Countdown to Daytona

We are counting down the days to the 50th Daytona 500 on Feb. 17. Each day we will highlight a number that corresponds to the countdown number.

Feb. 17, 2008

• 0 -- Drivers 20 through 30 on the starting grid to win the Daytona 500. In fact, only three drivers have won starting worse than 19th: Benny Parsons, 32nd, in 1975; Bobby Allison, 33rd, in 1978; and Kevin Harvick, 34th, in 2007. Interestingly, this has been a constant regardless of the era. Thirty-seven of the 49 winners have started in the top 10.

Daytona 500 tickets

Jeff Foxworthy has been voted the winner of the Daytona 500 Celebrity Tickets for Charity competition.

• More
• Preseason Thunder
• Get your tickets
• Book your travel

Feb. 16, 2008

• 1 -- Daytona 500 poles won by Dale Earnhardt. His only pole in 23 attempts came in 1996. His average start in Daytona 500 races was 8.6, and from 1990 to 1999, he never started worse than fourth.

Feb. 15, 2008

• 2 -- Laps led by 21-year-old rookie Jeff Gordon in his first Daytona 500 in 1993, the first laps he led in a Cup race. The 500 was his second Cup race, and he finished fifth.

Feb. 14, 2008

• 3 -- Green-white-checkered finishes in the Daytona 500. In fact, the past three have been decided in NASCAR's version of overtime. The winners: Jeff Gordon (2005), Jimmie Johnson (2006) and Kevin Harvick (2007).

Feb. 13, 2008

• 4 -- The fewest number of laps led by a Daytona 500 winner. It has happened twice: Benny Parsons in 1975 and in Kevin Harvick's victory last year.

Feb. 12, 2008

• 5 -- One record that fans of Dale Earnhardt wish he didn't have: most second-place finishes in the Daytona 500. Earnhardt's lone victory came in 1998.

Feb. 11, 2008

• 6 -- Fewest lead changes in a Daytona 500. It happened in 1964 when Richard Petty, en route to winning his first 500, led 184 of 200 laps. Only three other drivers led laps: pole-sitter Paul Goldsmith, 11; Bobby Isaac, 3; and A.J. Foyt, 2.

Feb. 10, 2008

• 7 -- Seven days from now the Daytona 500 will be run for the 50th time, and for each day of the week, you can recall one of Richard Petty's record seven victories in the race. The years: 1964, 1966, 1971, 1973-74, 1979 and 1981.

Feb. 9, 2008

• 8 -- Number of drivers who have won the Daytona 500 multiple times. Richard Petty leads the way with seven wins, followed by Cale Yarborough with four. Three drivers have won it three times -- Bobby Allison, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett; and Bill Elliott, Sterling Marlin and Michael Waltrip have two victories each.

Feb. 8, 2008

• 9 -- Number of Daytona 500s won from the pole. The winners and the years: Fireball Roberts (1962), Richard Petty (1966), Cale Yarborough (1968, 1984), Buddy Baker (1980), Bill Elliott (1985, 1987), Jeff Gordon (1999) and Dale Jarrett (2000).

Feb. 7, 2008

• 10 -- Cup wins for Richard Petty at Daytona International Speedway. Petty has seven Daytona 500 victories and three victories in the July race (then called the Firecracker 400). Cale Yarborough is next with eight wins, four in each race. Petty has the most wins in the 500; David Pearson has the most wins in the July race with five.

Feb. 6, 2008

• 11 -- Car No. 11, not Richard Petty's famed No. 43, has won the most Grand National/Cup titles. Petty won seven titles in the No. 43 -- 1964, 1967, 1971-72, 1974-75, 1979 -- one fewer than three drivers in the No. 11: Ned Jarrett (1961, 1965), Cale Yarborough (1976-78) and Darrell Waltrip (1981-82, 1985).

Feb. 5, 2008

• 12 -- Twenty-four of Bobby Allison's 85 Cup Series victories came in the No. 12, and 12 of those wins came from the pole. The No. 12 has been to Victory Lane 55 times, with the last 12 -- there's that number again -- coming from Ryan Newman.

Feb. 4, 2008

• 13 -- Car No. 13 has one win in NASCAR's top series, and it didn't even come in a main event -- although it did come at Daytona. In 1963, Johnny Rutherford finished first in the second 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500. In those days, the qualifiers were points races. Two days later, Rutherford started fourth on the 500 grid and finished ninth.

