Thursday, January 30, 2020

Terry Labonte was the winningest driver in the 5 car

When I first got into racing in the 1980s, Geoff Bodine was driving for, I think, Rick Hendrick.

Geoff wound up driving other numbers later in his career, so other guys got their shot in the 5. Terry Labonte won 12 races driving the 5, and he picked up the second of his two Cup championships in the 5 in 1996.

Kasey Kahne later drove the 5 for Hendrick.

Drivers have started 1,568 races and won 45 of them driving the 5. Hendrick drivers have posted 38 wins in the 5; sadly, the 5 hasn't been in use in Cup since 2017.

Bonus trivia: Kellogg's famously sponsored the No. 5 Hendrick team from 1994-2004, and those cars carried some of the most notable paint schemes in series history.

 Related posts
The 1 was not a lonely number in Cup racing
The 2 has been a winning car Number in NASCAR
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Thursday, January 23, 2020

The 4 was a good number in the Daytona 500

The No. 4 isn't the biggest winner among the car numbers, but drivers have posted 71 Cup victories (including three in the Daytona 500) with the number.

 Hall-of-fame driver Rex White picked up 26 of his 28 career Cup wins in the 4. Kevin Harvick has 26 Cup victories in the 4 and 23 in the 29.

 Morgan-McClure Motorsports won lots of races with the 4 in the 1990s, including one Daytona 500 win for Ernie Irvan and two more for Sterling Marlin. John Sears was another notable 4 driver.

 Al Keller's No. 4 Jaguar won in 1954 on the Linden (N.J.) Airport road cours e, giving the number its first win.
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Thursday, January 16, 2020

Earnhardt made the 3 an intimidating number

Dale Earnhardt made the 3 car famous among NASCAR fans. Half the fans hated Earnhardt; the other half loved him.
DALE EARNHARDT SR.

Few NASCAR car numbers are as famous as the 3, although the 43 (Richard Petty), 24 (Jeff Gordon) and 48 (Jimmie Johnson) are probably right there. Dale posted 67 of his 76 career wins in the 3; that's most of the 99 wins collected by a 3 car. He won six of his seven total titles in the 3.

 More about the 3: Dick Rathman grabbed the 3's first won on March 28, 1954 at Oakland (Calif.) Stadium. Other notable 3 drivers included Junior Johnson (nine wins in the 3), Richard Childress and Paul Goldsmith. Childress had his own team before Johnson reportedly suggested RC hire Earnhardt.

 Austin Dillon, Childress's grandson, currently drives the No. 3 on the NASCAR tour.

 (Above left) I wrote I Remember Dale Earnhardt in 2001, and Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr. came out in 2008.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

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