Today in History

• Dec. 31 -- 1989: Nationwide driver John Wes Townley is born on this day. Townley started 26 of 35 Nationwide races in 2009 and finished 23rd in the standings. His best finish was 16th at Bristol in March. He made 10 NASCAR starts as an 18-year-old in 2008, three in Nationwide and seven in the Camping World Truck Series.

• Dec. 30 -- 1938: L.D. Ottinger is born on this day. Ottinger won three Nationwide races in 206 starts from 1982 to 1991. He also had 10 starts in the Cup series, making his first start in 1966 and his last in 1984. His best finish in the Cup series was second at Bristol in 1973.

• Dec. 29 -- 1920: Russell Bennett, whose Cup career consisted of two starts in 1950, is born on this day. Both of Bennett's starts were at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, and he posted finishes of 14th and 20th.

• Dec. 28 -- 1921: Nelson Stacy, who won four Cup races in 45 starts, is born on this day. After finishing 12th in his Cup debut at Dayton (Ohio) Speedway in 1952, Stacy didn't make another start until 1961. He won his first race that year, at Darlington, and won three more in 1962. He is the second driver to win consecutive Southern 500s at Darlington. Stacy, who also won the World 600 in 1962, was ARCA champion from 1958 to 1960.

• Dec. 27 -- 1974: Rick Bogart, who made four Truck starts in his career, is born on this day. Bogart's starts came from 2002 to 2004, and his best finish was 30th in 2004 at Las Vegas.

• Dec. 26 -- 1959: Robert Sprague, who made one Cup start, is born on this day. Sprague started last in the field of 43 cars in the 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Infineon and finished 39th, succumbing to engine failure after 54 of the race's 74 laps. Sprague, who made 33 starts in the Camping World West Series, led a lap in his only Cup start.

• Dec. 25 -- 1928: Leo Cleary, who was 58 when he made his only start in a NASCAR national touring series race, is born on this day. Cleary started 23rd and finished 25th in a field of 44 cars in the 1987 Oxford 250 Nationwide Series race at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. Cleary, of Hanover, Mass., also made five starts in the Camping World East Series in 1987 and five starts in the Whelen Modified Tour in 1985.

• Dec. 24 -- 1917: Wimpy Ervin, who started 10 Cup races in the 1950s, is born on this day. Ervin finished eighth on Aug. 1, 1951, at Altamont-Schenectady Fairgrounds in Altamont, N.Y., and that turned out to be the best finish of his Cup career. Ervin recorded a second top-10 in 1953 at Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fairgrounds.

• Dec. 23 -- 1938: Nationwide Series driver Jeff Thurman is born on this day. Thurman made his first Nationwide start at age 43 in 1982. Driving for Buddy Arrington, Thurman finished 12th at Daytona in the series' first race with Busch as its sponsor. Thurman would go on to start 184 races in nine seasons, posting six top-fives and 31 top-10s. His best season was 1984 when he finished sixth in the points standings.

• Dec. 22 -- 1994: Butch Hartman, who started 20 Cup races but found more success in USAC's stock car division, died on this day at age 54. Hartman made his Cup starts in six seasons from 1966 to 1979. His best finish was fifth in the 1972 National 500 at Charlotte in a Junie Donleavy Ford. Hartman won five USAC (United States Auto Club) Stock Car championships (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976).

• Dec. 21 -- 1971: Clyde Minter, who finished in the top five in each of his first four Cup starts, died on this day at age 50. Minter was 27 in 1949 when he started the sixth and eighth races in NASCAR's first Strictly Stock season and finished fourth at both Martinsville and North Wilkesboro. He made eight starts in 1950, finishing third at Charlotte and fifth at Martinsville to open the season. Minter started his 42nd and final Cup race in 1955. He finished his career winless with five top-fives and 19 top-10s.

• Dec. 20 -- 1988: Happy 21st birthday to Taylor Nicole Earnhardt, daughter of Dale and Teresa Earnhardt, who was born on this day.

• Dec. 19 -- 1958: Gary Wright is born on this day. He is one of eight drivers with the last name Wright who has started Cup races. Remarkably, seven of the Wrights made only one start. The seven one-start Wrights, with the year they made their starts: Cliff (1955), Gary (1991), Harold (1952), Jim (1967), John (1949), L.W. (1982) and Ted (1954). Millard Wright bucked the trend by starting two races in 1955 and a third in 1956.

• Dec. 18 -- 1907: Bill Holland, the 1949 Indy 500 champion, is born on this day. Holland, of Philadelphia, started eight Cup races after his 500 win, seven in 1951 and his last in 1952. Holland had a stellar record at Indy, finishing second in '47, '48 and '50. In his only other start, in 1953, he finished 15th. He posted two top 10s in his eight Cup starts, with his best finish a fourth place on April 29, 1951, at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Race fans might recognize that date. It's the day Dale Earnhardt was born.

• Dec. 17 -- 1923: Rock Harn is born on this day. Harn made four starts in the Cup Series in the 1960s -- one in '62, two in '65 and his last in '66. Although he failed to finish any of the races, his best day was at Martinsville in September 1965 when he completed 330 of 500 laps before retiring with brake issues. He started 36th in the field of 37 and finished 23rd.

• Dec. 16 -- 1901: Frank Smith, who was in the field for the first Cup race in 1949, is born on this day. Smith competed in two NASCAR races in his career, both in 1949. He also started the third race, at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C. Smith finished 21st in the opener at Charlotte Speedway on June 19 and 14th on Aug. 7 at Occoneechee.

• Dec. 15 -- 1971: Chris Bingham, who made 11 starts in the Nationwide Series in 2003 for Jay Robinson Racing, is born on this day in Seattle. The bulk of Bingham's racing career -- before and after his foray into NASCAR -- has been in sports cars. He is a two-time Grand Am GTS champion.

• Dec. 14 -- 1927: Former Cup driver Hershel McGriff is born on this day. McGriff made news in 2009 when he started two races in the Camping World West Series at the spry age of 81. He finished 13th of 26 cars on the road course of Portland (Ore.) International Raceway in July and two weeks later finished 19th on the road course of Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. From 1950 to 1993, McGriff made 85 Cup starts, recording four wins, 17 top-fives, 31 top-10s and winning five poles. In 1986, at age 58, McGriff won the Camping World West title.

• Dec. 13 -- 1918: Gib Orr is born on this day. Orr, of Niles, Ohio, started two Cup races in 1952, both in the Midwest. He finished 41st of 47 cars in the Motor City 250 in Detroit and 11th in a field of 15 a week later at Monroe (Mich.) Speedway.

• Dec. 12 -- 1985: Bob England, who started seven Cup races from 1969 to 1971, dies on this day at age 50. A Californian, England made six starts in-state, one at Ontario and five at Riverside, where he recorded his best finish, 12th in June 1971. He also finished 13th twice at Riverside, in June 1970 and January 1971. His lone start outside California was his final Cup start, on his 36th birthday at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. He finished 29th in a field of 49.

• Dec. 11 -- 1929: Herman "The Turtle" Beam is born. Beam holds the record for consecutive starts in the Cup series without a DNF, 84. Beam earned his nickname because of his driving style. He would go slow, often down on the apron, and save his equipment (a cost-saving measure). Clint Bowyer fell one race short of tying the record in 2009. Bowyer crashed in May at Darlington for his only DNF of the season after running at the finish of 83 consecutive races.

• Dec. 10 -- 1922: Sports-car standout Bob Grossman, who made two starts in the Cup Series, is born on this day. Grossman's first start came in NASCAR's first road race, in June 1954 at Linden Airport in New Jersey. Some reports say Grossman wore Gucci loafers while piloting his Jaguar to a fifth-place finish. His second start came 11 years later at Watkins Glen, a 16th-place finish. Grossman died in 2002.

• Dec. 9 -- 1929: Fred Johnson, one of 33 drivers in NASCAR's first Cup Series race (then Strictly Stock) is born on this day. Johnson was 19 on June 19, 1949, when a 200-lap race on the dirt of three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway was held. Johnson finished 25th. He started six more Cup races in his career, the last in 1956.

• Dec. 8 -- 1975: Kevin Harvick is born on this day. Harvick has started 322 consecutive Cup Series races since entering the series in the second race of the 2001 season, filling the GM Goodwrench seat after Dale Earnhardt's death. Harvick has 11 wins in the Cup Series and 34 in the Nationwide Series in addition to two Nationwide championships (2001, 2006). He also has six wins in the Truck Series and two championships as an owner (2007, 2009).

• Dec. 7 -- 1981: Nate Monteith is born on this day. Monteith was 19 when he made his first starts in NASCAR's top three series, in 2001 at Nazareth and IRP, in the Nationwide Series. He has since started a Truck Series race in 2007 and another in August at Bristol, where he finished 26th. Both Truck starts were for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

• Dec. 6 -- 1933: Blackie Watt is born on this day. Watt, a standout in Western Pennsylvania with hundreds of wins in Late Model and Modified feature races, started 24 races in the Cup Series -- 20 in 1966 and four in '67. He finished his NASCAR career with nine top-10 finishes, all in '66.

• Dec. 5 -- 1938: J.D. McDuffie, who holds the Cup Series record for most starts without a win, is born on this day. From 1963 until his death in 1991 in a crash at Watkins Glen, McDuffie started 653 Cup races. Highlights of his Cup career include 12 top-fives and one pole. He finished in the top 10 106 times. His best finish in the points standings was ninth in 1971.

• Dec. 4 -- 1964: Bobby Marshman, the 1961 Indy 500 co-rookie of the year, dies on this day from injuries he sustained in a tire test in Phoenix. Marshman made two starts in NASCAR, finishing eighth in the second Daytona 500 qualifier in 1964 and 35th two days later in the 500. His 500 ended after 17 laps when his Holman-Moody Ford overheated. Marshman started the 1961 Indy 500 33rd and finished seventh, sharing rookie honors with Parnelli Jones, who finished 12th after leading 27 laps.

• Dec. 3 -- 1938: Walker Evans, one of the best off-road drivers of all time, is born on this day. Evans, who has 142 victories and 21 championships in off-road racing, made 18 starts at age 56 in the initial season of the Truck Series. He finished 14th in the standings and returned in 1996 to start 23 of 24 races and finish 17th in points. Those are his only starts in NASCAR's top three series.

• Dec. 2 -- 1982: Erik Darnell turns 27 today. Darnell competed in the Cup Series for the first time in 2009, starting seven races late in the season. He started 16 Nationwide races in 2009, posting two top-five finishes and winning a pole. He has two career wins in 76 starts in the Truck Series. In 2008, he finished a career-high fourth in the Truck standings.

• Dec. 1 -- 1969: Happy 40th birthday to crew chief Kenny Francis. Francis and driver Kasey Kahne made the Chase for the second time in 2009. They have 10 wins together, including two in 2009. Francis also was Jeremy Mayfield's crew chief when Mayfield made the Chase in 2004.

• Nov. 30 -- 1931: Dick Hutcherson, who won 14 Cup Series races in 103 starts, is born on this day. Hutcherson competed in the Cup series from 1964 to 1967. He finished second in points in 1965, his first full season, getting nine wins and 32 top-five finishes in 52 starts. In 1967, he finished third, starting 33 of 49 races. In all, he had 64 top-fives, 73 top-10s and 21 poles before retiring as a driver.

• Nov. 29 -- 1921: Ernie Derr, who makes only one start in the Cup Series, is born. Derr, of Keokuk, Iowa, makes his lone start about 60 miles up the road in Davenport, Iowa, in a 200-lap race in August 1953 on the half-mile dirt track of Davenport Speedway. Derr finishes 11th in the 14-car field and wins $25. Herb Thomas wins the race and takes home $1,000.

• Nov. 28 -- 1952: Maurice Randall, who makes four starts in the Cup Series in 1984-85, is born on this day. Randall is from Charlotte ... Michigan, not North Carolina. All four of Randall's starts result in DNFs. His best finish comes at Rockingham in 1985 when he finishes 35th of 40 cars. He finishes last -- 30th, 37th and 39th -- in his other three starts.

• Nov. 27 -- 1979: Happy 30th birthday, Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael, who earned the nickname Goat -- Greatest of all time -- for his outstanding achievements in motocross, just finished his first season in the Camping World Truck Series. Competing in 18 of 25 races, Carmichael finished 22nd in the standings. He posted two top-10s, a seventh at Kentucky and eighth at Fontana.

• Nov. 26 -- 1956: Dale Jarrett is born on this day. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup Series champion, won 32 races during 24 seasons. He retired in 2008 with 163 top-five finishes and 260 top-10s in 668 starts. He also won 11 Nationwide races in 329 starts.

• Nov. 25 -- 1957: Ground is broken for Daytona International Speedway. The soil underneath the banked corners was dug from the infield of the track and the hole was filled with water, which created Lake Lloyd.

• Nov. 24 -- 1932: Bob Hogle, who makes three career Cup starts, is born on this day. A Californian, Hogle makes all three starts in his home state. He finishes 13th in Los Angeles and 23rd in Sacramento in 1959 and 33rd in Hanford in 1960.

