Today in Nascar History October

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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, and Tony Stewart.

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.

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Today in Nascar History October 31st-Halloween

Winners on this date: Fonty Flock, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Clint Bowyer.

October 31st, 1965: Curtis Turner returns from his multi-year ban from Nascar and wins the inaugural American 500 in a Wood Brothers Ford at the new North Carolina (Rockingham) Motor Speedway.

October 31st, 2004: In the first race since the tragic Hendrick Motorsports Plane crash, Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson beats Mark Martin at Atlanta to score an emotional and heartfelt victory for Hendrick Motorsports.



October 31st, 2010: Clint Bowyer wins over teammate Kevin Harvick in a typical odd finish at Talladega. In a race which saw the 2nd most lead changes in Nascar history (81), Bowyer is ahead of Harvick by inches in turn 2 on the last lap when a big crash occurs behind them, making the field frozen at the time of caution. It is Bowyer's 2nd win in the 2010 chase and the points battle between the top 3 contenders is tighter than it has ever been in chase history after the event.