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CHARLOTTE — Voting members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame will gather at the Charlotte Convention Center on Wednesday to decide the next deserving class of honorees.
The panel will select five new members for the Hall of Fame as well as a recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.
This year’s eligible class of 25 potential Hall of Fame nominees includes a varied list of deserving candidates from NASCAR’s first driving champion (1948) Red Byron to championship crew chiefs Harry Hyde and Ray Evernham to four-time Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and short track dominators, Larry Phillips and Mike Stefanik.
Former XFINITY and Cup champion Bobby Labonte is among five first-time nominees, also including championship team owners Roger Penske and Joe Gibbs, 1992 Daytona 500 winner Davey Allison and Allison’s fellow “Alabama Gang”member Red Farmer.
MORE: See the entire list of nominees
The five-person nominee list for the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR includes Jim France, Janet Guthrie, Alvin Hawkins, Ralph Seagraves and Ken Squier, the legendary broadcaster who is also a Hall of Fame nominee.
The voting panel, which includes members of the media, track operators, NASCAR executives and current Hall of Famers, will begin deliberations at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and the Class of 2018 will formally be announced at 6 p.m. in the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Great Hall.