Feb. 3, 2008

• 14 -- It has been 451 races -- more than 39 years -- since the No. 14 was in Victory Lane. Bobby Allison won the last Grand National race at Montgomery (Ala.) Speedway in Tom Friedkin's No. 14 Plymouth on Dec. 8, 1968. The race was actually the second of the 1969 season. All told, the No. 14 has 26 Grand National wins -- 14 by Fonty Flock, four by Hershel McGriff, seven by Jim Paschal and Allison's.

Feb. 2, 2008

• 15 -- In his first race in the No. 15 car, Michael Waltrip wins his first Cup race in his 463rd start, winning the 2001 Daytona 500. Waltrip is a two-time Daytona 500 champion, and all four of his Cup victories in 689 starts have come in the No. 15.

Feb. 1, 2008

• 16 -- Career Cup poles for Dale Jarrett. He has won two races from the pole, the 1997 TranSouth Financial 400 at Darlington and the 2000 Daytona 500. He is one of seven drivers to win the 500 from the pole -- and the most recent to do so.

Jan. 31, 2008

• 17 -- Two of NASCAR's biggest stars, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch, have 17 Cup victories. They are tied for 39th on NASCAR's all-time list with Marvin Panch and Curtis Turner.

Jan. 30, 2008

• 18 -- In 1,033 races in NASCAR's top division, the No. 18 has been taken to Victory Lane by only two drivers -- Bobby Labonte (21 times) and Dale Jarrett (2). Based on his talent and what he has accomplished so far, Kyle Busch likely will become the third driver to win in the No. 18.

Jan. 29, 2008

• 19 -- Of car numbers with at least 1,000 starts in NASCAR's top series, no car number has had less success than the No. 19. In 1,176 starts, the No. 19 has been to Victory Lane three times -- John Rostek at Phoenix in 1960 (his only win in six races) and Jeremy Mayfield in 2004 (Richmond) and 2005 (Michigan).

Jan. 28, 2008

• 20 -- Of the 33 Cup wins for the No. 20, Tony Stewart has all but one -- the first one, which is registered by Marvin Panch in the 1961 Daytona 500. Stewart is 0-for-9 in The Great American Race.

Jan. 27, 2008

• 21 -- The No. 21 is one of the most famous numbers in NASCAR. It has been to Victory Lane 90 times, fourth most in NASCAR's top series. Leading the way is David Pearson, who won 43 of his 105 races in the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Mercury, with his first coming at Darlington on April 16, 1972. That touched off a remarkable run of 43 victories in 131 races in that car, ending at Michigan on Aug. 20, 1978.

Jan. 26, 2008

• 22 -- Thirty of Fireball Roberts' 33 Grand National victories come in the No. 22. His 33 wins are tied with two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson for 18th all time.

Jan. 25, 2008

• 23 -- Career Cup wins for Ricky Rudd, who retired in 2007 after 32 seasons and 906 Cup starts. Rudd's victory total ranks 26th all time.

Jan. 24, 2008

• 24 -- Everyone knows the No. 24 is Jeff Gordon's car, and Gordon is one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history. But ... did you know that Gordon owns all 81 victories in the No. 24 in the number's 1,090 Grand National/Cup races?

And ... (bar-bet time) did you know that the No. 24 holds the record for most starts until its first victory at 623? Gordon's first Cup victory came May 29, 1994, in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway.

Jan. 23, 2008

• 25 -- Let's remember Tim Richmond today. Of his 13 career wins, the final nine come in Rick Hendrick's No. 25 Chevrolet, including a series-high seven in 1986. In addition to his 13 wins, Richmond posted 42 top-fives and 78 top-10s and won 14 poles in 185 Cup Series races.

Jan. 22, 2008

• 26 -- Jamie McMurray's Cup car number. When McMurray won the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona by .005 seconds over Kyle Busch, he took the No. 26 to Victory Lane for the first time since April 22, 1990, when Brett Bodine won the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, N.C. It was Bodine's only Cup victory in 480 starts.

Jan. 21, 2008

• 27 -- Rusty Wallace's car number when he won his Cup championship in 1989.

