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With its origins in rum-running and Prohibition-era bootlegging and its historical past of charismatic champions, corresponding to Richard “The King” Petty and Jeff Gordon, NASCAR is as American of the game as one might ask for. As such, it’s no shock that the NASCAR Cup collection can also be the premier racing circuit in the US.
On the coronary heart of this motorsport’s recognition is the thrilling want for velocity and the spectacle of all-out competitors. NASCAR is a sport for many who thrive when competing on the sting. Unsurprisingly, its biggest champions have a sure “it” issue that leads them to victory behind the wheel whereas enduring them to generations of American racing followers.
Whereas many NASCAR racers have been champions, these 13 drivers stand out as probably the most profitable champions within the historical past of their sport.
13) Lee Petty – 54 Wins
Whereas his son handed him within the wins column a very long time in the past, NASCAR wouldn’t have achieved its stage of recognition in the US had it not been for Lee Petty. A 3-time NASCAR champion within the Fifties, the Petty household patriarch notched 54 NASCAR Cup Collection wins throughout his illustrious profession.
Sadly, a nasty crash by which Petty sustained a head damage, punctured lung, and chest fractures, amongst different illnesses, successfully derailed his profession. He nonetheless went on to determine the Petty Enterprises racing staff along with his sons. That staff went on to main success, profitable 10 NASCAR championships over the following 30 years.
12) Denny Hamlin – 54 Wins
NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin has gained the distinguished Daytona 500, in addition to the Southern 500, 3 times throughout his storied profession. In whole, he has amassed 54 Cup Collection wins. Sadly for Hamlin, he has by no means gained a championship, regardless of being a robust title contender all through his profession.
An energetic driver, he at the moment competes within the quantity 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s additionally shut associates with NBA legend Michael Jordan, with whom he co-owns 23XI Racing.
11) Rusty Wallace – 55 Wins
Rusty Wallace gained the NASCAR Dash Cup Collection championship in 1989 and later entered the NASCAR Corridor of Fame in 2013. In 706 profession begins, Wallace notched 55 wins and achieved 36 poles. Though he gained just one championship, he skilled many profitable seasons behind the wheel of Penske Racing’s Fords and Pontiacs.
From 1991 till his retirement in 2005, Wallace gained 37 races in Penske automobiles. In whole, he scored 11 top-10 championship rankings with the Penske Racing Workforce. He at the moment works as a NASCAR analyst for ESPN.
10) Kevin Harvick – 60 Wins
Kevin Harvick had nothing wanting an excellent profession in NASCAR. By the point he retired in 2023, he had achieved 60 profession Cup Collection wins, 251 top-five finishes, 444 top-10 finishes, and 31 pole positions. He additionally led 16,058 laps throughout his NASCAR profession. He gained the 2014 NASCAR Cup Collection championship and was one place shy of profitable the title once more in 2015. With a profession stuffed with memorable moments, arguably considered one of his biggest got here after staff proprietor Richard Childress requested Harvick to drive within the Cup Collection full-time within the wake of Dale Earnhardt’s premature dying on the 2001 Daytona 500.
Through the ultimate lap of an in depth battle with Jeff Gordon on the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Harvick beat Gordon down the stretch to assert his first Cup Collection race win lower than a month after Earnhardt’s passing. Harvick went on to win the Cup Collection Rookie of the 12 months honor later that season.
9) Kyle Busch – 63 Wins
Probably the most profitable energetic driver on this checklist, Kyle Busch, is a 20-year veteran of NASCAR. A multi-time Cup Collection champion, Busch broke Richard Petty’s all-time NASCAR report for probably the most consecutive seasons with a Cup Collection victory when he gained on the Auto Membership Speedway in Fontana, California, in February 2023. That race marked the nineteenth consecutive season that Kyle Busch had gained a Cup Collection race.
He has additionally recorded victories at a few of NASCAR’s most prestigious races, such because the Coca-Cola 600, the Brickyard 400, and the Southern 500. Busch additionally achieved one of the crucial exceptional and unbelievable comebacks in NASCAR Cup Collection historical past when he gained his 2015 title after lacking the primary 11 races of the season with a damaged proper leg and a damaged left foot.
8) Dale Earnhardt – 76 Wins
Dale Earnhardt was the game’s most dominant driver within the Nineteen Eighties and 90s. Often called “the Intimidator,” Earnhardt utilized an aggressive driving fashion and by no means backed away from the bumps and spin-outs so frequent in inventory automobile racing.
His quantity three, black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, is without doubt one of the most iconic machines in NASCAR racing historical past. Earnhardt gained 7 Cup Collection championships and 76 races throughout his illustrious profession. Moreover, he additionally scored greater than $40 million in prize cash all through the 676 Cup Collection races he competed in.