• Nov. 23 -- 1975: Forty cars start the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway, but only 14 cars finish the final race of the season. Buddy Baker wins the 200-lap race by 29.4 seconds over David Pearson. Dave Marcis, in third, is the only other car on the lead lap. Twenty cars drop out of the 500-mile race because of blown engines.

• Nov. 22 -- 1970: Bobby Allison wins the final Cup race run at Langley Field Speedway in Hampton, Va. Allison beats Benny Parsons by 100 yards in the Tidewater 300. The two are on the only drivers to lead laps on the .395-mile track -- Allison leads 254 and Parsons 46.

• Nov. 21 -- 1976: James Hylton, who starts 601 Cup races from 1964 to 1993, finishes in the top five for the last time. Hylton finishes fifth in the final race of the 1976 season, the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway. Hylton will make another 177 starts in his career with a top finish of sixth at Nashville in 1979.

• Nov. 20 -- 2004: David Ragan makes his Nationwide Series debut in the Ford 300 at Homestead. Ragan, 18 at the time, starts 36th and finishes 31st. Kevin Harvick gets the win, Jamie McMurray is second and 19-year-old Kyle Busch is third.

• Nov. 19 -- 1978: Two-time Cup winner Ray Elder makes his 31st and final start in the Cup Series. Elder completes two of 200 laps of the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway before bowing out with engine problems. Both of his wins come in his 19 starts on the road course of Riverside International Raceway. Riverside is also the site of eight of Elder's nine top-fives and 10 of his 16 top-10s.

• Nov. 18 -- 2001: Kurt Busch, a 23-year-old rookie driving the No. 97 Ford for Jack Roush, fails to qualify for the NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is the only time in his 327-race Cup career Busch has failed to qualify for a race.

• Nov. 17 -- 1964: Fireball Roberts wins a 139-lap race on the 3-mile road course of August (Ga.) International Raceway for his 33rd and final Cup victory. The time of the race is nearly five hours, and Roberts takes the checkered flag one lap and 28 seconds ahead of Bob MacDonald.

• Nov. 16 -- 1986: Al Unser, a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, starts his last NASCAR Cup race, finishing 20th in Winston Western 500 at Riverside. Unser starts five races over three seasons (1968, 1969 and 1986) and posts three top 10s, two in the top five.

• Nov. 15 -- 2003: Kasey Kahne wins the Ford 300 at Homestead, the final race of the Nationwide season, for his first NASCAR victory. Driving the No. 38 Ford, Kahne beats Martin Truex Jr. by .590 seconds, and Bobby Hamilton Jr. is third.

• Nov. 14 -- 1993: Rusty Wallace wins the Hooters 500 at Atlanta to give Pontiac the most wins in the Cup Series, 11, to 10 for Ford. Chevrolet has nine wins. No carmaker other than Chevrolet and Ford has had more victories in a season since.

• Nov. 13 -- 1966: Richard Petty wins the Augusta 300 at Augusta (Ga.) Speedway to win the first race of the 1967 season. Petty's second win of the season won't come for four more months, but it will be the second of 27 wins in the 1967 season, a record that likely never will be broken.

• Nov. 12 -- 1967: Bobby Allison wins the Middle Georgia 500, the first race of the 1968 season, for his 10th career win in his 92nd start. Allison leads 271 laps on the .534-mile track in Macon, Ga., and beats Richard Petty by more than a lap.

• Nov. 11 -- 2000: For the first time in Nationwide Series history, three rookies finish in the top 10 in points: Kevin Harvick (third), Ron Hornaday (fifth) and Jimmie Johnson (10th).

• Nov. 10 -- 2007: Kyle Busch wins the Arizona Travel 200 at Phoenix for his 11th and final Nationwide Series victory with Hendrick Motorsports. Busch has since won 18 Nationwide races for Joe Gibbs Racing, with two races left in the 2009 season.

• Nov. 9 -- 1958: Richard Petty finishes 13th in his only career start in the No. 24. Petty finishes 10 laps behind winner Bob Welborn in a 150-lap race at one-third mile Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, N.C. Although the race takes place in 1958, it is actually the first race of the 1959 season. In the other 20 races he starts in the season, 19 are in the No. 43 and one is the No. 42.

• Nov. 8 -- 1980: Happy birthday, Travis Geisler. The crew chief for the No. 77 Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr., Geisler also started 12 Nationwide races in 2003. Hornish, in his second full season of Cup racing, is 29th in the Cup standings going into Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas.

• Nov. 7 -- 2004: In his 600th Cup start, Mark Martin finishes 15th in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets the win with Ryan Newman second and Jeff Gordon third.

• Nov. 6 -- 1977: G.C. Spencer finishes 25th in the Dixie 500 at Atlanta in his final Cup race. Spencer starts at least one race from 1958 through 1977. He is winless in 415 starts with 55 top-fives and 138 top-10s. His best season is 1965 when finishes fourth in the standings and records 14 top-fives and 25 top-10s in 47 starts.

• Nov. 5 -- 2006: Tony Stewart wins for the first time at Texas, beating Jimmie Johnson by .272 seconds. He leads 278 of 339 laps and has a Driver Rating of 149.7.

• Nov. 4 -- 1990: Only two drivers lead laps of the Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Rusty Wallace leads the first 50 before his engine expires, and Dale Earnhardt leads the last 262 for the victory, winning by 0.67 seconds over Ken Schrader.

• Nov. 3 -- 2001: Willy T. Ribbs finishes 18th in the Auto Club 200 Truck Series race at Fontana in his last NASCAR start. Ribbs competes in 23 of the Truck season's 24 races and finishes 16th in the standings. It is his only season in the Truck Series. In 1986, he competed in three Cup Series races.

• Nov. 2 -- 1975: Richard Petty wins the only Cup Series race run in November at Bristol, beating Lennie Pond by more than a lap in the Volunteer 500. It also is the last of Petty's eight victories in the month of November.

• Nov. 1 -- 1998: Jeff Gordon wins the AC Delco 400 by .52 seconds over Dale Jarrett to sweep both races at Rockingham. It is Gordon's fourth and final victory at the Rock. In 23 Cup starts at North Carolina Speedway, Gordon posts 11 top-10s, with eight finishes in the top five.

• Oct. 31 -- 2004: Martin Truex Jr. finishes 37th in the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in his Cup Series debut. Truex also gets his first DNF that day when his engine dies after 259 laps of the 325-lap race.

• Oct. 30 -- 1966: The Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie, compete in the same Cup Series race for the first time. In their 231 common races, Bobby finishes in front of his brother 146 times. On this day, however, Donnie beats his brother, finishing ninth in the American 500 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Bobby finishes 41st in the 44-car field, retiring after 57 laps with a blown engine.

• Oct. 29 -- 1950: Lee Petty wins the final race of the Cup Series season for his only victory in 1950. The win at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., is significant because it enables Petty to have at least one win in each of his first 13 seasons.

• Oct. 28 -- 1951: Danny Weinberg wins his only Cup Series race in his fifth start, taking the checkered flag in the in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track at Marchbanks Speedway in Hanford, Calif. All 17 of Weinberg's Cup starts, from 1951 to 1964, are in the West -- 15 in California and two at Phoenix. He finishes his Cup career with seven top-fives and nine top-10s.

• Oct. 27 -- 2002: One week after winning at Martinsville, Cup Series rookie Kurt Busch wins the NAPA 500 at Atlanta for his second consecutive victory. It is the only time in his 10-year, 19-win career Busch has won consecutive Cup races.

• Oct. 26 -- 2002: Two weeks after winning his first Cup Series race in his second start, Jamie McMurray wins his first Nationwide Series race, the Aaron's 312 at Atlanta. He leads only the final lap -- when race leader Joe Nemechek runs out of gas -- and wins by 10.796 seconds over Michael Waltrip.

• Oct. 25 -- 2000: Dale Earnhardt wins the 76th and final race of his Cup Series career, coming from 18th place in the final laps of the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Kenny Wallace finishes second and Joe Nemechek third in cars owned by Andy Petree.

• Oct. 24 -- 1999: The Burton brothers, Jeff and Ward, finish 1-2 for the third time in the 1999 season. Jeff wins all three, including a .337-second victory on this day in the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

• Oct. 23 -- 1955: In his seventh Cup Series start, Joe Weatherly finishes fourth in the Wilkes 160 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway for his first top-five finish. Weatherly wouldn't get his first victory until 1958 on his way to 20 wins in 230 starts before his death at Riverside in 1964.

• Oct. 22 -- 2000: Sterling Marlin makes his 500th Cup Series start and finishes 33rd in the Pop Secret Microwave 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Marlin completes 328 laps, finishing 65 laps behind winner Dale Jarrett.

• Oct. 21 -- 1984: Bill Elliott beats Harry Gant in a photo finish of the Warner H. Hodgdon American 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway for his first of four Cup Series victories at the Rock.

• Oct. 20 -- 1968: Charlie Glotzbach wins the National 500 at Charlotte for his first Cup victory. Glotzbach finishes 7 seconds ahead of Paul Goldsmith. David Pearson finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap. Glotzbach makes 124 starts from 1960 to 1992 and finishes his career with four Cup wins and 12 poles.

• Oct. 19 -- 1958: Richard Petty finishes second-to-last, 23rd, in the No. 2 Oldsmobile, in the Wilkes 160 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. It is his fifth and final start in the No. 2. Petty will not start a race in a single-digit car again until 1986 in Charlotte when he finishes 38th in D.K. Ulrich's No. 6 Chevrolet.

• Oct. 18 -- 1998: Dennis Setzer wins the Dodge California Truck Stop 300 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., for his first Truck Series victory. Setzer beats Jack Sprague by .99 seconds in the 300-lap race on the half-mile track. Stacy Compton finishes third.

• Oct. 17 -- 1982: Jack Ingram wins for the third time at Hickory (N.C.) Speedway in the Nationwide Series; one of six Nationwide races at Hickory in 1982, the inaugural Nationwide season. Morgan Shepherd, John Settlemyre and Tommy Houston win the other three races at the .363-mile track.

• Oct. 16 -- 1955: In his second start, Norm Nelson wins his only Cup Series race, a scheduled 200-lap race on the 1-mile dirt track of Las Vegas Park Speedway. Darkness shortens the race to 111 laps, and Nelson leads the final 106. Nelson, 32 at the time, returns to race three more times in the 1960s, and he closes out his NASCAR career with three top-10s in five starts.

• Oct. 15 -- 1950: NASCAR runs two Cup races on the same day for the first time. Herb Thomas wins a 200-lap race at Martinsville, and Lloyd Moore wins a 200-lap race at Funk's Speedway in Winchester, Ind. Both tracks are half-mile dirt tracks.

• Oct. 14 -- 1990: Rick Mast wins the NE Chevy 250 at New Hampshire for his ninth and final Nationwide Series victory. Mast beats Bobby Labonte to the line by .64 seconds for his third victory of the season. Mast makes 243 starts in 12 seasons from 1982 to 1998. In 15 seasons in Cup racing, Mast is winless in 364 starts.

• Oct. 13 -- 2001: Randy LaJoie wins the Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park for his 15th and final Nationwide Series victory. LaJoie, a two-time Nationwide champion, starts 350 races in 19 seasons (1986-2006).

• Oct. 12 -- 1975: Darrell Waltrip records his first win at Richmond, beating Lennie Pond by more than a lap in the Capital City 500. Waltrip finishes his career with six Cup wins at Richmond, making it his fifth-most successful track. Waltrip's best tracks: 12 wins at Bristol, 11 at Martinsville, 10 at North Wilkesboro, eight at Nashville and six at Charlotte and Richmond.

• Oct. 11 -- 1998: Boris Said picks up his first, and so far only, NASCAR victory, winning the Kragen/Exide 151 Truck Series race at Sonoma. Said, a road-course ace, wins by 6.549 seconds over Mike Bliss. Tony Raines finishes third. Said has made 35 starts in the Cup Series, 20 in Nationwide and 65 in the Truck Series.

• Oct. 10 -- 1954: Buck Baker wins the first Cup race at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in Lehi, Ark., the Mid-South 250. Baker is the only driver to complete all 167 laps on the 1.5-mile dirt track. Dick Rathmann finishes second, five laps back, and Lee Petty is third, six laps back.

• Oct. 9 -- 2005: Denny Hamlin finishes 32nd in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway in his first Cup Series start. Hamlin starts the last seven races of the season and scores three top-10s. The next year, his rookie season, Hamlin wins twice, makes the Chase and finishes third.

• Oct. 8 -- 1983: Ricky Rudd makes his third and final start in the Nationwide Series, finishing 34th in the Miller Time 300 at Charlotte. Rudd closes out his Nationwide career with one top-10 finish, a win in his first race, at Dover. Rudd's three Nationwide starts are quite a contrast to his Cup career: His 906 starts are second only to Richard Petty's 1,184.