When Wallace joined Roger Penske's team in 1991, he drove the No. 2 for the remainder of his career. He also drove the No. 2 during the 1985 season.

Jan. 20, 2008

• 28 -- The No. 28 is one of the most-storied numbers in NASCAR. Its 78 Cup Series victories rank seventh all time, and its winners read like a Who's Who of NASCAR: Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, Dale Jarrett, Dan Gurney, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Fred Lorenzen and Ricky Rudd.

Jan. 19, 2008

• 29 -- The sponsor has changed since Kevin Harvick began his Cup career, but the car number hasn't. All 250 Cup starts for Harvick have been in the No. 29, with his first coming Feb. 26, 2001, in the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet at Rockingham. His primary sponsor switched to Shell/Pennzoil in 2007.

Harvick has 11 of the 28 Cup Series wins in the 29. Nelson Stacy has the first four, and Dick Hutcherson the next 13 from 1965 to 1967.

Jan. 18, 2008

• 30 -- On Oct. 16, 1955, Speedy Thompson does something that has happened only one time in Cup history -- he wins a race in the No. 30 car. The 938 Cup starts for the No. 30 is the most for a car number with only one victory.

Thompson is one of 72 drivers to try his hand in the No. 30, and his victory in a 200-lap event at Martinsville comes in his only race in the car.

Jan. 17, 2008

• 31 -- Car No. 31 was in NASCAR's first race -- June 19, 1949 -- at Charlotte (N.C.) Speedway. Sterling Long finished seventh in the field of 33.

It isn't until the final race of the 2001 season -- No. 31's 565th race -- that the car visits Victory Lane for the first time (Robby Gordon in the New Hampshire 300). Gordon takes the No. 31 to Victory Lane two more times, and Jeff Burton has done it twice for the number's only victories in 781 Cup starts.

Jan. 16, 2008

• 32 -- Tony Stewart's career Cup victories -- and DNFs -- in 320 career starts.

Jan. 15, 2008

• 33 -- Cup victories for Fireball Roberts and Jimmie Johnson. They are tied for 18th on the all-time list. Johnson has averaged 5.5 victories in his six full-time Cup seasons and has a legitimate shot in 2008 of catching or passing three drivers: Mark Martin (35 wins), Bobby Isaac (37) and Tim Flock (39).

Jan. 14, 2008

• 34 -- Cup races in the 2000 season, the last time a Cup season was fewer than 36 races. A Cup Series season has been 34 races three times: 2000, 1999 and 1952.

Jan. 13, 2008

• 35 -- The lowest number (excluding zero and any number beginning with zero) that does not have a Cup Series victory. In 230 races, the closest the No. 35 has come to a victory is four second-place finishes, three by Benny Parsons in 1987. Mel Larson has the other in 1960.

Jan. 12, 2008

• 36 -- One of four car numbers with at least 500 Cup starts but no victories. The No. 70 is the most futile in the group with 729 starts, followed by the Nos. 67 (636), 94 (529) and 36 (516).

Jan. 11, 2008

• 37 -- Cup wins for Bobby Isaac in 308 races spanning 15 seasons from 1961 to 1976. Twenty-eight of those wins came in 1969 and 1970. He won his only points championship in 1970.

Jan. 10, 2008

• 38 -- Cup wins for Bill Elliott in the No. 9 car. His other six career victories were in the No. 11 car, including five in 1992 (four in a row) when he finished second in the championship race to Alan Kulwicki by 10 points.

The No. 9 has 47 Cup victories; Kasey Kahne is second with seven. The other two belong to brothers Herb and Donald Thomas, who won consecutive races in the No. 9 in 1952.

Jan. 9, 2008

• 39 -- Career victories for Tim Flock. In 187 races from 1949 to 1961, Flock also posted 102 top-five finishes and 129 top-10s and won 38 poles. He won the 1952 and '55 championships.

Jan. 8, 2008

• 40 -- Cup races in which Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared together. Earnhardt finished ahead of his son 31 times. Each won twice. Earnhardt's average finish in those races was 9.1, Junior's 20.5.

Jan. 7, 2008

• 41 -- The car number for six of Richard Petty's Cup-record 200 wins. Petty had 192 victories in the No. 43. The other two wins came in the No. 42.

