On Daytona 500 day, here’s a list of NASCAR’s best of the best
Johnson’s return is the talk of the circuit
Jimmie Johnson sent a jolt through the track when he shot to the top of the leaderboard in practice for the Daytona 500. Ol’ seven-time has returned to NASCAR after a humbling two years in IndyCar as part owner and sometimes driver at what’s called Legacy Motor Club.
NASCAR begins the second year of its new Next Gen car and still seeking solutions to a problem with the bumpers that caused several concussions last season.
The rear bumpers were supposed to be softened this year so that the car would absorb more energy during routine contact, but drivers earlier this month complained the hits were just as hard in the exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Legacy is the Johnson-led rebrand of what began as Petty Enterprises in 1949 — a year after NASCAR began. Sunday starts NASCAR’s celebratory 75th season and all eyes are on Johnson, who just over three months ago did an about-face, returned to NASCAR and energized Richard Petty’s limp race team.
Meanwhile, here is a list of the best of the best from 75 years of NASCAR, compiled by the Orlando Sentinel:
5 Drivers
■ 1. Richard Petty. The King. His record 200 wins, 123 poles and seven Daytona 500 victories are likely to last forever. No one signed more autographs, either. Petty’s affable, aw-shucks, grassroots approach attracted fans one by one to the sport across decades.
■ 2. Dale Earnhardt Sr. Seven men had more wins than the Man in Black’s 76. Earnhardt’s outlaw persona, hard-charging style and mystique earned him a diehard fan base, plenty of enemies but virtually everyone’s respect. But a win-at-all-costs mentality and rejection of safety measures played a role in his death during the 2001 Daytona 500 at age 49.
■ 3. David Pearson. The Silver Fox was one cool customer on the track and held unrivaled gravitas in the garage. Pearson smoked cigarettes and gave chase with one hand on the steering wheel and one eye on the trophy. His 105 wins and 113 poles are second to Petty.
■ 4. Jimmie Johnson. JJ’s seven Cup Series championships are tied with Petty and Earnhardt for the most. Johnson’s five straight (2006-10) are the gold standard. The all-time wins leader at four tracks, including 11 wins at Dover, Johnson also won two Daytona 500s, four Brickyard 400s and four Coca-Cola 600s.
■ 5. Jeff Gordon. Bobby Allison’s longevity, including his third Daytona 500 win at 50, and Cale Yarborough’s three straight season titles and four Daytona 500s are impressive. But Gordon edges out both legends. A five-year run from 1995-99 featured Cup Series championships and 47 wins. The Indiana native finished with 93 victories, three of them Daytona 500s. Telegenic and media saavy, Gordon helped NASCAR reach a new demographic with appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and “Regis and Kelly.”
5 Families
■ 1. The Pettys. Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, son Richard won seven more, grandson Kyle Petty won eight times during a nearly 30-year career and great-grandson Adam Petty was on his way to big things before a fatal crash at 19. That’s four generations of stock racing from the sport’s first family.
■ 2. The Earnhardts. Dale Sr. and Jr. won plenty of Cup Series races — 102 combined — and countless fans with superspeedway prowess but wildly different personalities. The elder Earnhardt was “The Intimidator” while “Junior” was a contemplative and accessible, earning him the Most Popular Driver award 15 straight times (2003-17) .
■ 3. The Allisons. Bobby Allison was the leader of the “Alabama Gang” and an 84-time winner, while little brother Donnie won 10 times in his shadow. Allison’s son Davey was a 19-time winner at the peak of his career when he died at age 32 while piloting a helicopter at Talladega Speedway.
■ 4. The Buschs. Kyle and Kurt Busch were from the Las Vegas desert but made waves in a sport spawned in the Deep South. Talented, tenacious and temperamental, the two brothers won like no siblings ever have. Their 94 wins tie Bobby and Donnie Allison. But the Buschs have at least 30 each and shared three Cup Series titles — and Kyle is still adding on his 60 victories.
■ 5. The Jarretts. Ned Jarrett captured two season championships and 50 wins. Son Dale won the 1999 title and counted three Daytona 500s among his 32 Cup Series victories. After their ontrack success, each Jarrett found a home in the broadcast booth.
5 Moments
■ 1. The 1979 Daytona 500. A Presidents Day storm left tens of millions of people snowbound and front and center to watch a race featuring a final-lap wreck, an infield fight and another win for Richard Petty. After leader Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough tangled and crashed, Bobby Allison came to the rescue. This led to fisticuffs with Yarborough and allowed Petty to take the checkered flag. The sport’s most famous confrontation expanded NASCAR’s reach and popularity.
■ 2. Dale Sr.’s triumph and tragedy. Earnhardt’s 1998 Daytona 500 win might be the event’s most popular. His fatal 2001 crash on the iconic speedway might be NASCAR’s most tragic moment. Earnhardt’s demise ultimately spawned wide-ranging safety initiatives and remains the last on-track fatality.
■ 3. The King’s 200th. In 1984, Air Force One ferried Ronald Reagan to Daytona Beach for the Firecracker 400 on July 4. There, the Commander in Chief delivered the “Start Your Engines” command. As if the moment wasn’t big enough, Petty delivered his 200th and final win.
■ 4. Daytona International Speedway’s debut. The 1959 Daytona 500 was the start of a new era in NASCAR. Before Lee Petty’s victory on the 2.5-mile oval, much of the sport’s schedule played out on dirt tracks or asphalt halfmilers. At 1.366 miles, Darlington Raceway was considered a superspeedway. No longer. Before long, race tracks were popping up from Atlanta to Michigan and Charlotte to Dover.
■ 5. 1994 Brickyard 400. Viewed by many as inferior to IndyCar racing, NASCAR capitalized on its first trip to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A crowd exceeding 300,000, still the largest in the sport’s history, watched Hoosier State native son Jeff Gordon rise to the occasion and win.