7) Cale Yarborough – 83 Wins
Cale Yarborough was as robust and tenacious a driver as NASCAR has ever seen. He was a four-time Daytona 500 winner and gained the Southern 500 5 instances. He gained three consecutive Cup Collection championships within the Seventies, a feat that solely Jimmie Johnson has surpassed since. He and Johnson are tied in NASCAR’s all-time Cup Collection wins checklist with 83 victories apiece.
In keeping with the townsfolk in Sardis, South Carolina, the place he grew up, Yarborough’s toughness was the stuff of legend. His alleged exploits embody surviving a lightning strike, grabbing water moccasins out of the water, and profitable a wrestling match with an alligator. It’s no surprise Richard Petty as soon as mentioned this man was as robust as cement.
6) Jimmie Johnson – 83 Wins
Jimmie Johnson is a seven-time NASCAR Cup Collection champion. That tally ties him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for probably the most Cup Collection titles in NASCAR historical past. Most spectacular of all, Johnson holds the excellence of being the one NASCAR driver to have gained 5 consecutive Cup Collection titles, which he achieved from 2006 to 2010.
Now a member of the NASCAR Corridor of Fame, Johnson spent his illustrious profession competing for Hendrick Motorsports within the quantity 48 Chevrolet. His 83 Cup Collection wins tie him with Cale Yarborough for sixth all-time in NASCAR historical past.
5) Darrell Waltrip – 84 Wins
A 3-time Cup Collection champion within the Nineteen Eighties, Darrell Waltrip additionally reached pole place 59 instances throughout his NASCAR profession. That tally ranks him as fifth all-time in Cup Collection historical past. Throughout his profession, which stretched from 1972 till 2000, Waltrip began 809 races and gained 84 of them.
Along with being considered one of inventory automobile racing’s winningest drivers, Waltrip can also be considered one of its most outspoken. His gregarious demeanor earned him the nickname “Jaws” throughout his years on the observe. Unsurprisingly, he discovered success as a NASCAR commentator after retiring from his skilled racing profession.
4) Bobby Allison – 85 Wins
Throughout his practically 3-decade racing profession, Bobby Allison earned virtually each racing accolade conceivable. Along with profitable a NASCAR crown in 1983, Allison additionally gained the Daytona 500 3 times, the Southern 500 4 instances, and the Coca-Cola 600 3 times.
His final victory at Daytona in 1988 was significantly exceptional as a result of he gained the race on the age of fifty, holding off a formidable late-race problem from his son, Davey, to safe the victory. Nonetheless, the struggle that he and his brother Donnie bought into with Cale Yarborough at Daytona a decade earlier is what many NASCAR followers keep in mind him for. In addition to notching 85 profession Cup Collection victories, Allison additionally acquired the consideration of being NASCAR’s hottest driver six instances.
3) Jeff Gordon – 93 Wins
With 93 profession Cup Collection wins and 4 Dash Cup Collection titles, Jeff Gordon is without doubt one of the most dominant drivers of his period and one of many winningest racers in NASCAR historical past. The California native employed an aggressive driving fashion and demonstrated a knack for publicity that helped enhance inventory automobile racing’s recognition in the US in the course of the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.
He additionally set a NASCAR report in the course of the 2013 season after profitable a pole place, marking the twenty first consecutive season that Gordon had achieved this feat. He additionally gained Rookie of the 12 months honors throughout his first full yr racing on the Cup Collection circuit and later turned the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500.
2) David Pearson – 105 Wins
David Pearson is extensively considered one of many sport’s best drivers. Along with profitable three NASCAR Cup Collection titles and notching a whopping 105 Cup Collection wins, his rivalry with Richard Petty within the Nineteen Sixties and ‘70s introduced the motorsport into the mainstream.
Whereas Pearson considerably trails Petty on NASCAR’s Cup Collection all-time wins checklist, it’s price noting that he by no means competed in a complete racing season. His win whole got here after solely 574 begins. In the meantime, Petty had 1,184. The 1976 Daytona 500 winner was identified by the nickname “Silver Fox” throughout his profession, on account of his sly racing ways and untimely grey hair.
1) Richard Petty – 200 Wins
Richard “The King” Petty is palms down probably the most profitable and iconic driver in NASCAR historical past. He was the primary driver to win seven Cup championships and likewise took the crown on the sport’s most prestigious race, the Daytona 500, seven instances as properly.
His 200 Cup Collection wins put him 95 victories forward of his rival David “Silver Fox” Pearson, which is extra wins than Jeff Gordon notched in his complete profession. Richard Petty is actually in a category all his personal. If that weren’t spectacular sufficient, he additionally recorded an astounding 27 first-place finishes in 1967. As such, his nickname is arguably probably the most acceptable in sports activities historical past. All hail The King.