Jan. 6, 2008

• 42 -- Lee Petty made the No. 42 famous in NASCAR. From 1949 to the start of the 1961 season -- his last start in the No. 42 ended in a crash in the second Daytona qualifier -- Petty made every start in the 42 except for five races. Petty finished his career with three championships and 54 wins in 427 races.

Answers to yesterday's NASCAR number question: The three drivers to start NASCAR races in the No. 43 car from March 27, 1966, through the end of 1992 besides Richard Petty are: Jim Paschal (World 600, May 24, 1970); Ernie Shaw (Georgia 500 in Macon, Nov. 7, 1971); and Kyle Petty (Winston Western 500 at Riverside, Jan. 11, 1981).

Jan. 5, 2008

• 43 -- Could the significance of today's number be anything other than the number made famous by Richard Petty? No. Of course not. But here's a twist: From March 27,1966, until The King retired at the end of the 1992 season, three drivers started races in the 43 car besides Petty. Name them. Here are your hints: It happened in 1970, '71 and '81. Answers tomorrow.

Jan. 4, 2008

• 44 -- Bobby Labonte's car number when he won his Busch Series title in 1991. For the first race of the season, the Goody's 300 at Daytona, Labonte drove the No. 94 Oldsmobile, borrowed from his brother Terry after Bobby had incidents with his primary and backup cars (crash, engine).

He didn't last long in the race. On the first lap he touched off the "big one," involving more than a dozen cars. Eight cars were done for the day, including Labonte's, and he was scored 36th.

The rest of the season went much better -- obviously. He finished with two wins, 10 top-fives and 21 top-10s.

Jan. 3, 2008

• 45 -- Jack Ingram's age when he won the first Busch Series championship in 1982. He remains the oldest first-time champion in Busch Series history. Ingram wasn't through winning: He also won the 1985 title. His 31 Busch Series victories rank third behind Mark Martin (47) and Kevin Harvick (32).

Jan. 2, 2008

• 46 -- Of all the car numbers in the 40s, the No. 46 has gone the longest since its last trip to Victory Lane. Jack Smith won in the No. 46 on Nov. 5, 1961, in the first race of the 1962 season -- a 200-lap event on Concord (N.C.) Speedway's half-mile dirt track. It was one of Smith's two wins in the No. 46; he finished with 21 wins in 264 races.

Jan. 1, 2008

• 47 -- Tracks that have hosted Busch Series races since the series began in 1982. Its new name is the Nationwide Series.

Dec. 31, 2007

• 48 -- Two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is synonymous with the No. 48. He has 33 of the 36 Cup victories in the 48. James Hylton has two, and Bill Norton has one. For each driver, their only wins are in the 48. Norton's win came at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, Calif., in 1951. Hylton's wins came at Richmond in 1970 and Talladega in 1972.

Hylton, now 73, plans on attempting to qualify for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Hylton posted his first top-10 in NASCAR in his first Daytona 500, finishing ninth in 1966. Hylton has 301 top-10 finishes in 601 races.

Dec. 30, 2007

• 49 -- There have been 49 Daytona 500s -- and we are 49 days from No. 50. The first was Feb. 22, 1959, and Lee Petty was declared the winner in a photo finish over Johnny Beauchamp. The field featured 59 cars, and 31 cars were running at the end.

Dec. 29, 2007

• 50 -- Two of NASCAR's all-time greats finished their careers with 50 victories each -- Junior Johnson and two-time champion Ned Jarrett. Their win totals rank 10th all time.

Dec. 28, 2007

• 51 -- In 335 Cup Series races, the No. 51 made it to Victory Lane twice, and Gober Sosebee was the driver both times. In fact, those were Sosebee's only wins in 71 races from 1949 to 1959. The victories came on two half-mile dirt tracks in Georgia -- Hayloft Speedway in Augusta in 1952, and Central City Speedway in Macon in 1954.

Dec. 27, 2007

• 52 -- Harry Gant's age when he won the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan on Aug. 16, 1992 -- a Cup record. Gant's exact age: 52 years, 7 months, 6 days. Of Gant's 18 career Cup wins, eight came after his 50th birthday, including four in a row in 1991.

Dec. 26, 2007

• 53 -- Bob Burdick -- not Dean Jones nor Lindsay Lohan -- is the driver who took the No. 53 to Victory Lane for the only time in a Cup Series race. It also is Burdick's only NASCAR victory in 15 races. The victory, the 1961 Atlanta 500, came in Burdick's 11th race.

