts for the number: 331
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Jim Cook and Darel Dieringer each posted wins with the No. 0, but the consensus pick is (as the story goes) the Georgia driver who never won a race but never lost a party: Delma Cowart, who made 21 Cup starts -- all with zero on his car.
Honorable mentions: Jimmie Lewallen, Jim Cook.
Notable: Several noteworthy drivers briefly carried the No. 0 in their careers, including Cale Yarborough, Johnny Rutherford, Dan Gurney, Fred Lorenzen and J.D. McDuffie. ... Jim Cook's lone premier-series win also equaled the first pole position and victory for the No. 0. That came Sept. 11, 1960, at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento.
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00: DAVID REUTIMANN
Premier-series starts for the number: 450
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: The pick lands here with David Reutimann, the only driver to reach Victory Lane with the No. 00 in the Cup Series. Among those triumphs was a Coca-Cola 600 win in 2009. Reutimann also holds three of the No. 00's six pole positions all-time and heads the list in overall starts (140) with the car number.
Honorable mentions: A.J. Foyt, Dick Getty.
Notable: Racing legend A.J. Foyt made just five starts in the No. 00, all in the mid-1960s. He spent two laps out front with it in the 1964 Daytona 500. ... Junior Johnson chalked up one career start in the No. 00, but made the most of it, starting and finishing third at Martinsville Speedway in 1964.
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01: JOE NEMECHEK
Premier-series starts for the number: 509
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: The lone winner with the No. 01, Joe Nemechek outlasted the field at Kansas Speedway in 2004 for the last of his four Cup Series victories. Nemechek's time with team owner Nelson Bowers sent him atop several categories, including top fives, top 10s and starts.
Honorable mentions: Mark Martin, Paul Goldsmith.
Notable: The top three of Nemechek's Kansas win made for an interesting trifecta. The first three finishers donned sponsorship from the U.S. military: Nemechek's winning U.S. Army car, second-place Ricky Rudd's U.S Air Force Ford, and Greg Biffle's National Guard entry. ... Mark Martin succeeded Nemechek in the Bowers No. 01. His first start with the car number was memorable, a narrow runner-up finish to Kevin Harvick in the 2007 Daytona 500.
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02: MARK MARTIN
Premier-series starts for the number: 306
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Mark Martin made his grand debut into NASCAR's top series with the No. 02 and car owner Bud Reeder. Their partnership lasted for a portion of the 1981 season and all of the 1982 campaign, but Martin landed two poles in his first four races to set the early foundation for a Hall of Fame career.
Honorable mentions: Curtis Crider, Doug Cooper.
Notable: The No. 02 seemed destined for greatness early on, but that arc considerably tailed off. In its first five starts, the No. 02 snagged two pole positions courtesy of Banjo Matthews and secured a second place and a third with A.J. Foyt steering the ship. ... The last driver to use the No. 02 in premier-series competition was David Gilliland, driving a Joe Gibbs Racing entry in the 2009 season finale. ... Ryan Newman's first Cup start and pole position both came with the No. 02 for team owner Roger Penske. The breakthrough pole earned the No. 1 spot for the 2001 Coca-Cola 600.
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03: RICHARD BRICKHOUSE
Premier-series starts for the number: 138
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Richard Brickhouse was the trivia-answer winner of the first event at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969, but before that he was making starts with an infrequent car number -- No. 03. Brickhouse is tied for the most top 10s with G.C. Spencer, but he also has the second-most starts.
Honorable mentions: G.C. Spencer, Tommy Gale.
Notable: David Pearson had something of a last hurrah in 1982, driving a No. 03 Buick for team owner Bobby Hawkins. His brief time with No. 03 produced his final two pole positions, and they were biggies -- the Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. ... The No. 03 has been out of service in NASCAR's top division since August 1994 when road-racer Butch Leitzinger made his Cup Series debut at Watkins Glen.
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04: HERSHEL McGRIFF
Premier-series starts for the number: 153
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Hershel McGriff made 87 Cup Series appearances over 1950-1994, most of those using his favored No. 04. The ageless Hall of Fame nominee also flew the No. 04 during his stellar Winston West Series career, winning the 1986 championship and harvesting all but three of his 34 career wins there with No. 04.
