Today in Nascar History October

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Today in Nascar History October 21st:

Winners on this date: Fonty Flock, David Pearson, Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Matt Kenseth.

October 21st, 1973: David Pearson wins his 11th race of the year in only his 18th start of the season at Rockingham. Title contender Benny Parsons gets involved in a wreck, but repairs his car and salvages enough for a 28th place finish, giving him the championship over Cale Yarborough.




October 21st, 1984: Bill Elliott makes a last lap pass on Harry Gant to win at Rockingham.



October 21st, 2001: Dale Earnhardt Jr. holds off the mad Talladega pack as the big one ensues behind him on the final lap. Jr. beats the field back to the line to win the race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMK4UtL8XAg

October 21st, 2007: Jimmie Johnson wins his 2nd consecutive fall race at Martinsville and completes the season sweep at the track.



October 21st, 2012: Matt Kenseth wins a wild and crazy wreck-filled race at Kansas. The newly reconfigured and repaved track proves a fit for many drivers and causes many right front tire failures and overaggressive driving which results in a track record 14 caution flags.

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Today in Nascar History October 22nd:

Winners on this date: Joe Weatherly, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Mark Martin, Ward Burton, and Jimmie Johnson.

October 22nd, 1989: Mark Martin scores his first career Cup Series victory by winning the 500 miler at Rockingham. It is also car owner Jack Roush's first career Cup Series victory.




October 22nd, 1995: Ward Burton wins at Rockingham. It is his first career Cup Series victory.



October 22nd, 2006: Jimmie Johnson wins at Martinsville.

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Today in Nascar History October 23rd:

Winners on this date: Buck Baker (2 times), Speedy Thompson, Donnie Allison, Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Joey Logano.

October 23rd, 1949: The sanctioning body NSCRA, with Nascar founder Bill France co-promoting, puts on a 150 mile race at Lakewood Speedway. A crowd of 35,000 sees Tim Flock win the race.



October 23rd, 1956: Buck Baker wins the 100 mile race at Shelby, NC. Herb Thomas is severely injured in a terrible crash late in the race.



October 23rd, 1988: Rusty Wallace comes from 3 laps down to win at Rockingham. Wallace beats 2nd place finisher Ricky Rudd by almost 14 seconds.



October 23rd, 1994: Dale Earnhardt takes the win at Rockingham and locks up his record tying 7th Cup Series Championship.



October 23rd, 2011: RCR teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer break away from the snarling pack on the final restart and Bowyer makes a last lap pass of his teammate to score the victory, his 2nd straight in the fall race at Talladega. Many chase contenders encounter problems during the race and it jumbles up the points standings once again.



October 23rd, 2016: Joey Logano holds off Brian Scott to win at Talladega for the 2nd straight year in the fall race as the chase field is widdled down to 8. Brad Keselowski has a dominant car and appears headed for victory but blows his engine halfway through the event ending his title hopes.

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Today in Nascar History October 24th:

Just a note today as well-today marks the day of the tragic HMS plane crash that took the lives of 10 people in 2004. Please take a moment to remember all of those and their families.

Winners on this date: Red Byron, Hershel McGriff, Dick Hutcherson, Richard Petty (2 times), Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin.

October 24th, 1954: Lee Petty finishes last at North Wilkesboro, but despite that locks up his first career Cup Series Championship. Driver Lou Figaro is killed in a rollover crash with 3 laps remaining in the event :(



October 24th, 1965: Outstanding rookie driver Dick Hutcherson takes his 9th win of the year by winning at Hillsboro. It is still an all-time record for most wins by a driver in their rookie season.



October 24th, 2010: Denny Hamlin comes on late in the event at Martinsville to take the win, his 7th of the year and 3rd straight at the Martinsville short track. With the win Hamlin closes to within 6 points of championship leader Jimmie Johnson.

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Today in Nascar History October 25th:

Winners on this date: Jack Smith, Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace, Denny Hamlin, and Joey Logano.

October 25th, 1959: Jack Smith takes the win at Concord. It is his 4th win of the year. Lee Petty wins his 3rd career Championship, beating runner up Cotton Owens by a whopping 1830 points for the title.



October 25th, 1987: Bill Elliott wins the race at Rockingham while Dale Earnhardt clinches his 3rd career Cup Series title.



October 25th, 2009: Denny Hamlin holds off Jimmie Johnson to win his 3rd race of the year and the 2nd of his career at Martinsville.



October 25th, 2015: Joey Logano takes his 3rd consecutive win of the season in controversial fashion at Talladega. A late-race GWC attempt results in chaos on the restart with Logano being just a splitter out in front of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the time of the yellow. The elimination race rids the chase of drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, and Denny Hamlin.