Dec. 25, 2007

• 54 -- Lennie Pond's only victory in 234 Cup Series races came in car No. 54 on Aug. 6, 1978, in the Talladega 500. Pond competed in 234 races from 1969 to 1989. He won five poles, all in 1978, when he finished seventh in the points standings. His best points finish came two seasons earlier, when he finished fifth.

Dec. 24, 2007

• 55 -- Speedy Thompson lived up to his name in Rochester, N.Y., on June 22, 1956, when he won his 10th race in his 55th start. He is the quickest to 10 victories in NASCAR history. Speedy finished his career with 20 wins, the 20th victory coming in his 189th race on Oct. 23, 1960, at Richmond.

Dec. 23, 2007

• 56 -- Jim Hurtubise gave the No. 56 its only Cup Series victory when he won the 1966 Atlanta 500. It was also Hurtubise's only NASCAR win in 36 races that spanned 13 seasons from 1957 to 1977.

Hurtubise was a very popular driver who suffered burns over nearly half his body in a crash in a Champ Car race at Milwaukee in 1964. His hands sustained extensive damage, and before doctors worked on his hands, they asked Hurtubise how he wanted his hands shaped. Hurtubise told the doctors to make sure he could still grip a steering wheel.

Dec. 22, 2007

• 57 -- Janet Guthrie's car number for her last NASCAR start on July 27, 1980. She started 21st in the Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono and finished 28th, completing 134 of 200 laps.

Guthrie made 33 starts in NASCAR, the first 31 in the No. 68. Her 32nd start was the 1980 Daytona 500 in Rod Osterlund's No. 82; Guthrie finished 11th.

Dec. 21, 2007

• 58 -- Modern Era record for consecutive races running at the finish, set by Kevin Harvick (Nov. 3, 2002 to July 25, 2004). Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner, has only 13 DNFs in 250 career starts.

Dec. 20, 2007

• 59 -- Lloyd Moore drives the No. 59 to victory on Oct. 15, 1950, in a 200-lap race on the half-mile dirt track at Funk's Speedway in Winchester, Ind., for one of three victories for the No. 59.

Lloyd, born June 8, 1912, returns to farming full time in Frewsburg, N.Y., in 1955, ending his NASCAR career after 49 races.

At 95, Moore is acknowledged as NASCAR's oldest living driver. Where is Lloyd Moore?

Dec. 19, 2007

• 60 -- Cup races at Pocono Raceway. Richard Petty won the first race, the Purolator 500, on Aug. 4, 1974. He led 152 of the scheduled 200 laps. The race was shortened to 192 laps because of rain.

Buddy Baker finished second, 18.8 seconds back, and Cale Yarborough was third.

Dec. 18, 2007

• 61 -- Victories for Richard Petty in Cup races from the pole. David Pearson has the next most, 37.

Among active drivers, Jeff Gordon is tops with 19, which is tied for sixth with Herb Thomas.

Dec. 17, 2007

• 62 -- Number of races in the 1964 season, the most in any NASCAR season.

Richard Petty competed in the maximum number -- 61 -- and won his first championship. Years ago, the two qualifying races for the Daytona 500 were points races, so no driver would compete in the total number of races in a season.

David Pearson also made 61 starts. He finished third in points behind Ned Jarrett, who made 59 starts and won a season-high 15 races. Petty won nine times and Pearson eight.

Dec. 16, 2007

• 63 -- Career top-five finishes for Kenny Wallace in 384 Busch Series races. In 342 Cup Series races, Wallace has five top-fives.

Dec. 15, 2007

• 64 -- Besides cars that begin with a zero (01, 02, 03, etc.), no group of car numbers has fewer wins than the 10 cars in the 60s. In 3,706 Cup Series starts, car Nos. 60-69 have four wins, led by the No. 64 with two.

Elmo Langley has both wins, winning races in Spartanburg, S.C., and Manassas, Va., in 1966. Those were Langley's only wins in 536 Cup Series races spanning from 1954 to 1981.

Dec. 14, 2007

• 65 -- Cup Series poles for the No. 3 car. Dale Earnhardt won 17 of his 22 Cup poles in the No. 3. (He won four in the No. 2 in 1979 and one in the No. 15 in 1982.)

