Top moments for ’19 NASCAR Hall of Fame selectees

By Staff Reports | Published: January 30, 2019 19

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Indiana native Jeff Gordon won his first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 6, 1994. Gordon and Ernie Irvan traded the lead four times over the final 22 laps, and the Hendrick Motorsports driver won by .53 seconds over Geoffrey Bodine.

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Jeff Gordon's first Daytona 500 win was a historic day for the whole Hendrick Motorsports team. Gordon's No. 24 crossed the start/finish line just ahead of teammate Terry Labonte (No. 5), and Ricky Craven (No. 25) came in third for the team trifecta.

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Jeff Gordon won the Southern 500 four consecutive times, from 1995 to 1998. In 1997, he also won the Winston Million, a bonus for winning three of four 'crown jewel' races that year. He already had won the 1997 Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600.

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Jeff Gordon won a place in the championship race of the 2015 playoffs with a win at Martinsville -- the ninth win of his career there -- and the final victory of his premier series career. He memorably yelled in Victory Lane, 'We're going to Homestead!' It was his final full season of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing.

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Davey Allison, a second generation Alabama Gang driver, won the 1985 ARCA Talladega SuperCar Series Permatex 500 on May 8. He made his debut in the now-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on July 28, piloting the No. 1 Hoss Ellington Chevrolet. Allison finished 10th in his first premier series race with his father, Bobby Allison, coming in 27th.

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Back at Talladega in 1987, Davey Allison scored his first premier series victory in the Winston 500. He went on to win the Winston 500 two more times, in 1989 and 1992.

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Davey Allison celebrates in Victory Lane with crew chief Larry McReynolds (left) and car owner Robert Yates after winning the 1992 Daytona 500. It was his only victory in the Great American Race, though he won the pole in 1991 and won the summer race at Daytona in 1989.

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Alan Kulwicki made his debut in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 1985, driving the No. 32 Ford for Bill Terry.

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Alan Kulwicki formed his own race team in 1987, driving the No. 7 Ford. He captured three poles that season (two at Richmond) and more than doubled his top-10 total from four the year before to nine.

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Alan Kulwicki takes his famed 'Polish victory lap' following his first career premier series win in the Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway (now ISM Raceway) in 1988.

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Alan Kulwicki hoisted the champion's trophy following the Atlanta race on Nov. 15, 1992. He finished in the top 10 in 17 of the season's 29 races, including two victories and 11 top fives. His life came to a tragic end just a few months later in a 1993 plane crash.

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Jack Roush launched his Monster Energy Series car owner career in 1988 with driver Mark Martin. The power duo teamed up for 19 premier series seasons, through 2006. The team won 35 races and finished second in points standings four times. In just his second season with Roush, Martin secured the No. 6 team's first victory at Rockingham and finished third in the driver standings.

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Jack Roush's team grew quickly, from a one-car operation to two cars in 1992 and three in 1996 with the addition of driver Jeff Burton. Between 1998 and 2000 and 2003-2009, Roush Fenway Racing ran five cars in NASCAR's top series -- more than any other race team.

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Matt Kenseth brought the first championship to Roush Fenway Racing, in 2003. Kenseth and Roush reunited in 2018, as Kenseth took on a part-time driving role in the No. 6 Ford that year.

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With Kurt Busch's championship in 2004, Jack Roush celebrated back-to-back championships. Roush also has five Xfinity Series championships and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title. Roush also has the most wins among NASCAR's three national series -- standing at 324 when the Class of 2019 ballots were cast.

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Roger Penske is one of NASCAR's longest-tenured owners. He launched Team Penske's premier series team in 1972. He won the following year with driver Mark Donohue in the No. 16 car's 13th race. Here Penske confers with fellow owners Bud Moore (center) and Glen Wood in 1976.

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Team Penske launched the No. 2 car in 1973 with driver Dave Marcis. The deuce would become Rusty Wallace's ride in 1991. In 1993, Wallace won 10 races with owner Penske, but finished second in the standings to Dale Earnhardt.

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Brad Keselowski finally brought a championship to Roger Penske in 2012, also fielding the famed No. 2.

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Team Penske has primarily been a two-car team since the '70s, but after forming an alliance with the Wood Brothers and driver Ryan Blaney in 2015, Team Penske brought Blaney over into a third team in the No. 12 car in 2018.