• Oct. 7 -- 1951: Herb Thomas wins his first NASCAR race from the pole, winning a 150-lap race on the 1-mile dirt of Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C. Leonard Tippett is second, a lap back, and Joe Eubanks is third, another lap back. Nineteen of Thomas' 48 wins come from the pole.

• Oct. 6 -- 2002: Subbing for injured Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray makes his first Cup Series start, finishing 26th in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega. As excited as McMurray undoubtedly was, it's nothing compared with the next week when he shocks everyone by winning the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte in his second Cup start.

• Oct. 5 -- 1996: Mark Martin wins the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 at Charlotte for his 25th career Nationwide Series victory. Bobby Labonte is second and Sterling Marlin third. Martin is the all-time leader with 48 wins. Kevin Harvick is second with 34.

• Oct. 4 -- 1997: Tony Stewart finishes third in the All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte for his first top-10 finish in NASCAR. Jimmy Spencer wins the race and Mark Martin is second. Stewart competes in five Nationwide races in 1997, the same year he wins the IRL championship.

• Oct. 3 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race at Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fairgrounds. Dick Rathmann finishes second in the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track. Buck Baker finishes third.

• Oct. 2 -- 1983: With Darrell Waltrip behind the wheel, Junior Johnson picks up his 100th victory as an owner in the Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Dale Earnhardt finishes 2.7 seconds back, and Bobby Allison is third. In 30 seasons as an owner, Johnson wins 132 races, 115 poles and six championships -- three with Waltrip and three with Cale Yarborough.

• Oct. 1 -- 2006: Dale Jarrett finishes fourth in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway for his only top-five finish of the season and the 163rd and final top-five of his 24 seasons of Cup racing. Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion, retires in 2008 with 32 victories and 260 top-10s in 668 Cup starts.

• Sept. 30 -- 1995: Mike Bliss wins his first NASCAR race, the Truck Series Lowe's 150 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Butch Miller finishes second, 1.14 seconds back, and Geoffrey Bodine is third.

• Sept. 29 -- 1996: Jeff Gordon wins the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The field is 37 cars, the last time fewer than 40 cars start a Cup race. It also is the 93rd and final Cup race run at North Wilkesboro. Dale Earnhardt finishes second, and Dale Jarrett is third.

• Sept. 28 -- 1958: Joe Eubanks wins a 110-lap race at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., for his only Cup Series victory in 159 starts from 1950 to 1961. Eubanks leads the final 12 laps on the .90-mile dirt track, and Doug Cox finishes second, the only other car on the lead lap. Buck Baker is third, one lap back. For his career, Eubanks finishes in the top 10 81 times, 37 times in the top five, and wins four poles.

• Sept. 27 -- 1981: In his fifth start, 22-year-old Mark Martin records his first top-five, finishing third in the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville. After the first race of the 2009 Chase, Martin has 253 top-fives and 40 wins. He has the eighth-most top-fives in the history of the Cup Series and the fourth-most in the modern era (since 1972). Richard Petty has the most top-fives, 555, and Dale Earnhardt has the most in the modern era, 281.

• Sept. 26 -- 1954: A season-high 64 cars are in the field for a 250-lap race on Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway's 1-mile dirt track. Not surprisingly, all 250 laps are led by drivers starting in the top four with polesitter Herb Thomas leading 163 laps and getting the win. Two other drivers finish on the lead lap, second-place Lee Petty and Hershel McGriff. Also not surprisingly, many cars don't finish the race. Twenty-nine cars are not running at the finish.

• Sept. 25 -- 2004: Shane Hmiel wins the Las Vegas 350 truck race for his only victory in NASCAR's top three touring series.

• Sept. 24 -- 2000: Kurt Busch finishes 18th in the MBNA.com 400 at Dover in his first Cup start. He finishes two laps behind winner Tony Stewart.

• Sept. 23 -- 1984: Sam Ard starts the only Cup race in his storied career, finishing last in the 31-car field of the Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Ard lasts one lap before retiring with steering problems. Ard competed in the then-Busch Series from 1982 to 1984, winning championships in '83 and '84.

• Sept. 22 -- 1998: Happy 21st birthday, Colin Braun, who is fifth in the Camping World Truck Series points standings and picked up his first win this year at Michigan.

• Sept. 21 -- 2002: After going winless in his first 62 Nationwide Series races, Scott Wimmer wins the MBNA All-American Heroes 200 at Dover to begin a stretch of four wins in eight races.

• Sept. 20 -- 1997: Joe Bessey wins his only Nationwide Series race in a career spanning 15 seasons, beating Randy LaJoie by .495 seconds in the MBNA 200 at Dover. Bessey finishes his career with four top-fives and 20 top-10s in 163 starts.

• Sept. 19 -- 1999: In his 180th Cup Series start, Joe Nemechek wins the Dura Lube/Kmart 300 at New Hampshire for his first Cup victory. He wins under caution; Tony Stewart is second and Bobby Labonte third.

• Sept, 18 -- 2004: Ricky Craven, a two-time winner in the Cup Series, makes his debut in the Truck Series, finishing 31st in the Sylvania 200 at New Hampshire. His day ends after 82 laps because of an accident. Travis Kvapil gets the win, followed by Jack Sprague and Johnny Benson Jr.

• Sept. 17 -- 1988: Driving a car owned by his brother Darrell, Michael Waltrip wins his first Nationwide Series race, beating Tommy Ellis by .685 seconds in the Grand National 200 at Dover. Morgan Shepherd finishes third.

• Sept. 16 -- 1984: Sam Ard wins his 22nd and final Nationwide Series race, beating Tommy Houston by three car lengths in the Coca-Cola 300 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. Jack Ingram finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap. Ard leads 148 of the 150 laps; Houston leads the other two.

• Sept. 15 -- 1968: Richard Petty wins the Hillsboro 150, the final Cup race on the nine-tenths of a mile dirt track of Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C. The track was the site of 32 Cup races and Petty, his father, Lee, and Buck Baker each won a series-high three races at Orange.

• Sept. 14 -- 1965: Dick Hutcherson wins the Pennsylvania 200 by eight laps over G.C. Spencer in the final Cup race at Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, Pa. Richard Petty leads the first 78 laps on the half-mile dirt track and Hutcherson the final 122.

• Sept. 13 -- 1970: Richard Petty leads 488 of 500 laps to win the Capital City 500 at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway by two laps on Bobby Allison. It starts a streak of seven consecutive wins at Richmond for the King on the .542-mile track. From September 1970 through February 1975, Petty wins nine of the 10 Cup races at the track.

• Sept. 12 -- 1987: Mark Martin wins the first of a record five Nationwide Series races at Richmond. L.D. Ottinger finishes second in the Freelander 200, and Geoffrey Bodine is third.

• Sept. 11 -- 1999: In his 25th start, Tony Stewart wins his first Cup race in dominating style. Stewart leads 333 of 400 laps and beats Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte by 1.115 seconds in the Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 at Richmond. It is the most laps Stewart has led in a Cup race.

• Sept. 10 -- 1994: Ted Musgrave completes a pole sweep at Richmond but fails to finish in the top 10 in either race. To date, Musgrave is the last driver to win the pole for both Cup races at Richmond in the same year.

• Sept. 9 -- 1989: Bobby Hamilton wins the Commonwealth 200 at Richmond for his first victory in a national NASCAR series race. It turns out to be his only victory in the Nationwide Series in 86 starts. His career also includes four Cup wins and 10 wins in the Truck Series, including four in 2004 when he won the championship.

• Sept. 8 -- 1984: Sam Ard finishes 11th in the Miller 150 Nationwide Series race at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway, snapping his streak of 42 consecutive top-10 finishes. Of those 42 top-10s, 37 are in the top five, including 14 victories. Tommy Ellis gets the win on this day, followed by Geoffrey Bodine and Butch Lindley.

• Sept. 7 -- 1986: Tim Richmond wins the Wrangler Jeans Indigo 400 at Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Raceway. The field is 29 cars, the last time fewer than 30 cars start a Cup race. Dale Earnhardt finishes second and Morgan Shepherd is third.

• Sept. 6 -- 1992: Darrell Waltrip wins his only Labor Day weekend Cup race at Darlington Raceway, finishing ahead of Mark Martin and Bill Elliott in the rain-shortened Mountain Dew Southern 500. Waltrip leads only the final six laps before the race is called after 298 of 367 laps.

• Sept. 5 -- 1957: Gwyn Staley wins the third and final Cup Series race at New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Starting from the pole, Staley leads the first 62 and final 28 laps on the 1-mile dirt track and beats Lee Petty by nearly two laps. Bill Walker finishes third. Jim Reed, who finishes 12th in the field of 24, leads the other 10 laps.

• Sept. 4 -- 1994: Bill Elliott wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington to give Junior Johnson his 132nd and final win as a car owner. Johnson's 30th and final season as an owner comes in 1995. Johnson wins six championships as an owner -- three with Cale Yarborough and three with Darrell Waltrip.

• Sept. 3 -- 1962: Larry Frank wins the Southern 500 at Darlington for his only Cup Series victory. Frank wins by 5 seconds over Junior Johnson, and Marvin Panch finishes third. Frank starts 103 races from 1956 to 1966.

• Sept. 2 -- 2001: Ward Burton, starting 37th, wins the Mountain Dew 500 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. It is one of the deepest starts for a winner at Darlington. Johnny Mantz holds the record, winning the first Southern 500 in 1950 from 43rd on the grid; 75 cars were in that field. Burton is tied for second with Bobby Labonte, who also started 37th when he won the race in 2000.

• Sept. 1 -- 2002: Jeff Gordon wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington to become the quickest driver to 60 Cup victories. The win comes in Gordon's 318th race, just ahead of the previous best of 321 races by Darrell Waltrip.

• Aug. 31 -- 2003: Terry Labonte wins the Mountain Dew Southern 500 in the final Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend at historic Darlington Raceway. It is also Labonte's last win to date. Labonte races full time for the final time in 2004. Labonte has 22 Cup wins in 864 starts.

• Aug. 30 -- 1987: Larry Pearson wins the World Crown 200 in the final Nationwide Series race at Peach State Speedway in Jefferson, Ga. The half-mile speedway is host to three Nationwide races, and Pearson wins the two held in 1987. Darrell Waltrip wins the first in 1986.

• Aug. 29 -- 1998: Tony Raines wins his fourth and final Truck Series race, beating Mike Bliss by 1.285 seconds in the Kroger 225 at Louisville (Ky.) Motor Speedway. Raines is winless in 138 Cup and 217 Nationwide races. He has started 53 Truck races, the last in 2004.

• Aug. 28 -- 1965: Junior Johnson passes pole-sitter Richard Petty on the second lap and leads the rest of the way to win the Myers Brothers 250 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., to sweep both Cup races at the half-mile track in 1965. In May, Johnson started from the pole and led all 200 laps.

• Aug. 27 -- 1972: A 25-year-old named Darrell Waltrip records his first top-five in a Cup race, finishing third in the Nashville 420 at Nashville Speedway. Bobby Allison wins, leading 283 laps, and Richard Petty, who leads 136 laps, is the only other car on the lead lap. This is no mistake: Despite finishing third, Waltrip finishes 16 laps back.

• Aug. 26 -- 1934: Happy 75th birthday, James Hylton. Hylton competed in 27 seasons in the Cup Series from 1964 to '93, picking up two wins in 601 races. Three times Hylton finished second in the Cup standings, including his first two full-time seasons (1966-67). He finished third four times. He also has competed in three Nationwide races, two after turning 70, including one last year at Daytona.

• Aug. 25 -- 1956: Fireball Roberts wins the first Cup Series race at Coastal Speedway, a half-mile dirt track in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Roberts averages 50.576 mph in taking the checkered flag in the 200-lap race ahead of Billy Myers, the only other car on the lead lap. Jim Paschal is third, a lap back.

• Aug. 24 -- 1997: Ron Fellows wins his first NASCAR race, taking the checkered flag in the Parts America 150 Truck Series race at Watkins Glen. Fellows has six wins in NASCAR's top three series -- four in the Nationwide Series and two in the Truck Series, all on road courses. Five of those wins are at Watkins Glen. The sixth was last year in the Nationwide race at Montreal.

• Aug. 23 -- 1964: Glen Wood finishes third in his final Cup start, a 200-lap race at quarter-mile Starkey Speedway in Roanoke, Va. Junior Johnson wins, and Ned Jarrett is second. Wood, who will make his mark in the sport as an owner and innovator, finishes his driving career with four wins and 14 poles in 62 Cup starts.

• Aug. 22 -- 1969: Bobby Isaac leads the first 241 laps at quarter-mile Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., but it's Richard Petty who leads the final nine to get his 100th NASCAR win in his 466th start.

• Aug. 21 -- 1969: Bobby Isaac wins his 10th Cup race of the season, a 100-mile event at three-eighths-mile South Boston (Va.) Speedway. Isaac leads 263 of 267 laps. David Pearson finishes second, the only other driver on the lead lap. Richard Petty is third, a lap back. Isaac goes on to win seven more races and finishes sixth in the point standings. He wins 11 races in 1970 along with his only Cup championship.