Dec. 13, 2007

• 66 -- Consecutive top-10 starts for Bobby Isaac, a Cup Series record. Isaac began his streak on Sept. 5, 1969 (Bobby Shuman 250 at Hickory, N.C.). It ended on March 14, 1971 (Carolina 500 at Rockingham, N.C.).

Dec. 12, 2007

• 67 -- Laps led in 2007 by Mark Martin in 24 Cup Series races, the fewest laps since his first full season, 1988, when he competed in all 29 races and led 123 laps.

Dec. 11, 2007

• 68 -- Cup Series victories for the No. 42.

Seven drivers have posted wins in the No. 42 car, led by Lee Petty's 53 victories. Kyle Petty is next with six, followed by Jim Paschal with four, Richard Petty with two and Marvin Panch, Joe Nemechek and Juan Montoya with one each.

Dec. 10, 2007

• 69 -- More than 15 years have passed since a car with the No. 69 on it started a Cup race. Denny Wilson, in his only Cup Series race, finished 38th of 39 cars on Aug. 9, 1992, at Watkins Glen.

Forty drivers have manned the No. 69 with limited success in 100 races. The best finish in the 69 was second, by Johnny Allen in the 1960 Atlanta 500. It is one of five top-five finishes for the 69.

Dec. 9, 2007

• 70 -- From Buck Baker in 1950 to Johnny Sauter in 2007, 29 drivers have started Cup Series races in the No. 70 -- and none has won.

The No. 70 is No. 1 in futility for having the most starts (720) with no victories. J.D. McDuffie by far has the most races in the No. 70 with 625 starts. McDuffie made another 28 starts in Cup Series races and holds the record for having the most starts without a win.

Dec. 8, 2007

• 71 -- There is a lot of history in the No. 71. It not only was entered in the first NASCAR race -- June 19, 1949, at the three-quarter-mile Charlotte Speedway -- but also driven by the first woman in a NASCAR race, Sara Christian. The No. 71 started 13th and finished 14th. Thirty-three cars started the 200-lap Strictly Stock race.

Dec. 7, 2007

• 72 -- Benny Parsons' car number when he won the Cup Series championship in 1973. It was the highest car number for a champion in NASCAR's modern era until 1999, when Dale Jarrett won his title in the No. 88. The highest car number for a modern era champion is Kurt Busch's No. 97 in 2004.

Dec. 6, 2007

• 73 -- In 198 Cup Series races, the No. 73 has been to Victory Lane twice, and both times Johnny Beauchamp was the driver. In March 1959, Beauchamp led all 100 laps on the one-mile dirt track of Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta; and in August 1960, he won the Nashville 400.

Beauchamp made 23 starts between 1953-61, and those were his only two victories.

Dec. 5, 2007

• 74 -- The No. 74 car has come up empty in 459 Cup Series starts. The best finish of a driver in the No. 74 was Elmo Langley's third place in the Pickens 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, S.C., in 1966.

The 459 starts is not a record for futility -- five car numbers have more starts without a win, including the leader, which is coming up soon.

Dec. 4, 2007

• 75 -- Neil Bonnett's car number in 1988. The No. 75 has been to Victory Lane six times, four times with Bonnett. After finishing fourth at Daytona to begin the '88 season, Bonnett won the next two races, Richmond and Darlington. The No. 75 hasn't been in Victory Lane since. It also was the last of Bonnett's 18 Cup victories.

The others to win in the No. 75: Jim Paschal (1956) and Fireball Roberts (1961).

Dec. 3, 2007

• 76 -- Career Cup Series victories for Dale Earnhardt. The Intimidator's first win came in the Southeastern 500 at Bristol on April 1, 1979. Bobby Allison was second, 3 seconds back, and Darrell Waltrip was third, Richard Petty fourth and Benny Parsons fifth.

The top five represents 19 Cup championships: Earnhardt and Petty, seven each; Waltrip three; Allison and Parsons, one each.

Dec. 2, 2007

• 77 -- Car No. 77 has won only one Cup Series race -- and it wasn't in a Daytona 500. Joe Lee Johnson won the 1959 Nashville 300 by three laps over Larry Frank (in the No. 76 car) for the only win by the No. 77. Johnson and Frank were driving '57 Chevys.