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Today in Nascar History October 26th:

Winners on this date: Herb Thomas, Junior Johnson, LeeRoy Yarbrough, and Carl Edwards.

October 26th, 1958: Junior Johnson beats Fireball Roberts to score the win at Lakewood Speedway. Lee Petty wins the championship by 644 points over Buck Baker.




October 26th, 1969: LeeRoy Yarbrough wins at Rockingham. It is his 7th win of the year on superspeedways.



October 26th, 2008: Carl Edwards dominates and wins at Atlanta while his title rival and points leader Jimmie Johnson makes a miraculous comeback from a sub par day, finishing 2nd in a race in which he languished in the mid-pack for most of the event.

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Today in Nascar History October 27th:

Winners on this date: Buck Baker, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, Bobby Hamilton (2 times), and Kurt Busch.

October 27th, 1957: Buck Baker wins the season finale at Greensboro, capping off his 2nd consecutive Cup Series Championship season in style.




October 27th, 1996: Bobby Hamilton takes the win at Phoenix in a Petty Enterprises Pontiac. It is the first win for Petty Enterprises since 1983.

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Today in Nascar History October 28th:

Winners on this date: Danny Weinberg, Jack Smith, Junior Johnson, Rex White, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson (2 times).

October 28th, 1962: Rex White beats Joe Weatherly to the flag in a thrilling finish to win at Atlanta. The win is also White's first on a superspeedway, however Weatherly clinches the series title by finishing 2nd.




October 28th, 2007: Jimmie Johnson holds off a charging Carl Edwards at Atlanta on a green-white-checker restart as Dale Earnhardt Jr's wheel falls off and he crashes hard in turn 1. Johnson wins the race under the caution.

October 28^th, 2012: Jimmie Johnson holds off Kyle Busch on a late race restart to take yet another victory at Martinsville. With the win Johnson takes the points lead away from Brad Keselowski with 3 races remaining in the season.

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Today in Nascar History October 29th:

Winners on this date: Lee Petty, Joe Weatherly, Bobby Allison, Ricky Rudd, and Tony Stewart.

October 29th, 1950: Lee Petty wins the season finale at Hillsboro as Bill Rexford claims the championship by 110 points over Fireball Roberts.




October 29th, 1961: Joe Weatherly dominates and wins the season finale at Orange Speedway, his 9th win of the year. Ned Jarrett wins the championship by 830 points despite having only won 1 race for the year.



October 29th, 1967: Bobby Allison wins the American 500 at Rockingham in a Ford. It is Ford's first Cup Series win in nearly 3 months. F1 ace Jim Clark participates in the race and finishes 30th.



October 29th, 1995: Ricky Rudd takes his 1st victory of the season by beating Derrike Cope at Phoenix. Rudd's win keeps his streak of one win every year alive. It is also the first time in Nascar history that a driver started 29th and won the race.



October 29th, 2006:Tony Stewart, a non chaser in 2006, destroys the Chase field and wins at Atlanta in dominating fashion.

October 29th, 2010: Nascar VP of Communication Jim Hunter passes away at age 71 after a year long battle with cancer. :(

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Today in Nascar History October 30th:

Winners on this date: Tim Flock, Bobby Johns, Fred Lorenzen, Terry Labonte (2 times), Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, and Jimmie Johnson.

October 30th, 1955: Tim Flock leads every lap and records his 18th win of the year in the season finale at Hillsboro. Flock's 18 wins in a season and 11 races in which he led from start to finish are both Nascar records. (I’m pretty sure the 11 start to finish is still a record-Richard Petty won 27 races in 1967-so he has that record now for those wondering).




October 30th, 1960: Bobby Johns scores his first career Nascar victory by winning the inaugural Atlanta 500 at the new Atlanta International Raceway. Rex White scores a 5th place finish, enough for him to be the 1960 series champion.



October 30th, 1966: Fred Lorenzen wins the American 500 at Rockingham. Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson both compete in what would be their last Cup Series races of their racing careers. Jarrett finishes 3rd and Johnson 5th. Both retired with 50 career wins and both ran their last race in the same race (odd).



October 30th, 2005: Rookie Carl Edwards wins at Atlanta, completing the season sweep at the track. It is the young star's 3rd win of the season and he asserts himself as a viable Chase Contender.



October 30th, 2011: Tony Stewart passes Jimmie Johnson on the high side on a late race restart in a carnage-filled Martinsville event to take his 3rd win of the Chase and put himself in solid contention for the championship. Many chase contenders are involved in the melees throughout the event, most notably Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth. Points leader Carl Edwards avoids the carnage and escapes with a 9th place finish.



October 30th, 2016: Jimmie Johnson scores his 9th career victory at Martinsville tying Jeff Gordon on the all-time wins list at the track. The triumph locks Johnson into the finale at Homestead with a shot at his record-tying 7th title.