• Aug. 20 -- 1950: Dick Linder wins his first of three Cup races in 1950, winning a scheduled 200-lap race at half-mile Daytona (Ohio) Speedway. The race is shortened to 195 laps because of a crash. Linder dominates, leading 146 laps. Red Harvey is second and Herb Thomas is third. The three wins account for all of Linder's wins in 28 career Cup starts.

• Aug. 19 -- 1951: Tim Flock wins the first Cup Series race at Fort Miami Speedway in Toledo, Ohio. Flock leads the final 67 laps of the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track. Dell Pearson finishes second and Oda Greene third. Fort Miami will host one more Cup race, in 1952, and Flock wins that one, too.

• Aug. 18 -- 2001: Joe Ruttman wins the pole of the Sears Craftsman 175 Truck Series race at Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, Ill., to become the oldest driver (56 years, 9 months, 21 days) to win a pole. Ruttman finishes eighth, one of his career-high 20 top-10s in 24 starts in 2001. He also wins twice, and he finishes third in the standings for the third time in his career.

• Aug. 17 -- 1956: Ralph Moody wins the first of six Cup races at Old Bridge (N.J.) Stadium. Jim Reed starts from the pole on the half-mile track and leads the first 176 laps, but Moody leads the final 24. Reed finishes second, and Billy Myers is third, a lap back.

• Aug. 16 -- 1992: Harry Gant, at the age of 52 years, 7 months, 6 days, wins his final Cup race, the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan, to become the oldest driver to win a Cup Series race. Gant wins on fuel mileage by nearly 5 seconds over Darrell Waltrip. Bill Elliott is third. Gant finishes his Cup career with 18 victories.

• Aug. 15 -- 1979: Happy 30th birthday, Carl Edwards. In his fifth full season of Cup racing, Edwards has 16 wins. He is the 2007 Nationwide Series champion and has 22 wins in that series. He also has six wins in the Camping World Truck Series.

• Aug. 14 -- 1993: Mark Martin wins his 10th Nationwide race in his 94th start. He takes the Detroit Gasket 200 at Michigan by .73 seconds over Robert Pressley to touch off a string of five consecutive wins in a 10-race stretch. Martin finishes the 1993 season with seven wins -- and seven DNFs -- in 14 races.

• Aug. 13 -- 1995: Terry Labonte makes his 500th Cup start, finishing fifth at Watkins Glen. Mark Martin wins the race for the third year in a row.

• Aug. 12 -- 1951: Tommy Thompson outlasts a field of 59 cars to win the first Cup race in Detroit, the Motor City 250, at the 1-mile dirt track of Michigan State Fairgrounds. Joe Eubanks finishes second, the only other car on the lead lap. Johnny Mantz is third, six laps back.

• Aug. 11 -- 2007: J.C. Stout's mother, Patricia "Tree" Stout, is the team's rear-tire carrier in the Toyota Tundra 200 Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway because of the illness of the team's regular crew member Joe Szwaczkowski. It is believed this is the first time a driver's mother has served on his over-the-wall crew in a NASCAR national series race. Stout finishes 31st, exiting after 84 of 150 laps because of an oil leak.

• Aug. 10 -- 1956: Joe Weatherly gets his first NASCAR Cup win in the first Cup race at half-mile Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway. Weatherly wins the Nashville 200 under caution. Bob Welborn and Larry Frank finish second and third, the only other cars on the lead lap. The final Cup race at Nashville is won by Geoffrey Bodine in July 1984.

• Aug. 9 -- 1964: Future champion Benny Parsons, 23, makes his first Cup start in the Western North Carolina 500 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway. Parsons, driving the No. 06 Holman-Moody Ford, starts ninth and finishes 21st, one spot behind teammate Cale Yarborough. It isn't a good day for the team. Parsons completes 258 of 500 laps before his car overheats, and nine laps later Yarborough's day ends because of radiator issues. Ned Jarrett wins the race by 9 seconds over David Pearson.

• Aug. 8 -- 1962: Richard Petty wins the only Cup race run at Huntsville (Ala.) Speedway, lapping the 16-car field on the quarter-mile track. Petty starts from the pole and leads all 200 laps. Bob Welborn finishes second. Jim Paschal is third, another lap back.

• Aug. 7 -- 1982: Second-fewest cars to start a Nationwide race: 18 at .395-mile Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. It comes three months after 17 cars start a race, also at Langley.

• Aug. 6 -- 2004: Brothers Michael and Darrell Waltrip compete against each other in a NASCAR race for the last time. Darrell "wins" the duel, finishing 28th in the Truck Series Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Michael crashes and completes 14 of the 200 laps in finishing last (36th).

• Aug. 5 -- 1979: Darrell Waltrip, winner of 84 Cup races, picks up his only Cup win in an Oldsmobile, winning the Talladega 500. David Pearson is second and Ricky Rudd third.

• Aug. 4 -- 1957: Buck Baker wins the first Cup race at Watkins Glen, The Glen 101.2, by nearly a half-mile over Fireball Roberts. Baker starts from the pole and leads all 44 laps on the 2.3-mile road course. Tiny Lund is the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.

• Aug. 3 -- 1956: Jim Paschal wins the only Cup race run in the state of Oklahoma, beating Ralph Moody by a quarter of a lap in a 200-lap race at the half-mile dirt track at Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. They are the only two drivers in the field of 12 to finish on the lead lap.

• Aug. 2 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race run in Iowa, a 200-lap event on the half-mile dirt track of Davenport Speedway. Buck Baker finishes second in the 14-car field, and Lee Petty is third.

• Aug. 1 -- 1992: Joe Nemechek wins at Indianapolis Raceway Park by 4.06 seconds over Robert Pressley for his first Nationwide Series victory. Nemechek wins again three weeks later and goes on to win the series title by three points over Bobby Labonte.

• July 31 -- 1955: Crash Carson, one of two drivers named Crash to race in the Cup Series, makes his only NASCAR start, at Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo, Calif. He finishes last, 34th, bowing out after eight laps of the scheduled 250-lap race on the 1-mile dirt track (oil pressure). The actual distance is 252 laps because of a scoring error. NASCAR's other Crash, Crash Bond, makes his only start in the Nashville 500 on Aug. 6, 1961, and finishes 13th.

• July 30 -- 1989: Patty Moise starts her fifth and final Cup race, the Talladega DieHard 500. Moise, wife of former driver Elton Sawyer, finishes 33rd, dropping out after 33 laps with engine problems. Moise's NASCAR career continues in the Nationwide Series to 1998. She starts 133 Nationwide races during 12 seasons.

• July 29 -- 2000: Kevin Harvick wins the Carquest Auto Parts 250 at Gateway International Raceway for his first Nationwide Series victory. It's the first of many. Harvick has 33, second only to Mark Martin's 48. Harvick also has two Nationwide championships (2001 and 2006).

• July 28 -- 1966: Paul Lewis wins the Smoky Mountain 200 at Smoky Mountain Raceway in Maryville, Tenn., for his only Cup victory in 114 career starts from 1960 to 1968. Lewis starts 27th in the 29-car field on the half-mile dirt track and finishes two seconds ahead of David Pearson, the only other driver on the lead lap. Lewis leads the final 64 laps.

• July 27 -- 1980: Janet Guthrie finishes 28th in the Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono in her final Cup Series race. She completes 134 of 200 laps before her engine fails. She finishes her Cup career with five top-10s in 33 starts over four seasons.

• July 26 -- 1992: Dale Earnhardt finishes last, 40th, in the DieHard 500 at Talladega for his lowest Cup finish in 44 races at the superspeedway. Earnhardt is the career leader at Talladega in Cup victories (10), top-fives (23) and top-10s (27).

• July 25 -- 1958: Cotton Owens wins the final NASCAR race at Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester, N.Y. Owens is the only driver to complete all 200 laps on the half-mile dirt track and finishes two laps ahead of Buck Baker and Speedy Thompson in the 21-car field.

• July 24 -- 1994: Three weeks after winning his first Cup race (at Daytona), Jimmy Spencer wins his last Cup race, beating teammate Bill Elliott by 0.25 seconds at Talladega. In 18 seasons, those are Spencer's only Cup wins in 478 races.

• July 23 -- 1950: Curtis Turner wins a 200-lap race at Charlotte Speedway, a three-quarter-mile dirt track, to win back-to-back races for the second time that season. Turner won the previous race in Rochester, N.Y., and he also won the third and fourth races, in Langhorne, Pa., and Martinsville, Va., respectively.

• July 22 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race run in South Dakota, taking the checkered flag ahead of Dick Rathmann and Fonty Flock in a 200-lap event at the half-mile dirt track of Rapid Valley Speedway in Rapid City. Fifteen cars are in the field. Lee Petty finishes fourth and Buck Baker fifth.

• July 21 -- 1956: Fireball Roberts wins the only Cup race run at Chicago's Soldier Field. Jim Paschal finishes second and Ralph Moody third in the 200-lap race on the half-mile oval. NASCAR runs three Convertible Division races at Soldier Field, two in 1956 and one in '57.

• July 20 -- 1962: Wendell Scott starts from the pole for the only time in his 495-race Cup career. He finishes eighth in a 200-lap race on Savannah (Ga.) Speedway's half-mile dirt track. Scott finishes 12 laps behind winner Joe Weatherly.

• July 19 --1987: Dale Earnhardt wins the Summer 500 at Pocono from the 16th starting position, the deepest in the field for a winner in the 29-race Cup season. Only five races are won by drivers starting outside the top 10, and Earnhardt wins two of those races (he wins the March race at Rockingham from 14th on the grid).

• July 18 -- 1971: Friday Hassler starts from the pole of a Cup race for the first time in his career. Hassler goes on to finish sixth in the Northern 300 at 1.5-mile Trenton (N.J.) Speedway. In his 135-race career, he starts from the pole twice, both times while driving the No. 39. No driver in the No. 39 won another Cup pole until Ryan Newman in this year's Coca-Cola 600. The No. 39 has never been to Victory Lane in a Cup race.

• July 17 --1994: Geoff Bodine wins the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono to put the No. 7 in Victory Lane in a Cup race for the first time since Alan Kulwicki's last victory two years earlier. Bodine wins two more times in 1994 and once more in 1996 for the last victories for the No. 7.

• July 16 -- 2000: Forty-four cars start the Econo Lodge 200 at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway, the last time more than 43 cars start a Nationwide Series race. Ron Hornaday wins, picking up his first Nationwide victory. And finishing last is Chad Chaffin, which makes him the last driver to finish worse than 43rd in a Nationwide Series race.

• July 15 -- 1990: Tommy Ellis, the 1988 Busch Series champion, wins his 22nd and final race in the series. Ellis wins the Budweiser 300, the first Busch race at New Hampshire, by .29 seconds over Harry Gant. Chuck Brown is third.

• July 14 -- 1957: Eddie Pagan wins a 200-lap race at half-mile Portland Speedway in the last Cup race run in Oregon. Portland Speedway was the site of seven Cup races, four in 1956 and three in 1957. Pagan won two of them.

• July 13 -- 2002: Johnny Sauter wins the Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway for his first Nationwide Series victory. Todd Bodine is second .425 seconds back, and Jeff Burton finishes third.

• July 12 -- 1949: Happy 60th birthday to Joseph Riddick Hendrick III, better known as Rick Hendrick. Hendrick started Hendrick Motorsports in 1984 and has 181 Cup wins and eight Cup championships, including the past three with Jimmie Johnson.

• July 11 -- 1981: In his third Cup race, 22-year-old Mark Martin starts from the pole for the first time. Martin leads the first 36 laps of the Busch Nashville 420 at Nashville (Tenn.) Speedway and finishes 11th. Darrell Waltrip leads 303 laps and picks up one of his eight wins on the.596-mile track. Martin, now 50, has 44 poles, tied with Ryan Newman for 11th all time.

• July 10 -- 1988: A Nationwide Series-record 47 cars start the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. What makes the largest field all the more remarkable is Oxford's size: It's a one-third-mile track. Four drivers, led by Dick McCabe, complete all 282 laps. Twenty-six cars are running at the end.

• July 9 -- 1965: Junior Johnson wins the Old Bridge 200, the last Cup race run at half-mile Old Bridge (N.J.) Stadium. Johnson leads 88 laps and is the only driver on the lead lap. Dick Hutcherson finishes second and Marvin Panch third, the only drivers a lap down.

• July 8 -- 2006: Casey Mears wins the USG Durock 300 Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland for his first victory in NASCAR's top three national series. Mears beats Carl Edwards to the line by .525 seconds, and Jeff Burton is third. The top 16 finishers are full-time Cup drivers.

• July 7 -- 1991: Rickey Craven picks up his first NASCAR victory, winning the True Value 250 Nationwide Series race at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine. Craven, of Newburgh, Maine, beats Tommy Houston by three-tenths of a second in the 303-lap race on the one-third-mile track. Todd Bodine is third.

