Today in Nascar History May

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Today in Nascar History May 19th:

Winners on this date: Buck Baker, Ned Jarrett (2 times), Jim Paschal, Cale Yarborough, and Bill Elliott.

All-Star Event Race Winners on this date: Davey Allison 1991, Jeff Gordon 2001, Kevin Harvick 2007, Jimmie Johnson 2012.

May 19th, 1957: Buck Baker is declared the winner of the Virginia 500 at Martinsville after a crash halts the race on the 441st lap.



May 19th, 1991: Davey Allison wins the Winston All Star Race in dominating fashion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ekseTewX4

May 19th, 2001: In a truly bizarre event Jeff Gordon wins the All-Star race in a backup car. The race was delayed and then given the green and as the cars went into turn 1 it started raining, wrecking much of the field including Gordon. Nascar allowed the teams to pull their backups off the truck and prepare them. Gordon would drive his to victory.

May 19th, 2007: Kevin Harvick pulls off the win in the All Star Event. It is his first ever Cup Series triumph of any sort at the track. (this was also the race with the Busch brothers getting together)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbqmYQzZRA

May 19th, 2011: The 11 FedEx crew of Denny Hamlin beats Jimmie Johnson's 48 crew in the finals to win the Sprint Pit Crew Competition for the 2nd straight year, becoming the first repeat winners of the event.



May 19th, 2012: Jimmie Johnson plays his strategy perfectly and uses a dominant car to easily win the Sprint All-Star Race for a record-tying 3rd time.

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Today in Nascar History May 20th:

Winners on this date: Buck Baker, Richard Petty (2 times), and Neil Bonnett.


All-Star Event Race Winners on this date: Dale Earnhardt 1990, Michael Waltrip 1996, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2000, Jimmie Johnson 2006.

May 20th, 1979: Neil Bonnett passes Cale Yarborough with 3 laps to go to win in just his 3rd start in the Wood Brothers famed #21.



May 20th, 1984: Richard Petty takes the win at Dover. It is his 199th career win.

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Today in Nascar History May 21st:

Winners on this date: Curtis Turner, Richard Petty (2 times), Joe Weatherly, Lloyd Dane, and David Pearson.


All-Star Event Race Winners on this date: Rusty Wallace 1989, Geoff Bodine 1994, Carl Edwards 2011.

May 21st, 1971: The independent driver’s union mini boycotts the 100 mile race in Asheville, NC due to lack of payoffs and appearance fees for them. 7 independents pull off the track, leaving 5 cars left to run. Richard Petty beats Elmo Langley by 4 laps to win the race.


May 21st, 1989: Rusty Wallace spins Darrell Waltrip out of the lead to win the Winston All Star race at Charlotte. Waltrip and Wallace’s crews get in a fight post-race and Waltrip says that he hopes Rusty “chokes on that 200,000”. This event altered the popularity of both drivers greatly-Waltrip positively for the rest of his career and Wallace negatively for a longtime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Bo_kmmM9U

May 21st, 2011: Carl Edwards holds off Kyle Busch to win a rather tame Allstar race at Charlotte then proceeds to accidentally destroy his racecar in his post-race celebration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZU2AaVDTw

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Today in Nascar History May 22nd:

Winners on this date: Tim Flock, Lee Petty, Marvin Panch, and Darrell Waltrip.


All-Star Event Race Winners on this date: Terry Labonte (2 times), Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Mark Martin.

May 22nd, 1966: Marvin Panch quits the Ford team and drives a Richard Petty Plymouth to the win in the World 600 at Charlotte. Only 11 of the 44 starters finish the event.

May 22nd, 1988: Terry Labonte passes Bill Elliott and goes on to win the Winston All Star race.

May 22nd, 1993: Mark Martin dominates the Winston All Star race but Dale Earnhardt pounces on a late race restart to snatch the win away from Martin.

May 22nd, 1995: Jeff Gordon cruises to victory in the Winston All Star race as carnage happens behind him throughout the event. Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip have a big crash racing for lead on a restart which results in injuries for Waltrip. (this was also the race where Dale brought out the Silver car, which started the special paint scheme craze)

May 22nd, 1999: Terry Labonte passes rookie Tony Stewart late in the going to win his 2nd career All Star race.

May 22nd, 2004: Matt Kenseth loosens up Ryan Newman to get by and win the All Star race.

May 22nd, 2005: Mark Martin, driving the #6 with a retro pain job harking back to his Valvoline days, wins the All Star race over Elliott Sadler.



May 22nd, 2010: Kurt Busch comes from way back and charges to the front on the final 10 lap restart to win the Sprint All-star race, the first All-Star win of his career.



May 22nd, 2014: The 2015 class of the Nascar Hall of Fame is announced-Bill Elliott, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly, Rex White, and Fred Lorenzen are the 5 honorees.

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Today in Nascar History May 23rd:

Winners on this date: Gober Sosebee, Bill Blair, Johnny Rogers, Lee Petty, Fred Lorenzen, and Bobby Isaac.

May 23rd, 1948: Nascar holds three events that count for championship points in three different locations-Gober Sosebee wins at Macon, GA, Bill Blair wins in Danville, VA, and Johnny Rogers wins at Dover, NJ.

May 23rd, 2010: The inaugural class of the Nascar Hall of Fame is officially inducted-Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Dale Earnhardt Sr., Junior Johnson, and Richard Petty.



May 23rd, 2011: The 2nd class of the Nascar Hall of Fame is officially inducted-Lee Petty, Bud Moore, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, and David Pearson.



May 23rd, 2012: The 4th class of the Nascar Hall of Fame is announced. Herb Thomas, Leonard Wood, Rusty Wallace, Cotton Owens, and Buck Baker are chosen by the voting panel.