Honorable mentions: Jimmy Massey.
Notable: Hershel McGriff bookended his Cup Series career with two milestone events. His first start came in the first Southern 500 at Darlington; his last appearance was a qualifying attempt for the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. ... Jimmy Massey made the first 13 starts of his career with the No. 04 for team owner Hubert Westmoreland. Among those were eight top-10 results, the most for any driver of the No. 04.
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05: DAVID SISCO
Premier-series starts for the number: 203
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: Standing out with a scarcely used number, Nashville native David Sisco donned the No. 05 for 120 starts from 1971-76. Along the way, he set the car number's benchmarks for top fives and top 10s.
Honorable mentions: Dick Brooks.
Notable: The only other driver to lead laps or post a top-five finish with the No. 05 was Dick Brooks, who ran the car number for the 1979 season. His best result with was third place at Rockingham in the third race of the year. ... The No. 05 was a relative latecomer to NASCAR's top series, not debuting until Jim McGuirk drove it in Daytona's Speedweeks in 1963. The car number, which hasn't been used since 1993, also has been driven in short stints by Donnie Allison, Joe Weatherly, Elmo Langley and Jim Sauter.
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06: NEIL CASTLES
Premier-series starts for the number: 326
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: Neil "Soapy" Castles entered the No. 06 in 232 races from 1967-75, accounting for 71 percent of its appearances in NASCAR's top division. The longevity places him firmly atop the car number's statistical marks.
Honorable mentions: Cale Yarborough.
Notable: Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough is the only driver to win with the No. 06. His first Cup Series victory arrived June 27, 1965, at Valdosta 75 Speedway in Georgia. ... Sam Hornish Jr. made his premier-series debut with a Roger Penske-owned No. 06. He is also the last driver to use the car number, making two starts at the end of the 2007 season (Phoenix, Homestead).
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07: CLINT BOWYER
Premier-series starts for the number: 289
Premier-series wins for the number: 2
Analysis: Clint Bowyer is the only driver to win with the No. 07, which his cars wore during his first three seasons of Cup competition. He scored at New Hampshire in 2007 for his first-ever win and followed that with a victory in No. 07 the next season at Richmond. He has the most starts (108) with the car number and leads the way in top fives, top 10s and poles (2).
Honorable mentions: Coo Coo Marlin.
Notable: The No. 07 was a fixture in the sport from 2005-09 as a tie-in with sponsor Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 brand. Besides Bowyer, Dave Blaney and Casey Mears also drove the No. 07 car for Richard Childress Racing. ... Clifford "Coo Coo" Marlin netted the second-most top 10s with the car number – six, a number George Davis (1967-68) also reached.
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08: E.J. TRIVETTE
Premier-series starts for the number: 117
Premier-series wins for the number: 0
Analysis: The third-least used number in NASCAR's history was a regular ride for E.J. Trivette from 1969-70. The Deep Gap, North Carolina, native holds the most top-10 finishes (11) and starts (41) with No. 08.
Honorable mentions: Donnie Allison.
Notable: The closest the No. 08 has come to victory was a second-place run by Donnie Allison in the 1973 Talladega 500. Allison's DiGard Racing entry finished a full lap behind David Pearson's stout No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. It was Allison's only start with the car number. ... The last driver to use the No. 08 in Cup Series competition: Hall of Famer Terry Labonte in the 2009 season finale.
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09: BRAD KESELOWSKI
Premier-series starts for the number: 274
Premier-series wins for the number: 1
Analysis: The only victory by the No. 09 made an impression, with Brad Keselowski finding his first Cup Series win after a final-lap skirmish that sent Carl Edwards sailing at Talladega Superspeedway in 2009. Keselowski's victory came in his first of five starts for car owner James Finch's No. 09 team, a brief tenure that produced two other top-10 finishes.
Honorable mentions: Larry Manning, Friday Hassler.
Notable: Larry Manning holds the high-water mark for top 10s with the No. 09, keeping it in semi-regular rotation from 1963-64. ... Aric Almirola, Sterling Marlin, Bobby Labonte and Geoffrey Bodine were among others to make limited starts in the No. 09. The most recent driver to race with the car number is Landon Cassill, in the 2011 Coca-Cola 600.