• July 6 -- 1983: Butch Lindley wins the Goody's 200 in the final Nationwide Series race at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C. Lindley beats Jack Ingram to the line on the half-mile track. Jimmy Hensley is third and Tommy Houston fourth, the only other cars on the lead lap.

• July 5 -- 2002: Joe Nemechek becomes the first winner from the pole in a Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Nemechek leads 78 of 100 laps and wins the Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 by .190 seconds on Greg Biffle. Nemechek's win comes in the 22nd Nationwide race at Daytona. In 35 races, the only other drivers to win from the pole are Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003) and Tony Stewart (2008).

• July 4 -- 1971: Bobby Isaac starts 21st and wins the Firecracker 400 for his only Cup victory when he started outside the top 10. Of Isaac's 37 Cup wins, he started in the top four in 33 and sixth, seventh and seventh in the other three.

• July 3 -- 2004: Carl Edwards wins the Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway for his fifth NASCAR victory. He wins one more Truck race in 2004.

• July 2 -- 1937: Happy birthday, Richard Petty. The NASCAR legend, with 200 Cup Series wins and seven championships, is born on this day.

• July 1 -- 2000: Kurt Busch wins his first NASCAR race, the Sears DieHard 200 Truck race at The Milwaukee Mile. He leads 156 laps and beats Randy Tolsma to the finish line by .564 seconds. Greg Biffle finishes third.

• June 30 -- 1990: Mark Martin leads only one lap, but it's the most important one in the Carolina Pride/Budweiser 200 Nationwide Series race at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Speedway. Tommy Ellis leads the first 199 laps and finishes seventh.

• June 29 -- 2003: Jason Keller wins the GNC Lives Well 250 at Milwaukee for his 10th Nationwide Series victory. Keller, 39, who holds the record for Nationwide starts with 473, hasn't won since, a stretch of 168 starts.

• June 28 -- 1998: Road-course ace Ron Fellows wins his first of four Nationwide Series races, leading 54 of 82 laps at Watkins Glen. All four of Fellows' wins have been on road courses -- three at Watkins Glen and one at Montreal.

• June 27 -- 1959: Richard Petty finishes last for the first time in his Cup career. Transmission problems in his 1957 Oldsmobile end his day after 14 laps of a 200-lap race at quarter-mile Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. Petty finishes 24th. Rex White leads all 200 laps.

• June 26 -- 1963: Steve Grissom, the 1993 Nationwide Series champion, is born on this day. Grissom, who has started at least one Nationwide race for 24 consecutive seasons, has 11 wins in 309 starts. He is winless in 151 Cup races and 24 Truck races.

• June 25 -- 1994: Shawna Robinson finishes 10th in the Nationwide Series Fay's 150 at Watkins Glen for her only top-10 in 72 starts in NASCAR's top three series. Her best finish in eight Cup starts is 24th in the 2002 Daytona 500, and her best finish in three Truck Series races is 18th. She made 61 Nationwide starts in seven seasons from 1991 to 2005.

• June 24 -- 1951: Curtis Turner wins his first NASCAR race on pavement, leading 177 of 200 laps at half-mile Dayton (Ohio) Speedway. Dick Rathmann is second, and Tim Flock, who leads the other 23 laps, finishes third.

• June 23 -- 1971: Bobby Allison wins the Space City 300 at Meyer Speedway in Houston. The field is 14 cars, the last time fewer than 20 cars start a Cup race. It is the only NASCAR race on the half-mile track. Allison starts from the pole and leads 253 laps. James Hylton is second and Walter Ballard third.

• June 22 -- 1957: Bill Amick wins a scheduled 200-lap race at half-mile Capitol Speedway in Sacramento, Calif., for his only Cup victory in 48 career starts in eight seasons. Lloyd Dane finishes second and George Seeder third on the half-mile dirt track. The race was shortened to 199 laps because of a scoring error.

• June 21 -- 1959: Tom Pistone picks up his second and final Cup victory, winning the Richmond 200 at the half-mile dirt track of Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds in Richmond, Va. The only other cars on the lead lap are second-place Glen Wood and third-place Buck Baker. Both of Pistone's victories come in 1959; he closes out his career in 1968 with 130 starts.

• June 20 -- 1998: On his 40th birthday, Ron Hornaday wins at Bristol. Hornaday leads 187 of 200 laps and beats Jack Sprague by .854 seconds. Hornaday goes on to win his second Truck Series title. He wins his third in 2007.

• June 19 -- 1988: Nineteen cars take the green flag of the Nationwide Series race at Lanier Speedway in Gainesville, Ga. It is the last time fewer than 20 cars start a Nationwide race. Tommy Houston gets the win in the Big Star/Coca-Cola 200, winning by 3 seconds in front of Jimmy Hensley on the three-eighths mile track.

• June 18 -- 1950: Bill Blair becomes the first driver to win in the No. 2, in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track at Vernon (N.Y.) Fairgrounds. The No. 2 has been to Victory Lane 63 times and has made the third-most Cup starts (1,540). The No. 43 is first (1,714), followed by the No. 11 (1,636). Dale Earnhardt won the first of his seven Cup championships in the No. 2 in 1980.

• June 17 -- 2000: Camping World Truck Series rookie Kurt Busch suffers his only DNF of the season when he crashes and finishes 29th in the Kroger 250 at Kentucky Speedway. Busch goes on to win four races and four poles and finish second in the standings behind Roush teammate Greg Biffle.

• June 16 -- 1951: Frank Mundy, driving a 1951 Studebaker, leads 167 of 200 laps on the half-mile dirt track of Columbia (S.C.) Speedway to pick up his first win and the first of three wins for Studebaker. All three of Studebaker's wins in the Cup Series come in 1951, two from Mundy. Danny Weinberg gets the other.

• June 15 -- 1966: James Hylton, a 31-year-old rookie, finishes second in the Beltsville 200 at half-mile Beltsville (Md.) Speedway for his second lead-lap finish in his first 22 races. Hylton runs his 601st and final Cup race in 1993. Little did Hylton know he would have only five more lead-lap finishes the rest of his career and none after 1972. Hylton finishes his career with two wins. Three times he finishes second in the standings and four times he finishes third.

• June 14 -- 1992: Alan Kulwicki wins the Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono for his final NASCAR win. He beats Mark Martin by 2.34 seconds, and Bill Elliott is third. Kulwicki goes on to win the 1992 championship on the final day of the season, beating Elliott by 10 points.

• June 13 -- 1982: Tim Richmond wins the Budweiser 400 on the 2.62-mile road course of Riverside for his first of 13 Cup victories in his abbreviated career. The win, by 3.82 seconds in front of Terry Labonte, comes in his 44th Cup start.

• June 12 -- 1958: New Bradford Speedway in Bradford, Pa., becomes the eighth track in Pennsylvania to host a NASCAR race. Junior Johnson wins the 150-lap event on the one-third mile dirt track. Three days later Reading Fairgrounds becomes the ninth track in the state to host a NASCAR race. The final race at Langhorne Speedway is in 1960, and it won't be until 1974 at Pocono that NASCAR returns to the state.

• June 11 -- 1964: Ralph Earnhardt finishes 13th in the 20-car field at Concord (N.C.) Speedway in his final NASCAR start. Earnhardt starts fifth in the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track and retires after 55 laps with engine trouble. Richard Petty wins the race, followed by David Pearson and Ned Jarrett.

• June 10 -- 1951: Tim Flock wins the only NASCAR race at Columbus (Ga.) Speedway. Gober Sosebee finishes second and Herb Thomas third in the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track.

• June 9 -- 1991: Ricky Rudd crosses the finish line first in the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Sonoma -- but two hours after the race, Davey Allison is declared the winner. Rudd makes contact and spins out Allison with just more than a lap to go, but by the time NASCAR assesses Rudd with a stop-and-go penalty for rough driving, he already has taken the white flag. A black flag, rather than the checkers, greets Rudd at the finish line. Ultimately, Rudd is penalized 5 seconds, which places him behind Allison ... and Allison is declared the winner.

• June 8 -- 1967: Richard Petty wins his first of six races at Smoky Mountain Raceway in Maryville, Tenn. This is Petty's only win on dirt at the track. The half-mile track is paved for the final seven races (the 12th and final race is in 1971).

• June 7 -- 1953: NASCAR races for the first -- and to this day only -- time in the state of Louisiana with Lee Petty winning a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track of Louisiana Fairgrounds in Shreveport. Dick Rathmann finishes second and Herb Thomas third.

• June 6 -- 1982: Bobby Allison wins the first of three consecutive races at Pocono. Four years later, Tim Richmond will begin a run of three consecutive wins at the 2.5-mile track. They remain the only drivers to win three consecutive Cup races at the track.

• June 5 -- 1988: Subbing for Harry Gant, who was injured the week before in the Coca-Cola 600, Morgan Shepherd finishes second in the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet in the Budweiser 500 at Dover. He leads 110 laps but finishes 21 seconds behind winner Bill Elliott.

• June 4 -- 1995: Kyle Petty wins the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Dover from the 37th starting position, the lowest for a race winner at Dover. Petty leads 271 laps and beats Bobby Labonte to the line by .22 seconds.

• June 3 -- 2001: Jeff Gordon leads 381 of 400 laps and wins the MBNA Platinum 400, establishing a record for most laps led in a 400-lap race at Dover. After running 500-mile Cup races from 1971 to June '97, the race lengths at Dover are cut to 400 miles. Richard Petty sets the record for laps led in a 500-mile race at Dover in '74 when he leads 491.

• June 2 -- 1963: Banjo Matthews finishes 17th in the World 600 at Charlotte in his final NASCAR start as a driver. He ends his driving career winless in 51 starts before moving on to become a successful owner and an even more successful car builder.

• June 1 -- 1997: Ricky Rudd wins the Miller 500 at Dover, the last 500-mile Cup race at the track.

• May 31 -- 1968: For the last time in an illustrious career that ends in 1992, Richard Petty leads all the laps of a race. On this day, it's all 300 laps at one-third-mile New Asheville Speedway in Asheville, N.C. Buddy Baker finishes second, a lap back, and Bobby Isaac is third, four laps back.

• May 30 -- 1950: Bill Rexford, who goes on to win the 1950 championship, wins his only NASCAR race, a 200-lap event on the half-mile dirt track of Canfield (Ohio) Speedway. Rexford leads 80 laps and finishes two laps ahead of second-place Glenn Dunnaway.

• May 29 -- 1994: In his 14th Cup race, "Front Row" Joe Nemechek starts on the front row for the first time, qualifying second for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. The pole winner is a 22-year-old named Jeff Gordon, who goes on to win his first Cup race.

• May 28 -- 1994: Phil Parsons wins the Nationwide Series Champion 300 at Charlotte by nearly 11 seconds on Mark Martin for his final NASCAR victory. Parsons finishes his career with one Cup and two Nationwide victories.

• May 27 -- 1956: Owner Carl Kiekhaefer wins two Cup races in one day. On the three-quarter-mile dirt track of Charlotte Speedway, Speedy Thompson leads a 1-2-3 sweep for Kiekhaefer. Junior Johnson finishes second and Buck Baker third. On the other side of the country, Herb Thomas wins a 150-mile race at half-mile Portland (Ore.) Speedway.

• May 26 -- 1996: Dale Jarrett wins his only Coca-Cola 600, beating Dale Earnhardt by a whopping 11.982 seconds. The only other cars on the lead lap are Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon.

• May 25 -- 1986: Richard Petty makes his last start in a car other than the No. 43, when he buys D.K. Ulrich's ride -- the No. 6 Chevrolet -- and finishes 38th in the 1986 Coca-Cola 600. Petty crashed during a practice session and wasn't permitted by NASCAR to go to a backup car.

• May 24 -- 1970: Donnie Allison wins the World 600 at Charlotte for his fourth career victory and first without brother Bobby finishing second. Cale Yarborough finishes second, two laps back. Bobby completes 17 laps before his engine fails, and he finishes 39th in the 40-car field.

• May 23 -- 1954: Lee Petty wins the only Cup race run at Sharon Speedway, a half-mile dirt track north of Youngstown, Ohio. The scheduled 200-lap race is shortened by 40 laps because of rain. Buck Baker is second and Dick Rathmann third.

• May 22 -- 1955: Tim Flock wins the Richmond 200, finishing ahead of brother Fonty and Lee Petty, but that's not what makes the results of this 200-lap race on a half-mile dirt track interesting. Finishing last in the field of 28 cars is Jimmie Lewallen, who drops out after three laps. The reason given for his DNF: mud.

• May 21 -- 1950: Curtis Turner wins at Martinsville to become the first driver to win consecutive Cup races. The 150-lap race is the fourth race of the season. The third race, at Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway, was almost five weeks earlier.

• May 20 -- 2005: In his eighth Truck Series start, Kyle Busch becomes the youngest winner in the history of the series (20 years, 18 days). Busch beats Terry Cook to the line by .15 seconds in a green-white-checked finish at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Ted Musgrave finishes third.