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Today in Nascar History May 24th:

Winners on this date: Herb Thomas, Bob Welborn, Rex White, Jim Paschal, Donnie Allison, Bobby Allison, Kyle Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon.

May 24th, 1964: Jim Paschal posts his first career win by winning the World 600 at Charlotte. The race is also tragic as Fireball Roberts crashes and bursts into flames on the 8th lap-he would succumb to his injuries from the crash on July 2nd :(

May 24th, 1970: Donnie Allison wins by over two laps to claim the World 600. ABC cameras join the race in progress just over halfway through.

May 24th, 1987: Kyle Petty, driving for the Wood Brothers, wins the World 600 and gives the Wood Brothers Team its 70th superspeedway victory overall. Petty is in position to win the race due to heavy attrition.

May 24th, 1992: Dale Earnhardt wins the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte by outrunning Ernie Irvan on the racetrack and by using some questionable tactics on pit lane. Earnhardt comes in trailing Irvan by 3 seconds on the last pit stop and their pit times are essentially the same, yet Earnhardt emerges from the pits 1.2 seconds ahead of Irvan. The competitors cry foul and protest that he was speeding on pit road.

May 24th, 1998: Jeff Gordon passes Rusty Wallace late in the going to win the Coca Cola 600. The win catapults Gordon into the points lead.

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Today in Nascar History May 25th:

Winners on this date: Buck Baker, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Richard Petty, Benny Parsons, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson (2 times), Kasey Kahne, and David Reutimann.

All-Star Event Race Winners on this date: Darrell Waltrip.

May 25th, 1975: Richard Petty takes a popular win in the World 600 in Charlotte. Rookie Dale Earnhardt makes his first career Nascar Cup Series Start in a Dodge-he finishes 22nd.



May 25th, 1985: Darrell Waltrip dominates the inaugural Winston All Star event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in route to victory. As soon as Waltrip crosses the finish line the engine in his Junior Johnson owned ride detonates causing much debate and controversy as to if they meant to blow it up or not. (something illegal was in the engine?-highly likely)



May 25th, 2003: Jimmie Johnson is out front when rain halts the Coca Cola 600-giving Jimmie the victory.



May 25th, 2008: When leader Tony Stewart has a flat with 3 laps to go, Kasey Kahne takes advantage and goes on to win the Coca Cola 600.



May 25th, 2009: On a rainy Memorial Day in Charlotte, David Reutimann uses great strategy and a little bit of luck to score his first career victory. The Coca Cola 600 win is the first for MWR, the #00 in Cup competition, and for David himself. Also on this Memorial Day race, the cars are stopped in tribute at the 3 O'Clock hour to salute and pay respects-a great scene at the track.

Memorial Day Tribute (awesome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtO4hBsPzFI

May 25th, 2014: Jimmie Johnson starts from the pole and along with Kevin Harvick dominates the Coca Cola 600. Johnson holds off a charging Harvick for the victory-his 4th 600 triumph.

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Today in Nascar History May 26th:

Winners on this date: Eddie Pagan, Buddy Baker, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Davey Allison, Dale Jarrett, and Mark Martin.

May 26th, 1974: David Pearson scores his 80th career win by winning the World 600. Pearson passes Richard Petty with 9 laps to go and beats the #43 by a car length to the finish line.

May 26th, 1985: After winning the inaugural all-star race the day before, Darrell Waltrip doubles up and wins the Coca Cola World 600 at Charlotte.

May 26th, 1996: Dale Jarrett holds off Jeff Gordon and cruises to an easy win in the Coca Cola 600 as lots of carnage happens behind him throughout the event.
Big Mess on the restart




Ricky Craven/Johnny Benson huge crash

May 26th, 2002: Mark Martin ends a winless streak of almost 2 years by holding off teammate Matt Kenseth while going through lapped traffic in the late laps to win the Coca Cola 600.

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Today in Nascar History May 27th:

Winners on this date: Speedy Thompson, Herb Thomas, Eddie Gray, Nelson Stacy, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, and Kasey Kahne.

May 27th, 1962: Nelson Stacy overtakes a slowing David Pearson with 8 laps remaining to win the 3rd annual World 600. Pearson is headed towards his 2nd straight 600 win when his motor gives out 8 laps from the finish.



May 27th, 2001: Jeff Burton ends a slump with a victory in the Coca Cola 600. Tony Stewart finishes 3rd after finishing 6th earlier in the day at the Indianapolis 500. An exhausted Stewart completes all 1,100 miles of racing for the day.



May 27th, 2007: Casey Mears avoids the multiple wrecks and uses fuel strategy to win his first career race, the Coca Cola 600.

Big One



Jeff Gordon's Big Crash on the frontstretch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0s3s65sTuY

Finish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UudLVRxpsEw

May 27th, 2012: Kasey Kahne scores his first win for Hendrick Motorsports and his 3rd overall career victory in the Coca Cola 600. Kahne dominates the 2nd half of the event and cruises to an easy win.

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Today in Nascar History May 28th:

Winners on this date: Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Jim Paschal, Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip (2 times), Neil Bonnett, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, and Kasey Kahne.

May 28th, 1961: 2nd year driver David Pearson scores his first career win in the 2nd annual World 600. Pearson comes across the line on just 3 tires after blowing a tire with 2 laps to go.

May 28th, 1995: Bobby Labonte wins the Coca Cola 600 to score his first career Cup victory. His brother Terry finishes 2nd, making it the first time brothers had finished 1-2 in a Cup event since 1971-when Bobby and Donnie Allison did it-also in the 600.

May 28th, 2000: Rookie Matt Kenseth holds off fellow rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Coca Cola 600 and score his first career Cup victory.

May 28th, 2006: Kasey Kahne dominates the Coca Cola 600 and wins Nascar's longest race.