• May 19 -- 2002: Mike Bliss beats Jason Leffler to the line by .33 seconds to win the Truck Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. It is the final Truck race run at the one-mile track in Fountain, Colo. It hosts its last Nationwide race in July 2005.

• May 18 -- 1958: Junior Johnson wins at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway for his first victory on a paved track. It is his sixth of 50 NASCAR victories. Twenty-three of those wins come at dirt tracks.

• May 17 -- 1981: D.K. Ulrich finishes fourth at Dover for the only top-five finish in his 273-race Cup career. In another "only" in the race, Jody Ridley gets his only Cup victory in 140 starts.

• May 16 -- 1971: Brothers Donnie and Bobby Allison, charter members of the Alabama Gang, finish 1-2 in the Winston 500. It is Allison's sixth victory and the fourth and final time Bobby finishes second. Donnie finishes his career with 10 Cup wins.

• May 15 -- 1970: Bobby Isaac wins the Beltsville 300 on half-mile Beltsville (Md.) Speedway for his first of 11 victories in 1970 en route to his only Cup championship. The win comes in the 14th race of the 48-race season. Richard Petty wins a season-high 18 races but finishes third in the standings behind three-time winner Bobby Allison.

• May 14 -- 2004: Less than two weeks past his 19th birthday, Kyle Busch wins the Nationwide Series race at Richmond for his first NASCAR victory. Busch leads 236 of the 250 laps and beats Greg Biffle to the line by .15 seconds. Kevin Harvick is third.

• May 13 -- 1967: Richard Petty wins the Rebel 400 for his 55th Cup victory, passing his father, Lee, as the winningest driver in the Cup Series. Richard retires in 1992 with 200 wins. Lee's 54 wins are ninth all time.

• May 12 -- 2001: J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, finishes 23rd in the Truck Series race at Darlington for his best career finish in eight starts from 2000-02. Gibbs also started five Nationwide races (1998-99).

• May 11 -- 2002: Bobby Hamilton Jr. wins a Nationwide Series race for his first NASCAR victory. Hamilton beats Todd Bodine by 2.547 seconds at New Hampshire. Jack Sprague is third.

• May 10 -- 2008: Michael Waltrip becomes the 14th driver to start 700 Cup races when he takes the green flag at Darlington. Waltrip finishes 24th. No driver has reached 700 starts since.

• May 9 -- 1998: Roy Jones, better know as Buckshot Jones, gets his final NASCAR win, beating Tony Stewart by 2.143 seconds in the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire. Jones finishes his NASCAR career with two wins in 147 Nationwide starts and none in 56 Cup starts.

• May 8 -- 1982: The smallest field for a Nationwide Series race, 17 cars, lines up at .395-mile Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. Winner Jack Ingram is the only car on the lead lap. Sam Ard and Phil Parsons finish one lap down.

• May 7 -- 1995: Dale Earnhardt wins at Sonoma for the only road-course win of his Cup career. Mark Martin dominated, leading 66 of 74 laps, but finishes second by .32 seconds. Earnhardt leads the final two laps.

• May 6 -- 1984: The Winston 500 at Talladega features 75 lead changes -- a record for the Cup Series that still stands. The 75th lead change came on the last lap, with Cale Yarborough taking the checkered flag by two car lengths over Harry Gant.

• May 5 -- 2002: Driving a Pontiac, Tony Stewart wins the rain-delayed Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond. It is the last of four times a Pontiac wins the Pontiac-sponsored race. Pontiac also won with Stewart the previous year, in 1989 with Rusty Wallace and in the inaugural year, 1988, with Neil Bonnett.

• May 4 -- 1962: Jimmy Pardue wins a 200-lap race on three-eighths-mile Southside Speedway in Richmond, Va., for his first Cup victory. He leads 66 laps. Jack Smith is second, the only other car on the lead lap, and Richard Petty is third, the only car a lap down. Pardue wins two races in 217 Cup starts.

• May 3 -- 1992: Buddy Baker makes his 700th and final Cup start, finishing 31st in the Winston 500 at Talladega. Baker leaves the race after 176 laps with a broken wheel bearing. Davey Allison gets the win by two car lengths over Bill Elliott.

• May 2 -- 1993: Ernie Irvan holds off Jimmy Spencer to win the Winston 500 at Talladega, but the bigger story is Rusty Wallace's wreck as Irvan takes the checkered flag. Dale Earnhardt touches Wallace and sends him airborne and flipping wildly down the frontstretch. Wallace actually crosses the start-finish line in the air in sixth place. By the time his car comes to a stop, almost all the sheet metal has been stripped from the car.

• May 1 -- 1994: Greg Sacks, the surprise winner of the 1985 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, picks up his 20th and final top-10 of his 263-race Cup career with a sixth-place finish in the Winston Select 500 at Talladega. In addition to his win, Sacks finished in the top five two other times.

• April 30 -- 1994: Hermie Sadler wins the Pantry Stores 300 Nationwide Series race in the final NASCAR race at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. Sadler also won the penultimate race on the .375-mile track in 1993. All told, 27 Nationwide Series races were held at the track, beginning in 1983.

• April 29 -- 1990: After winning the first seven races of his Cup career driving for Rick Hendrick, Geoffrey Bodine gets his first of four wins driving for Junior Johnson. Bodine wins at Martinsville, site of his first victory six years earlier, by 4.5 seconds over Rusty Wallace.

• April 28 -- 1991: Dale Earnhardt wins at Martinsville for his 50th Cup victory. He leads 251 of 500 laps and beats second-place Kyle Petty by 3.34 seconds. Darrell Waltrip is third and Geoff Bodine is fourth, the last of the four cars on the lead lap.

• April 27 -- 1991: Jason Keller finishes 29th (of 30 cars) in his first Nationwide Series start. Keller completes 47 laps before crashing at the .375-mile Lanier Speedway in Gainesville, Ga. Two rookies finish 1-2. David Green gets his first victory, and a 19-year-old named Jeff Gordon gets his first top-five.

• April 26 -- 1987: Dale Earnhardt wins at Martinsville for his fourth consecutive victory. It is the only time in Earnhardt's 27 seasons of Cup racing he wins four races in a row. Earnhardt finishes the season with a personal-best 11 wins and his third Cup championship.

• April 25 -- 1971: Richard Petty wins the Virginia 500 for his fifth consecutive victory at Martinsville Speedway. Petty finishes his career with 15 wins at Martinsville, which is tied with North Wilkesboro Speedway as Petty's most successful track.

• April 24 -- 2004: Dale Earnhardt Jr. finishes second to Martin Truex Jr. in the at Talladega Speedway, snapping his five-race winning streak in the Nationwide Series. Competing part time, Earnhardt won at Richmond in 2002; twice at Daytona and once at Talladega in 2003; and the first race of the 2004 season at Daytona. Earnhardt, a two-time series champion, has 22 victories in 109 starts.

• April 23 -- 1999: Terry Labonte beats Joe Nemechek to the finish line by .002 seconds to win the Nationwide Series race at Talladega. It ties the 1996 race at Milwaukee as the closest margin of victory in series history.

• April 22 -- 1962: Lee Petty finishes fifth in his first start since his bad crash in the second Daytona 500 qualifying race the previous year. It is Petty's only start in 1962. He will make five more starts before retiring at age 50: three in 1963 and two in 1964.

• April 21 -- 1974: Harry Gant finishes ninth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, recording his first top-10 finish in his second Cup start. It will be another eight years, when Gant is 42, before he records his first Cup win.

• April 20 -- 1985: Jimmy Hensley wins the 100th Nationwide Series race, beating Jack Ingram to the finish line by 3 seconds at South Boston (Va.) Speedway.

• April 19 -- 1997: Steve Park wins his first Nationwide Series race, the BellSouth Mobility/Opryland 320 at Nashville by 2.012 seconds over Jeff Green. This season would be Park's only full season in the Nationwide Series and he would record all three of his Nationwide wins and finish third in the final standings.

• April 18 -- 2004: Rusty Wallace wins at Bristol for the 55th and final victory of his Cup career. Bobby Labonte finishes second, .538 seconds back. Wallace is eighth all time in Cup wins.

• April 17 -- 1999: Jimmy Hensley wins the Truck Series race at Martinsville setting up the only weekend sweep for Petty Enterprises. The next day John Andretti wins the Cup Series race at Martinsville. Petty hasn't been back to Victory Lane since.

• April 16 -- 2000: Jeff Gordon wins the DieHard 500 at Talladega to become the quickest driver to 50 Cup Series victories. The win comes in Gordon's 232nd race, easily beating the previous best of 278 races by Darrell Waltrip.

• April 15 -- 1951: Fonty Flock wins the first Cup Series race shortened by rain. The scheduled 150-lap race on the mile dirt track of Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., ends after 95 laps. Flock, who starts from the pole, leads every lap. Frank Mundy is second and Bill Blair third.

• April 14 -- 2001: Greg Biffle, a 31-year-old rookie, wins the Pepsi 300 at Nashville for his first Nationwide Series victory. Biffle wins five races in 2001 and finishes fourth in the standings. He wins the Nationwide Series championship in 2002.

• April 13 -- 1997: Jeff Gordon uses the bump and run on the last lap to beat Rusty Wallace by .499 seconds in the Food City 500 at Bristol. Wallace, making his 400th start, leads a race-high 240 laps, including 85 of the final 86.

• April 12 -- 1952: Driving a 1952 Hudson, Buck Baker wins his first Cup race, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Lee Petty in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track of Columbia (S.C.) Speedway. Dick Rathmann is third.

• April 11 -- 1998: Ed Berrier leads 187 of 300 laps of the Galaxy Food Centers 300 at .363-mile Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway for his only Nationwide Series victory in 250 starts. Hermie Sadler is second by 1.645 seconds, and Tim Fedewa is third.

• April 10 -- 1988: Bill Elliott wins the Valleydale Meats 500 at Bristol for his first of six wins en route to his only Cup championship. Mark Martin is second by two car-lengths, and Geoffrey Bodine is third, the only other car on the lead lap.

• April 9 -- 1989: Rusty Wallace wins the Valleydale Meats 500 at Bristol for his second of six wins en route to his only Cup championship. Darrell Waltrip is second by 0.26 seconds, and Geoffrey Bodine is third.

• April 8 -- 1979: David Pearson finishes 22nd in the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington in his last race for the Wood Brothers. The end comes when Pearson, thinking he is making a two-tire pit stop, leaves his pit box without lug nuts on his left-side tires and he loses both as he exits pit road. A few days later, Pearson and the Wood Brothers go their separate ways.

• April 7 -- 2001: Scott Riggs gets his first NASCAR victory, winning the Truck Series' Advance Auto Parts 250 at Martinsville. Riggs completes the season with five wins and finishes fifth in the point standings. He has not raced in the Truck Series since. After running two full seasons in what is now the Nationwide Series (2002-03) and winning four races, Riggs moved up to the Cup Series in 2004.

• April 6 -- 1952: Dick Rathmann wins his first Cup race, a 200-miler on the half-mile dirt track at Martinsville. Rathmann leads 20 laps and wins by 5 seconds over Bill Blair, the only other driver on the lead lap. They have a lot of room to race in the latter part of the race: Only eight of the 22 cars are running at the end.

• April 5 -- 1970: Donnie Allison wins the Southeastern 500 at Bristol to give the Allison brothers, Donnie and Bobby, back-to-back wins for the first time. Bobby won the previous week at Atlanta.

• April 4 -- 1982: Dale Earnhardt wins the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington for his first Cup victory in a Ford. Earnhardt beats Cale Yarborough to the line by three feet. Of Earnhardt's 76 wins, three are in Fords; the rest are in Chevrolets.

• April 3 -- 1977: G.C. Spencer finishes eighth in the Rebel 500 at Darlington for the 138th and final top-10 finish of his 20-year career. Spencer is winless in 415 starts from 1958 to 1977.

• April 2 -- 1950: Driving a 1949 Lincoln, Tim Flock wins a 200-lap race on the three-quarter-mile dirt track of Charlotte Speedway for his first Cup win. His brother, Bob, is second, a half-lap back, and Clyde Minter is third.

• April 1 -- 1984: Darrell Waltrip wins the Valleydale 500 for his seventh consecutive Cup victory at Bristol. Terry Labonte is second, 2 seconds back, and Ron Bouchard is third. Waltrip finishes his career with a record 12 Cup wins at the half-mile track.

• March 31 -- 1998: Two-time champion Tim Flock dies at age 73. Flock won 39 times in 187 starts in 13 years (1949-61). His championships came in 1952 and 1955. In '55, he won 18 of 39 races and finished in the top five 33 times. He also won 18 poles that season.

• March 30 -- 1964: Marvin Panch starts from the pole and leads all 200 laps at quarter-mile Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. The only other driver on the lead lap, Ned Jarrett, finishes a distant second. Richard Petty is third a lap back in the field of 16.

• March 29 -- 1959: Driving a '57 Oldsmobile, Richard Petty finishes third in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track of Wilson (N.C.) Speedway for his first top-five finish in NASCAR. It comes in his 12th race. He will finish his 35-year career with 555 top-five finishes in 1,184 starts.

• March 28 -- 1971: David Pearson wins the Southeastern 500 at Bristol for his 30th and final victory driving for Holman-Moody. Pearson wins two of his three championships with Holman-Moody, in 1968 and 1969. His first championship, in 1966, is with Cotton Owens.

• March 27 -- 1939: Happy 70th birthday, Cale Yarborough. One of NASCAR's all-time greats, Yarborough finishes his 31-year career in 1988 with 83 Cup wins and three championships.

• March 26 -- 2000: Rusty Wallace wins the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway for his 50th Cup victory. Johnny Benson finishes second, 2.622 seconds back, and Ward Burton is third.

• March 25 -- 1989: Jimmy Spencer wins the Mountain Dew 400 at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway for his first victory in the Nationwide Series. He leads 78 of 200 laps on the .363-mile track and wins under caution with Tommy Ellis second and Rob Moroso third.

• March 24 -- 2002: Mark Martin makes his 500th Cup start and finishes 11th in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It's also a landmark day for Kurt Busch, who wins his first race in the Cup Series.

• March 23 -- 1997: Dale Jarrett wins the TranSouth Financial 400 Cup race at Darlington from the pole, beating Ted Musgrave to the line by .169 seconds. No driver has won a Cup race from the pole at Darlington since.

• March 22 -- 1959: Johnny Beauchamp, who came out on the losing end of the famous photo finish with Lee Petty in the inaugural Daytona 500, comes back a month later to win his first NASCAR race, a 100-lap event on the one-mile dirt track of Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta. No photo finish this time, Beauchamp leads every lap and wins by one lap on Buck Baker. Twenty-one cars start the race; nine are running at the finish.

• March 21 -- 1920: Fonty Flock, one of NASCAR's early stars, is born. Flock wins 19 of 153 races from 1949, NASCAR's first season, to 1957. His best season is 1951. Competing in 34 of 41 races, Flock wins eight times, finishes in the top five 20 times and wins 13 poles. He finishes second in the point standings to Herb Thomas.

• March 20 -- 1999: At Homestead-Miami Speedway, Mike Wallace wins the Florida Dodge Dealers 400k, the opening race of the Camping World Truck Series season. It is the latest the series has started in its 15 seasons. Mike Stefanik finishes second by .461 seconds.

• March 19 -- 1989: Darrell Waltrip wins his 75th Cup Series race, beating Dale Earnhardt by .65 seconds in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 at Atlanta. Dick Trickle finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap.

• March 18 -- 1984: Benny Parsons wins the Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta for his 21st and final Cup Series victory. Parsons beats Dale Earnhardt to the line by .9 seconds. Cale Yarborough finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap.

• March 17 -- 1968: The No. 17, first used by Sara Christian in 1949 in NASCAR's second race, makes its first trip to Victory Lane when David Pearson wins the Southeastern 500 at Bristol in the number's 272nd race. It won't take that long for the 17 to win again. It happens the next week on the dirt of the Virginia State Fairgrounds in Richmond.

• March 16 -- 1980: Rusty Wallace finishes second in his first Cup Series race, the Atlanta 500. Dale Earnhardt gets the win by 9.55 seconds. Bobby Allison is third.

• March 15 -- 1987: Jack Ingram wins his 31st and final Nationwide Series race, winning the Mountain Dew 400 at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway by two car lengths in front of Mike Alexander.

• March 14 -- 1927: Bill Rexford, winner of the 1950 Cup Series championship, is born on this day. Rexford is 23 when he wins the championship and remains NASCAR's youngest champ. Rexford wins one race in 1950, the only race he wins in his 36-race career. He races twice in 1953 at 26 and retires from NASCAR.

• March 13 -- 1988: Jeff Burton, 20, makes his first NASCAR start, finishing last in the 200-lap Miller Classic Nationwide Series race at Martinsville. Twenty-eight cars start the race, and Burton's engine fails after two laps.

• March 12 -- 1972: Bobby Isaac wins the Carolina 500 at Rockingham for his 37th and final Cup Series victory. He leads 210 of 492 laps and finishes more than a lap ahead of Richard Petty. Jim Vandiver is third, also on the 491st lap. The fourth- and fifth-place drivers, LeeRoy Yarbrough and Dave Marcis, complete 477 laps.

• March 11 -- 1979: It's a two-man race, and Cale Yarborough emerges the winner of the Richmond 400. Yarborough leads 181 laps and second-place Bobby Allison the other 219. They are the only two to finish on the lead lap. Allison leads the first 156 laps, Yarborough the next five and Allison the next 63 before Yarborough grabs the lead for the final 176 laps.

• March 10 -- 1959: Happy 50th birthday, Mike Wallace. Mike, younger brother of 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace and older brother of Kenny Wallace, has eight NASCAR wins, four in the Nationwide Series and four in the Truck Series. He is winless in 188 Cup starts.

• March 9 -- 1969: David Pearson wins the final race at Rockingham before it is reconfigured from a flat 1-mile oval to a high-banked, D-shaped 1.017 track. Pearson's other four wins at Rockingham come on the reconfigured track.

• March 8 -- 1953: Herb Thomas wins the only Cup race run at Harnett Speedway in Spring Lake, N.C., leading all 200 laps on the half-mile dirt track. Dick Rathmann finishes second three laps back, and Lee Petty is third.

• March 7 -- 1999: The Burton brothers, Jeff and Ward, finish 1-2 in the Las Vegas 400, the first of three times they finish 1-2 in the 1999 Cup season. In 372 common Cup races, those are the only times they finish 1-2 and Jeff wins all three.

• March 6 -- 1956: Marshall Teague starts from the pole and leads all 200 laps on the half-mile dirt track of Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla. Defending champ Herb Thomas finishes second and Frankie Schneider third.

• March 5 -- 1983: Davey Allison finishes 25th in his first NASCAR start, the Coca-Cola 200 Nationwide Series race at Rockingham. Dale Earnhardt picks up the win with Davey's father, Bobby, second.

• March 4 -- 2001: In his 318th NASCAR start, Ted Musgrave, 45, picks up his first win, beating Travis Kvapil by 10.588 seconds in the Florida Dodge Dealers 400 Truck race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. To that point, Musgrave had been winless in 298 Cup, 15 Nationwide and four Truck starts.

• March 3 -- 1996: In his 96th Cup start, Jeff Gordon wins his 10th race, finishing .56 seconds ahead of Dale Jarrett in the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond.

• March 2 -- 1997: Rusty Wallace wins the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond in what turns out to be his only win of the Cup season. The victory gives Wallace wins in 12 consecutive seasons; he would run the streak to 16 before it ends in 2002.

• March 1 -- 1986: Dale Earnhardt becomes the first driver to win the first two races of a Nationwide season with his victory at Rockingham. His victory a week earlier at Daytona is his second of seven Nationwide Series wins at Daytona.

• Feb. 28 -- 1971: A.J. Foyt, driving a 1969 Mercury, wins the first Cup race at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway, finishing 8.5 seconds ahead of Buddy Baker in the Miller High Life 500. Richard Petty finishes third, the only other car on the lead lap. Foyt leads 118 of 200 laps.

• Feb. 27 -- 1964: Happy 45th birthday to Todd Bodine, the 2006 Camping World Truck Series champion. Bodine, who has finished in the top four in each of the past four seasons, is off to another good start with a win and a second-place finish in the first two races of the 2009 season.

• Feb. 26 -- 1967: Mario Andretti wins one NASCAR race but makes it a memorable one, winning the Daytona 500. Andretti leads a race-high 112 laps and wins under caution, which is a big break because his Ford is low on fuel. Fred Lorenzen finishes second, giving Holman-Moody a 1-2 finish. Andretti runs a total of 14 Cup races, with his last race at Riverside in 1969.

• Feb. 25 -- 1973: Richard Petty wins the Richmond 500 for his 150th NASCAR victory. He finishes 13.6 seconds ahead of Buddy Baker.

• Feb. 24 -- 1990: Brothers Ward and Jeff Burton appear in a NASCAR race together for the first time. Jeff finishes 11th in the Pontiac 200 Nationwide Series race at Richmond and Ward finishes 15th. All told, they compete against each other in 372 Cup and 136 Nationwide races.

• Feb. 23 -- 1997: Jeff Gordon wins at Rockingham to become the fourth driver to win the first two Cup races of a season. The previous week he won the Daytona 500 for the first time. The three drivers to win the first two before Gordon: Marvin Panch (1957), Bob Welborn (1959) and David Pearson (1976). Matt Kenseth became the fifth with a win at Fontana on Feb. 22, 2009.

• Feb. 22 -- 1963: Johnny Rutherford, who would go on to win three Indy 500s, wins his first Cup race ... and only Cup race in 35 tries. The victory comes in his first race, the second 100-mile qualifier for the Daytona 500. The qualifiers counted as points races through the 1971 season. Rutherford finishes three car lengths ahead of Rex White. In the 500, Rutherford finishes ninth. All five of his top-10s come at Daytona.

• Feb. 21 -- 2004: Jamie McMurray wins the Nationwide Series race at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham for the fourth consecutive time. It also is the last Nationwide race held at the track.

• Feb. 20 -- 1983: Cale Yarborough wins his third Daytona 500, beating Bill Elliott to the checkered flag by five car lengths. Yarborough wins again in 1984 for his final 500 win. Only Richard Petty, with seven, has more Daytona 500 victories.

• Feb. 19 -- 1989: Darrell Waltrip picks up his only Daytona 500 victory. It is his only victory in 55 Cup races at the track. Waltrip wins by a hefty 7.64 seconds in front of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Ken Schrader, who leads a race-high 114 laps.

• Feb. 18 -- 1989: Darrell Waltrip wins the Goody's 300 at Daytona for his 113th and final Nationwide Series victory. Rusty Wallace finishes second by half a car length and Rob Moroso is third. Moroso will go on to win the series championship by 55 points on Tommy Houston and 56 on Tommy Ellis.

• Feb. 17 -- 1991: Ernie Irvan wins his only Daytona 500, finishing ahead Sterling Marlin under caution. Joe Ruttman finishes third, Rick Mast fourth and Dale Earnhardt fifth.

• Feb. 16 -- 1997: Jeff Gordon wins his first Daytona 500, leading a 1-2-3 sweep for Hendrick Motorsports. Terry Labonte finishes second and Ricky Craven third.

• Feb. 15 -- 1976: David Pearson nurses his car to the finish line of the Daytona 500 ahead of Richard Petty after the two crash fighting for position exiting the final turn of the race. It is Pearson's only victory in the Great American Race. He wins Daytona's July race four times.

• Feb. 14 -- 1960: A record 68 cars comprise the field of the second Daytona 500. Junior Johnson, driving a 1959 Chevy, wins by 23 seconds over Bobby Johns. Richard Petty finishes third and Lee Petty fourth as four cars finish on the lead lap.

• Feb. 13 -- 1975: Country music star Marty Robbins finishes 13th in the second Daytona qualifying race to gain entry into his second, and final, Daytona 500. Three days later, Robbins finishes 39th of 40 cars when an accident on the fourth lap claims Robbins and eight other cars.

• Feb. 12 -- 1984: Brad Keselowski is born on this day. Keselowski finishes third in the Nationwide Series standings in 2008, posting two wins, 11 top-fives and 20 top-10s.

• Feb. 11 -- 1951: Marshall Teague opens the 1951 season with a victory in the Beach & Road Course race at Daytona Beach for his first Cup Series victory. He leads 12 of 39 laps in the 160-mile race and beats Tim Flock by 1 minute, 14 seconds. The victory comes in Teague's fifth start.

• Feb. 10 -- 1925: Perk Brown is born on this day. Brown starts 28 Cup races (1952-55, 1963), including 19 in 1952 when he finishes 13th in the standings. Brown, who is winless in his career, records all three of his top-fives in '52 along with six of his eight top-10s and his only pole.

• Feb. 9 -- 1920, 1937, 1939: Guy Waller, Tom Usry and Jan Opperman are born on this day. Each share more than a birthday. Each has a career that consists of one Cup start. Waller finishes 27th in the second race of the 1951 season, a 150-lap race on the three-quarter mile dirt track of Charlotte Speedway. Usry finishes 11th in the Albany-Saratoga 250 in Malta, N.Y. It is one of two Cup races run on the .362-mile Albany-Saratoga Speedway, both won by Richard Petty. Opperman's cup of coffee comes in the Purolator 500 at Pocono in August 1974. Opperman makes his one start memorable, finishing eighth.

• Feb. 8 -- 1969: Road-course standout, Butch Leitzinger, is born on this day. Leitzinger, a three-time winner of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, has made nine NASCAR starts since 1994, all on road courses. In the Cup Series, he has three starts at Watkins Glen and one at Infineon. His best finish is 12th at the Glen in 1995. All five of his Nationwide starts are at Watkins Glen, with his best finish a second by .901 seconds to Ron Fellows in 2000.

• Feb. 7 -- 1983: Josh Wise is born on this day. Wise, a successful Midget racer, starts 17 Nationwide Series races in 2008, 13 for Armando Fitz and four for Michael Waltrip Racing, including the last three of the season. His best finish, and only top-10, is fifth at O'Reilly Raceway Park in July. In 2007, his first year in NASCAR, he starts nine Truck races (with two top-10s) and one Nationwide race.

• Feb. 6 -- 1961: Bill Lester is born on this day. Lester drives full time driver in the truck series from 2002 to 2006, finishing as high as 14th in the standings (2003). In 142 races during eight years (2000-07), Lester posts two top-five finishes and seven top-10s. He also starts one race in the Nationwide Series (1999) and two Cup races (2006).

• Feb. 5 -- 1950: Harold Kite makes a splashy NASCAR debut, winning the opening race of the season on the Beach & Road Course at Daytona Beach. Kite leads the first 14 laps and the final 24 of the 200-mile, 48-lap race, beating Red Byron by .53 seconds. It is Kite's only victory. From 1950 to 1965, he makes nine starts during five seasons.

• Feb. 4 -- 1943: Jimmy Insolo, a member of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, is born on this day. Insolo starts 29 Cup races from 1970 to 1983, at least one every year except for 1980. All but one comes in California; he finishes 39th in the 1975 National 500 at Charlotte. He starts 22 races at Riverside, recording four top-five finishes and six top-10s. His other six starts come at Ontario (two top-10s).

• Feb. 3 -- 1944: Marv Acton is born on this day. Acton starts 14 Cup races in three seasons (1971, '74, '77). His final two starts come in 1977 for Rod Osterlund in Osterlund's first year as an owner. Acton's best finish, 11th, comes in June 1971 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C.

• Feb. 2 -- 1982: Bubba Nissen finishes second in the Eastern 150 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, the second Nationwide Series race, to become the best-finishing driver named Bubba in NASCAR's top three national series. Bubba Adams finishes second in the Hampton 200 Nationwide Series race at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va., in 1985 to become the only other Bubba to finish as high.

• Feb. 1 -- 2006: Dick Brooks dies on this day. Brooks, a popular driver and broadcaster, wins one Cup race in 358 starts, but it is a big one -- the 1973 Talladega 500. He races from 1969 to 1985 and finishes his career with 57 top-fives and 150 top-10s. He finishes in the top 10 in points four times -- 1975 to 1978 -- topping out at sixth in 1977.

• Jan. 31 -- 1923: Nolan Swift, a racing legend in upstate New York, is born on this day. Swift wins well more than 200 feature races in his career that spans the '50s, '60s and '70s. He is the New York State NASCAR champion in 1952. He competes in two Cup races, both in upstate New York in 1956, finishing 10th at New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and 20th (of 21 cars) at Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester.

• Jan. 30 -- 1920: Roy Hall is born on this day. Although he starts only two NASCAR races -- in 1949 and 1952 -- he is famous in his day and remains so today. He was a standout stock racer before the debut of NASCAR's Strictly Stock division (today's Sprint Cup Series) in 1949 and is forever immortalized in Jim Croce's song, Rapid Roy (the Stock Car Boy), released in 1972.

• Jan. 29 -- 1945: Nationwide Series standout Tommy Houston is born on this day. Houston finishes his career in 1996 with 24 wins, 23 top-five finishes and 198 top-10s in a then-record 417 starts. Although he never wins a championship, he finishes in the top five in seven of his first nine seasons, including the first five. He is now third in career Nationwide starts, behind Jason Keller (458) and Kenny Wallace (418).

• Jan. 28 -- 1946: Jim Robinson, a member of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, is born on this day. Robinson, who wins three consecutive Grand National Division West Series titles (1983-85), starts 21 Cup races from 1979 to 1987, 19 on the road course of Riverside International Raceway (the other two were at Ontario Motor Speedway). Both of his top-10s come at Riverside in 1981, the only time NASCAR holds three Cup races at Riverside in one season.

• Jan. 27 -- 1934: Road-course champion George Follmer is born on this day. A member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame, Follmer starts 20 Cup races in five seasons from 1972 to 1987. He has his most success in 1974 when he starts 13 races and posts three top-fives and five top-10s and wins one pole. Those are the only top-10s and pole of his career.

• Jan. 26 -- 1976: Scott Wimmer is born on this day. Wimmer has raced in the Cup and Nationwide series since 2000. He is winless in 106 Cup races but has enjoyed success in the Nationwide Series with six wins, 29 top-five finishes and 68 top-10s in 169 races. His best season was 2002 when he won four races and finished third in the points standings. Running a part-time schedule last year of 23 races for Richard Childress Racing, Wimmer had one win and 13 top-10s and finished 17th in points.

• Jan. 25 -- 1941: Joel Davis is born on this day. Davis makes 30 Cup starts in the 1960s, including 21 in 1966. The only top-five of his career comes at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, S.C., in June 1966. Davis finishes fourth, 10 laps behind winner Elmo Langley, who wins by more than four laps over Neil Castles in the 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track.

• Jan. 24 -- 1984: Scott Speed is born on this day. Speed, who makes the jump from open-wheel racing to NASCAR in 2008, wins the AAA Insurance 200 Truck race at Dover in May. The victory comes in his sixth Truck race. He finishes the season with one win, four top-fives and nine top-10s in 16 races and also wins a pole. He starts the final five Cup races of the season, posting his best finish, 16th, in the finale at Homestead.

• Jan. 23 -- 1966: Mario Andretti makes his NASCAR debut in the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside International Raceway. Andretti finishes 16th, completing 154 of 191 laps over the 2.7-mile road course before an accident ends his day. Dan Gurney wins the race with David Pearson second and Paul Goldsmith third.

• Jan. 22 -- 1978: Cale Yarborough begins his quest for a third consecutive Cup Series title with a victory at the season-opening Winston Western 500 at Riverside. Yarborough wins the 119-lap (311.8-mile) race by 1 second over Benny Parsons. It is Yarborough's first victory on a road course.

• Jan. 21 -- 1973: Mark Donohue wins at Riverside to give owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR victory. Donohue, driving a 1973 Matador, leads 138 of the 191-lap Winston Western 500 and beats Bobby Allison by more than a lap to record his only NASCAR win.

• Jan. 20 -- 1929: Glenn "Fireball" Roberts is born on this day. Roberts wins 33 races and 32 poles in a 206-race Cup career from 1950 to 1964. Included in Roberts' wins are seven victories at Daytona, including the 1962 Daytona 500, and NASCAR's only race at Soldier Field in Chicago, on July 21, 1956.

• Jan. 19 -- 1975: Bobby Allison leads a track-record 173 laps in winning the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway. David Pearson finishes second by 22.6 seconds in the 191-lap race on the 2.62-mile road course.

• Jan. 18 -- 1998: Ron Hornaday wins the 1998 Chevy Trucks Challenge at Walt Disney World Speedway in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. It is the last race in NASCAR's top three series to be run in January. Hornaday beats Joe Ruttman by .211 seconds.

• Jan. 17 -- 1925: Legendary crew chief Harry Hyde is born on this day. Hyde, the inspiration for Robert Duvall's character Harry Hogge in the movie Days of Thunder, won 56 Cup races and 88 poles. He was the crew chief for 36 of Bobby Isaac's 37 Cup wins and Isaac's 1970 championship.

• Jan. 16 -- 1932: Lewis Jones is born on this day, but NASCAR fans know him better as Possum Jones. During 10 seasons from 1952 to 1965, Jones was winless in 47 starts, with 13 top-10 finishes and five top fives. His best season was 1960 when he posted four top-fives in a career-high 13 starts.

• Jan. 15 -- 1978: Sonny Easley dies on this day in a crash, which also claims the life of a pit crew member, during practice for a NASCAR modified race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. Easley started 19 Cup Series races from 1972 to 1977, all but five in California. He posted five top-10 finishes and one top-five, a fifth in the Winston Western 500 on Jan. 16, 1977, at Riverside. Easley, who was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2003, had nine career wins in the Winston West Series.

• Jan. 14 -- 1972: Dude Teate, whose career has consisted of one start in the Nationwide Series, is born on this day. Teate started 28th and finished 22nd at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Aug. 2, 2003. Also worth noting: Teate is the only driver named Dude to compete in NASCAR's top three series.

• Jan. 13 -- 1931: Ron Hornaday Sr., a member of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, is born on this day. Hornaday started 17 Cup Series races, all in the West, during 10 seasons from 1955 to 1973. Fifteen starts were in California and the other two were in Phoenix. Hornaday's best finishes were a fourth at California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento in 1960, and a fifth at Ascot Stadium in Los Angeles in 1961. Both races were on dirt.

• Jan. 12 -- 1933: Walter Ballard, the 1971 Cup Series rookie of the year, is born on this day. Ballard started one race in 1966 and didn't return to NASCAR until 1971 when he started 41 of 48 races and finished 10th in the points standings. He posted 11 top 10s and three top fives his rookie year, including a career-best third in the Space City 300 in the only Cup race run at Meyer Speedway in Houston. Ballard finished his career winless with four top-five finishes and 34 top-10s in 175 races.

• Jan. 11 -- 1981: This is the last time a Cup Series race is run in January and the last time a race other than the Daytona 500 begins a Cup season. No Nationwide Series race has been run in January, but there have been two January Truck races, in 1997 and 1998 at Walt Disney World Speedway in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Cup race on this day, the Winston Western 500, is won by Bobby Allison, giving him the last of his six victories on the Riverside road course.

• Jan. 10 -- 1971: NASCAR changes forever on this date with the first running of a Cup Series race under the title sponsorship of Winston. It is during Winston's sponsorship (1971-2003) that NASCAR grows from a regional to a national sport. Before NASCAR's top series became the Winston Cup Series, it was known as the Strictly Stock Series in 1949 and the Grand National Series from 1950 to 1970. It became the Nextel Cup Series in 2004 and the Sprint Cup Series in 2008.

• Jan. 9 -- 1959: Happy 50th birthday, Mark Martin, who returns to full-time racing in the Cup Series in 2009. Martin will be in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Martin has 35 Cup wins in 722 races in 26 seasons. His 48 victories lead the Nationwide Series.

• Jan. 8 -- 1977: Bobby Hamilton Jr. is born on this day in Nashville, Tenn. Hamilton has been most successful in the Nationwide Series, where he has five wins in 244 races. He is winless in 64 Cup races and 30 Truck races. In 2008, Hamilton competed exclusively in the Nationwide Series for the second consecutive year and had two top-10s, including a third at Talladega in April. He finished 15th in the standings.

• Jan. 7 -- 1968: Marty Houston is born on this day. Houston, whose father, Tommy, has 24 Nationwide Series victories (tied for fifth with Matt Kenseth), competed in 19 Nationwide races (2000-01) and 44 Truck races. His best Nationwide finish, 13th, came at Daytona in 2001 in his fourth start. In the Truck Series, he had 11 top-10s, including his only top-five, fourth at Kentucky in 2000. Houston's brother Andy competed in all three of NASCAR's top series and picked up three wins in the Truck Series.

• Jan. 6 -- 1993: Carl Tyler, who started 12 Cup races in the late '50s, died on this day. His best finish was 11th in his second career start, at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway in March 1958. He started 10 races in 1958 and two in 1959. His final start came in the first Daytona 500. Tyler finished 54th in the field of 59. He completed 29 laps before his '57 Ford overheated.

• Jan. 5 -- 1931: Happy birthday, Robert Duvall, who made his NASCAR debut in Days of Thunder in 1990 as Tom Cruise's crew chief, Harry Hogge.

• Jan. 4 -- 1977: Chuck Hossfeld is born on this date. Hossfeld competed in 10 Nationwide races for Jack Roush in 2000-01 with a best finish of 10th at Pikes Peak in May 2001. He has had much success in modifieds and finished fourth in 2008 in the Whelen Modified Tour.

• Jan. 3 -- 1973: Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., is 36 today. In 2008, Eury guided Junior to his first Cup victory since 2006 and a spot in the Chase.

• Jan. 2 -- 1950: Grant Adcox is born on this date. Adcox was a standout in the ARCA series who was winless in 60 Cup races from 1974 to 1989. His best Cup Series finish was a fifth in the 1978 Winston 500 at Talladega, where Adcox won five times in the ARCA series. Adcox died in an accident in the 1989 Atlanta Journal 500 Cup race.

• Jan. 1 -- 1971: Happy 38th birthday, Scott Riggs. In 167 Cup Series races, Riggs has four top-five finishes and 16 top-10s. Although winless in the Cup Series, Riggs has four wins in the Nationwide Series in 80 starts and five wins in the Truck Series in 43 starts. In 2005 he ran a full Truck schedule, winning five times and finishing fifth in the standings.